The Eagles, as the lone 10-win team in the league entering week 13, entered their matchup with the Titans on Sunday.
The 7-4 Titans had a three-win lead over every other team in the AFC South and would appear to be playoff bound. That isn’t a surprise and it was part of the reason that even before the season many fans were looking at the back-to-back games against Green Bay and Tennessee as a difficult stretch on the schedule.
The Eagles offense came out and overcame several penalties and the need to burn a timeout on their first drive of the game to give the Birds the lead right out of the gate.
Meanwhile, the defense contained Derrick Henry well to force a three and out, but the offense followed up with their own after Jalen Hurts underthrew a wide-open receiver to end the drive. That was promptly followed by an impressive defensive effort that should have gotten the ball back, but instead Fletcher Cox and TJ Edwards allowed the slowest quarterback they’ve played to scramble for the first down with poor contain and awful lines/speed. That led directly to the Titans being able to tie the game up.
The Eagles offense ended the first quarter with a drive that once again advanced down the field despite numerous penalties (hold, false start, illegal formation that was irrelevant to the play). It put the Birds back in the driver seat and a quick stop by the defense put them in position to control the game.
The offense continued to shoot themselves in the foot with stupid penalties on that drive and it finally caught up to them. It put themselves behind the chains on a play with poor pass rush protection that lead to a fumble (recovered by the Eagles) that ended their drive just out of field goal range. The result was a punt followed by a Titans field goal. In the final minutes of the first half, the Eagles added another touchdown before shutting down the Titans offense.
A quick strike after a stop by the defense put the Eagles up by three scores at the start of the third quarter. Following a pair of three and outs by the Eagles defense, the Eagles put together a drive that milked nearly 10 minutes off the clock and scored a touchdown to make the game 35-10.
The Titans took a last gasp after that, going three and out again, and that’s when the Eagles, with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter, benched most of their starters. The Titans did the same, conceding the victory and allowing the Eagles to advance to 11-1.
It was yet another game were they were able to get some young defenders and linemen some additional snaps and work to try and build some depth and experience after the win was already sealed.
Offensive MVP: Jalen Hurts
There’s certainly a case to be made for both DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown, but the MVP of the offense this week has to go to the air traffic control who aired the ball out to the pair. A week after setting a franchise record in rushing yards in a game by a quarterback, Hurts registered 380 yards and three touchdowns on 29/39 passing. It was an impressive passing attack and there were a few incompletions in there that probably should have been made by the receivers that would have made his stats even more impressive.
Defensive MVP: Josh Sweat
Sweat was the most explosive of the Eagles pass rushers this week, recording four tackles and two sack. He was in on at least three separate sacks and brought consistent pressure for the Eagles defense.
Game Notes
Injury Notes