For most of this season, the Philadelphia Eagles have been there. They weren’t bad. But they weren’t great either.
The last two weeks might have changed that. The Eagles won their last two games, both on the road, by a combined score of 65-20. Their opponents were the New York Giants and the Cincinnati Bengals, a bad team and maybe another bad team, but a sign of a good team is beating bad opponents. For two weeks the Eagles have done it.
The Eagles are suddenly 5-2, and if it weren’t for one of the great Hail Mary plays of all time, they would be in first place in the NFC East. And the lukewarm start to the season is explained by injuries. AJ Brown missed three games. The Eagles are 4-0 with him and 1-2 without him. He makes a difference and the Eagles look like a new team with him back. They also had other injuries.
In the last two games the defense has looked better, perhaps because it is more comfortable with new coordinator Vic Fangio’s scheme, and Jalen Hurts has also been more efficient. The Eagles’ 37-17 victory over the Bengals went unnoticed, likely because neither team had been living up to expectations entering the season. In the case of Philadelphia, that could be changing.
Here are the power rankings heading into Week 9 of the NFL season: