CINCINNATI — “September,” the perpetual anthem that suits any party, pulsed inside Paycor Stadium’s visiting locker room.
The Philadelphia Eagles were undefeated in October.
All the confounding qualities their September contained — sloppy plays and penalties, a lost and leaky defense, an offense that lacked discipline, detail and tempo — conformed into a congenial brand of football within the franchise’s most complete game in 2024.
An Eagles offense once devoid of a consistent direction scored on all but one possession in a 37-17 beatdown of the Cincinnati Bengals. A defense once unreliable in coverage, tackling or forcing turnovers strong-armed their opponent into submission after an early struggle, forcing three fatal takeaways. A team whose coach once seemed at conflict with his city is now 5-2 and keeping pace with the Washington Commanders (6-2) for the lead in the NFC East.
“The vibes are very high right now,” safety Reed Blankenship said.
The third-year starter no longer holds the team’s only two takeaways. The Eagles entered the weekend with the NFL’s fewest. Nick Sirianni, seeking to stress increasing the turnover margin, once wore a T-shirt with an image of Blankenship on it to the NovaCare Complex. And that was two weeks ago. A deflected deep pass intercepted by C.J. Gardner-Johnson, plus a fumble recovered by Nakobe Dean finally gave Blankenship some company.
“I know!” Blankenship said. “I was getting lonely!”
The turnovers helped produce Philadelphia’s final 10 points. By then, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was already battling a two-score game. Still, the Eagles were vulnerable. Starting cornerback Darius Slay exited in the fourth quarter with a groin injury. Down 27-17, Burrow challenged backup Isaiah Rodgers in a one-on-one matchup with Ja’Marr Chase along the right sideline. Rodgers, trailing Chase by a step, lunged at the last second and batted the ball directly into Gardner-Johnson’s chest.
“I tried to one-hand it until I realized I couldn’t,” Rodgers said.
🚨 ISAIAH RODGERS INTERCEPTION 🚨@rodgers_isaiah | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/7hQihUCvXo
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) October 27, 2024
Sirianni counts a third turnover. Though unofficial, it was the most pivotal. In a three-play sequence, in a one-score game late in the third quarter, the Eagles prevented the Bengals from gaining the two yards they desperately needed.
On second-and-2 at the Bengals 38, linebacker Zack Baun cracked running back Chase Brown on a 1-yard gain with a hit Sirianni said “you could feel” just by the sound. On third-and-1, Dean launched to instinctually fill an emerging gap by noticing a pulling guard, and edge rusher Brandon Graham, ever ageless, swallowed Zack Moss for no gain. On fourth-and-1, it was the rookie, nickel safety Cooper DeJean, who cut down Chase on a swing pass that caused the Bengals to crater.
“We had some beavers building in our fuckin’ river of takeaways,” Dean described in his Mississippi drawl. “We finally cleared the dam out a little bit.”
DeJean’s stop against Chase underlined defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s defensive game plan against a former Heisman-winning quarterback and his three-time Pro Bowler receiver. Several Eagles defensive backs said they knew they had to stop the deep ball. Only two teams entered the weekend with a higher EPA per attempt on passes of 22-plus yards outside the numbers than the Bengals (1.00). Their desire to clamp down on the long ball became even more important once Tee Higgins, Cincy’s second-leading receiver, was officially ruled out hours before kickoff with a quad injury sustained in Friday’s practice.
The Eagles coaching staff knew they likely couldn’t keep the Bengals out of the end zone entirely — as their defense had done in the previous two games. Burrow was on a heater. He’d thrown for 781 yards, seven touchdowns and an interception in his last three games. Sirianni anticipated imperfection as he delivered a Saturday night message to the team: Good stuff is going to happen. Some bad stuff is going to happen. How do you respond? It’s always going to be about your response.
“We knew who we was playing,” Dean said. “We knew he can make any throw on the field.”
Burrow, meticulous and deliberate, at first antagonized the Eagles defense with short throws. The Bengals converted all five of their third-down situations on a torturous 17-play, 70-yard opening drive. The Eagles remain the only NFL team scoreless in the first quarter largely thanks to Cincinnati’s 10-minute, 4-second possession.
Chase was the schematic catalyst. A slight step inside a twins alignment forced Slay and Blankenship to trade assignments on a third-and-1. Burrow placed a high pass to tight end Mike Gesicki (6-6, 245 pounds) over Blankenship (6-1, 203). Chase motioned into subsequent receptions on a third-and-8 and third-and-2. Then, on second and goal, Chase began in the backfield, left to Burrow, then ran a route to the right side of the field, where he easily broke free in coverage from edge rusher Nolan Smith for a 2-yard score.
“That’s when I realized the type of game it would be,” Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts said.
Backfield pressure did not initially derail the Bengals. Smith and Milton Williams sacked Burrow to force a third-and-22 on his second offensive possession. Burrow scrambled on the next play, Baun broke away from Gesicki to rush, and Gesicki was left wide open for a 24-yard gain. On a later third-and-7, Fangio deployed veteran safety Avonte Maddox to cover Gesicki in the defense’s “Dime” package. But Gesicki caught a one-handed grab over Maddox to secure an eventual field goal to go up 10-3.
“We couldn’t get off the field on third downs,” Dean said. “There is a lot that we definitely need to clean up. And now we really see how takeaways can put the game away.”
Well… that and an explosive offense.
Sunday showcased the Eagles in their most threatening state.
Hurts was 16-of-20 passing for 236 yards and a touchdown within a passing game that clearly prefers matchups over progressions. Hurts unfurled a 45-yard throw that struck DeVonta Smith in stride in the end zone, a back-breaking score that gave the Eagles a go-ahead, 24-17 lead with 2:51 left in the third quarter.
Saquon Barkley rushed for his fourth 100-yard game behind an offensive structure that’s increasingly bending toward operating under-center. Hurts took 21 under-center snaps on Sunday, per TruMedia — a steady tripling following games against the Cleveland Browns (7) and the New York Giants (13). Sirianni was dismissive about the increase during postgame, but Hurts acknowledged it was “a mentality that we’re trying to develop and I’m trying to push (for), to be honest.”
It’s an aggressive structure several offensive players favor. Particularly offensive linemen. Particularly in reference to the run game. It arguably allows Barkley a better head start and affords his blockers to assume a violent mentality within a downhill running style. Left guard Landon Dickerson stated the lineman’s perspective pretty bluntly after the Eagles beat the Giants 28-3 behind Barkley’s season-high 176 yards.
“It’s very simple,” Dickerson said. “If you’re in a fight, do you want to punch somebody in the face, or do you want to get punched?”
The Eagles have historically been a shotgun-oriented team under Sirianni. Initial results warranted some skepticism: the Eagles averaged 1.9 yards per rush on 24 under-center carries in their first five games. But offensive coordinator Kellen Moore — whose Cowboys offense rushed 661 times from under-center in his final two seasons in Dallas — has made successful adaptations in the last two games, in which the Eagles have averaged 5.5 yards per rush in such alignments.
“I think when you’re able to be the imposer, I think that says a lot about what you are offensively,” Hurts said. “There are multiple ways to impose, right? You can do that from the gun, you can do that in the pass game, you can do that in the run game, the action game, whatever it is, as long as you’re in full control.”
As the Eagles enter November, those are two expressions they can say about themselves without cynicism.
Imposing. In full control.
(Top photo: Andy Lyons / Getty Images)
