Week 13 Eagles grades by position after statement win over Titans originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Eagles heard all week about how tough the Tennessee Titans were and then they demolished them anyway.
With a dominant 35-10 performance against the Titans, the Eagles improved to 11-1 on the season and moved another step closer to earning the No. 1-seed in the NFC.
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The grades are impressive after an all-around win like that:
Quarterback
Jalen Hurts: 29/39, 380 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT; 5 rushing attempts, 12 yards, 1 TD
After rushing for 157 yards last week, Hurts did it through the air in this one. He finished the game with a passer rating of 130.3, the second-highest of his career behind his 140.6 against the Steelers a little over a month ago. Hurts was dynamic on Sunday, getting A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith over 100 yards. He completed passes to nine different teammates on Sunday. And he would probably tell you he would still want a few plays back. MVP performance.
Grade: A+
Running back
Miles Sanders: 10 carries, 24 yards, 1 TD
The running backs weren’t asked to do much on the ground in this game but they combined for six catches for 57 yards through the air. All together, the three running backs combined for 112 scrimmage yards. They weren’t the star of the show but they did their jobs.
Grade: B+
Receiver
A.J. Brown: 8 catches on 10 targets, 119 yards, 2 TDs
In addition to Brown’s big game against his former team, DeVonta Smith had 5 catches for 102 yards and a touchdown of his own. They became the first Eagles teammates to go over 100 yards receiving in the same game since Zach Ertz and Nelson Agholor in 2018. The fun thing about Brown and Smith is that they’re winning with polish. Brown showed off his late hands on the deep touchdown catch and Smith put on a route running clinic.
And then you add in 37 yards for Quez Watkins and 16 from Zach Pascal and it was an impressive performance.
Grade: A+
Tight end
Jack Stoll: 3 catches on 3 targets, 41 yards
We’re obviously grading the tight ends on a bit of a curve until Dallas Goedert returns but it’s hard to argue with what this group did on Sunday. In addition to Stoll’s 41 yards, Grant Calcaterra had a 19-yard catch too. These guys are obviously not going to be featured in the passing offense but anything they get out of them in a nice bonus.
Grade: A
Offensive line
The penalties were unfortunate and there were plenty to go around for the O-line in this game. That’s disappointing. But it’s not like those flags hurt the Eagles all that much. They still put up 391 passing yards and scored 35 points. The line had to block for those 41 drop-backs and Hurts was sacked just 2 times for 5 yards.
Grade: B+
Defensive line
Josh Sweat: 4 tackles, 2 sacks, 3 QB hits, 1 TFL
I was beginning to feel bad for Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who was sacked six times and took some big hits. All six sacks came from the D-line: Sweat had 2, while Javon Hargrave, Haason Reddick, Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox each had 1 apiece. The reason the pass rush was so good was because the Eagles stuffed the run on early downs. They held Derrick Henry to 30 yards on 11 carries.
Grade: A+
Linebacker
T.J. Edwards: 6 tackles, 1 PBU
You don’t stop Henry without a good game from the linebackers. Edwards was solid and so was Kyzir White. And even when White came out of the game with an injury, rookie Nakobe Dean filled in and played really well. Dean and White each had 5 tackles.
Grade: A
Secondary
James Bradberry: 2 tackles, 2 PBUs
Ryan Tannehill threw for 141 yards and 68 of them came from TE Chigo Okonkwo. The defensive line was feasting Sunday and Tannehill just couldn’t get anything going. He did complete a touchdown pass to Treylon Burks, who got crushed by Marcus Epps but held on. Great play by Burks. But aside from that, not much damage through the air.
Grade: A
Special teams
Britain Covey: 6 punt returns for 105 yards (17.5)
A great response from the Eagles’ special teams units on Sunday after a terrible performance in kickoff coverage last week. The Eagles got an all-around win on Sunday and special teams really helped. Covey clearly had his best game with four punt returns longer than his career high coming in. And we saw some monster hits in coverage from Dean, Christian Ellis and Shaun Bradley.
Grade: A+
Coaching
Record: 11-1
The thing I love about the Eagles offense is how dynamic it can be in the air and on the ground. That only works if the coaching staff is comfortable sticking with what seems to be working. They don’t overthink things. They were picking up chunks on the ground last week so they ran the ball more. They were killing the Titans through the air this week, so they stuck with that. The specials teams had a bounce-back performance. And not a thing wrong with Jonathan Gannon’s defense in this game. The proof is in the pudding.
Grade: A+
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