Last season had Philadelphia dreaming of back-to-back Super Bowl berths. It’s reasonable for a 10-1 start to do that to a feverish football town, but something wasn’t quite right with the 2023 Eagles.
The Eagles were all but dead and limped into the postseason with their assured fate of a Wild Card loss awaiting them. The Buccaneers embarrassed them in Tampa for the second time in three seasons and that was it. Lofty hopes went south as quickly as Desai and Patricia’s defenses could let up a last-second touchdown.
Of couese, 8-2 isn’t 10-1 and nothing is guaranteed in the NFL, but the 2024 version of the Eagles doesn’t resemble the just-skating-by dynamics of their 2023 iteration. There were calls for Nick Sirianni’s head after a baffling 2-2 start, but the stretch the Eagles have put together for the last six weeks should quell concerns that this team is a paper tiger, a team whose record is an aberration and will be bounced early in the playoffs.
There are two figures who are most responsible for this shift in vibes: Saquon Barkley and Vic Fangio.
The Eagles aren’t falling backwards into wins like they might have last season despite that pretty record. They’re finishing games. Barkley is a closer on a 2008 Brad Lidge-like run. He topped 1,000 rushing yards on the season on Thursday night in just the 10th game of his first midnight green campaign. His 146 yards on the ground in the Eagles’ 26-18 win over the Commanders on Thursday Night Football were only fourth most he’s had in a game this season. He ripped off two nail-in-the-coffin fourth quarter touchdowns against Washington that sent the South Philadelphia prime-time crowd into a frenzy.
He’s ever-reliable and can make something out of nothing. Whether it was his instantly iconic reverse hurdle against the Jaguars earlier in November or a 43-yard catch and scamper on a third down on Thursday night, Barkley is throwing that Superman cape on and jumping into battle on a weekly basis.
LeSean McCoy is the franchise’s all-time rushing leader and his 2013 stands as the best running back season in team history, but Barkley is set to pulverize that lofty standard McCoy set this year. As rare as it might be to bestow the honor on a back, Barkley has been the Eagles’ MVP in 2024.
On the opposite side of the ball, Fangio has absolutely revitalized the Eagles’ defense.
There’s a stark difference between someone who runs a Fangio-schemed defense, like Desai did, and the actual 66-year-old himself calling the shots.
Fangio has helped turn Zack Baun from a seldom-used pass-rusher in New Orleans into a should-be Pro Bowl inside linebacker in Philly. Along with defensive backs coach Christian Parker, Fangio has expedited the development of rookie cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell, who is making shutdown performances a weekly occurrence, and Cooper DeJean, a do-everything guy in the slot. Jalen Carter has taken the leap from very good rookie to one of the game’s best interior defensive linemen. On an intangible level, there is just a ferociousness about this unit that was sorely lacking in 2023. These guys are flying everywhere and playing cohesively.
Look at this stop against Washington in Week 11. This is 11 guys playing as one:
Could you imagine the 2023 Eagles doing that? No, of course not. It would’ve looked like a teenager playing their younger cousin in “Madden” with the way they would’ve been gashed. This defense is sixth in points and first in yards. They’ve allowed the fewest first downs. They’ve turned into a top-tier red zone defense as well.
Even so, the confidence this fan base has in this team is brimming. Last season was about waiting for the shoe to drop on the Super Bowl dream. This season is about kicking the doors down until they reach the Superdome.
MORE: Eagles’ defense rises to occasion on Thursday Night Football
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