This 7-2 start sure does feel better than the 8-1 start last year. Like someone said in the GDT, "but we've played weak teams these past few weeks".... That's just it, we didn't just beat them, we demoralized them, aside the Jags game which sorta felt like last year. Thats what true contenders do. Blow out inferior teams.

Should be interesting to see how we do against Washington on a short week. 

It feels like this team is starting to get its footing. This is right now a top ten defense and one of the better rush offenses in football. They can win with the run or pass and the secondary and linebackers for the first time in what seems like forever are dynamic playmakers. DeJean just sticks out with everything he does on the field. Mitchell has been a shutdown corner against some of the better receivers in football. This team started the season very shaky, but the coordinators are finally getting their footing and have adapted nicely to the skill set of their players. This TNF game is going to be exciting to watch. 

This defense is absolutely finding their feet now which hopefully is as much down to getting comfortable in the system as it is the poor opponents we’ve played. Cooper has made a huge difference and Mitchell is still playing at such a high level. The DL is also starting to play more consistently too which is helping.

My concern is the offense. I know they put up 37 points yesterday and 28 last week but they’ve missed opportunities and not played great overall. They need to sort that out and maximise the talent they have because the defense can’t hold the elite teams to under 10 points.

All eyes are on the Washington game.  a true test.

We are Hot, but Washington needs a win to keep up with us.

So in more ways than one.  This will be a playoff level game.

11 minutes ago, Traveler Vic said:

All eyes are on the Washington game.  a true test.

We are Hot, but Washington needs a win to keep up with us.

So in more ways than one.  This will be a playoff level game.

I think it’ll also be a great gauge of where we are and what we can hope for in the play offs.

8 hours ago, Ace Nova said:

Should be interesting to see how we do against Washington on a short week. 

Short week for them too. Difference is they played at 1pm and were home. Should have been other way around with timing. I'm guessing they thought Wash would be so far behind it wouldn't matter.

30 minutes ago, Portyansky said:

Short week for them too. Difference is they played at 1pm and were home. Should have been other way around with timing. I'm guessing they thought Wash would be so far behind it wouldn't matter.

I guess though they finished 3 hours earlier but we ended up getting the 4th quarter off. I would say they have to travel and we don’t but actually we have to travel more than then this week 😂.

Next 3 weeks should really show how good we are and how elite this defense is.

Washington on a short week and then away to a resurgent Rams and one of the best teams in the NFL in the Ravens.

If we can knock off Washington and win one of the road games that would be a fantastic result. 

I'm asking myself when I will start trusting this team after last year's collapse. For me, I think it will be if we go 2-2 against WAS, LA, Balitmore and the Steelers. 

How 'bout you? 

22 minutes ago, Erie said:

I'm asking myself when I will start trusting this team after last year's collapse. For me, I think it will be if we go 2-2 against WAS, LA, Balitmore and the Steelers. 

How 'bout you? 

I stopped worrying about the 2023 Eagles after our playoff exit. 

Things that are noticeably better about this season:

1) Barkley

2) the LB play

3) the secondary play

4) the defense is improving each week instead of declining like 2023

5) we are surviving injuries to players like Mailata, Lane Johnson, AJ Brown, Smith, Slay, Covey with depth playing a significant role. 

6) we've had a couple games where we were so far ahead that the 4th quarter was an opportunity for rarely used players to get some field time. 

 

I'm not saying everything is perfect. That will never happen. But I'm not afraid to be excited about this team.

 

https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/navigation/nfl?tab=super-bowl

• Super Bowl Odds

• Super Bowl LIX - Outright Betting

•  

  Kansas City Chiefs

  +420

   

  Detroit Lions

  +500

   

  Baltimore Ravens

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  +800

   

  San Francisco 49ers

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  Philadelphia Eagles

  +1000

7 hours ago, Traveler Vic said:

All eyes are on the Washington game.  a true test.

We are Hot, but Washington needs a win to keep up with us.

So in more ways than one.  This will be a playoff level game.

It's the real test!

 

@brkmsn, Don't get me wrong. I'm enjoying this team. I just need to see us beat some contenders before I get too optimistic. 

yeah, the defense was atrocious last year, that's really the main difference.  I'd say the offense actually knowing their identity is also huge.  They didn't know whether to be a passing or running team last season, and while they started out well and carried the defense, they really fell off hard after that loss to the whiners.

This season they know who they are and are playing much more confidently.

Defense rankings so far: dramatic improvement in pass defense, fewest 1st downs and points allowed

• 2nd in total yards (last year 26th)
• 5th in points allowed (last year 30th)
• 2nd in pass defense (last year 31st)
• 5th in rush defense (last year 10th)
• 8th in fumble recovery (last year 21st)
• 15th in total takeaways (gotta catch those INT opportunities, last year 25th)
• Check this out: 1st in fewest 1st downs by opponent (last year 29th)

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2024/opp.htm

We honestly won't know until the game plays out Thursday. However, both teams are run heavy. We have a top 5 run defense and they have a bottom 5 run defense. (100/yds per game vs 140+/yds per game). We should be able to run consistently especially in the second half.

We probably are going to need to sweep the Commies. They have 1 other game against a team with a winning record. They have the Falcons which have been so-so lately. Even if they drop both games to us that would still put them at 12-5.

We have them and then we have the Ravens and the Steelers. Both of which are tough outs for us as they are #1 and #4 rushing defenses respectively. I expect both those games to be dog fights.

The Ravens game is one I have been looking forward to for a long time... I think we handle business against Washington, and I feel fairly confident about the Steelers. But seeing how the defense plays against Lamar Jackson is going to be very telling.

2 hours ago, kiwinavega said:

The Ravens game is one I have been looking forward to for a long time... I think we handle business against Washington, and I feel fairly confident about the Steelers. But seeing how the defense plays against Lamar Jackson is going to be very telling.

Ravens should be an interesting game......the ravens have the worst pass defense but they are tops in rush defense.  I hope Moore/Hurts take advantage of that in an efficient way.....

On 11/10/2024 at 9:22 PM, Portyansky said:

This 7-2 start sure does feel better than the 8-1 start last year. Like someone said in the GDT, "but we've played weak teams these past few weeks".... That's just it, we didn't just beat them, we demoralized them, aside the Jags game which sorta felt like last year. Thats what true contenders do. Blow out inferior teams.

And to think, Barkley didn't drop that ball against the Falcons and we are likely 8-1 (the Tampa loss the one really bad loss this year and the Bucs had somehow beat the Lions in Detroit before that which is still the Lions only loss).  

On 11/11/2024 at 8:17 AM, ManchesterEagle said:

Next 3 weeks should really show how good we are and how elite this defense is.

Washington on a short week and then away to a resurgent Rams and one of the best teams in the NFL in the Ravens.

If we can knock off Washington and win one of the road games that would be a fantastic result. 

A Rams team that just lost to a bad Dolphins team at home on Monday night.  

11 minutes ago, Wallyhorse said:

A Rams team that just lost to a bad Dolphins team at home on Monday night.  

Yeah a better test for the defense than the Bengals offense that is literally the best passing offense in the league in terms of yards and TD's and put 72 points on the Ravens in their 2games this year, but apparently don't count as a test for our defense, who remain untested until they play the Commanders and Rams, who combined have scored 5 less passing TD's than the Bengals.

The team will go to the Superbowl if Jalen can  keep is head out of his ass.  If he keeps playing like he did in the 1st half against  the cowboys its a quick exit.

9 hours ago, Wallyhorse said:

And to think, Barkley didn't drop that ball against the Falcons and we are likely 8-1 (the Tampa loss the one really bad loss this year and the Bucs had somehow beat the Lions in Detroit before that which is still the Lions only loss).  

We didn't have Aj, Smith, Lane for that TB game either.

1 hour ago, Portyansky said:

We didn't have Aj, Smith, Lane for that TB game either.

I don't feel like that's why we lost. Too many players played poorly. My opinion is we expected a cloudy/rainy game day and prepared for that and ended up with hot/sunny and the Bucs chose to wear their white jerseys, forcing us to wear the midnight green. There was an unusually high amount of cramping and the play was sloppy all around. It was a bad game and a wakeup call --- which seemed to wake this team up.