Divisional Round Power Rankings: Where do the Eagles stand among the eight remaining teams?
Following Super Wild Card Weekend, the NFL is officially down to its final eight teams.
Jacksonville pulled off a masterful comeback over the Chargers, the 49ers ran all over Seattle, and Dallas eliminated a Bucs team that should’ve never been in the postseason. The Division Round matchups are set, with Philaldephia set to face the surging New York Giants.
Where do the Eagles stand in the Power Rankings heading into this weekend? Let’s take a look:
Rank: 5
Was a No. 1 seed ever in more desperate need of a bye than the Eagles? The team hopes to get star right tackle Lane Johnson and beast edge rusher Josh Sweat back in time for Saturday night’s grudge match against the Giants, but the biggest health-related concern continues to center on Jalen Hurts.
Last week, the quarterback acknowledged he still might not be fully healthy for the Divisional Round. “I’m feeling better,” Hurts said after being limited in a Thursday practice session. “I’m just taking it day by day. I think the whole world knows I’ve been dealing with something.” That “something” is a throwing-shoulder injury that seriously threatens to limit the quarterback’s explosive playmaking ability. Without it, Philadelphia will be vulnerable against a surging Giants team.
Rank: 3
The Eagles needed a bye to get Jalen Hurts’ right shoulder a little healthier and get their veteran defense some much-needed rest. They should go back to being relentless scoring with they want to do in terms of run vs. pass and then force teams into negative game scripts against their deep pass rush and secondary. They still belong barely behind the sizzling 49ers in the NFC race.
Rank: 2
The Eagles are hard to rank. How healthy is Jalen Hurts? Presumably, after he played in Week 18 and then got a week off, he should be close to 100 percent from a shoulder injury that caused him to miss a couple of games. If he’s back to normal and not rusty, the Eagles are as good as anyone. They’re 14-1 with Hurts in the lineup and don’t have to leave Philly until the Super Bowl, if they advance that far. But, like the Bills, the Eagles were much more dominant in the early and middle parts of the season.
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Rank: 3
The much-needed bye week enabled Jalen Hurts to rest and recover as he attempts to lead the Eagles through a challenging NFC playoff field. With a week to regain his MVP form, the third-year pro could help the Eagles re-emerge as the most-feared heavyweights in the tournament.Â
Rank: 2
The NFC path is easier than the AFC path, so an AFC team that’s better on paper will have a worse chance of making the Super Bowl. It’s with that context that the Philadelphia Eagles land second here, though they do field an excellent team.
With Jalen Hurts at the helm, they generated a winning record of 14-1, or 93.3 percent. That wasn’t a series of flukes, either – they rank third in net EPA per play and have won seven of their regular season games by multiple scores.
The offense, led by Jalen Hurts and supercharged with the presence of two premier receivers, is one of only five in the NFL that have generated positive expected points on their rush attempts. And they are the only one to rank top ten in both passing EPA per dropback and rushing EPA per carry.
They truly can win in a variety of ways and happen to have the defensive capital to make big plays. Drafting Jordan Davis was a long-term investment in their run defense, but it turns out to have made an immediate improvement.
When they limited his snaps at the beginning of the season, they struggled to stop the run and ended up ranking second-to-last in rush EPA allowed per snap. Now, with him as a heavy part of the rotation – along with the additions of Ndamukong Suh and Linval Joseph – they rank in the middle of the pack in run defense.
That has limited their pass rush a small amount, as has the injury to Josh Sweat, but they still defend the pass well and should be able to take on the slate of NFC quarterbacks that they’re likely to face. The NFC quarterbacks have had issues putting together complete passing games, so stopping the run does take a bit of a priority on this side of the bracket.
With Darius Slay and James Bradberry at corner as well as CJ Gardner-Johnson – recently returned from injury – they have one of the more complete secondaries in the NFL.
Eagles QB Jalen Hurts didn't mince words when asked if he's worried about his shoulder being targeted by Giants defenders. pic.twitter.com/3dfg5WdM8T
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) January 17, 2023
Mandatory Credit: USA Today Sports
