December 05, 2022
For some, the goalposts will surely be moving in and around Philadelphia by Monday morning.
That’s because the 11-1 Eagles put together a banger of a performance in disposing of the Tennessee Titans, 35-10, in what was supposed to be a “test.”
Instead, it was the rare mercy rule of an NFL game against a team with the supposed trademark on toughness and physicality, a narrative that rubbed more than one Eagles player the wrong way.
All DC Jonathan Gannon could say after the win was “Whoo, how ‘bout that,” after his line tortured Ryan Tannehill into an ineffectual performance with six sacks and countless hurries.
It was the so-called complete game everyone had been waiting for where even the much-maligned special teams units dominated, thanks to the elevation of Christian Elliss and the strong leg of Tennessee punter Ryan Stonehouse finally giving Britain Covey some room to breathe.
Everywhere you looked the Eagles lapped Tennessee, with the exception of the penalty column where some uncharacteristic pre-snap hiccups and holding calls gave Nick Sirianni something to harp about this week.
If this was a test, Philadelphia had the answer key but this isn’t some college-hijinks comedy. The Eagles' ability to serve up any answer is tied to a versatility we've never seen before with Philadelphia football.
The kind of dexterity to rush for 363 yards for the first time since 1948 one week and then have the starting quarterback throw for 380 before that mercy rule was initiated with 9:40 left in the game.
If you wondering, that was the first time in 35 years an NFL team ran for 350-plus one week and threw for 350 the next. (The 1987 Los Angeles Raiders had 356 rushing on 11/30/87; and 360 passing on 12/6/87).
“Obviously, we played good in every phase of this game, offensively, defense, special teams, Sirianni said. “Offensively, we had some things we had to clean up. Some pre-snap penalties that we have to clean up. We’ll get better from that. There are some ways we can do that and clean that up. But yeah, it was a pretty complete game for us, and that’s pretty good football team over there.”
The Titans' reputation isn’t hype. Typically Mike Vrabel-coached teams are more physical than their opponents and they play a version of the game that’s supposed to travel well.
But it was the Eagles who were too stubborn to realize it.
“When you’re sitting at 10-1 and you have a team with more losses than you and people are talking as if you didn’t do anything the whole year, it’s crazy, it’s absurd,” said Haason Reddick. “We didn’t take too kindly to that. It was a challenge for us.”
The angst over needing to load the box to stop Derrick Henry was met with the same light boxes Philadelphia always uses with Lival Joseph spearheading a unit that allowed 30 yards on 11 carries to the two-time rushing champion with a long run of six paltry yards.
Running the football for the Eagles was swapped out for tapping into A.J. Brown’s need for revenge and spreading it around to nine different outlets be it the WR1 all the way down to Jack Stoll, Grant Calcaterra, and Kenny Gainwell.
If the Titans are even half of what most say they are the Eagles validated themselves as the best team in football primed for a January run to Glendale that will run through Lincoln Financial Field.
John McMullen is a contributor to PhillyVoice.com and covers the Eagles and the NFL for Sports Illustrated and JAKIB Sports. He’s also the co-host of “Birds 365,” a daily streaming show covering the Eagles and the NFL, and the host of “Extending the Play” on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com.
