The Philadelphia Eagles are winning games but not relying on Jalen Hurts now. After the win against the Detroit Lions on Sunday Night Football, one of the defensive stars on the team sent a warning to the rest of the NFL.
It was only his second game on the team, but outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips is already gathering that Philadelphia confidence. In his debut, the Eagles held the Packers to seven points, and then on Week 11’s SNF, they had the mighty Lions offense look dreadful and score only nine points.
After the game, Phillips said the defense is “confident, dominant, game-wrecking.” He then added, “I think we have room to grow, but I think what we’ve been putting on the field so far is domination. Keep improving and keep stacking ‘em, keep that relentless energy.” Scary hours await for anyone facing Philly.
Jaelan Phillips has had an immediate effect
Before bringing Phillips in the trade deadline, the Eagles allowed 20 or more points in all but one game. Now, they’ve held two of the most talented offenses in the NFL to single-digits.
In his two games with the team, Phillips has one sack, one fumble recovered, 11 combined tackles and four QB hits. He is wrecking gameplans left, right and center. It’s not an exaggeration to say he might become one of the best pass rushers in the NFL with the Eagles.
The Eagles still face great offenses in the coming weeks
Next week, they face the explosive offense of divisional rivals Cowboys at Dallas. After that, they face the Chicago Bears, the fourth-best offense in total yards in the league. Shortly thereafter, they face the Chargers with Justin Herbert and a plethora of weapons.
Hence, since the Eagles offense is yet to really click, the defense will have to buy Jalen Hurts time for him to figure out how to improve the attack. Still, the Eagles can win plenty of games if the defense keeps playing like this.