Two years after reaching the Super Bowl, these Eagles are even better

Ralph Vacchiano

NFL Reporter

The 2022 Philadelphia Eagles were an NFC juggernaut. They had a top-3 offense and defense. Their pass rush was historic. Jalen Hurts had the finest season of his career. And they steamrolled their way through the postseason before coming so close to knocking off the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII.

It might have been the best team the Eagles organization had ever put together.

And this year’s team might be even better.

Maybe it’s an unfair comparison to make right now, considering these Eagles still have a long way to go to reach Super Bowl LIX, and record-wise they’re not even the best team in their own conference yet. But that is the way it’s starting to look with five games left in the regular season. These Eagles have won eight straight games, including their impressive, 24-19 win over the Balitmore Ravens on Sunday that ran their record to 10-2. They are again ranked in the top 5 on both sides of the ball, but these 2024 Eagles are built differently than that 2022 team and are better in key areas. 

And those improvements — as outlined below — will make them even harder to beat when they begin their postseason run.

1. They are a better overall defensive team, not as reliant on the pass rush.

The 2022 team was a pass-rushing monster. They finished with 70 sacks in the regular season — the third-best total in NFL history. They added eight more in their two NFC playoff games. Their secondary was strong too, but their ability to rush and disrupt quarterbacks was why they had the No. 1 passing defense in the NFL.

But when the pass rush wasn’t there, they struggled. That was clear in the Super Bowl when they couldn’t get to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs quarterback completed 21 of his 27 passes for 182 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 44 of the Chiefs’ 158 rushing yards. That exposed another flaw — those Eagles were not a great tackling team.

This…

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Publish date : 2024-12-04 16:20:00

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