How Lane Johnson’s domination, Jalen Carter’s impact, and Reed Blankenship’s steadiness have helped the 8-2 Eagles

The Eagles had an early off week this season after a busy travel schedule during the first four weeks. So after they beat the Washington Commanders, 26-18, Thursday night, they had another chance to exhale for a few days and get away from the NovaCare Complex.

They’re due back Monday after a few days off to begin preparation for their Week 12 game next Sunday in Los Angeles, where they will pursue a seventh consecutive victory.

The six-game streak the Eagles are on has featured a whole lot of Saquon Barkley, a defense that won’t relent, with a linebacker, Zack Baun, breaking out, and mostly steady play from Jalen Hurts.

Here, however, are a few trends that might be flying under the radar.

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Lane Johnson has been so good for so long that his impact on the field is something that seems to just exist in perpetuity.

But the All-Pro right tackle, at age 34, might be having his best season.

Johnson, according to Pro Football Focus, has allowed just four pressures this season on 541 total snaps (267 pass-blocking snaps). His effectiveness rate of 99.26% is the highest of Johnson’s 12-season NFL career. It’s also the highest in the NFL this season, according to PFF.

He’s not just a menace in pass protection. One of Johnson’s best plays during Thursday’s win came while run blocking.

On Barkley’s first touchdown, which gave the Eagles a critical two-score lead, Johnson got just enough of Washington’s Dorance Armstrong to give his running back daylight.

Ask Jalen Carter after any game how he felt about his performance and his answer will almost always depend on whether or not he got to the quarterback for a sack.

“I like sacks,” a smiling Carter said in the week leading up to the Cowboys game. That was after he tied a career-high with six pressures against a really good right guard in Jacksonville’s Brandon Scherff, who hadn’t previously allowed five pressures to a single player in a game over seven seasons.

Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said it was one of Carter’s best games as a pro. But Carter wants sacks. He was credited for a half-sack later that week in Dallas, but he’s on track right now to match his 2023 total of six sacks while playing much more frequently than he did as a rookie.

Like, a lot more frequently. Carter played 100% (66) of the defensive snaps Thursday night, the first time in 26 NFL games that he didn’t come off the field. Fletcher Cox never did that.

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While Carter didn’t register a sack, he had a career-high seven combined tackles after never tallying more than four in a game. He was credited for 2½ run stuffs. Carter certainly earned a few days off.

Reed Blankenship pulled in his third interception of the season Thursday night, matching his total from 15 games last season.

He leads the Eagles with those three interceptions, and while there’s nothing about that stat that flies under the radar — all three have come in crucial moments and helped turn the tide — Blankenship’s play overall probably has.

The safety position isn’t always attention-getting unless you’re taking the ball away. But Blankenship has been doing a lot of things well for the Eagles through 10 games. He’s third in tackles (60) and, according to PFF, the highest-graded Eagles player in run defense situations by a wide margin. While Baun got the big hit on Washington’s Jayden Daniels on that critical fourth-down stop in the fourth quarter, it was Blankenship who came flying in and made Daniels change his course a bit.

Blankenship’s 85.5 run defense grade ranks fourth among all NFL safeties.

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OK, it’s not all good for the Eagles during their recent run. There’s still more to be desired when it comes to scoring points early in the game.

Entering Week 11, the Eagles ranked last in the NFL with a 26.8% success rate on opening drives this season, the lowest of any team in any season since 2019, according to Next Gen Stats.

The Eagles moved the ball decently on their first drive Thursday, but a Mekhi Becton hold backed them up, and Jake Elliott ultimately missed a 44-yard field goal. It’s hard to fault offensive coordinator Kellen Moore there, but the trend for the Eagles this year has been a team that hasn’t nailed the opening scripts and takes a while to get going.

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Next Gen Stats says the 46% success rate after the opening drive gives the Eagles the eighth-best mark in the NFL.

It has been working out fine for now. The Eagles have a good defense and a running game and offensive line combination that tend to wear opponents out. But the win in Dallas was a game longer than it needed to be (mostly because of turnovers), and it took more than three quarters for the Eagles to finally find the end zone Thursday night.