Eagles-Ravens analysis: Birds and Saquon Barkley grind out a 24-19 victory as their winning streak hits eight

BALTIMORE — As the stakes rise and the playoff picture comes more clearly into focus, the Eagles rattled off their latest signature win.

An early deficit borne out of a sluggish offensive start wasn’t enough to trouble them en route to a 24-19 victory over the 8-5 Baltimore Ravens. Now 10-2, the Eagles’ eighth straight win may have been their most convincing considering the quality of opponent. Either way, the Eagles enter Week 14 still one game behind the Detroit Lions in the NFC standings and 2½ games ahead of the Washington Commanders in the NFC East.

Here’s our instant analysis:

Instead of succumbing to the pressure of replacing Brandon Graham’s production against the No. 1 offense in the NFL, the Eagles defense applied it instead.

The new-look rotation of edge rushers led by Josh Sweat, Nolan Smith, and Jalyx Hunt did well in the first game without Graham sustaining things. The defense held Baltimore, a group that ranked first in total offense and second in total scoring going into the weekend, mostly in check following a shaky opening series.

Baltimore finished with 372 total yards, but managed just two trips to the red zone in 11 opportunities. They also had just two touchdown drives, one coming in the final moments with the game out of reach.

Ravens star quarterback Lamar Jackson finished 23-for-36 for 237 yards while his imposing backfield mate Derrick Henry had just 82 yards on 19 carries. Although Baltimore dominated the time of possession and outgained the Eagles in total yardage, the defense made enough timely plays to keep the Ravens out of the end zone partially thanks to the pass rush.

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said the coaching staff showed the players clips of the Eagles defense holding Henry to 30 yards on 11 carries two seasons ago in the lead-up to this game.

“He’s a big-time player with a great offensive line, and he had some good runs, that’s no doubt, but we just kept coming,” Sirianni said. “Effort to the football, they were very determined to show how physical we were.”

Smith kicked off the sack production in the second quarter, beating Ravens right tackle Roger Rosengarten around the edge and getting to Jackson. One quarter later, Hunt used a long-arm move to get past Baltimore left tackle Ronnie Stanley and combine with Eagles linebacker Zack Baun for another sack.

Smith’s sack puts him at 4½ on the season, now surpassing Graham one week after the veteran defensive end suffered a season-ending triceps injury that left the Eagles thin on the edge. Chuck Harris, a mid-week waiver claim who joined the team on Wednesday, played sparingly despite being active for the game. Instead, Smith and Hunt saw the biggest increase in snaps.

The most dominant performance came from the interior, though, with Jalen Carter generating a handful of pressures even when working against double teams from a talented Ravens offensive line. Carter finished with a team-high three tackles for losses, two quarterback hits, and one sack.

“We got good pressure,” Sirianni said. “Lamar is such a good football player, he was able to get out of some things, but we had some consistent pressure against a good offensive line with our defensive line. It was muddy, and we forced them to go the long way.”

The Eagles offense’s first-half performance was somewhat indicative of the way the season has gone, with a shaky start giving way to an emphatic response.

After managing just 22 net yards in the first quarter, the Eagles put together consecutive touchdown drives in the second quarter that amassed 49 and 73 yards, respectively. The first ended with Jalen Hurts finding Dallas Goedert open in the flat on a run-pass option from 17 yards out. The second touchdown, which gave the Eagles their first lead of the game, came on a quarterback sneak that required Hurts to recover a botched snap exchange before reaching over the goal line.

Hurts started the game with four incomplete passes in his first five attempts in the first quarter, but completed eight of his next nine attempts for 99 yards and the touchdown to Goedert. Five of those completions went to A.J. Brown, who consistently found space in the intermediate level of the field on deep digs and slant routes that required timing and anticipation from Hurts to find the soft spots between Baltimore’s zone coverages.

Facing a Ravens defense that went into the game ranked No. 1 in rushing yards allowed per attempt by 24th against the pass, the Eagles used a more balanced offensive approach than they have in prior weeks. Saquon Barkley entered the fourth quarter with just 11 carries compared to Hurts’ 17 dropbacks. Hurts finished 11-for-19 for 173 yards and one touchdown with an additional 30 yards rushing and another score. Barkley had 23 carries for 107 yards, his eighth game surpassing the 100-yard mark on the season.

“We’ll have to go back and look at the first quarter, the first half, we had a lot of plays that we left out there,” Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson said. “... It wasn’t pretty by any means, we’ll have to go back and watch the tape, the first quarter was really slow until like the last two possessions, but a win is a win. This is my first time ever beating these guys in 12 years.”

The Eagles’ offensive output wasn’t too dissimilar in the second half, with the group’s only two series of the third quarter ending in punts before Hurts led a decisive scoring drive to open the fourth quarter.

Hurts found Goedert on a shallow crossing route using the team’s often-favored mesh concept to convert on a pivotal third-and-7. Three plays later, Barkley broke free for a 25-yard touchdown run to give the Eagles a nine-point advantage midway through the third quarter.

The offense continued moving the chains for a crucial four-minute drive, forcing Baltimore to use all three of its timeouts, chewing more than five minutes off the clock before sending Jake Elliott out to make a 35-yard field goal.

“I give a lot of credit to how our O-line plays in those moments and how Saquon is consistently getting downhill and kind of finishing,” Hurts said. “I see him in our team this year making a big impact in those moments mostly, especially when we have to lean on him in the end of the game.”

A few weeks after Elliott’s uncharacteristically poor evening left points on the board for the Eagles, they were the ones benefitting from one of the league’s most well-regarded kickers going through a slump on Sunday.

Baltimore kicker Justin Tucker, a five-time All-Pro, left seven points on the board Sunday, missing a 47-yard field goal, a 53-yarder, and an extra point with the game hanging in the balance. Tucker, who did hit field goals from 34 and 50 yards for the Ravens, is now up to eight missed field goals this season and is on pace to record the worst percentage of his career by a wide margin.

The Eagles lost their second member of the secondary to a concussion in as many weeks, with Reed Blankenship leaving late in the third quarter.

Tristin McCollum replaced Blankenship at safety opposite C.J. Gardner-Johnson, working behind a cornerback pairing that already featured Isaiah Rodgers in place of Darius Slay, who is in the concussion protocol after leaving last Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams.

Goedert also left with a knee injury and didn’t return to the game. The Eagles listed him as questionable late in the fourth quarter. Quinyon Mitchell also had an injury scare, but returned after missing a few plays midway through the third quarter.