Eagles find a run-first identity and a dynamic defense; Jared Goff, MVP?; Andy Reid rolls in NFL’s Week 7

Brian Dawkins, a safety, and Jason Kelce, a center, are Philadelphia’s most cherished football players. Reggie White, a defensive end, is the best Eagle in history. Wilbert Montgomery, a running back, and Buddy Ryan, a defense-oriented head coach, are adored far beyond their accomplishments.

Philly loves to run the ball down your throat and then hit you in the mouth. Philly should be loving this edition of the Eagles.

The Eagles changed coordinators and rebooted themselves in the offseason. It takes a few weeks for any rebooted team to find its identity, and, after six games, the Eagles have developed a two-part identity. One part they didn’t plan, and the other they couldn’t foresee, but both parts will delight their hard-nosed fans.

The Eagles are a running team that plays dynamic defense. This was not the plan. Nick Sirianni has a hard time admitting that.

» READ MORE: Eagles rally behind Nick Sirianni as Brandon Graham calls out Seth Joyner and Derrick Gunn

“Your identity is something that’s always changing,” Sirianni said Monday. “Our identity is our core values. Scheme stuff is constantly adjusting. Sometimes, the identity is to run it as much as we did.”

In their case, it should be all the time.

This is not surprising. Siranni, a former wide receiver, and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, a former quarterback, believe in the passing game. They believe in gambling on fourth down. They believe in scoring as many points as possible to keep the defense off the field. So do owner Jeffrey Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman, who, in the past 18 months, allocated $426 million in new money to quarterback Jalen Hurts and receivers DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown.

They added Saquon Barkley, but did so to complement the air attack and to put games away late.

In an amusing twist, Barkley has been the most productive of them all. He’s had two of the most productive games of his career in his six as an Eagle, most recently Sunday’s 176-yard haul at his former team’s stadium. Against those Giants, the Eagles altered their game plan to include more under-center snaps — hopefully, a trend, considering that, at this moment, this is who they are.

Barkley ranks second, with 109.7 yards per game. The Eagles rank second in rushing yards per game, at 166.7, and Hurts, who is still a threat to run, has 218 of them. Hurts threw just 14 passes on Sunday. Tight end Dallas Goedert didn’t play. Smith caught one ball for minus-2 yards, and the Eagles still ran away with the ballgame.

They have aerial weapons, but, with a quarterback who lacks a powerful arm, doesn’t recognize open receivers, and shies away from the middle of the field, they are a running football team.

“When we stuck with the run game, good things happened,” right tackle Lane Johnson told NBC10 after the game.

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That’s only half the story.

With the 28-3 decision over the Giants, the Eagles won consecutive games for the first time in their last 13 games. The past two weeks, the most dynamic plays have been made by the defense. In those two games it allowed just 12 points, zero touchdowns, 363 total yards, and recorded 13 sacks.

Neither the Browns last week nor the Giants on Sunday boasted fearsome offenses, and both have issues at quarterback, but that should not detract from the Eagles’ competence. Now playing fast in first-year coordinator Vic Fangio’s scheme, the Eagles’ young players are shining.

First-round Georgia products Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and Nolan Smith have found their stride on the defensive line. First-round rookie corner Quinyon Mitchell might be the best player on the defense. It sputtered in Game 1 against the Packers and in Game 4 against the Buccaneers, but neither game was played in Philadelphia and both are playoff-caliber clubs. The defense ranks in the top 11 in sacks, passing yards allowed per game, and points allowed per game.

Can they be dominant? How did this happen?

“We could dominate. Playing as one — playing as a team — we could be dominant,” said safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson. “We’re practicing better. Coming together as a back-end. Focusing on the little things. We’re playing for each other, not individual stuff. So we can be. It’s only Game 6. It’s a long season.”

“Yeah, defense is our identity,” said Josh Sweat, who had his third sack in as many games. ”It’s our identity — until the next week.”

When Super Bowl-losing quarterback Jared Goff was traded from the Rams to the Lions after the 2020 season, and when the Rams then immediately won the Super Bowl with Matthew Stafford, it seemed like the top two picks of the 2016 draft were fated for career failure. The draft was rich — Joey Bosa, Ezekiel Elliott, and Jalen Ramsey went with the next three picks — but Goff and quarterback Carson Wentz projected as superstars even early in their careers. By the end of the 2021 season, both Goff and Wentz looked cooked.

» READ MORE: Eagles stats: Saquon Barkley’s top speed, defensive domination highlight blowout win over Giants

But in 2022, Goff was a candidate for Comeback Player of the Year. Last season, only coach Dan Campbell’s fourth-down foolishness and poor clock management cost Goff a chance at another Super Bowl appearance. This season, so far, Goff is the NFL’s best quarterback.

His passer rating is 111.5, buoyed by a four-game, 4-0 run, three of which came on the road. Goff has logged a passer rating of more than 140 in his last three games, a feat matched only by Roger Staubach, Kurt Warner, and Aaron Rodgers; the first two have gold jackets, and the third will on his first ballot.

In those four games, the Lions have 18 offensive touchdowns and just 15 incompletions. They are a complete team, and the best team, and Goff is the best of them.

Wentz, now a backup with the Chiefs, still looks cooked.

The Chiefs remained undefeated despite another moribund game from Patrick Mahomes, whose mediocre season slogs along. He has six touchdown passes and eight interceptions, with at least one in each of Kansas City’s six games, and two more Sunday at the 49ers.

Which underscores the genius of coach Andy Reid, who has won three of the last five Super Bowls. His stingy, run-stopping defense has carried the club early in its difficult schedule. To be fair, that’s Reid’s DNA. For instance, Reid has consistently resisted the analytics-driven trend of going for it on fourth down and trusting his defense, unlike many younger (and un-wiser) coaches.

» READ MORE: Jalen Hurts has given the Eagles just what they’ve needed lately: a calming, stabilizing presence

No sane person ever relishes an injury to a football player, especially an injury like a torn Achilles tendon, which on Sunday ended Deshaun Watson’s season and, tangentially, might threaten his career. That’s because, by this time next year, the 1-6 Browns will be sure to have fired coach (and Philadelphia native) Kevin Stefanski, whom GM (and Eagles front-office alum) Andrew Berry technically did not hire; Berry landed in Cleveland a week after Stefanski.

At any rate, the new coach will be hired with the mandate of maximizing the prime of a defense led by Myles Garrett that took the team to the playoffs last season. So where does that leave Watson? Considering releasing him next year would incur a salary-cap hit of more than $100 million, it probably leaves him on the Browns as the most expensive backup in history.

Of course, it’s hard to feel sorry for the franchise or a person who has settled 25 counts of sexual assault in the past three years; amid these litigations, signed a $230 million, fully guaranteed contract; and — and this is the least of it — has been one of the worst players in the NFL.

Tampa Bay and Baltimore entered Monday night at 4-2, and Ravens stars Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry showed out, but Tampa lost much more than a football game; they lost receivers Mike Evans to a significant hamstring aggravation and Chris Godwin to a significant ankle injury. Not only might their Super Bowl aspirations be over, but now the playoffs look unlikely. … Russell Wilson, 35, debuted with Pittsburgh after a six-week injury delay and was pretty good in beating the Jets, but that should surprise no one, since Wilson had 26 TDs and just eight interceptions last season as Broncos coach Sean Payton’s scapegoat. … The Jaguars’ win at their surrogate home in London, over the woeful Patriots, preserved Doug Pederson’s job for a few more weeks, if not the entire season … Slim Commanders rookie Jayden Daniels, the biggest reason Washington is leading the NFC at 5-2, leads all quarterbacks with 372 rushing yards. Not coincidentally, Daniels left Sunday’s game early with a rib injury and did not return.