It’s all a matter of perspective when it comes to this Eagles season.
You can look at the last two mistake-filled games as a sign of trouble after their 32-21 loss to the Washington Commanders on Nov. 14, followed up by rallying from 10-points down to beat the Indianapolis Colts 17-16 on Sunday.
After all, both teams were under .500 when the Eagles played them. And it won’t get any easier with a Sunday night game against the Green Bay Packers (4-7) with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, followed by the Tennessee Titans (7-3), and the first of two games against the Giants (7-3).
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And after committing just three turnovers through the first eight games, all victories, the Eagles have committed six turnovers (five fumbles and an interception) in the last two.
Or you can look at it as a good team finding ways to win. The Eagles are 9-1, with a one-game lead over the Vikings for the best record in the NFC. The top seed in both the NFC and AFC get a first-round bye and home-field advantage up until the Super Bowl.
“Any time your back is against the wall, and you have to fight out of it, it’s a great character builder for your team,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “(That’s) because now you’ve been in all these different spots − down early, down late, up big.
“You feel like, hey, we have been here before. … When you have to win like that, and it’s got to be grimy and gritty, that’s who we are. We are nasty. We are physical.”
The win over the Colts certainly qualifies. The Eagles never led until Jalen Hurts scored on a quarterback draw from 7 yards out with 1:20 remaining.
Against the Commanders, the Eagles trailed by 2 points in the fourth quarter, then turned the ball over three times.
It was quite a change from the first eight games, when the Eagles had double-digit leads in every game, and never trailed in the second half.
Or is it a sign of trouble that opponents have figured out how to stop the Eagles?
The Eagles gave up an average of 160 yards rushing in the previous two games. The Eagles countered that by signing veteran defensive tackles Linval Joseph and Ndamukong Suh. Both played well Sunday, holding the Colts to 99 yards on the ground.
But the Eagles’ offense has averaged just 19 points per game in the last two, and star tight end Dallas Goedert is on injured reserve with a shoulder injury. The Eagles had just 3 points early in the fourth quarter against the Colts before rallying.
“I think we’re still learning,” Brown said. “(Against Washington), we got hit in the mouth. And even this game, it wasn’t that they were doing anything special. We were doing it to ourselves.”
Until they finally did it to the Colts.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
