The Philadelphia Eagles sent a message with their defense on Sunday night, smothering Jared Goff and a usually explosive Detroit Lions offense in a 16–9 victory that boosts Philly’s position atop the NFC race.
“We emphasized all week that we needed to set the tone — be physical, play our brand of football. Anyone trying to move forward in this conference has to come through us, has to come through Philly,” defensive tackle Jordan Davis said. “We stepped up, made our point on defense, and I’m really proud of this unit.”
Davis knocked down three passes, one of which turned into a Cooper DeJean interception. His former Georgia teammate Jalen Carter added two more deflections.
Their preparation paid off. According to Davis, film study revealed that Goff’s throwing angles would create chances to disrupt passing lanes. The Eagles even installed a drill during the week specifically to practice batting balls and positioning defenders for interceptions.
Goff endured one of the worst outings of his career, completing only 38% of his attempts — the lowest completion rate for any quarterback this season. He was pressured 20 times and hit seven times.
“Small things like those deflections really get in a quarterback’s head,” Davis said. “From the pressure to the batted balls, we made everything difficult for him.”
Under pressure, Goff went 0-for-12, the second-highest number of pressured incompletions in a game in his career. No quarterback had gone 0-for-12 under duress since Blake Bortles in 2017.
Philadelphia’s defense shined in crucial moments, especially on fourth down, where the Lions went 0-for-5, turning head coach Dan Campbell’s trademark aggressiveness into a disadvantage.
“They played out of their minds — one of the best defensive performances I’ve ever watched,” quarterback Jalen Hurts said. “To shut down a really talented, explosive offense like that on so many key plays… I have so much respect for what they did.”
The Eagles have now limited the Packers and Lions — both NFC contenders — to a combined 16 points across the last two games. The last time Philadelphia held consecutive opponents to single digits was early in the 2022 season.
A major factor has been the arrival of edge rusher Jaelan Phillips, acquired from Miami just before the trade deadline. Phillips logged six pressures and a sack against Detroit after an impressive debut the previous week.
“He fit right in from day one,” linebacker Nakobe Dean said. “His attitude, his physicality — it’s exactly what we needed.”
With the offense scoring only 26 points over the past two wins — their lowest output during a two-game winning stretch since 1997 — the defense’s surge has been crucial.
Now 8–2, the Eagles continue to find ways to come out on top. ESPN Analytics gives them a 47% chance to secure the NFC’s No. 1 seed — odds that would have plummeted to 17% had they lost.
“I think our team takes pride simply in winning,” head coach Nick Sirianni said. “Watching games around the league today, you see a lot of teams waiting to lose. Our team expects to win because they’ve learned how to win. There’s real value in knowing how to finish games.”
