Eagles Findings: I like a lot of the team mentality that goes into the Bucs game

It’s a weekend wild edition of Roob’s Random Eagles Observations.

1. I was really impressed with the eagles ’mentality this week. There’s no feeling, “We’re just happy to be here.” There is no feeling of “playing with house money”. This team has been doing its thing this week and actually throughout this second half with the behavior of a team that believes they belong here. It believes it can play with anyone. It believes it can win the Super Bowl. The rest of the world might see them as some kind of explosive long-range shot that came hot against bad teams towards the end of the season and took 7th place. But in the locker room, they believe they belong here. This reflects a beginner’s head coach who has instilled tremendous confidence in this team, and a 23-year-old quarterback who carries himself with the moderation and maturity of a 10-year-old veteran. They’re definitely behaving like they’ve been here before, and in the playoffs, it’s huge. If you’re just happy to be here, you’re happy to lose.

2. There have been 55 NFL teams with 29 or fewer sacks and 16 or fewer takeaways during the season (since the sack became official statistics in 1982). The Eagles are just the second of 55 teams to make the playoffs. Closing the season in the NFL’s 10th defense, despite the fact that there are no real players other than Darius Slay, Javon Hargrave in the first half of the season and Josh Sweat in the second half, only tells how good this defense will be when (if?) Some reinforcements arrive in the draft.

3. Jalen Reagor was targeted 57 times this year and had one catch of 25 yards or more and two TDs. Greg Ward was targeted 11 times this year and had one catch of 25 yards or more and three touchdowns. More Ward. Less Reagor.

4. The last Eagle to receive a post-season touchdown was Jordan Matthews.

5. Only one player in Eagles history has been fired and cut off in the playoffs, and if you know who it is, you are the king of the Eagles trivia. It wasn’t Dawk, it wasn’t Willie T., it wasn’t Seth. In the 2001 conference semi-finals against Bears at frozen Soldier Field, Rashard Cook kicked Bears QB Jim Miller in the first quarter and then in the fourth quarter – after Hugh Douglas dropped Miller out of the game on Damon Moore’s INT return – Cook picked up Shane Matthews. Cook – selected by the Bears two years earlier in the sixth round – got three kicks and two INT points in his career in 47 regular season matches.

6. Suddenly you look up and find yourself writing Jason Kelce’s name alongside Steve Van Buren, Chuck Bednarik, Reggie White, and Brian Dawkins, and you find that this guitar-playing, fun-loving t-shirt-dude guy from Cleveland has one day Football Hall of Fame. One of the coolest stories ever. Kelce has gradually turned from a success story of a late-round selection into a truly solid center Super Bowl hero to one of the greatest players in Eagles history, and it has been incredible to follow its evolution. Think about it. Of all the hundreds and hundreds of players who have played downtown in the NFL, Kelce is only the ninth to have been named the First-Team All-Pro four times. The top eight are in the Hall of Fame. Kelce is such a good dude – funny, personal, humble, down to earth – it just adds to the legend. He’s the dude sitting next to you in the corner bar, and at the same time, he’s one of the best football players of all time, and he’s literally never been like him.

7. If the Eagles win on Sunday, Jalen Hurts will be the 8th youngest quarterback in NFL history to win the playoffs and the third youngest to win one match on the road. The hurts are 23 and 162 days old on Sunday. Here’s an overview of the seven younger QBs who have won at least one playoff match with their age (the first win if they won more than one), with Stathead’s permission:

– 22 years, 192 days: Michael Vick, Falcons, 2002, Green Bay [27-7]
– 22 years, 231 days: Shaun King, Buccaneers, 1999, vs. Washington [14-13]
– 22 years, 319 days: Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers, 2004, vs. Jets [20-17]
– 23 years, 39 days: Bernie Kosar, Browns, 1986, vs. Jets [23-20]
– 23 years, 59 days: Mark Sanchez, Jets, 2009, Bengals [24-14]
– 23 years, 105 days: Dan Marino, Dolphins, 1984, vs. Seahawks [31-10]
– 23 years, 117 days: Pat Mahomes, Chiefs, 2018, vs. Colts [31-13]

So Vick and Sanchez – two former Eagles – are the only quarter builders younger than Hurts to win the road knockout game.

8. Tom Brady is the undisputed GOAT, but the craziest thing about Brady is that he doesn’t have a rocket launcher arm and he’s so smart and so quick to get rid of the ball and so determined and sees the field so well that he really doesn’t need one. Brady has played 45 post-season games in his career and won 34 of them – including seven Super Bowls – but understand this: in those 45 games, he has only thrown FOUR at least 40-yard touchdowns. Or the same amount Jake Delhomme threw in eight playoffs. And understand this: Brady has thrown ONE post-season 40-yard touchdown or more in his last 35 playoffs since 2005 and NONE in his last 25 playoffs since 2011. Heck, Joe Webb and Julian Edelman have thrown 40 yards in post-season TDs recently. Nick Foles threw two in one game – in the 2017 NFC Championship. This is by no means a knock for Brady. Indeed, it is his appreciation. Because it shows how insanely effective he’s basically gossiping and dunking up and down the field.

9. The turnout is huge in all NFL matches, but especially in the afternoon against good teams. The Eagles were a terrible takeaway team this year. They finished 26th with just 16 takeaways, the second lowest in franchise history (the 2012 team had 13). They had zero or one takeaway in 14 of the 17 games. But when they had at least one, they were 7-4. When they had none, they were 2-4. When they were plus-1 or better in the turnover margin, they were 6-1. When they were plus-0 or worse, they were 3-7. Bucs was 6th best with a plus-10 turnover in the year and 5th in the takeaway with 29th. The Eagles will probably have to be at least a plus two on Sunday to get a victory from Tampa.

10. This is crazy considering the franchise has been around for 89 years, but the Eagles have been in the playoffs more since Andy Reid became their head coach than before he became their head coach. Apparently there are more rounds now than in the early years of the NFL, but still… 14 of the Eagles ’23 post-season wins have been since 2000.