Eagles Stock Market Report: Survival in the Desert
GLENDALE, AZ - The Eagles survived in the desert Sunday when their backup kicker proved more competent than the Cardinals' fill-in.
Rookie Cameron Dicker, filling in for the injured Jake Elliott, was able to cash in on a 23-yard chip shot with 1:45 keft in the game but veteran Matt Ammendola, the replacement for Matt Prater in Arizona, missed a 43-yard attempt badly with 17 seconds remaining as Philadelphia survived for its first win ever at StateFarm Stadium.
The stock market was more stagnant this week overall, but the long-term outlook remains high for an Eagles team that is the only undefeated one (5-0) in the NFL.
THE BULLS:
A CHALLENGER - The Cards didn't look like much coming in but Jalen Hurts again tried to tell the media they were overlooking a good team. Whether that's true will be determined in the coming weeks but Arizona gave the Eagles their toughest test to date and would have taken things to overtime if Ammendola was competent.
The style points weren't there, but the scoreboard is being pointed at by Nick Sirianni and Co. and that's a compelling argument.
DICKER ENERGY - The Eagles and Arizona both needed kickers this week and the Eagles went with the "unproven" guy because they were confident in their scouting and evaluation skills.
From the time Cameron Dicker arrived at the NovaCare Complex on Tuesday until he hit what proved to be the game-winner in Glendale, the young kicker said he's been in bigger situations with more high-pressured kicks at the University of Texas and that doesn't seem boastful after Sunday.
"I think I’ve played in bigger games in my life," Dicker said. "I’ve been playing at Texas and it prepared me for this opportunity, so it’s cool.”
OL DEPTH - The Eagles came in without Jordan Mailata (shoulder) and lost both Landon Dickerson (leg) and Jason Kelce (ankle) for a time in-game. While the group struggled with the blitz at times, it's hard to imagine another NFL team having the depth to persevere like Philadelphia did.
"It’s just like, be ready," backup center Cam Jurgens said. "Which I think that’s the same coaching point that you’re going to have all game and if you’re not playing, same thing.”
JALEN HURTS' ZOOLANDER SCOUTING REPORT - The famous movie model brought to life by Ben Stiller was famous for his inability to go left and that was the joke-y scouting report with Hurts last season, but the second-year starter pushed back against it for a second time this season with a strike over the middle of the field against the grain on a 3rd-and-12 play for a 22-yard gain to DeVonta Smith.
It was arguably the best throw of the night by Hurts.
ARRYN SIPOSS - The embattled punter bounced back from one of his worst games with one of his best, dropping three inside the 20-yard line and finishing with a 44.5 net average.
THE EIGHT-MINUTE OFFENSE: After the Cardinals deadlocked the game at 17-17 with 9:43, the Eagles responded with a massive 17-play, 70-yard drive that culminated with the Dicker' kick and, more importantly, drained 7:58 off the clock and cost Arizona all three of its timeouts.
The lack of time also forced Murray to spike the football on a 3rd-and-1, something that forced Ammendola to kick from 43 instead of using another couple of plays to potentially give a bad kicker a better opportunity.
“We knew this was going to be a physical game," Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. "We knew we had a really physical team. We know our identity is to be physical. When we needed to (be physical) the most and we were.
"I know we didn’t punch it in. We made a good play there on third down, but our job as coaches is to lean on our best players and we jumped on our offensive line’s back and rode them down the field. It was pretty special."
THE BEARS:
THE MIDDLE OF THE FIELD ON DEFENSE - The Cardinals were really struggling on offense early when Kyler Murray found a soft spot in the middle of the field where he was able to do some significant damage with Marquise Brown, Rondale Morre, and Zach Ertz. More consistency in pushing that envelope along with more consistency throwing the football may have even put the Eagles on the wrong half of the win-loss ledger for the first time this season.
THE HORIZONTAL OBSESSION ON OFFENSE - For whatever reason the Eagles' plan for the Arizona rushing scheme was to hit the edges with every kind of bubble or zero screen imaginable and some even worked, usually when Zach Pascal was on the field for his blocking. One, though, almost got DeVonta Smith killed.
“That’s just kind of the pace of the game and how it went," Hurts deferred when asked about all the horizontal stuff. "Y'all didn't ask me any questions about this same football team last weekend.
"I said they were really good so here we are after a close game talking about the looks that they gave us. I think they flew to the ball. They’re very physical. They play very physical defensively.
"Up front they gave us some different exotic looks and they did a good job with their scheme. I think we were just able to kind of find a way.”
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
