The Elite Eight That Has Eagles at 8-0

The NFL’s move to an unbalanced 17-game schedule means the 2022 midway point for the Eagles will come at halftime of the upcoming Week 10 Monday night affair against the Washington Commanders.

An 8-0 start, the best in a nearly 90-year franchise history, has Nick Sirianni’s team at the top of the betting markets and predictive models as the stretch run for Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, Ariz. is poised to kick off.

Through nine weeks, Philadelphia has been the most well-rounded team in the NFL with a toolbox filled with ways to beat opponents.

Nick Sirianni, one of the favorites for Coach of the Year, understands his role as steward can only reach the ultimate goal if the talent assembled has that kind of ceiling.

“Show me a good coach and I’ll show you good players,” the Eagles’ mentor is fond of saying.

Here are the elite eight players for the Eagles – four on the No. 3 offense and four on the No. 3 defense – that have helped Philadelphia evolve from a one-and-done playoff team to a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

OFFENSE:

TE Dallas Goedert - The best pure football player on the Eagles, Dallas Goedert is the embodiment of the Eagles’ 53-man roster. He might not be as splashy as Travis Kelce or Kyle Pitts but he’s either the most well-rounded tight end in football or a close No. 2 to San Francisco’s George Kittle.

Sirianni had some fun describing Goedert, ranked No. 4 of 68 at his position by Pro Football Focus, after the TE1’s brilliant performance in Houston last week when he caught eight of nine targets for 100 yards.

“We showed a clip (Wednesday) from “Friday Night Lights” and they were explaining Dallas Carter (High School). And during it, he said, ‘they’re big, they’re fast, they’re mean, they’re strong, and they’re fast,’” Sirianni smiled. “ … That’s a good explanation of who Dallas Goedert is. “He’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast, he’s mean. And he’s fast.”

WR A.J. Brown - The final piece to the Eagles’ offensive puzzle, Brown is the true WR1 that has had an imposing domino effect on the rest of the unit. “Swole Batman” is PFF’s No. 3 wideout behind only Miami’s Tyreek Hill and Buffalo’s Stefon Diggs.

The Eagles haven’t had a receiver as dominant as Brown, who is on pace for a 1,500-yard receiving season, since Terrell Owens.

“Any time you have an elite receiver like A.J., there is a lot of trust with him and Jalen [Hurts] to go up and make a play,” said offensive coordinator Shane Steichen. “He is so big and strong and powerful at the point of attack, and when he goes up, you know he's going to probably come down with it.”

RT Lane Johnson - At 32, Johnson remains the most dominant right tackle in the NFL with an amazing resume in pass protection. The veteran has been asked to keep opposing rushers off Jalen Hurts 293 times so far and hasn’t even allowed a quarterback hit, never mind a sack. Johnson is PFF’s No. 7 ranked offensive tackle and No. 2 RT begins only Tampa Bay’s Tristan Wirfs.

"He's the best right tackle in the world,” Sirianni said earlier this year when discussing Johnson. “To be able to say that about guys on your roster, that's a cool thing to have. 'Lane, you are the best right tackle in the world.' That's how my eyes see it, that's how people in our building see it, that's how our offensive coaches see it.”

QB Jalen Hurts - The most improved player in the NFL, Hurts has now taken the lead in the MVP race in most betting markets as an amazing dual-threat that can beat you running the football or throwing it. His ball security has also reached Aaron Rodgers-like levels.

The most impressive aspect of Hurts’ game, though, is his decision-making, which is reaching elite status in just his third season as a professional.

“I saw it coming,” Steichen said of Hurts’ improvement. “... it started towards the end of last year. You saw the progression going up and then you saw it through training camp and then you saw it starting the season. The more you play and the more you see, I think at any position, you're going to grow as a football player. That's what he's doing.

… I think that's what sets (Jalen) apart is his preparation.”

DEFENSE:

Edge Rusher Haason Reddick - The Eagles tied for No. 30 in sacks last season, ahead of only woeful Detroit, and finished at sea level when it came to turnover ratio. This season the Philadelphia defense is No. 7 when it comes to taking down the opposing quarterback and are lapping the rest of the field with a mind-numbing plus-15 when it comes to turnovers.

Reddick, who is No. 7 in the NFL in ESPN’s pass rush win rate metric at 23%, isn’t the only reason for that but he’s the key cog. On pace for his third consecutive double-digit sack season, the Temple product also has three strip sacks, showing a knack that few others have.

“For a guy that’s a speed rusher, he’s very powerful,” defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon said of Reddick. “...We can deploy him different ways where he can play in space. He can play different spots along the line. That’s a really good piece to have for us because one, he can handle it mentally, and two, that gives us a chance to create different matchups that we like. So, he can play right and left. He can stack. He can do it all.”

Mike LB T.J. Edwards - Maybe the most underrated Eagles player, the former undrafted free agent has quietly developed into one of the best off-ball linebackers in the entire NFL, grading out No. 6 of 81 by PFF. What’s been most impressive about Edwards is his pass coverage. Often pigeonholed as a two-down run-stuffer by many, Edwards’ football IQ and savvy are such that he’s been a top-10 pass coverage LB as well (No. 10 of 78 per PFF).

"I didn't scout him coming out, but when I got here, you read everything and you talk to different people that looked at him and things like that. I think that if there were a couple negatives on him, they are not negatives with what we're asking him to do,," said Gannon. "Actually, they're positives.”

CB Darius Slay - A true lockdown corner in an era where few exist, Slay’s performance against Justin Jefferson, perhaps the most talented WR in football in a Week 2 win over 7-1 Minnesota told you all you need to know about Philadelphia’s CB1.

Whether it’s press coverage or the default quarters coverage Philadelphia uses most, Slay can handle everything thrown his way both literally and figuratively.

Slay has been thrown at 37 times this season and allowed just 17 completions for 183 yards, a minuscule 45.9 completion percentage for opposing QBs who have an even worse passer rating of 36.2 when daring to throw Slay’s way.

"Slay is just obviously a really, instinctive player," Sirianni said. "He can break great on the football. He trusts his speed. He's just showing the ability when he gets the ball in his hands he's gonna make a big play.”

S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson - For the final defensive player, there were a lot of candidates like leading sacker Javon Hargrave, run-stopping prodigy Jordan Davis or the CB opposite Slay in James Bradberry, who has allowed a 38.4 passer rating but Gardner-Johnson gets the nod because home runs mean something.

The others have been more consistent than CGJ but you can never downplay a league-leading five interceptions and a knack for making game-changing plays. That’s been Gardner-Johnson despite arriving on the eve of the season in a trade with New Orleans.

“That's a talented player that works on it every day with the coaches, and he's done a good job of capitalizing on some of those plays that he gets his hands on,” Gannon said.

“... Our other guys have done a good job with that, too. Slay, Bradberry, those guys – Avonte (Maddox) - those guys have made some catches when the ball is around them, and that's why we're playing really good pass defense right now and taking the ball away at a high level because they understand where to be.

"They understand where their opportunities are going to come, and they make some plays that if me and you were out there, we probably wouldn't make them. It's been good. They're executing well, and we need to continue to do that."

-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