Lions-Eagles Stock Market: Eagles Capture Another Ugly Win With Stifling Defense

PHILADELPHIA - Maybe it wasn't all John Morton's fault.

Dan Campbell's one week Honeymoon as the Detroit Lions play-caller was derailed by a ferocious Eagles' pass rush that sped up Jared Goff, typically one of the more accurate passers in the NFL, again and again during a 16-9 Eagles win.

Philadelphia improved to an NFC Best 8-2 on the season and the Lions fell to 6-4 and behind both Chicago and Green Bay in the NFC North.

Take away Jahmyr Gibbs' incredible ability in space, and the Lions' offense looked pedestrian.

During the week leading up to the game, Campbell called Eagles' defensive coordinator Vic Fangio "a legend." If anything, the Lions head coach may have undersold Fangio's ability to prepare his players and dial up the right look at the right time.

THE BULLS

HOME COOKING: The Eagles won for the 14th time in their last 15 games at Lincoln Financial Field. That's a daunting number for the rest of the NFC with Philadelphia having the inside track for the No. 1 seed with seven games to play.

The last two times the road to the Super Bowl has gone through Philadelphia -- after the 2017 and 2022 seasons -- the Eagles made the Super Bowl.

RUN THE NORTH - A Nick Sirianni-coached Eagles team has never lost to an NFC North club. Philadelphia improved to 11-0 over NFC North teams since 2021. This is the Eagles' third win over the Lions over that span.

BALL SECURITY ON STEROIDS - Since Week 4 of last season, an important demarcation line for the Eagles, quarterback Jalen Hurts has thrown only two interceptions over his last 581 pass attempts. He's the only QB in NFL history with two or fewer INTs in any 500-pass sample size.

LEVERAGE DOWNS - The Lions typically dominate in high-leverage spots based on their aggression. Not on Sunday night, Detroit was 0-for-5 on third downs and 0-for-3 on fourth downs before finally converting a third down with 7:13 left in the third quarter.

The fourth downs by particularly affected by Moro Ojomo, who stoned Gibbs on a fourth-and-one and snipped out a fake punt on a direct snap to the upback on forth-and-2, and the pass rush as Jaelan Phillips and Jalyx Hunt went high/low on a fourth-and-goal at the three-yard line with just over five minutes to go in the third quarter.

In the end, Detroit finished 3-for-13 on third downs and 0-for-5 on fourth down.

THE BEARS

SAQUON BARKLEY'S JUICE - Maybe it's time to admit Barkley's 482 touches last season had a profound impact on the All-Pro. Barkley had his sixth game where he's averaged 3.3 yards-or-under per carry this season.

UNEVEN PASSING GAME - Rarely does anything look easy for the Eagles when they are passing the football. It was no different tonight with Jalen Hurts finishing 14 for 28 for 135 yards with three or four drops.

The silver lining is A.J. Brown can't complain about targets this week. The enigmatic wideout had 11 of them, catching seven of them for 49 yards and securing the game with a questionable pass-interference call on Rock Ya-Sin that Brown himself didn't even try to sell.

MORE NFL: Lions Are Too Banged-Up To Handle Eagles Right Now