Dec 15, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown (11) reacts in front of Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Cameron Sutton (20) after his first down catch during the second quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images Bill Streicher
Jalen Hurts turned in one of his best performances of the season Sunday, completing 25 of 32 passes for 290 yards and two touchdowns, while adding another rushing score, as the Eagles defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-13.
Here are five takeaways from the 10th win in a row for Hurts and the Eagles.
Was there any easier money than taking Brown to score a touchdown after a week of discussing the recent struggles of the passing game, and the relationship between him and Hurts?
Brown had just four catches for 43 yards in last week's narrow victory over the Carolina Panthers. By the end of the first quarter of Sunday's matchup with the Steelers, Brown already had four catches for 48 yards, including a five-yard touchdown connection:
Jalen Hurts finds his friend AJ Brown for a TD 🤝 pic.twitter.com/e0Bq5hqR9O
It didn't turn out to be a 150+ yard day for Brown, but he had eight catches for 110 yards.
Smith had quite the day himself, including a two-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter:
Jalen Hurts 146 yards 2 TDs 🦅
pic.twitter.com/sUnzttevqE
Smith finished the day with 11 catches for 109 yards.
It wasn't a career performance for either, but it probably wasn't a realistic expectation that Brown or Smith would completely go off against Pittsburgh's defense. Still, it was a solid day for the passing game at a time when they needed it the most.
Barkley had a bizarre second quarter, which featured a trip to the blue medical tent and then quite a bit of standing on the sideline with Kenneth Gainwell in the game.
He returned in the second half, though Sunday turned out to be one of his few pedestrian performances of the season. Barkley had 65 rushing yards on 19 carries, adding in two catches for nine yards.
Eight running backs — Eric Dickerson, Adrian Peterson, Jamal Lewis, Barry Sanders, Derrick Henry, Terrell Davis, Chris Johnson and O.J. Simpson have rushed for 2,000 yards in a season. With three games remaining, Barkley has 1,688 yards.
As for Dickerson's all-time single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards — which he set in a 16-game season in 1984 —Barkley needs to average 139 yards per game over the final three contests to break it.
Barkley will almost certainly need to break the single-season rushing record to win MVP, and even that won't guarantee him anything given how well Josh Allen is playing. Allen had another monster day, scoring four total touchdowns in a win over the Detroit Lions at Ford Field.
Allen's performance Sunday as the Bills defeated the Lions might mean that Barkley has to settle for Offensive Player of the Year, as opposed to MVP.
It's probably a trade Barkley will be willing to make, because Detroit losing Sunday has put the Eagles in prime position to earn the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs, which comes with a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
With the Eagles win in Week 15 and a Lions loss, both teams are now 12-2. There will be plenty of time to go through the tie-breaking scenarios if both teams finish with the same record. The Eagles have an easier remaining, although the difference might not be as drastic as we thought a few weeks ago:
Eagles' Remaining Schedule: @ Washington Commanders (9-5), vs. Dallas Cowboys (6-8), vs. New York Giants (2-12)
Lions' Remaining Schedule: @ Chicago Bears (4-9), @ San Francisco 49ers (6-8), vs. Minnesota Vikings (11-2)
Mind you, as great as the Lions have been, they still aren't certain to win their own division, as the Vikings — who will play the Bears on Monday Night Football tomorrow — are also 11-2 in the NFC North. Those two teams are playing in the final week of the season, which could mean the No. 1 seed comes down to a Sunday Night Football matchup between the Vikings and Lions in Week 18. If the Eagles win out, they'll have a strong chance to claim the top spot.
The Eagles defeated Wilson for the first time in his excellent career Sunday. It's been a long time coming.
Andy Reid and the Eagles wanted to draft Wilson in the 2012 NFL Draft, but the Seattle Seahawks beat them to it, getting the steal of the draft with the 75th pick.
Wilson entered the day with a 5-0 career regular season record against the Eagles, and 6-0 if you add in the 17-9 NFC Wild Card win that the Seahawks had over the Eagles in January 2020.
Of course, this is Wilson's third season out of Seattle, and he looked to be over the hill in two campaigns with the Denver Broncos. But Mike Tomlin bet on Wilson this past offseason, and inserted him in mid-October, despite Justin Fields having played at a proficient level over the first six weeks of the season. Tomlin, as he typically is, has been proven right in his faith in Wilson.
Wins might not be a quarterback stat, but it's hard to ignore the 6-1 record that the Steelers posted over the first seven games under Wilson. Coming into the day, Wilson, now 36, had tossed 12 touchdowns to just three interceptions, having rediscovered his ability to throw the deep ball at the right time with pinpoint accuracy.
However, Vic Fangio's excellent defense held Wilson in check. While he did complete a flea-flicker pass — something he seems to do every time he faces the Eagles — it was a pretty underwhelming day overall for Wilson, who was without his top target in George Pickens. Wilson threw for just 128 yards Sunday, more than 100 less than the 255 he averaged per game over his first seven starts of the season.
The Eagles will finish their regular-season slate with three consecutive NFC East matchups, beginning with the Commanders next week in Landover, Maryland. They'll then host the Cowboys and Giants before the postseason begins.
