National Football League

Eagles head into bye week undefeated, but hardly satisfied

Updated Oct. 19, 2022 5:06 p.m. ET

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By Ralph Vacchiano
FOX Sports NFC East Writer

They are the last undefeated team in the NFL, they have an MVP-caliber quarterback, and both a Top-4 offense and defense. They're among the league leaders in interceptions and sacks. And they've got both a receiver and running back who rank in the Top 6 in yardage.

So for the Philadelphia Eagles, this is as good as it gets.

Isn't it?

"There are always things to work on, right?" Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said as his team headed into its bye week. "So, I actually think we can be even more demanding and more crazy about, you know, what the standard is when you are 6-0."

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As ridiculous as it seems, the Eagles have managed to set their standard higher than being undefeated. And despite sitting atop the best and most surprising division in football and staking their claim as Super Bowl favorites, there is a feeling in Philly that this Eagles team has only scratched the surface of how good it can be. They have looked dominant at times, to be sure, but sleep-walked through other portions of games. They have looked vulnerable despite their ability to build big, insurmountable leads.

Yes, it's nitpicking when a team is 6-0. But that's what Sirianni and his coaching staff intend to spend the bye-week doing. Because while the world may see perfection, they want to take a hard look at all of what they view as the Eagles' flaws.

"I think being 6-0 is awesome," Sirianni said. "But I think you can put your foot on everybody and say, ‘You like this? This feel good? All right, then we got to keep going and really dive in even harder.'"

Added center Jason Kelce: "There isn't a player here who is satisfied with what we've done."

So where do they begin to tinker with their perfection? For the Eagles, the biggest concern is what Sirianni has called their "lulls" — where they seem to sit on big leads and let other teams either hang around or climb back into games. They have had two-touchdown leads in every game this season, and second-half leads of 15 or more points in every game but one.

Yet their average margin of victory is only 9.3 points. That's good, obviously, but not good considering they set an NFL record with 112 second-quarter points through the first six games of the season. That's more than 11 teams — and two NFC East teams (Dallas and Washington) — have for the entire season so far. The Eagles have outscored their opponents 112-27 in the second quarter.

But then they are being outscored 49-35 in the second half.

"We haven't played a complete game in the sense of we haven't really blown open a game when we have had two-score leads," Sirianni said. "You want to just be able to end a game and put a game away. I think that's what we're talking about, is to just really finish the game and put it away."

Added defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon: "Obviously you never want to let teams back in the game. That's one of the areas that we got to study and make sure. (Offensive coordinator Shane Steichen) and I had a great talk about it. ‘What are you doing? What am I doing? What are you thinking? What am I thinking?' to ultimately help the players."

There doesn't appear to be an easy answer. Earlier in the season, Sirianni admitted that at times he "forced Shane to take his foot off the gas" on offense. And that is clearly what is happening when Philadelphia gets what looks like a commanding lead.

The Eagles pass on 54.1% of their plays in the first half, but that dips to 36% in the second half. It's as if they don't want to lean on quarterback Jalen Hurts in those situations, despite the phenomenal season he's having — a season that includes only two interceptions so far. Hurts is averaging 182.8 passing yards per game in the first halves, but only 69.5 passing yards in second halves. And five of his six touchdown passes have come before halftime, too.

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Is it a terrible idea to lean on the NFL's fifth-best rushing attack when trying to protect a lead? No. But it's clearly taking the quick strike and big play out of their offense after halftime, and it's a huge reason why the Eagles seem to stall.

And that puts a strain on the defense, which has had its second-half issues, too. Like on Sunday night, after a smothering first-half performance in which they allowed the Cowboys only 81 yards and four first downs — half of which came on the final drive — the defense was gashed for two monster touchdown drives to start the second half that lasted 24 plays, went for 172 yards and took more than 11 ½ minutes off the clock.

Gannon actually saw some value in that. "There are times where a 10-play drive that takes seven minutes off the clock when you're up three scores isn't the worst thing in the world."

Maybe, but when those time-consuming Dallas drives were over, a blowout had turned into a 20-17 game with 14:39 left.

Now, the Eagles did respond with a grind-it-out, 7 ½-minute touchdown drive of their own in the fourth quarter against the Cowboys, and then cornerback C.J. Gardner-Johnson sealed the win with an interception. They have definitely proven they have the talent, depth and stamina to come up with the plays they need in crunch time.

It just feels like things should be easier for the Eagles, especially given their generally fast starts.

"Yeah, of course we were up 20-3 at the half and would've loved to just duplicate that and won the game 40-6," Sirianni said. "But in the grand scheme of things that's hard to do."

There are other things the Eagles could nit-pick during their bye week, too. They've only had one big game from A.J. Brown, their $100 million receiver — his 10-catch, 155-yard Philly debut on opening day. He's got 33 catches for 503 yards, which puts him on pace for a 93-catch, 1,400-yard season. And he's also had to share the ball with DeVonta Smith (33-397) and tight end Dallas Goedert (26-357). So it's not as if he's struggling.

But Brown has also been mostly quiet the last few games. And he hasn't been much of a second-half factor at all, where he has just 11 catches for 131 yards.

And then there's the Eagles' pass rush, which has 17 sacks, good for 17th in the NFL. That's good, until they remember that nine of those sacks came in one game against the Washington Commanders' broken-down offensive line. Defensive end Brandon Graham had 2.5 of his three sacks in that game. Haason Reddick, their $45 million edge rusher, has 4.5 sacks, but has some lengthy quiet stretches, too.

A little more Brown and a more consistent pass rush could be the solution to the Eagles' second-half problems and could turn them into a truly dominant team the rest of the way.

Of course, "problems" is a relative term. What matters most is the Eagles are 6-0, clearly heading for the playoffs, maybe for an NFC East title, and they hope towards Super Bowl LVII. They are that good and that deep, and they will be hard to beat the rest of the way if they stay healthy.

And if they ever manage to fix their "problems" — especially in the second half? There might be nothing standing in their way.

"We're a pretty good football team," running back Miles Sanders said. "But we still haven't played our best game. Everybody knows that."

Added Kelce: "There are a lot of areas where we need to be better. We have yet to play our best game and it's exciting to know that it's still out there."

Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.

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Philadelphia Eagles

Jalen Hurts

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Miles Sanders

DeVonta Smith

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Dallas Goedert

Ralph Vacchiano