Browns-Eagles Stock Market: Defense, Decision-Making and Cooper DeJean

It wasn't aesthetic but the Eagles did what they needed to do against a banged-up Cleveland team.

Oct 13, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter (98) celebrates his sack with linebacker Nakobe Dean (17) against the Cleveland Browns during the second quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

PHILADELPHIA - No style points were won in South Philadelphia but a football game was as the Eagles outlasted the struggling Cleveland Browns, 20-16.

Nick Sirianni's team peeked its head above water in the process to 3-2 season but many of the offensive issues remain after a bye week focused on "details."

The returns of receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith paid dividends with each recording a touchdown and Brown surpassing 100 yards (6 receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown) on the afternoon while Lane Johnson slowed down some of the protection issues.

The slow starts remained, however, and some new injuries cropped up with tight end Dallas Goedert (hamstring), cornerback Darius Slay (knee) and left tackle Jordan Mailata (hamstring) being ruled out due to their injuries.

Here's the Week 6 stock market:

THE BULLS:

COOPER DEJEAN - The Eagles finally pulled the trigger on DeJean starting in the slot and it paid immediate dividends against a struggling offense. The rookie was quick to the football in the flat on a couple of occasions, including early in the game which helped set the tone.

DeJean also gave Vic Fangio's defense some juice with his blitzing ability off the slot. He was credited with 0.5 sack but also ran Deshaun Watson into a shared sack by Milton Williams and Thomas Booker with the Browns backed up near their own goal line. which takes us into...

PASS RUSH - Philadelphia came in with a total of six sacks in four games and finished with five sacks and 10 quarterback hits against Watson, who has a penchant for hanging onto the football and had a banged-up offensive line that lost starting center Nick Harris, typically is a backup himself, to a leg injury early in the game. Harris was ultimately carted off with an air cast.

It might be fair to question how much you can really take from this circumstance but you can only play who is on the schedule and the Eagles took their opportunity and ran with it. Along with the Williams/Booker effort and DeJean, who shared his sack with Bryce Huff, Nolan Smith, Josh Sweat, and Jalen Carter all got home.

Carter paced the team with three of the QB hits, while Sweat added two of them.

JALEN HURTS' DECISION-MAKING - Coming into Sunday's game Hurts' 27 turnovers since the start of the 2023 season were the most in football. He had seven turnovers this season (four picks, three fumbles) and had a turnover in nine straight games entering Sunday.

That ended with a clean game when it came to ball security against the Browns. That's big because the main theme to Hurts' turnovers has been late throws in the passing game and losing his fundamentals when carrying it trying to either navigate or escape the pocket,

THE BEARS:

NICK SIRIANNI'S BEHAVIOR - The Eagles' head coach was almost taunting fans after the win. The coach heard a lot of boos on Sunday and some faint "Fire Nick" chants that failed to pick up a great amount of steam.

When asked about the situation afterward, Sirianni said he was "just excited to get a win."

When pressed further about being the old-school animated Sirianni the coach said some players commented to him during the bye week: "We need you back, Nick. ...If I want the guys to celebrate and be themselves after big plays, then I should probably do that myself."

"I was having fun, and I kind of got some feedback from the guys that, 'We need you back, Nick," Sirianni said. "We need your energy, your focus. I've gotten that from a couple players and when I'm operating and having fun I think that breeds to the rest of the football team.

"If I want the guys to celebrate and be themselves after big plays, then I should probably do that myself, right? And there's times for that, and there's times not for that."

It strikes me as a coach already on the hot seat concluding that if he's going out, he's going out his way and that kind of sentiment is more trouble than it's worth vs. saying something like "on to New York," and quickly dismissing the self-inflicted controversy.

NAKOBE DEAN IN SPACE - Most of the defense had positive days and Dean can be included with a team-high 12 tackles but his movement skills in space tend to be exposed by opposition playmakers.

SLOW STARTS: The Eagles have been ugly starters dating back to last season. This season their opening drives in five games have consisted of 16 plays for 12 yards with three three-and-outs, an interception, and one first down.

Philadelphia is also still the only team in the NFL that hasn't scored in the first quarter and the Eagles haven't done that in seven games total dating back to last season.

Sirianni pushed back on the idea the Eagles didn't start fast, noting the "defense started fast" against the Browns and it's only the offense, something that will get fixed.

"I don't want that to be in their heads," Sirianni said.

The obvious way to stop that is to have some tangible success in the first 15 minutes on offense.

EAGLES ON SI: Eagles Sparked By Goal Line Stand, Return Of Star Receivers In 20-16 Win Vs. Browns