Eagles Today

On Second Watch: Eagles Finding A Different Path To Desired Goal

The Eagles were supposed to ride an explosive offense. Instead, they've become defense first with a string running game.

John McMullen

Nov 14, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) is chased boy Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Zack Baun (53) and safety Reed Blankenship (32) during the fourth quarter at Lincoln Financial Field.
Nov 14, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) is chased boy Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Zack Baun (53) and safety Reed Blankenship (32) during the fourth quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
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PHILADELPHIA - Coaches and executives plan and the football gods laugh.

At 8-2 and coming off a sixth consecutive win, a 26-18 triumph over Washington Thursday night, the Eagles have the inside track to an NFC East championship and are pushing Detroit for the top spot in the conference.

That’s exactly the way GM Howie Roseman drew it up when putting together one of the most talented rosters in the NFL.

However, the path envisioned was abandoned after a 2-2 start in favor of scaling back to Philadelphia’s two favorite passions: running the football and strong defense.

In many ways, star linebacker Zack Baun is the microcosm of the Eagles’ 2024 season to date.

Baun was brought in by Roseman on a one-year, $1.6 million deal to be a backup edge rusher and special teams demon. Instead, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio took a look at the tape and thought off-ball LB.

An afterthought in New Orleans, Baun has morphed into one of the most dominating defensive playmakers in football with his latest splash coming in the fourth quarter against the Commanders when the Wisconsin product shed his block and used his body to stop Jayden Daniels in his tracks en route to a fourth-down stop that set off an aftershock of two Saquon Barkley touchdown runs over 20 seconds of game time.

The Eagles of Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert are a defense-first bunch carried by young defensive stars like Baun, Jalen Carter, Quinyon Mitchell, and Cooper DeJean.

And on offense, the aforementioned foundational pieces are the complements to the the NFL’s best offensive line and Barkley.

Maybe the moral of this story is to accumulate good players and figure it out from there. 

You can program the GPS but the great teams are the ones that can handle the detours. 

MORE NFL: Commanders-Eagles Stock Market: Baun's Big Hit and Saquon's 20 Seconds

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John McMullen
JOHN MCMULLEN

John McMullen is a veteran reporter who has covered the NFL for over two decades. The current NFL insider for JAKIB Media, John is the former NFL Editor for The Sports Network where his syndicated column was featured in over 200 outlets including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and Miami Herald. He was also the national NFL columnist for Today's Pigskin as well as FanRag Sports. McMullen has covered the Eagles on a daily basis since 2016, first for ESPN South Jersey and now for Eagles Today on SI.com's FanNation. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube.com. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey and part of 6ABC.com's live postgame show after every Eagles game. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

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