Eagles turn in another defensive masterpiece, humble the Lions

The NFC North hates to see Vic Fangio’s defense coming.

One week after limiting the Green Bay Packers to seven points on the road, the Eagles defense stifled the Detroit Lions on Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field, handing the league’s second-ranked scoring offense a 16-9 loss.

» READ MORE: Eagles grades: More high marks for the defense

The Eagles defense dominated on fourth down, as the Lions went 0-for-5. But the offense failed to capitalize on those opportunities too often, scoring just six points off turnovers on downs in another quiet overall performance.

Here’s our instant analysis from the Eagles’ fourth straight win:

The Eagles were on a short week coming off the Monday night game, but Fangio’s defense showed no shortage of firepower.

The interior defensive line — namely Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and Moro Ojomo — gave Jared Goff and the Lions’ offensive front fits. On the third play of the Lions’ opening drive, Davis deflected Goff’s pass at the line of scrimmage. Cooper DeJean hauled the batted ball in and returned it 21 yards to the Lions’ 11-yard line, marking Goff’s fourth interception of the year. Carter and Davis combined for five batted passes on the night (two for Carter, three for Davis).

On the following Lions possession, Jaelan Phillips notched his first sack as an Eagle, thanks in part to Carter’s efforts. The 24-year-old defensive tackle bulldozed right guard Tate Ratledge, sucking right tackle Penei Sewell inside and leaving Phillips unblocked off the edge.

The Eagles defense also sniffed out the Lions’ fake punt attempt in the second quarter. The group never left the field and the Lions went for it anyway on fourth-and-2 from their own 43, with linebacker Grant Stuard taking a direct snap up the middle. Jalyx Hunt halted him for no gain to force a turnover on downs.

One of the Lions’ five turnovers on downs came at the Eagles’ 4-yard line in the third quarter thanks to pressure generated by Phillips and Adoree’ Jackson’s sound coverage of Amon-Ra St. Brown in the end zone.

Carter also batted a pass at the line of scrimmage late in the third quarter on third-and-3 with the Lions just past midfield. On the subsequent fourth down, Goff threw a pass behind St. Brown with Quinyon Mitchell in coverage.

“Just want it more,” Phillips said of the Eagles’ mentality on fourth down. “I thought we just played super fundamentally sound. They just didn’t have an answer for anything we were doing.”

In the fourth quarter, Jackson continued to play well at outside cornerback, making a third-and-10 breakup on a pass for St. Brown down the right sideline. The Lions punted from their own 39, marking their first punt since the first quarter.

Nakobe Dean sacked Goff on second down late in the fourth quarter, one play after he locked wide receiver Jameson Williams down in coverage to force an incompletion on a deep ball. The Lions ultimately settled for a field goal to make it 16-9 at the two-minute warning.

The offense had little to show for the defense’s dominance. In the first half, the Eagles received the ball in enemy territory three times (once after the interception, twice after turnovers on downs). They settled for field goals in the red zone twice.

That trend continued into the second half. On three turnovers on downs, the Eagles scored just one field goal.

“The game like tonight, and [the defense] played lights-out and they held things down,” Jalen Hurts said. “So we’ve just got to continue to improve so we can elevate the level of complementary football we play. When I look at five stops from fourth down, as an offense, we’ve got to be able to capitalize on all of those opportunities, in short fields and when the defense is playing like that. So that’s an area of growth for us.”

The Eagles struggled from an execution standpoint. They had four negative plays through the first six possessions of the game. Hurts went 5 for 14 for just 30 passing yards in that span. Dallas Goedert and DeVonta Smith both had uncharacteristic drops, the latter of which came on third down early in the second quarter and killed the drive.

Late in the second quarter, the offense mustered its first touchdown drive, in part thanks to backup running back Tank Bigsby. His 17-yard run on second-and-13 from the Eagles’ 40-yard line bailed them out of a negative play on first down, when Hurts fumbled the handoff to Saquon Barkley, who recovered the loose ball.

The drive ended with a Tush Push touchdown, breaking a 6-6 tie to put the Eagles up, 13-6.

Otherwise, the Eagles struggled on the Tush Push throughout the night, incurring a pair of penalties and failing to reach the line to gain on fourth-and-1 late in the fourth quarter from their own 29-yard line.

The lone touchdown and the trio of field goals were ultimately enough for the Eagles offense to muster a win over the Lions. A.J. Brown drew a critical defensive pass interference call against Lions cornerback and Temple product Rock Ya-Sin on third-and-8 with just under two minutes remaining, keeping the drive alive and allowing the Eagles to salt the game away.

Going into Sunday’s game, the Lions had been held to under 100 rushing yards in each of their three losses this season. Stopping the Lions’ potent rushing attack led by Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery was going to be key for the Eagles defense.

The group was successful in the first half, limiting Detroit to 30 rushing yards on 12 carries. Gibbs in particular had just five carries for 8 yards.

But Gibbs came on in the second half. He had a pair of explosive plays on short passes behind the line of scrimmage in the third quarter — one for 42 yards and another for 33 yards. The 23-year-old running back forced a litany of missed tackles on both plays and picked up 82 yards after the catch on the night.

Those plays didn’t amount to anything, though, as the Lions turned the ball over on downs on all three of their possessions in the third quarter.

Gibbs finished the game with 3.3 yards per carry (39 yards on 12 carries), which was his fourth-lowest clip of the season. He also had five receptions for 107 yards, his best output as a receiver this year.

“He’s a great player,” Hunt said. “As you could see on those two plays, a lesser player would’ve been tackled crazy early. But he’s able to get out of tight spaces. So just [an] emphasis on tackling this week. Hitting him when we can. Getting pads on him, getting extra hands, getting help over top.”

Lane Johnson went down with a foot injury late in the first quarter and was quickly deemed questionable to return by the team. He had entered the game with an ankle injury. Johnson was officially ruled out in the third quarter.

Brett Toth took over for Cam Jurgens, who entered the game with a right knee injury, late in the fourth quarter. The 26-year-old starting center went indoors after a visit to the medical tent.