NFL power rankings roundup: Jalen Hurts’ Week 2 heroics give Eagles a boost heading into ‘Monday Night Football’
It wasn't always pretty, but Hurts and DeVonta Smith helped lead the Birds to a 2-0 record after Sunday's Week 2 win over the Titans.
Turf temperatures in Nashville reached 157 degrees on Sunday, but the Eagles offense still took some time to heat up in a 24-20 win over the Titans in Week 2.
Regardless of the offense’s inevitable growing pains under Sean Mannion, and despite throwing two interceptions on Sunday, Jalen Hurts again was the hero the Eagles needed and led the Birds to a 2-0 record with less than two minutes in the game.
Even after eking out a win for the second week in a row, the Eagles have begun to move the needle in some of the national media’s opinions on how they stack up, leaguewide. Here’s where the Eagles stand in several power rankings ahead of Week 3:
ESPN: Sixth
ESPN has the Eagles in the same spot as last week, in sixth, with the opinion that Hurts “is carrying this team.”
While their expectation was that Hurts and the passing offense would need time to adjust to Mannion’s scheme, Tim McManus writes that the opposite has proven to be true. Instead, it’s the running game and offensive line that have struggled, while the defense hasn’t been as dominant as expected. But Hurts remains reliable.
“Hurts led the team to a Week 1 win with three touchdowns and another victory Sunday via a go-ahead touchdown drive in the closing seconds,” McManus wrote. “He is tied for second in touchdown passes (five) and ahead of schedule in this new scheme.”
» READ MORE: What we know (and don't) about the Eagles entering Week 3 vs. the Bears
Bleacher Report: Fifth
Bleacher Report has the Eagles fifth this week — their highest ranking among national outlets — after slotting in at seventh ahead of Week 2. The Eagles’ ability to find a way to win and the emergence of DeVonta Smith as their top receiver played a role in why Brent Sobleski placed the Birds in B/R’s top five.
“When Jalen Hurts needed a play, the quarterback looked toward Smith,” Sobleski said. “The wide receiver delivered with four receptions during Philadelphia’s final offensive possession. Smith’s performance became even more important after Saquon Barkley was limited during the contest due a shoulder stinger.”
The Athletic: Ninth
The Eagles also saw slight movement with their ranking from Josh Kendall and Chad Graff at The Athletic, moving up from 11th to ninth with a “spotlight” on rookie wide receiver Makai Lemon for his play across the first two weeks.
“The first-round wide receiver has played 83 snaps through two games and has five touches for a total of 4 yards,” Kendall and Graff wrote. “If this team wasn’t eking out wins, Philly fans would be all over Lemon.”
» READ MORE: The Eagles need Jalen Hurts 2.0 now more than ever
Sports Illustrated: Ninth
After ranking 12th last week, the Birds moved up to ninth in Conor Orr’s Week 3 ranking.
Orr gave Hurts credit for proving many pundits, including Orr, wrong with the way he led the Eagles with a nine-play 65-yard game-winning touchdown drive.
“Hurts showed incredible resilience and a command of the field in the waning seconds of Sunday’s gritty win over the Titans,” Orr wrote. “It was nowhere near pretty, but after losing Saquon Barkley to a stinger in the opening moments of the game, it was important to avoid a perilous loss against an inferior opponent.”
NFL.com: 10th
The Eagles cracked the top 10 for NFL.com’s ranking after moving up one spot from last week. Nick Shook wrote that even when the Titans gave the Eagles “everything they could handle,” Philly’s “championship culture” helped them survive the scare.
“Outside of a couple of interceptions (one ugly, the other unfortunate), Jalen Hurts was excellent as a playmaker, propelling an offense that needed him and DeVonta Smith to carry the squad to a road win,” Shook said.
Landon Dickerson has made a career of fighting through injuries and pain, last season being the latest instance. But after the left guard looked like a shell of himself Week 1 vs. Washington, the Eagles decided to shut him down — at least for now. With Dickerson landing on injured reserve, The Philadelphia Inquirer's Jeff McLane explains why, this time around, he and the Eagles are taking the cautious route. Jeff also shares what he's heard about how the Eagles might fill Dickerson's void on the offensive line, and takes listener questions in this week's mailbag segment. Listen here.
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