After the Eagles’ defense and Saquon Barkley beat up Derrick Henry, Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, it’s Super Bowl or bust

BALTIMORE — Jalen Hurts committed no turnovers, Saquon Barkley gained 107 rushing yards and scored the decisive touchdown, the defense shut down the NFL’s top offense, and the Eagles left Baltimore with an eighth straight win.

Now they are 10-2 and there can be no more debate. No more doubt.

The Eagles are a Super Bowl-caliber team. They beat you up. They beat you down. They beat you, period.

“I feel like the energy is there. We’re building momentum,” said Lane Johnson, who won Super Bowl LII with the Eagles and went back five years later. “But you remember last year.”

Last year, the Eagles started 10-1 but lost five of their last six games and got blown out of the playoffs in Tampa. So what.

“Last year’s over,” said coach Nick Sirianni. “We don’t care about last year. This is a different team that’s jelling and meshing on all cylinders right now.”

They stifled the No. 1 offense; the Ravens entered the game averaging 6.97 yards per play over 12 games, which ranked second in NFL history ... by one-hundredth of a point, to the legendary 2000 St. Louis Rams, the Greatest Show on Turf. The Eagles allowed 5.24 yards per play, and before they gifted the Ravens a touchdown with three seconds to play, they’d allowed them 4.72 yards per play.

The Birds ran all over the No. 2 run defense, which was allowing just 77.9 yards per game; they had 140. Reigning MVP Lamar Jackson, a current MVP favorite, looked pedestrian. Derrick “King” Henry, the league’s No. 2 rusher behind Barkley, managed just 82 yards, having averaged 110.4.

Ravens star kicker Justin Tucker continued his nightmare season with two more missed field goals and a missed extra point, but the 24-19 final score and the reality of Sunday’s exhibition muted his miscues.

There was no question: The Eagles were the superior team — the more physical team — with the emphasis on team.

Sirianni bristled at the idea that the Eagles needed to match the Ravens’ toughness. It was the other way around.

“That was the message going in: They’ve got to match our physicality,” Sirianni said.

Everybody played a part. They came back from a 9-0 first-quarter deficit. They didn’t flinch. Championship teams don’t.

Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore solved the Ravens’ scheme by the second quarter and had Hurts find A.J. Brown in the defense’s soft midsection.

Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, plagued by manpower issues, patched together a scheme that gave up just 10 points after the first quarter.

Hurts was 11-for-19 for just 118 yards, but that’s all he needed.

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Barkley didn’t break any big ones, but he did collect an 11th TD, from 25 yards out, midway through the fourth quarter.

And the defense? Chef’s kiss.

Star tackle Jalen Carter had a sack and now has 4½. Rookie end Jalyx Hunt, playing in place of injured Brandon Graham, got a half-sack, and now has 1½ in his career.

In the middle of the second quarter, Jordan Davis stopped Henry for a 1-yard gain. Two plays later, linebacker Zack Baun dropped Henry for a 4-yard loss. In the middle of the fourth quarter, Carter stuffed Henry for a 1-yard loss, Cooper DeJean stoned him for a meager 3-yard gain, and backup safety Tristin McCollum unintentionally, but fortunately, knocked down a fourth-down pass (an interception would have meant worse field position). That set up a field goal.

They’re a Tush Push team, and they cannot be stopped. They got a Tush Push touchdown in the second quarter for a 14-12 halftime lead. They got a Tush Push fourth-down conversion late in the fourth quarter to burn three crucial minutes.

There was every reason for the Eagles to lose this game.

They lacked cornerback Darius Slay, who was concussed. They lacked receiver DeVonta Smith, still hamstrung. They lacked Graham, who’s done for the year. They lost big-play safety Reed Blankenship to a concussion late in the third quarter, and lost tight end Dallas Goedert to a knee injury in the fourth.

But they didn’t lose the game. They won.

Emphatically.

“We’re a resilient football team. A determined team,” Sirianni said. “This was a good win for us. This is a good football team we just played, with a lot of good players.”

He understands how much Sunday means in the bigger picture.

The Eagles won in Brazil against the Packers, they beat the Commanders at home, and they demolished Dallas in Texas, but this was the sort of signature win that lends credibility. After collapsing last season and then starting this season 2-2, they need every ounce of credibility they can earn. On Sunday evening in Baltimore, they earned Super Bowl credibility.