Five observations from the Eagles' win over the Rams | Paul Domowitch

The Eagles beat the Rams 30-23 to move to 7-7. The win keeps their playoff hopes alive with two games left in the regular season.

Here are Paul Domowitch’s five quick observations from the win:

The Eagles, who ran the ball just 14 times in last week’s loss to the Cowboys, had 16 rushing attempts in the first half alone Sunday night. Wendell Smallwood, who had just four rushing attempts in the last five games, ran like a man possessed and had two touchdowns. Josh Adams also had a TD. It was the first time the Eagles have had three rushing touchdowns in a game since Week 16 of the 2016 season.

Alshon Jeffery has had a quiet season. Too quiet. He came into Sunday night’s game with just 236 receiving yards in the Eagles’ last six games. But with Nick Foles at quarterback, he had seven catches for 153 yards in the first three quarters against the Rams. Foles, making his first start since Week 2, completed passes to seven different receivers and averaged 8.7 yards per attempt.

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The Eagles got cornerback/safety Avonte Maddox back after he sat out three games with a knee injury. Maddox had a second-quarter interception and the Eagles’ secondary did a solid job most of the night of keeping the ball in front of them and limiting yards after the catch.

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Kicker Jake Elliott, who had a costly missed PAT in last week’s overtime loss to the Cowboys, converted three of four field goal attempts against the Rams, including a 51-yarder on the Eagles’ first possession that gave them an early lead. His only miss was a 53-yarder with a minute left in the game that would’ve given the Eagles a two-score lead.

The Eagles defense hadn’t been very good on third down lately. Opponents had converted 45.2 percent of their third-down opportunities against the Eagles in the last seven games, which was the fifth worst mark in the league. But they were effective against the Rams. The Rams converted two of their first three third-down opportunities, then converted just two of their last nine.

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