Eagles defense is soaring | Sports Daily Newsletter

For the second week in a row, the Eagles flattened a dangerous offense on Sunday night, and this stat was almost comical: The Detroit Lions went for it on fourth down five times, and five times the Birds shut them down.

The defense was that overpowering in a 16-9 victory at Lincoln Financial Field against a Lions offense that came in averaging 31.4 points a game. The interior defensive line — namely Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and Moro Ojomo — gave Jared Goff and the Lions’ offensive front fits.

Jalen Hurts and the offense managed only one touchdown, but Vic Fangio’s defense had their backs again. Fangio has plenty to work with, even more now with the addition of edge rusher Jaelan Phillips, who had another great game. The coordinator — and all Eagles fans — can thank Howie Roseman, Marcus Hayes writes.

The offense lost right tackle Lane Johnson early in the game for the second straight week on a less-than-stellar night for the Birds on that side of the ball, Jeff McLane writes in his grades for the game.

NBC’s coverage of the game could not avoid the latest A.J. Brown outburst but also touched on the Tush Push and more.

Next up, the Eagles visit the middling Dallas Cowboys, who’ll be facing a short week after playing the Las Vegas Raiders tonight.

More coverage from the Sunday night game can be found here.

— Jim Swan, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

❓ How can the Eagles offense get going? Email us back for a chance to be featured in the newsletter.

The Sixers have been a feel-good story with their start this season, but they have hit their first bump in the road. The team says that forward Kelly Oubre Jr. suffered an injury to the lateral collateral ligament in his left knee Friday in a loss to the Detroit Pistons. Oubre underwent medical imaging this weekend and will meet with a specialist to determine the extent of the injury.

Oubre is averaging 16.8 points and 34.8 minutes a game, so an extended absence could be costly. Right now, the only thing the Sixers (7-5) are sure of is that he’ll miss Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Meanwhile, Paul George could make his season debut against the Clippers.

The loss to the Pistons was worrisome to Tyrese Maxey for another reason. “You’ve got to be mentally tougher than them,” the star guard said. “I don’t think we were mentally tough.”

The Flyers stand at 9-6-3 so far and are nearly a quarter of the way through their season, close enough for our Jackie Spiegel to give Rick Tocchet’s club its first report card. Special teams have been especially good and the defense has been acceptable, thanks to the addition of goalie Dan Vladař. The offense has a long way to go, though.

Steve Donahue will return to the Palestra as the coach of St. Joseph’s when the Penn Quakers host the Hawks tonight at 7 (NBCSP+). Donahue spent 10 years as Penn’s coach before he was dismissed in March. He was asked if there is any extra motivation for him in this game.

“I think about the excitement of going to the Big 5 championship game if we win this,” Donahue said. “I really mean that. A St. Joe’s-Villanova championship game at the Xfinity Mobile Arena for the Big 5 championship — that’s the motivation.”

Also on the Big 5 beat:

Maxey got a chance to put two dogs through the paces on the agility course at the National Dog Show in Oaks this weekend. The owner of three dogs, the Sixers star says he gets a lot less nervous on NBA courts than he did at the Kennel Club of Philadelphia event.

“I’ve been on the course with no crowd. So that was my first time with the crowd,” Maxey said. “I played in a lot of playoff games. I played in both of the Gardens. I played in Miami. I played in Brooklyn — and that’s the most nervous I’ve been to go through something.”

Nov. 17, 1985: The Flyers won their 13th straight game, a franchise record, by beating the New York Islanders, 5-4, in overtime. Tim Kerr scored twice for the Flyers.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Marcus Hayes, Jeff McLane, Olivia Reiner, Jeff Neiburg, Gabriela Carroll, Ariel Simpson, Keith Pompey, Jackie Spiegel, Jonathan Tannenwald, Sean McKeown, Dylan Johnson, Ryan Mack, Colin Schofield, Greg Finberg, and Katie Lewis.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Thanks for reading. I’ll see you in Tuesday’s newsletter. — Jim