The Eagles escape with a win over the hapless Browns – NBC Sports Philadelphia

Remember when the Eagles were fun to watch?

It was too close, too sloppy, too scary, but the Eagles escaped the Browns on Sunday at Linc, a game that neither team wanted to win for most of the afternoon.

A fantastic endurance run in the final minutes after 56 minutes of uninspired football gave the Eagles a 20-16 victory over a hapless Browns team and moved the Eagles to 3-2 with the Giants' killer line, the Bengals and Jaguars next.

Exhale.

1. It wasn't exactly the blowout the Eagles were expecting. The Browns went 1-4 in their third straight road game against a quarterback who can't throw a football, and the Eagles are coming off a bye with all their weapons back in their own building at full strength, and they really had to try , to come away with a win. Hey, they all count the same and 3-2 is better than 2-3. But the Eagles' inability to run away from this truly terrible Browns team is concerning. The Eagles have now gone 16 straight games without beating anyone by two possessions, and that's insane. The last time they won a game by more than eight points was Miami last October. For those of you keeping track, this is the Eagles' third-longest streak of games without a win on two possessions in 40 years. While the win is positive, it's hard to be particularly excited about a four-point win over one of the NFL's worst teams. Will this team ever play well on offense, defense and special teams for 60 minutes of an entire game? It's been almost a year since they did it.

2. Pretty good performance from the defense. They held the Browns to 244 yards, nine scores, 4 of 12 on third downs and picked up five sacks after getting just six in the first four games. But I'm not sure we've really learned much about defense because the Browns literally have one of the worst passing attacks in NFL history and until the Eagles play like that against a team with a real quarterback, nothing has really changed . But it was encouraging to see. The coverage was tight, the pressure was great, the tackling was better, the D-line was behind Deshaun Watson, and any time you can keep a team out of the end zone, that's a big plus. Impressive. But if I do it against a real offense, I'll be even more impressed.

3. Jalen Hurts' 0-for-5 start didn't bother me at all because – and I mean this – he was throwing incomplete passes that the other team couldn't defend. He made good decisions, he didn't put the ball in danger, he just didn't score. And once he got going, he was outstanding the rest of the way, finishing the game 16-for-25 for 264 yards with a 22-yard touchdown pass to AJ Brown and a 45-yarder to DeVonta Smith and that 40- Yarder to Brown to finish things off. One of his better games in a long time. In fact, it was his first game with multiple touchdown passes and no interceptions since Week 9 last year and the win over the Cowboys. In my opinion, Hurts made good decisions in the pocket, didn't force the ball, had a good presence in the pocket, and avoided mistakes. That's all you want from a quarterback. He made some big throws and some big runs and didn't make a mistake. This was the first time in 10 games that he didn't score on a turnover. Next step? Keep it up. Do this consistently.

4. This was mostly DeVonta and AJ's show, but also some impressive stuff from Grant Calcaterra and Jahan Dotson. With Dallas Goedert out for most of the game with a hamstring injury. Calcaterra had only 176 yards rushing in its first 38 NFL games – that's about 4½ yards per game. But he caught four passes for a career-high 67 yards, including a 34-yarder on the Eagles' first touchdown drive. And Dotson, who had just 25 yards rushing in his first five games, had a 13-yard gain on a pass that was technically a run and also a massive 10-yarder for a first down just before the two-minute mark. Warning The Eagles were running out of time. You need people like that to make plays to make a team. And great that Hurts can throw things at these guys instead of forcing things on Smith and Brown.

5. Cooper DeJean's move to the slot paid immediate dividends when he scored a 15-yard sack on Deshaun Watson in the first quarter when the Browns had the ball at midfield (officially he shared it with Bryce Huff, of all people). He was part of another sack in the third quarter, although this one was attributed to Milton Williams. But you could see his blitz ability and see how active he was in football and what a solid tackler he is. DeJean was also good in coverage. Sometimes coaches are hesitant to make such a change. A long-time NFL fixture, Avonte Maddox is in his seventh year with the Eagles, and DeJean had played just eight defensive snaps in his life before Sunday afternoon. But that's why they drafted him and that's why he's here. If he hadn't missed the three and a half week training camp, he probably would have started the season in the right place. A smart move that paid off immediately. With Quinyon Mitchell and DeJean, the Eagles now have two rookies in this secondary and they will be very good players for this team for a long time.

6. The Eagles' embarrassing scoring problems in the first quarter continued. This is now the first time in franchise history that they failed to score a point in the first quarter and first five weeks of a season. In total, they have now gone seven straight games without a point in the first quarter, thanks to Julio Jones' 12-yard TD catch in last year's loss to Arizona in Week 17. It's the first time they've gone seven straight games without a point in the first quarter since Week 8 through Week 14 of 1994. Their last extended streak was an eight-game streak in 1936. Figuring out how to Faster starts was a priority during the bye week for Nick Sirianni and his staff in the self-scout process, but no answers yet. This offense is simply not prepared when games start, and until they figure that out, they will continue to make things difficult for themselves.

7. Brandon Graham can't retire. Tilt. What BG is doing at 36 years old in his 15th season is remarkable. He's playing at such a high level on what was supposed to be his retirement tour that he's actually been one of the Eagles' best defensive players this year and almost certainly their most consistent defensive player. BG is never out of position. He never misses a tackle. He never has a negative game. The five-yard loss to Cedric Tillman on a 3rd-and-1 in the third quarter was absolutely huge. BG said he would come back for a 16th season if the Eagles need him, and I don't see why they wouldn't. I hope he never retires.

8. I was surprised that the Eagles weren't able to compete against the Browns and their 26th ranked rush defense – Saquon Barkley managed just 47 yards on 18 carries – but the Browns came into this game on a winning note and were determined not to let Barkley beat them. One thing I would like to see a little more of is the variety from Kenny Gainwell. Gainwell only came into the game briefly, and a change of pace was so valuable that he ran for 19 yards on his first carry, the Eagles' longest of the game. Sometimes just a different type of defense can throw a defense off balance, especially when it's focused on stopping the run. I still want Barkley to get his 22 or 23 touches per game, but there's room for a little change here and there if the Eagles just can't get going. Gainwell isn't bad and he needs to remain a part of this offense.

9. How about Nolan Smith show up? Probably the greatest performance of his disappointing career so far. The Browns had a 2nd-and-goal at the Eagles' 5-yard line with 4:07 left, the Eagles leading 20-13, and Deshaun Watson took off to his right with the sticks in sight. Nakobe Dean hurled it outside, where Smith – Dean's college teammate – picked off Watson and sent it out of bounds, giving him a two-yard gain. After a false start and an incomplete pass, the Browns had to settle for a field goal and the Eagles were able to run out the clock. It's been a tough year and a half for Smith, the 30th pick in last year's draft. But he had his second career sack on Sunday, had a quarterback hit and that huge tackle down the goal line that helped keep the Browns out of the end zone. By far the best game of his career, when the Eagles needed him most.

10. The entire sequence leading up to the Browns' blocked field goal touchdown just before halftime was super ugly. The Eagles had a 2nd-and-1 at the Browns' 31-yard line. Hurts threw a short pass to Saquon Barkley, who either misjudged where the sticks were or took a bad angle toward the sideline, but ended up with no gain even though the Eagles should have had a 1st-and-10. The Eagles had timeouts, so the priority there was to get to the posts and not go out of bounds. Just a bad move by a great player. And then, on 3rd-and-1, Hurts got sacked and lost eight yards. So now Jake Elliott is attempting a 57-yard field goal instead of a 51-yard field goal, and as we know, the longer a field goal attempt lasts, the lower the trajectory and the easier it is to block. And that was it – from Myles Garrett – and of all people, 34-year-old Rodney McLeod scored 50 yards for the Browns' only touchdown. Now it's 10-10 instead of possibly 17-3 and at least 13-3. Poor offense and poor special teams combined to give the Browns a touchdown. That touchdown should never have happened.

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