While the offense got back on track for the Philadelphia Eagles, nothing was more impressive than the defense's play in Week 15.
In the Eagles' 31-0 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, it was all about the defense, which stifled the road team's offense. Led by former Eagles backup quarterback Kenny Pickett, Las Vegas had only 75 yards of offense, the franchise's lowest total in over 60 years, and it got only seven first downs, converted just three third downs, and threw an interception.
After the game, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni talked up Jalen Hurts' bounce-back performance and the offense's strong play, but also gave love to the defense, which had yet another great game.
"We were able to stop the run and get them in pass situations, and then we were able to get after the quarterback," Sirianni said via The Athletic's Zach Berman. "Really good team defense, but BG was the first one to say it in there, sacks don’t happen without great coverage in the secondary, so it was just great team defense by the entire crew. Vic did a great job, and coaches did a good job of preparing them and putting them in positions to succeed, and our guys did a good job of executing."
Eagles' defense has been putting up great performances during rough past month
What gets forgotten so often during this stretch of the Eagles going 3-3 since the bye week is how great the defense has been. This defense has now held three of the last six teams to under 10 points in a game, including the high-flying Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions' offenses.
This Eagles defense is ranked sixth in the NFL in points allowed per game (19.4) and 10th in pass defense (196.7). The unit is also starting to produce a high number of sacks, even though the biggest weakness of this defense at the beginning of the season was the pass rush. They have accumulated 11 sacks in the last two games against the Los Angeles Chargers and the Raiders.
Keep in mind that those 11 sacks were without their top defensive lineman, Jalen Carter, in the starting lineup. While Jaelan Phillips has been a big pickup for this team, younger players like Jordan Davis, Moro Ojomo, Jalyx Hunt, and Nolan Smith have been great of late for the team. Even the man who jumped out of retirement, Brandon Graham, had two sacks against Las Vegas.
There's also the secondary that has been playing well of late, with Adoree' Jackson really coming into his own in the last two weeks and Marcus Epps filling in for Andrew Mukuba at safety well. There are, of course, the rock stars of the secondary with Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, and Reed Blankenship playing well.
The linebackers got a massive boost from Nakobe Dean, who has become the NFL's best blitzing linebacker and has been the main reason rookie standout Jihaad Campbell has lost playing time. While Zack Baun isn't putting up the exact numbers as in 2024, his interception in the Raiders game was big.
Read more: Jalen Hurts sent brutal reminder to NFL on who he is after Eagles win vs. Raiders
Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio deserves a ton of credit for the work he has done with this defense and for getting it where it needs to be. They will be dangerous when it comes time for the postseason.