Why Eagles Defense Wasn't Satisfied With Just A Shutout

Why Eagles defense wasn't satisfied with just a shutout  originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

A shutout in the NFL is hard enough to do, but it probably doesn’t even truly explain how dominant the Eagles’ defense was on Sunday.

They wanted more than that.

“We knew we had the shutout working but I think it was more trying to hold them under 100 yards,” Cooper DeJean said. “I think this is what we were talking about on the sideline. And we did that.”

DeJean said it was veteran safety Marcus Epps who began talking about holding the Raiders under 100 yards.

And they did it.

The Eagles held the Raiders to just 75 total net yards (just 1.8 per play) in a 31-0 beatdown at Lincoln Financial Field.

“That’s crazy,” linebacker Zack Baun said. “I haven’t done something like that since college but that’s really cool. That’s credit to our offense too, putting us in good situations.”

How unique was the Eagles’ defensive performance on Sunday?

• This was the Eagles’ first shoutout since Dec. 30, 2018 — a 24-0 win over the Commanders. 

• This was the Eagles’ largest margin of victory in a shutout since Dec. 16, 1990 in a 31-0 win over the Packers.

• The Raiders’ 75 yards are the fewest yards allowed by an NFL team this season and the fewest since Cleveland gave up 58 yards to the Cardinals on Nov. 11, 2023. 

• The Raiders’ 75 yards of offense are the fewest the Eagles have given up in a game since they gave up 49 to the Chicago Cardinals on Dec. 4, 1955.

Linebacker Nakobe Dean said he always pays attention to stats. Normally, he waits until after the game but he noticed the domination during Sunday’s game.

“Because I take pride in being a good defense,” Dean said. “I take pride in whatever defense I’m on being one of the best in the league.”

The Eagles looked like that on Sunday.

Sure, the Raiders’ offense is one of the absolute worst in the NFL and they were playing on Sunday with their backup quarterback. But they’re still in the NFL. 

Good teams are supposed to beat up on bad teams and the Eagles did that on Sunday.

“It feels great,” Brandon Graham said. “We know how hard it is to get a shutout in this league. This league is a good league, man, and every team can beat you at any time. Everybody just went out and focused. Even when we was in the game, nobody let up on nothing. 

“We was just going to be stingy with everything. The No. 1 thing was stop (Ashton) Jeanty, make sure that we got after him. Whenever we could get a drop back, I felt like everybody showed up and did it.”

The Eagles finished the game with four sacks — Graham had two and Nolan Smith and Moro Ojomo each had one — but they pressured Kenny Pickett even more than that. They stuffed the run. They smothered their receivers and tight ends in coverage.

This was an all-around dominant defensive performance.

“It’s huge,” Jaelan Phillips said of the shutout. “It’s a pride thing at that point. It’s pretty rare to shut out a team in the NFL. For us to be able to do that today, I thought we executed great.”

The Eagles had a 17-0 lead at halftime and had a 24-0 lead late in the fourth quarter. Sometimes when that happens, a defense will give up some yards or points in garbage time.

That didn’t happen on Sunday.

The Eagles’ defense kept its foot on the gas for the full 60 minutes in Week 15. 

“Well, we lost the last three games,” Dean said. “We lost in Dallas when we was up a couple touchdowns and then we lost the last two games. I don’t think it was hard at all for us to keep our foot on the gas. 

“I don’t think it’ll be hard this week to keep it on the gas and for the rest of the season to keep our foot on the gas because we know how it feels to lose. We know how it feels to lose and we know what it takes.”