From Delaware County Daily Times: https://tinyurl.com/4tx8yk9c
PHILADELPHIA — Sean Payton didn’t wait for a question following his Broncos’ 21-17 comeback win over the Eagles on Sunday. “We got the better of them in the trenches,” the Denver coach volunteered at the start of his press conference.
Alarming words.
These are the same Eagles who have been built from the inside out for decades, who pride themselves on being physical up front, who had the No. 1 defense a year ago, and whose offensive line set the stage for Saquon Barkley joining the exclusive 2,000-yard rushing club en route to a Super Bowl championship.
“When you play someone like that, you’re going to get punched and it’s not going to be easy,” Payton said. “But we kept fighting and that’s what I was most encouraged about, just the fight, the grit. And then you felt that, this is a funny thing, that momentum shifted and when that happened, it’s pretty powerful.
“They threw it quite a bit early. But the (Eagles’) rushing numbers, when it was all said and done, I’m not sure what the totals were, but we felt if we could do that (limit the run) — and the turnover thing had to be at least even — we had a good shot.”
The Birds’ rushing totals Payton was searching for were this: 11 carries for 45 yards. Barkley was only handed the ball six times, including just once in the second half. In contrast, the Eagles threw the ball 38 times. Certainly, they wanted to get their receivers involved (DeVonta Smith had eight catches for 114 yards), but the offense was dramatically unbalanced.
Especially with a two-touchdown lead in the second half.
After their early score in the third quarter to go up 17-3, the rest of the throw-happy Eagles’ drives used the following amount of clock: 2:01, 1:05, 2:03, 2:36 and 1:11. It’s no wonder the Birds’ defense eventually was gassed.
Coach Nick Sirianni offered little in the way of explanation on Monday.
“We have the players to be able to run and pass, right?” Sirianni said. “That’s how we feel, and you want to dictate to the defense what you want to do, but there are times that you can’t just force something in there and you got to take what they give you in the run game and in the pass game, no matter what.
“Of course we want to get Saquon the ball, but sometimes it’s getting him the ball through the pass game. Sometimes it’s through the running game, obviously more so through the running game with him because he’s a running back.”
Barkley had three receptions for 58 yards, including that 47-yard touchdown after halftime. But perhaps the injury report revealed something about the running game. Barkley sat out of Monday’s practice with a knee issue, though the team provided no details on whether it was serious.
Clearly the offensive line has been banged-up. Right tackle Lane Johnson has been in and out of a couple games with a neck problem, and left guard Landon Dickerson has had myriad issues. His latest is an ankle injury suffered Sunday, and he’s already been recovering from knee surgery he underwent late in camp. Right guard Tyler Steen is still getting his feet wet as a full-time starter. The depth and cohesion along the offensive line just isn’t quite what it was last year.
“I think those guys are battling,” Sirianni said. “They’ve gotten some different types of looks that we’ve kind of discussed with what we’re seeing from defenses. It’s always going to come down to us as coaches, putting them in positions to succeed and then the execution from the players
“We have so much faith and belief in everybody that’s on this 53-man roster. For that matter, the guys that are also on the practice squad have built up reps. (OL) Brett (Toth) built up reps with us, and (G/T) (Matt) Pryor’s built up reps with us. We have faith in them when they go in because we’ve seen it. (T) Fred (Johnson), you name it.”
What fans aren’t used to seeing is Barkley getting only six carries or repeatedly getting hammered a yard behind the line of scrimmage. The struggling offensive line — which also gave up six sacks against Denver — has a short week before facing the Giants, who are a bad team overall but have a formidable defensive front.
NOTES: In addition to Barkley, TE Grant Calcaterra (oblique) and Dickerson (ankle) didn’t practice Monday. Limited were LB Jihaad Campbell (biceps) and DT Byron Young (triceps). LB Nakobe Dean, working his way back from knee surgery, was a full participant.
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Follow Christiaan DeFranco on X at @the_defranc.