“Modified Version Of The Ravens”

After convincingly downing the undermanned Saints on Sunday, 40-29, the Eagles have won consecutive games for the first time this season.

On the latest Inside The Birds podcast, Geoff Mosher and Adam Caplan discussed their takeaways from the win:

Jason Kelce led an OL that dominated the Saints’ front seven

Running Game

Geoff Mosher: “My big-picture takeaway from this game is that the Eagles are not just a really good power running team like they’ve been for the last few weeks. But what I see them doing is sort of becoming a modified version of the Ravens offense. They really are. Their foundation is running much like the Ravens and then a lot of what the Ravens do with Lamar Jackson in the run game — now some of that is Lamar freelance and you’ll see that from Jalen Hurts — but you see a lot of good planned designed runs that don’t get the quarterback hurt because the defense has been sucked into the middle by the run game. It leaves the edges exposed, or vice-versa. They’re going one way out of the shotgun and the quarterback can keep it and go the other way. The bottom line is they have built this run game  — this foundational run game — and then they add in the element of the quarterback run and then they pass the ball. I think you really saw this a lot in the first half.”

Jason Kelce

Adam Caplan: “I was so blown away by this offensive line. This is just crazy because if you think about it — we were talking about it on the pregame show — If you’re Jason Kelce, do you want to walk away from this?”

Mosher: “Not if you’re playing as well as he’s playing, I thought he was really good, too. That’s another guy when I talk about the interior offensive line just jumping out there, he’s playing great. Plus, if he thinks you’re building towards something positive, then he may want to stick around. You know what? I don’t think the Eagles would be upset if he wants to come back.”

Defensive Line

Caplan: “ The [defensive] line dominated up front. Boy, they got to [Trevor] Siemian, they were incredible in the first half, they were relentless. Sacks are the cherry on the top, but it’s about pressures. Coaches will tell you, ‘I want pressures. I’ll take sacks if it’s a negative play but I want pressures, they’re more important.’ They got pressures in the first half. The second half, they just lost it, both sides of the football lost the energy and that was really the story.”

Mosher: “No doubt about it. Javon Hargrave I thought had some good pressures from the inside as well. By the way, that penalty they called on him in the third or the fourth quarter, I guess it was a personal foul. I couldn’t even begin to tell you what the coaching point would be.”

Darius Slay

Caplan: “Darius Slay who unfortunately got the concussion, he’s really just having a Pro Bowl-type year, having a very good season.”

Mosher: “That was his third touchdown this year, second in his many games and I tell you, I don’t think that was just a bad throw. It was a bad throw, but not just that way. The Eagles were backed off at that point because it’s right before halftime. They were building a pretty big lead. I think Slay was baiting him a little bit. I think Slay was just sitting there, giving a whole lot of cushion, but the way he broke on the ball as soon as Siemian threw it, another thing that I got a great vantage point on from the press box, I think he was expecting it. He was giving that cushion, that out [route], not just because of the situation they were in, but he probably felt he had a good chance to jump in front of that and he absolutely did. Siemian underestimated his closing speed through a normal out and then he just jumped right in front of it and took it to the house. That was good stuff.”

– Justin Morganstein (@jmotweets_) is a staff writer for InsideTheBirds.com.</p>