It should be impossible to keep doing this.
It should be impossible to live on the edge like the Eagles are doing, winning game after game decided in the final minutes or seconds. Falling behind by double digits. Blowing big leads before recovering just before it's too late. Keeping opponents in games with mistakes, turnovers and penalties. Playing one bad half and one good half. Or one good quarter. Or one good drive.
It should be impossible to play with fire like the Eagles are doing and keep coming out on top.
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But here we are.
The Eagles have yet to play a complete game. They have yet to play well in all three phases on the same day. They have yet to blow a team out.
But they’ve found their way to 9-1, and they’ve now owned or shared the best record in the NFL for an astounding 29 consecutive weeks, a streak guaranteed to increase to at least 30.
Nothing has come easy for these 2023 Eagles.
NFL
After their heart-stopping 21-17 win over the Chiefs Monday night at Arrowhead, they’ve now won games by 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 9, 14 and 14 points this year. The nine-point win – against the Rams – was a six-point game until the final minutes. The second 14-point win – vs. the Dolphins – was a seven-point game until the final minutes. Only the win over the Bucs wasn’t a one-possession game late in the fourth quarter.
And, yeah, 9-1 is great and everything, but it would be nice to throw in a 45-6 or a 38-10 here and there so Eagles fans can actually relax in a fourth quarter once in a while.
How unusual is it to be 9-1 without winning a single game by more than 14 points?
The Eagles are the first to do it in 47 years, since the 1976 Raiders – who went on to beat the Vikings in Super Bowl XI at the Rose Bowl.
On the one hand, you wonder if regression to the mean will eventually catch up to the Eagles and some of these last-second wins will become last-second losses. The Eagles are 6-1 this year in one-possession games and 14-2 in their last 16 dating back to late in 2021.
This is only the seventh time in franchise history they’ve won three straight games by seven or fewer points, the first time since 2003.
Their six wins by a touchdown or less already ties the most for an entire season in franchise history. With seven games to go.
Their 67-point differential is the 3rd-smallest in NFL history by a team with at least nine wins through 10 games. The 2006 Colts were plus-60 and those 1976 Raiders were plus-53. Both happened to win the Super Bowl.
Is this sustainable?
Can the Eagles keep winning like this? Is this a team living life dangerously and getting breaks in the last few minutes week after week? Will playing all these close games eventually catch up with them?
Or is this a team with a rare ability to discover ways to win even when it hasn’t played well for 3 ½ quarters. A team that has a knack for shrugging off adversity and mistakes and turnovers and penalties and making plays late in the fourth quarter when plays have to be made. A team finds ways to win no matter what.
There’s no way to know for sure yet, but my hunch is that the ball bounces a certain way for a reason. Elite players make elite plays in the final minutes for a reason. Teams play better at the end of games than the beginning for a reason.
It may be dangerous to Eagles fans’ cardiac health, it may cause some sleepless nights and it may drive some people absolutely crazy, but I don't think it's a coincidence when a team keeps making huge plays down the stretch.
And here’s the thing that this all leads to: When you’re 9-1 with the best record in the NFL and you haven’t played a complete game yet, what happens when you do? What happens when the Eagles are at their best from start to finish? When they find a way to put together 60 consistent minutes of offense, defense and special teams? When those plays they’re making at the end of the game happen throughout the game?
Can you just imagine?
They’re not going to lose.