Eagles News: D’Andre Swift looks like an elite weapon

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Roob’s Observations: Birds best the Bucs, improve to 3-0 - NBCSP
1. My first thought was why on Earth did the Lions get rid of D’Andre Swift? My second thought was why on Earth did the Eagles only give him one carry on opening day? My third thought was … oh my goodness, D’Andre Swift is incredible. Swift followed his career-best 175-yard game against the Vikings with 130 yards on just 16 carries Monday night, and I knew he was a talented young running back, but I had no clue he was this good. Swift became only the fourth Eagles running back with 130 rushing yards in consecutive games since 1970 – the others are LeSean McCoy, Wilbert Montgomery and Bryce Brown (Bryce Brown???) – and two weeks in a row now he’s really taken over a game with his thunderous inside runs behind the Eagles’ massive offensive line. No doubt the Eagles’ passing game is still a work in progress, although we saw some encouraging signs Monday night. But if they can run for 200 yards every week they can take the pressure off the passing game until it gets back to 2022 form. Swift is second in the NFL in rushing yards and he had one carry in the opener. Maybe somebody will stop him, but so far the only team that has is the Eagles on opening day. It’s only a couple games, but Swift looks like an elite weapon, and this was against the No. 4 run defense in the league. Once the passing game gets going with a running game like this? Watch out.

Eagles vs. Buccaneers: The good, the bad, and the ugly - BGN
Swift’s second-straight 130-plus yard rushing game, topped by his 26-yard, third-quarter run when he jumped over Bucs’ safety Antoine Winfield Jr. Swift is a short tailback that is shifty, and whose blunt stature makes it tough for opposing defenses to sometimes pick up. He is strong, and right now, most importantly, he is healthy. It also helps running behind the best offensive line in football in left tackle Jordan Mailata, left guard Landon Dickerson, center Jason Kelce, right guard Cam Jurgens and right tackle Lane Johnson. Once again, they created gaping holes where Swift is not touched until second and third level. He had runs of 26 and 29 yards and finished with 130 yards rushing.

NFL Week 3 Game Recap: Philadelphia Eagles 25, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 11 - PFF
Offensive spotlight: The Eagles had a handful of offensive players who deserve a shoutout, but we’ll give the nod to running back D’Andre Swift for this spotlight. A week after he ran for 175 yards on 28 carries, he rushed for 130 yards on 16 carries against the Bucs.

Handing out 10 awards from the Eagles-Buccaneers game - PhillyVoice
2) The ‘Star in the Making’ Award: D’Andre Swift. A week after racking up 175 yards and a TD against the Vikings, Swift piled up 130 rushing yards on just 16 carries (8.1 YPC). The offensive line opens up holes and Swift bursts through them. As a reminder, all the Eagles had to give up to get Swift was a 2025 fourth-round pick and a swap of picks in the seventh round of the 2023 draft.

Eagles Bully the Bucs - Iggles Blitz
You could see real progress from the offense. They had 7 plays of 24 or more yards. Jalen Hurts looked more comfortable in the pocket. His patience led to a couple of long plays. The run game continued to be explosive. D’Andre Swift had runs of 26 and 29 yards. Swift finished the game 16-130. Some people wondered why he didn’t get more touches. Swift only has 2 games in his career with more than 16 touches. He’s not the guy you feed the ball to as a volume runner week after week. The Eagles were smart to mix in Kenny Gainwell in the 4th quarter. Gainwell was only 14-43, but the Eagles didn’t need explosive plays at that point. They were just working on the clock.

BGN Instant Reaction Show - Week 3: Eagles defeat Bucs 25-11 - BGN Radio
The Birds are 3-0! Jess Taylor (@Jessi_Taylor21) and Shane Haff (@ShaneHaffNFL) share their initial thoughts to the Eagles Week 3 win over Tampa Bay. Subscribe to the BGN YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/BleedingGreenNationSBN.

Jalen Carter is already doing ‘crazy sh**’ for Eagles as a rookie - SB Nation
Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Nicholas Morrow made one of the biggest plays in his team’s 25-11 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night, and speaking with reporters after the game, he knew exactly who he needed to thank. Rookie defensive tackle Jalen Carter. Following an interception thrown by quarterback Jalen Hurts, the Buccaneers took over on their own one-yard line late in the third quarter. Trailing 20-3, Tampa Bay needed to get some offense going immediately, but starting the drive pinned deep, they first needed to get some breathing room. The Eagles defense, however, had other ideas. And when Baker Mayfield turned to hand off to running back Rachaad White, Philadelphia’s defense was ready, with Morrow slicing through the line to lead the charge and create the safety.

Jalen Hurts endured flu-like symptoms during Eagles’ victory - ESPN
Hurts was not alone. Center Jason Kelce said a number of Eagles were under the weather leading up to the game. “It feels like everyone in the world is right now,” he said. “It’s kind of ramping up again. We had a lot of guys on the team this week ... it’s kind of maybe that time of year right now in Philly.” Even so, the offense put up 472 yards, led by high-flying performances from running back D’Andre Swift (130 rush yards) and receiver A.J. Brown (9 catches, 131 yards). Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham joked afterward that Hurts, who recently signed with Nike’s Jordan brand, was just trying to be like Mike, who famously put up 38 points for the Chicago Bulls in a win over the Utah Jazz in the 1997 NBA Finals while dealing with an illness. It wasn’t that epic: Hurts had an up-and-down night, throwing and rushing for a touchdown while also tossing a couple of interceptions. But he did dazzle with a couple of his throws.

2023 NFL season, Week 3: What We Learned from Monday night doubleheader - NFL.com
Eagles D terrorizes Baker Mayfield from start to finish. The Buccaneers got the ball first to start this week’s doubleheader and were quickly jogging off the field after six plays. The Philadelphia defense showed up prepared and made some big plays, with a sack by Marlon Tuipulotu , another sack by Fletcher Cox and Reed Blankenship snatching Mayfield’s first interception of the season. Rookie Jalen Carter was also a force on the inside, causing a pair of fumbles. Philly became the only team to have multiple turnovers in all three games. The Buccaneers ended the day with a total of just 174 yards. The Philadelphia defensive line proved that it’s going to take a lot to slow it down.

Spadaro: 15 takeaways from the victory over the Buccaneers - PE.com
5. How is this for a collective, first-half defensive performance? The Eagles allowed just 86 total net yards on 29 plays, a 3.0-yard average. Tampa Bay gained a meager 20 rushing yards on 11 carries and Mayfield threw for 66 yards, completing 9 of 16 passes with one interception (after entering the game with none). He was sacked twice (after being sacked once in the first two wins). Oh, and the Eagles allowed just 13 total yards in the third quarter, so Tampa Bay had just 99 total offensive yards through three quarters. Credit to Defensive Coordinator Sean Desai for a great game plan and to the players for their execution. On Tampa Bay’s first eight possessions, the Eagles forced four punts, had a safety, and two takeaways and Tampa Bay managed a field goal drive.

When the Eagles’ QB push play become a pull, flags should fly - PFT
“I was yanking him for sure,” Goedert admitted after the game, via Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press. “They say you can’t pull, but I was behind him.” Goedert was indeed behind Hurts, but Goedert was not pushing. He was, as he put it, “yanking.” He was pulling. He slipped his arms under Hurts’s arms and tried to lift him in. It’s not classic pulling, but it’s far closer to a pull than a push. And once it becomes a pull, it becomes an illegal play.

Yarcho’s Pick Six: Bucs Humbled In Prime Time - Bucs Nation
1.) Run Game For Both Sides. The Buccaneers came into the game as the league’s second best run defense, allowing under 60 rush yards per game - then promptly allowed over 200 rush yards to the Eagles. To say that performance was disappointing would be an understatement. However, when you factor in the injuries to Vita Vea, Calijah Kancey, and Devin White then throw in the dominance of the Eagles’ offensive line you can safely assume that this game will be viewed as an outlier rather than a constant. I’m not making excuses, simply saying that this is not going to be the norm moving forward. On the flip side, the commitment to the run on offense wasn’t as bad as some wanted to make it out to be. While I vehemently disagreed with trying to run it up the middle from their own one yard line (resulting in a safety) we saw what abandoning a non-effective run game by Byron Leftwich last year did. Teams would tee off on Tom Brady because there was no threat of the run. The commitment will work out for the betterment of the team long term, even when results aren’t there in the moment. Be patient.

Best and worst Cowboys players from Week 3, according to PFF - Blogging The Boys
While many will focus on Dak Prescott throwing his first interception of the year at the end of the game, the story of this loss is a vaunted Dallas defense getting picked apart by an offense led by Josh Dobbs and first-year coordinator Drew Petzing. Some of the Cowboys’ best players put up terrible performances in this one, which is how you get beat by bad teams. EDGE Micah Parsons - 67.9. All in all, Micah Parsons wasn’t terrible. But the standard for Parsons is so high, and his performance fell well below that standard. His over-pursuit on the Dobbs keeper that went for 44 yards on the second play of the game was just the start of it, as Parsons played too aggressive and out of control all game long. [...] Dak Prescott - 48.9. Dak Prescott’s grade gets tanked a bit by his interception in the endzone, but he wasn’t playing out of his mind prior to that either. He had one big time throw and two turnover worthy plays, mostly sticking to quick underneath throws to mitigate the pressure against a patchwork offensive line.

Giants’ offensive issues start, but don’t end, with offensive line - Big Blue View
Right tackle Evan Neal, the 2022 No. 7 overall pick counted on to take a step forward after a poor rookie season, has yet to do so. He has given up a sack, 13 total pressures, has a poor 94.3 pass-blocking efficiency score and an overall Pro Football Focus grade of 40.9. Of 63 qualifying tackles graded by PFF, Neal is 61st. The result is that the Giants’ offensive line has been a mess. Things should get better for the offensive line beginning next Monday night against the Seattle Seahawks. There is no official word from the Giants as of yet, but Thomas and Bredeson figure to be back for that game. That should solidify the left side of the line. The right side, though? That is another story. Neal’s play has been disappointing. The Giants had hoped he would bookend the line with Thomas for years to come, but he has yet to show he can hold up against NFL pass rushers. I have long advocated for patience with Neal, but could the Giants pull the plug and move Neal to right guard sooner rather than later?

Grading the Game – Washington Commanders vs Buffalo Bills - Hogs Haven
After four games as Washington’s starter, Sam Howell had his worst game as a Commander thus far. Fans can only hope that he learns from the mistakes of this game, quickly puts it behind him, and moves forward in a positive way. Stats: 19-29 for 170 yards, 4 INTs, 1 rush for 18 yards, PFF rating: 45.3, QBR: 41.5. Assessment: F

Monday Football Monday #152: Week 3 NFL Recap - The SB Nation NFL Show
It was a stuff happens week in the NFL. RJ Ochoa, JP Acosta and Mark Schofield speed through the Week 3 NFL action.

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