Gates’ Top Team From Week 14

As the regular season winds down, and in the famous words of Jim Mora, “Playoffs?” are right around the corner. Teams like the Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings, and finally, our Team of the Week for Week 14, the Philadelphia Eagles, all hold seed one or two in their respective conferences. However, the Eagles seem to be the most consistent among the four top teams.

Click here for Gates’ full Team of the Week archive.

Jalen Hurts MVP Caliber As of

In the Week 14 match-up against the New York Giants, Hurts was the team’s second-leading rusher in this game, rushing for seven carries for 77 yards and one touchdown. In terms of passing, Hurts went 21-of-31 (68% completion) for 217 and two touchdowns. Those two touchdowns went to A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.

Brown, versus the Giants, had four receptions for 70 yards and one touchdown. Overall, Brown has 65 receptions for 1020 yards with ten touchdowns. On the season, Brown ranks sixth in the NFL (in terms of yards). Meanwhile, his counterpart Smith had five receptions for 64 yards and one touchdown. On the season, Smith has 66 receptions for 775 and five touchdowns. This places him 21st in the NFL (in terms of yards).

As of Week 14, Hurts is the front-runner in the MVP race after Patrick Mahomes’ performance against the Denver Broncos and Tua Tagovailoa’s loss to the Chargers.

Run Eagles Run

The Eagles’ run game has been unstoppable. Philadelphia’s running backs combined for 253 yards and four touchdowns in this game. Their leading rusher was Miles Sanders, with 144 yards and two touchdowns. Boston Scott had six rushes for 33 yards and one touchdown, third on the teams’ list.

The Eagles’ Defense has the Dawgs

Philadelphia was able to get after Daniel Jones four separate times. Brandon Graham had three of those sacks, and he has eight-and-a-half sacks on the season. Fletcher Cox had the other sack bringing his total for the season up to six sacks. Marcus Epps leads the team in tackles with seven solo tackles and one assist tackle. The total for Epps this season is 50 tackles.

Playoffs?

Philadelphia was the first team to get to ten wins and the first to clinch a playoff berth (spot) this season. This clinching comes after the Minnesota Vikings lost to the Detroit Lions, the final scoring being 23-to-34, along with an Eagles Win over the Giants.

Final Thoughts

The Eagles are in the driver’s seat of not only their Super Bowl hopes but the whole NFC. Week in and Week out, they are the one consistent team. For now, the Eagles seem to be in a perfect place regarding playoff seating. However, Philly is also building their lead on the NFC with a Minnesota loss.