Eagles-Lions final score: Vic Fangio defensive masterclass bails out pathetic offense, again

The Philadelphia Eagles are 8-2 after beating the Detroit Lions at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday night. Final score: 16 to 9.

Before we get into how the Eagles won, let’s take a moment to acknowledge that this was a very big win regardless of the circumstances. The Birds continue to be in a good position to earn a first-round bye in the NFC playoff picture.

That’s good news.

More good news: Vic Fangio’s defense looks awesome right now! One week after limiting the Green Bay Packers to just seven points, the Eagles limited the Lions to just nine points. The Eagles came up with one interception and forced FIVE turnover on downs in this game. They more than carried their weight.

The bad news is that the most expensive offense in the NFL by a significant margin continues to stink up the joint. Despite being very banged up on defense, the Lions were able to hold the Eagles to just a single touchdown. The offense has scored just 26 points in two games coming out of the bye. It’s simply not good enough.

Maybe the offense doesn’t need to be better? Maybe they can continue to win games with the defense looking like this? Doesn’t seem sustainable. But it’s their winning formula at this point in time.

Next up for the Eagles: a road game against the Dallas Cowboys, who play the Las Vegas Raiders in the final game of Week 11 on Monday night. In case you forgot, the Birds previously beat the Cowboys in Week 1.

Read on for a recap and stay tuned for BGN’s postgame coverage.

FIRST QUARTER

The Lions won the coin toss and elected to defer to have the Eagles receive first. The Eagles began at their own 30-yard line. Jalen Hurts’ first pass of the game was dropped by DeVonta Smith as it was contested by Amik Robertson. Then Hurts’ second pass was dropped by an open Dallas Goedert, would’ve set up a manageable third down. Facing 3rd-and-10, A.J. Brown slipped but still managed to catch his first target for a first down … to very loud cheers from the Philly crowd. Hey, who knew the Eagles were actually allowed to try to get a first down on third-and-long? Hurts’ deep completion to Saquon Barkley along the left sideline on a broken play was called back for a Lane Johnson holding penalty. Facing 3rd-and-16 after Hurts’ throw to Brown was incomplete with the QB and WR not being on the same page, Hurts had a lot of time to throw but ended up taking off running for just a short gain. 6 plays, 8 yards, punt. Too many self-inflicted mistakes to start the game.The Lions took over at their own 13-yard line. The Lions quickly picked up a first down but then Jordan Davsi deflected a pass at the line of scrimmage and it got picked off by Cooper DeJean! Who returned it 21 yards. Huge play by the defense.The Eagles took over at the plus 11-yard line. A short completion to Brown and a Barkley run gained a total of just two yards. Facing 3rd-and-8, Hurts to Brown was incomplete with the receiver facing contact but no flag thrown. Nick Sirianni brought in Jake Elliott for a 27-yard field goal make. Needed a touchdown in that spot. Big win for the Lions to only allow three points. EAGLES 3, LIONS 0.The Lions took over at their own 21-yard line. Zack Baun tackled Jahmyr Gibbs for a loss. Then Jaelan Phillips logged a sack on a play where Jalen Carter bowled the Lions’ right guard into the ground. Facing 3rd-and-16, Goff’s third down pass was short and incomplete. Really nice sequence for the defense.The Eagles took over at their own 20-yard line after a Jeremiah Trotter Jr. holding penalty on special teams knocked the offense back. The Eagles picked up a first down with a toss to Saquon Barkley. Nice job of getting him in space! Facing 3rd-and-1, the Eagles handed off to Barkley on the fullback dive and he was stopped for a loss. Sirianni then punted. Why no tush push on third down? Could’ve just ran it again if it didn’t work on third down. Dumb.Kelee Ringo had a good special teams tackle on punt coverage to force the Lions to start at their own 11-yard line. The Lions needed four plays to move past midfield. Facing 3rd-and-9, the Lions ran the ball to set up a shorter fourth down attempt. After the play, Lions starting right guard Tate Ratledge (who got pancaked by Carter earlier) left the game with an injury, putting Detroit down to backups at both guard spots. Facing 4th-and-6, the offense took a delay of game and sent out the punt team. Turns out that third-and-long run was more of the Sirianni surrender variety.The Eagles took over at their own 15-yard line. Barkley ran for five yards and then got tackled by Cam Jurgens for a loss of three yards to end the first quarter.SECOND QUARTER

Facing 3rd-and-8, Hurts hit DeVonta at the marker but the receiver dropped his second pass of the game. What the heck. Four drives: punt, FG (took over at the plus 11-yard line), punt, punt, punt.The Lions took over at their own 39-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-1, Gibbs was stopped by Carter for no gain. Facing 4th-and-1, Dan Campbell kept the offense on the field … and Gibbs was stopped by Moro Ojomo for a turnover on downs! What an effort by Vic Fangio’s defense! (Pay no attention to the offense crapping all over themselves.)The Eagles took over at the plus 48-yard line. Jalen Hurts took a deep shot to DeVonta that wasn’t close to being completed, and probably for the best, since the throw went into double coverage. Wind may have carried it more than intended. Then Hurts targeted Goedert with the ball going to the tight end’s wrong shoulder for an incompletion. Facing 3rd-and-10, Hurts’ throw to DeVonta went wide. Bad miss. Three-and-out. Make that 20 plays for 34 yards! So pathetic.Jeremiah Trotter Jr. got hit with his second special teams penalty, this time a facemask, to allow the Lions to gain an extra 15 yards and take over at their own 36-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-2, Goff threw behind his middle of the field target for a Lions three-and-out. The Lions’ fake punt attempt was stuffed by Ojomo for another turnover on downs! Not sure why the Lions faked it when the Eagles’ defense on field.Really needing to capitalize on Detroit’s failure, the Eagles took over at their plus 43-yard line. Two straight Barkley carries resulted in a first down. Progress? Dallas Goedert dropped his second pass of the game. Then Hurts completed a pass to Brown for a loss. Facing 3rd-and-12, the Eagles called a designed Hurts run for another first down! Facing 3rd-and-15 after Barkley caught a pass and was tackled for an 8-yard loss, Hurts hit Brown to set up fourth down. Facing 4th-and-5, Sirianni originally kept the offense on the field … but merely tried to draw the Lions offside, to no avail. Sirianni burned a timeout and brought in Elliott for the 34-yard field goal make. Hate that decision when the offense has failed to sustain drives at all and the defense has balled out. Wasting a limited opportunity to get a touchdown. EAGLES 6, LIONS 0.The Lions took over at their own 26-yard line with 5:57 left in the first half. Goff hit Amon-Ra St. Brown for 34 yards to move past midfield. Then Goff hit Jameson Williams, who burned Adoree’ Jackson for a 40-yard catch-and-run touchdown. Three plays, 74 yards, TD. Oh, it’s allowed to be easy? The Eagles got lucky that Williams got flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, which forced a long extra point kick missed by Jake Bates. EAGLES 6, LIONS 6.The Eagles took over at their own 36-yard line with 5:00 on the clock. The Eagles miraculously moved past midfield in three plays, one of them being a Kylen Granson reception (!?). Hurts also completed a pass to Jahan Dotson (what’s going on?). Barkley recovered a botched handoff exchange between him and Hurts to knock the offense off schedule. Tank Bigsby then made up for it with a hard-running effort for 17 yards to bring the clock to the 2-minute warning. Bigsby took his next carry for seven yards into the red zone. Hurts hit Brown on a slant (oh, wow, good thinking) for a first down in goal-to-go. Barkley fought through contact to cap off an encouraging drive with a five-yard touchdown run. Or not, because review marked Barkley down JUST short of the goal line. The Eagles lined up for the tush push … and got it. The delayed score actually helped the Eagles with more time coming off the clock. 10 plays, 64 yards, TD. EAGLES 13, LIONS 6.The Lions took a knee with 0:16 on the clock and two timeouts to work with to end the first half.THIRD QUARTER

The Lions began the second half at their own 35-yard line. They immediately picked up a first down past midfield with a completion to a wide open Gibbs. And then another completion to Gibbs for another first down. Facing 3rd-and-5, Goff’s throw to a diving St. Brown (with Adoree’ Jackson trailing) was incomplete. Kudos to Nakobe Dean for helping to force a pressured throw. Facing 4th-and-4, Goff’s pass to Williams was a bit low and dropped. Third turnover on downs for Fangio’s defense.The Eagles took over at their own 32-yard line. Two straight Barkley runs resulted in a short third down. Facing 3rd-and-1, the Eagles lined up for a tush push and the Lions clearly lined up offside and jumped early … but it was somehow called a false start?! Just got the call wrong. Facing 3rd-and-6, Hurts took a deep shot to Granson (?!) and the third-string tight end couldn’t make the grab. Bizarre. Why is he even on the field there? Three-and-out. The Eagles then took a delay of game penalty (?!) while lined up to punt.The Lions took over at their own 28-yard line. Gibbs broke off a catch-and-run through a bunch of missed tackles for a 42-yard gain (he’s suuuuuper fast). Facing 3rd-and-4, a draw to Gibbs picked up a first down into goal-to-go. Facing 3rd-and-goal from the 4-yard line, Gibbs got stuffed for no gain. Facing 4th-and-goal from the 4-yard line, Jaelan Phillips pressured Goff into an incompletion for the Lions’ fourth turnover on downs against the Eagles’ defense. Big-time stop to prevent points on a 9-play, 69-play drive.The Eagles took over at their own 4-yard line. Hurts rolled right and floated a ball to Jahan Dotson, who made the 34-yard grab and held onto the ball despite taking a big hit from Brian Branch that got flagged for a hit on a defenseless receiver. (Branch, the Lions’ only healthy secondary starter in this game, got banged up on the play.) Hurts took a sack for 11 yards on a play where the offense was all out of sorts in the backfield. Facing 3rd-and-15, Hurts had a clean pocket and took a deep shot to a well-covered Brown who wasn’t exactly running all out. Well, at least they gained 44 yards and flipped the field? Sadly, a very productive drive for this pathetic offense’s standards.The Lions took over at their own 15-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-10 after Quinyon Mitchell broke up a pass and nearly created an interception for Reed Blankenship, Goff hit Gibbs on a screen for a 33-yard gain. Not ideal. Man, Gibbs is so good. Facing 3rd-and-3, Goff’s pass was deflected at the line of scrimmage by Jalen Carter. Facing 4th-and-3, Goff threw behind his target for a FIFTH Lions turnover on downs against the Eagles’ defense.The Eagles took over at their own 45-yard line. A.J. Brown got banged up on a play where he was penalized for an illegal low block (he tripped!) to knock the offense back to 2nd-and-18 to end the third quarter.FOURTH QUARTER

Facing 3rd-and-11 after a Hurts run, Hurts hit Brown along the sideline but there was a defensive holding penalty that was accepted instead for the automatic first down. Jordan Mailata got called for a holding penalty that then knocked the offense back. Facing 3rd-and-6 after a Bigsby run and DeVonta completion, Hurts took off running on a draw for a very crucial first down. Good job to come back from 1st-and-19. Hurts overthrew Barkley deep on the wheel route for what should’ve been a touchdown. Facing 3rd-and-10, Hurts to Brown picked up six yards. Sirianni sent out Elliott for the 49-yard field goal in windy conditions … and Elliott nailed the kick to make it a two-possession game with 10:15 to play. EAGLES 16, LIONS 6.The Lions took over at their own 28-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-10 after picking up one first down, Goff’s third down pass was broken up by — who else — lock down corner Adoree’ Jackson! Really good play to force a punt.The Eagles nearly muffed a punt for a Lions recovery but were fortunate that the ball bounced out of bounds. The Birds took over at their own 15-yard line with 9:06 left in the game. Hurts immediately hit Dallas Goedert for a first down. Facing 3rd-and-1, the Eagles went tush push for no gain. Facing 4th-and-1, the Eagles lined up for another tush push and Darius Cooper was false for a false start. Very costly mistake to bring up Braden Mann’s SEVEN punt of the night.The Lions took over at their own 15-yard line with 6:14 left in the game. Facing 3rd-and-10, Goff hit a wide open Jameson Williams over the middle for 27 yards. Facing 3rd-and-10 after Carter’s pass deflection, Goff’s pass to Gibbs with Nakobe Dean trailing was overthrown. Yet another stop for the defense to bring up a Lions punt.The Eagles took over at their own 20-yard line with 5:06 left in the game. Facing 3rd-and-1 after two Barkley runs, the Eagles went tush push for no gain again. Facing 4th-and-1 again at their own 29-yard line, Sirianni called a timeout. Sirianni then sent the offense back out on the field … and the tush push was stopped for a turnover on downs. Wow.The Lions took over at the plus 29-yard line with 2:57 to play. Nakobe Dean sacked Goff on a pass rush by shoving David Montgomery back into the QB for a fumble that was recovered by the Lions. Facing 3rd-and-17, Cooper DeJean got a hand on Goff’s pass to force an incompletion. Facing 4th-and-17, the Eagles called their second timeout to get a look at the Lions’ formation. The Lions then sent out their field goal unit … and Bates drilled the 54-yard kick. 3 plays, -7 yards, FG. The Eagles’ defense once again did their part. EAGLES 16, LIONS 9.Snow began to fall at The Linc. The Eagles took over at their own 35-yard line with 1:58 to play and the Lions armed with three timeouts. Barkley ran for five yards and the Lions called their first timeout at 1:55. Barkley ran for two yards and the Lions called their second timeout at 1:51. Facing 3rd-and-3, Fred Johnson got hit with a false start. Killer penalty. Facing 3rd-and-8, Hurts threw wide of Brown but the Eagles were VERY fortunate that the refs threw a generous defensive pass interference flag on the Lions for holding Brown’s arm for a brief moment. Ticky tack as it gets. The Lions called their final timeout at 1:43. Facing 3rd-and-8, Barkley ran for a first down to seal the game. Victory formation.FINAL SCORE: EAGLES 16, LIONS 9

EAGLES LINEUP NOTES

Nakobe Dean officially started at off-ball linebacker once again.Fred Johnson played right tackle in place of an injured Lane Johnson.Michael Carter II was on the field in dime.EAGLES INJURY NEWS

Lane Johnson (foot) headed to the locker room after a visit in the medical tent during the first quarter. He was ruled questionable to return. Johnson was ruled OUT shortly after the third quarter began.A.J. Brown got banged up late in the third quarter but remained in the game.Jalen Hurts went down awkwardly after a run to the sideline early in the fourth quarter but remained in the game.Brett Toth entered the game at center for Cam Jurgens later in the fourth quarter.