Eagles' secret weapon on their way to a 3-0 start? Two blocked field goals and a 61-yard return

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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter were a pair of first-round draft picks expected to dominate on defense for the Eagles.

Turns out, they're pretty good at special teams.

Aside from his spitting incident in the season opener, Carter largely has been a success for the Philadelphia Eagles. He quickly blossomed into one of the top defensive linemen and played a key role in helping the Eagles win the Super Bowl last season. Davis has had his moments but struggled with his weight and earning regular playing time.

Davis and Carter turned Lincoln Financial Field into a block party on Sunday with two special teams plays that surely will go down in franchise lore.

They blocked two straight attempts by Los Angeles' Joshua Karty in the Eagles' 33-26 win over the Rams. The first by Carter set up Philly’s drive for a go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter, and the second came on the final play of the game with the Rams trailing by one. Davis knocked Karty’s potential game winner to the ground, scooped the ball and returned it 61 yards for a touchdown to seal the Eagles' comeback from 19 points down in the third quarter.

“That's what they got us for,” Carter said.

The Eagles (3-0) blocked multiple field goals for the first time since Sept. 21, 1975, against the New York Giants. They became the fourth NFL team since 2001 to block two field goals in a game and return one for a touchdown.

Their offense had been largely stagnant over the first 2 1/2 games until a second-half spark against the Rams showed the NFL that, yes, the Eagles can still bust out the explosive plays when needed.

“I think we did what we needed to do to win the game,” coach Nick Sirianni said.

Indeed.

But listening to some of the postgame discourse in the locker room, it's clear that quite a few Eagles players believe it's time to let the offense go wild from the start and not necessarily wait for late-game heroics to decide the outcome.

The tush push. The Eagles converted two on the opening drive of the game, including one for a 1-yard touchdown for Jalen Hurts.

Slow starts. Wide receiver A.J. Brown put the coaching staff on notice with his postgame comments about a conservative style that limited his — and DeVonta Smith's, Saquon Barkley's and Hurts' — production.

“Let your killers do their thing: play fast and play aggressive,” Brown said.

The Eagles picked up the pace in the second half out of necessity. Hurts threw three touchdown passes in the half. Brown caught six passes for 109 yards and a touchdown after halftime.

“I think in the second half when pressure was as high as it was, we kind of just let it loose and went out there and played, and that’s the brand of football we played for a long time,” Hurts said. “I don’t necessarily want to make it harder than what it is. We just got to go out there, execute and play the style of football that we know we can play. The beautiful part about it is we’ve been able to play and win in multiple ways.”

Davis hasn't quite lived up to expectations set as a first-round pick in the 2022 draft. He lost nearly 30 pounds in the offseason to get in better shape and become more of an impact player on defense.

Through three games, he's been a difference-maker — none bigger than the game-saving block and touchdown run.

“I don’t know what mph I hit, but I’m pretty sure it was something crazy,” Davis said.

Try 18.59 mph, the fastest by a player over 330 pounds since at least 2017, per Next Gen Stats.

He's still a big guy — just not as big as the last two seasons and certainly not at a size where reaching the end zone after the recovery would have been a guarantee.

“This time last year,” Davis said, “it would have been hard for me.”

Hurts and the receivers had their breakout half. Will Barkley be next?

Barkley ran for scores of 70 and 72 yards and finished with an Eagles-record 255 yards rushing against the Rams last November and added touchdown runs of 78 and 62 yards on a 205-yard day in the rematch in the playoffs.

Barkley rushed for only 13 yards in the first half Sunday and finished with 46, his third straight subpar game coming off a season in which he rushed for 2,005 yards. He had 148 yards through the first two games this season.

His longest run of the game came on Davis' touchdown run.

“I saw the block and kind of just sprinted toward the field like a little kid and just jumped on the pile,” Barkley said.

Two-time All-Pro offensive lineman Lane Johnson is expected to be able to play against Tampa Bay after he suffered a stinger and left the game early in the first half.

“Lane Johnson is, in my opinion, no question about it in my mind that he’s the best player I’ve ever been around,” Sirianni said. “He is one of the best players in the NFL and sometimes it’s hard to see that as an offensive lineman. It doesn’t show itself, but Lane gives us so much ability to do different things because of who he is as a football player.”

Plenty of numbers to pick from this week. The Eagles have won 12 straight games at the Linc, the best streak since the stadium opened in 2003. They are 3-0 for the third time under Sirianni, making him the only coach in franchise history with that start three times in his career. Philadelphia has posted a 19-1 (.950) record in its last 20 games (including playoffs), marking the most victories over any 20-game stretch in franchise history.

The Eagles would tie a franchise record for longest-winning streak in team history at 10 with a win Sunday at Tampa Bay.

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