They were a minute and 43 seconds away from having the NFL’s top-ranked defense for 2022.
The Eagles went into their meaningless Week 18 game against the Giants with a 14-yard lead over the 49ers in the quest for the No. 1 defense in the league.
The 49ers allowed 255 yards against the Cards in a game that ended a bit before the Eagles-Giants game. So the Eagles had to limit the Giants to 268 or fewer yards to earn sole possession of the No. 1 ranking.
The Eagles were up 22-9 in the closing minutes when the Giants got the ball back. At that point, the Eagles had allowed just 235 yards. They hit a few plays and drove down to the Eagles’ 25-yard-line with 1:43 left in the game and the season, increasing their total for the game to 259 and trimming the Eagles’ lead over the 49ers to just 10 yards.
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And on the final play of the season, Davis Webb of all people threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Golladay, giving the Giants 284 scrimmage yards and handing the No. 1 defense to the 49ers by the grand total of 15 yards - 5,110 allowed for the 49ers, 5,125 by the Eagles.
In the big picture it wasn‘t a huge deal. The Eagles were on their way to the Super Bowl, clobbering the 49ers and their top-ranked defense along the way. But then-defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon among others was annoyed that the Eagles lost the No. 1 ranking on the final of the season. The Eagles haven’t led the NFL in total defense in more than three decades, so it was disappointing.
Which brings us to this year.
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Once again, the Eagles went into the final weekend of the season and a meaningless game against the Giants as the NFL’s No. 1 defense, allowing 280.9 yards per game.
Their lead was a tad larger this year.
The Eagles had allowed 4,494 yards going into Sunday, and the 2nd-place Titans went into their game against the Texans having allowed 4,917, or 307 per game. That was a whopping 423-yard lead for the Eagles. The Dolphins (4,970) and Chiefs (4,972) were the only other teams under 5,000 yards.
Even Davis Mills couldn’t stop the Eagles from leading the league in defense this year.
The Eagles wound up allowing 238 in their win/loss vs. the Giants, while the Titans allowed 374 in their loss to the Texans.
So the leaders look like this:
1. Eagles: 4,732 yards allowed, 278 per game.
2. Titans: 5,355 yards allowed, 315 per game.
That’s pending late Chiefs and Dolphins games. They could move up to No. 2 but not No. 1.
This will be the eighth time in franchise history the Eagles have led the NFL in defense. They were also first in 1943 - that was the Steagle) - as well as 1944, 1945, 1949, 1953 and 1981. So this is the third time in the last 71 years.
What’s remarkable about this defense is that it’s the youngest starting defense in the NFL and was ranked 26th last year in yards allowed at 356 per game.
Assuming the Eagles do wind up No. 1, it will be the largest single-season jump to No. 1 in NFL history. The biggest ever previously was the Chargers’ jump from 21st to first from 1997 through 1998.
And their overall gain of 25 spots - from 26th to first - will be the 7th-largest all-time. The Panthers made the biggest improvement ever, going from 31st in 2001 to second in 2002.
The Eagles finished No. 1 in pass defense, but that was a lot closer. They allowed 2,961 net passing yards this year - that’s 174 per game - and the Titans in second place allowed 3,014 yards - 177 per game.
This is the second time in three years the Eagles led the NFL in pass defense. They allowed an NFL-low 180 per game in 2022 with James Bradberry, Marcus Epps, Avonte Maddox, C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Slay in the secondary.
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