In most cases, I avoid making comparisons between different sports, but I’ll do it here to prove a point about Sunday night’s matchup between the Eagles and Dolphins.
Remember when the Michigan Fab Five referred to Christian Laettner as a soft, overrated pretty boy in a documentary? You might have seen the video lately on a trendy TikTok. The Argentina men’s national team thought of the same of David Beckham before facing England in the 1998 World Cup. Yes, I recently watched the Beckham Netflix documentary (I highly recommend it).
Here’s my point: The Dolphins’ flashy offense had the spotlight, such as Laettner and Beckham did. But the Eagles entered Sunday night as the defending NFC champions with an offense that can also score. Maybe it’s not as flashy as Miami’s, and they’ve never scored 70 points in a game, but they have scored many touchdowns in the past two seasons. Most importantly, they have done it in various ways—pretty and ugly—against the best teams in the league.
The Eagles picked up another impressive victory, as they outmuscled the Dolphins, 31–17. The Eagles don’t need a perfect game script to win games, but they forced the Dolphins to play their favorite style of football: physical.
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The Dolphins had the spotlight because of their innovative head coach (Mike McDaniel), MVP QB candidate (Tua Tagovailoa) and the game’s most dangerous offensive weapon (Tyreek Hill).
But the Eagles (6–1) also have that with coach Nick Sirianni and quarterback Jalen Hurts. Yes, they don’t have a Tyreek Hill, but they might have more weapons with wide receivers A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, running back D’Andre Swift, tight end Dallas Goedert and probably the best offensive line in the NFL.
Oh, and they have the game’s most unstoppable play—the Brotherly Shove. Philadelphia used the QB sneak a handful of times to keep the Dolphins’ speedy playmakers on the sideline.
The Dolphins (5–2) are now 0–2 against the best teams in the league, although the loss to the Bills in Week 4 looks worse now because of Buffalo’s upset loss to the Patriots on Sunday. It’s fair to question whether the Dolphins are legit Super Bowl contenders. Miami’s five wins are against the Chargers, Patriots, Broncos, Giants and Panthers—four two-win teams and one winless team.
The Dolphins haven’t shown they can win physical games, but they did display plenty of fight in Philadelphia before the game got away from them in the fourth quarter.
Miami couldn’t rely solely on its speedy playmakers because Philadelphia controlled the clock at Lincoln Financial Field. They needed to punch back. That’s what the Dolphins’ defensive front did, with edge rushers Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips often in the face of Hurts. The Dolphins forced Hurts into two turnovers, including a pick-six from linebacker Jerome Baker, whose 22-yard touchdown return tied the game 17–17 with 4:02 in the third quarter.
But Hurts doesn’t mind taking a few hits, evident from the many QB sneaks he runs on a weekly basis. He took a massive hit before launching a 42-yard completion to Brown to set up Kenneth Gainwell’s three-yard touchdown run to make it 31–17 with less than four minutes left in regulation.
Hurts outplayed his former Alabama teammate Tagovailoa, but his turnover issues continued against the Dolphins. Hurts’s fumble in the first quarter gave the Dolphins the ball on the Eagles’ 33-yard line. But the Eagles’ defense got a stop to force Miami to settle for a field goal, tying the game 3–3 with 59 seconds left in the first quarter.
Hurts now has 10 turnovers this season—he had only eight all of last season (six interceptions and two lost fumbles). The NBC broadcast flashed a graphic of the Eagles essentially having the same averages for points per game and passing yards per game as last season through six games, but they had a turnover margin of plus-12 last year. Philadelphia was at minus-1 heading into Sunday’s showdown.
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As for another similar number as last season, the Eagles are still converting QB sneaks at a high rate (88% entering Week 7). The Brotherly Shove—or whatever you want to call it—ignited the Eagles’ first touchdown drive. After the fourth-down conversion, Hurts connected with Goedert (on National Tight Ends Day!) for a 19-yard touchdown pass and a 10–3 advantage with 11:25 in the second quarter.
The Eagles again went to the QB sneak for their second touchdown—a one-yard touchdown from Hurts to make it 17–3 late in the first half. Philadelphia overpowered Miami on both sides of the trenches, which is why it won Sunday and many other games in recent years.
But you can’t just be physical in the NFL. You also need a yearly MVP candidate at quarterback. The Eagles have that with Hurts, who displayed toughness and magic several times Sunday night, including his 33-yard completion to Brown on fourth down to set up his QB sneak touchdown. Hurts finished 23-of-31 for 279 yards, two touchdowns, one rushing touchdown and two turnovers. Brown recorded 10 catches for 137 yards and one touchdown.
The Dolphins also have an MVP candidate in Tagovailoa, who had a beautiful rainbow drop to Hill on a 27-yard touchdown pass to trim the deficit 17–10 before halftime.
Miami can certainly score points against any defense, but McDaniel’s squad hasn’t shown it can win games when the play style isn’t pretty. It’s probably too soon to call the Dolphins overrated, and they showed enough toughness to avoid the dreaded soft label.
But one thing’s for sure: The Eagles can win in various ways, an advantage that will come in handy during the postseason.
