They're the best defense in the NFL and it's not even close

They’re the best defense in the NFL and it’s not even close

They’re the best defense in the NFL and it’s not even close originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

They do this every week.

Another game holding an opponent below 200 yards, another game not allowing a point after halftime, another game stuffing a pretty good running back, another game not allowing any big plays.

The Eagles’ defense is rolling, and they put together another routinely dominating performance Sunday night in the 27-13 win over the Steelers.

The Eagles’ defense has now held 10 consecutive opponents to 20 or fewer points, their longest such streak since a 14-game streak the first 14 games of the 2001 season.

“I’m really proud of the performance,” Zack Baun said. “I mean, put in tough situations, having to get stops when we needed to. We did a really good job overall. We were very detailed.”

The Steelers got those two 1^st-quarter takeaways but managed just three points off of them, and that was pretty much ballgame.

The defense got a 3-and-out after T.J. Watt forced a Jalen Hurts fumble near midfield and then held the Steelers to a field goal after Cooper DeJean fumbled a punt at the Steelers’ 11-yard-line.

The Steelers also had a drive down to the Eagles’ 31 in the second quarter that resulted in a field goal and a drive down to the 26 that resulted in an Eagles takeaway.

Pittsburgh’s only touchdown drive was aided greatly by a bogus personal foul on Reed Blankenship. Without that call, the Steelers might not have gotten into the end zone all day.

“Defense did a phenomenal job of holding them,” Nick Sirianni said. “They’ve played good red zone defense. We’ve played good red zone defense the entire year, dating back to the very beginning of the year when we turned it over early in the game and held Green Bay to six points, and they did a good job there.”

The Eagles held the Steelers to 163 yards, the 2^nd-fewest the Steelers have netted in 18 years under Mike Tomlin. In 2010, they managed just 127 yards in a 19-11 win over the Titans in Nashville in a game that Charlie Batch started. In the last 30 years, the Steelers have only had one other game with 163 or fewer years – 153 in a 9-0 loss in Jacksonville in 2006.

This was just complete domination.

The Steelers had only 56 rushing yards with a long gainer of eight yards and Russell Wilson threw for just 128 yards. The Steelers didn’t get their initial first down until their sixth drive. The Eagles’ defense was so suffocating, the Steelers ran only 41 plays – their fewest since they ran 40 against the Falcons in 1990.

In the second half, the Steelers ran just 11 plays and had the ball for less than six minutes.

The Steelers’ offense was so lifeless the personal foul on Blankenship was actually their 3^rd-longest play.

Wilson has started 225 games in his career, and he’s only thrown for fewer yards in a loss four times.

“They did a good job, it’s a good football team,” Wilson said. “And you know, we have to tip our hats to them. They played way better than us tonight. They just played better than us (in key) situations, honestly. They made tackles, they made plays. They played good football tonight. You have to give respect where it’s due. They did better than us.”

The Eagles have now held six teams to fewer than 250 yards. No other NFL team has held more than four teams below 250 yards.

They haven’t allowed a meaningful 2^nd-half touchdown since the Rams game, and they haven’t allowed more than 16 points at home since Week 2.

The Eagles are allowing an NFL-low 275.6 yards per game – nobody is within 20 yards of them – and they also lead the league in fewest passing yards allowed, fewest first downs allowed and fewest yards per play. They’re now No. 1 in the league in fewest points allowed at 16.6, they’re No. 2 behind the Lions on third down, No. 4 in the red zone, No. 7 in sacks.

This is the best defense in the NFL, and it’s not close.

“Us as a defense, we don’t care what the offense does or what situation they put us in,” Baun said. “We’re just going to stop them and try to get what we can.

“When we’re in a tough spot we just run out and let’s go. We strap up and it’s time to play defense. I think we do enjoy that challenge. Yeah I think we do enjoy that challenge. Anytime a team is in the red zone on us we know what we’ve got to do.”

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Tags: NFL