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Roob’s Bonus Eagles Observations: DeVonta Smith’s remarkable postseason performance originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Playoff time, there’s definitely more to observe. And that means a midweek bonus edition of Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Observations.
More football, more observations! What an amazing time of year!
1. A.J. Brown is a superstar and an all-pro and one of the top three or four wide receivers in the world. But in the postseason, DeVonta Smith is the man. Smith has been a remarkably clutch performer in his playoff career since joining the Eagles. He’s played in six playoff games and has 31 catches for 460 yards. That’s 77 yards per game and 14.8 yards per catch. He’s got seven catches of at least 25 yards – that’s the most by any receiver in the NFL in the postseason over the last four years. And Smith is one of only 15 players in NFL history with at least 30 catches and 450 receiving yards in the postseason in his first four seasons, and he’s one of only 16 players in NFL history to average over 75 yards per game and 14.8 yards per catch in the playoffs (minimum five games). His 77 yards per game are 2nd-most in Eagles postseason history (minimum three games) behind tight end Keith Jackson (103). Smith needs just six yards against the Rams Sunday to pass Hall of Famer Harold Carmichael and set the Eagles’ career postseason receiving record just a few weeks after his 26th birthday, and he needs 40 to become the 14th player in history to reach 500 postseason receiving yards in his first four seasons. What was the play Sunday that finally got the Eagles’ offense going? Jalen Hurts’ 28-yarder to Smith. He’s been a terrific receiver in the regular season, but Smith has taken his game to another level in the postseason.
2A. Jalen Hurts is only the seventh quarterback in NFL history to throw 140 or more passes over a five-game span in the postseason without an interception. The others are Patrick Mahomes, Joe Montana, Joe Flacco, Drew Brees, Matt Ryan and Jared Goff.
2B. Only five quarterbacks drafted in the second round have won more playoff games than Jalen Hurts: Brett Favre (13), Drew Brees (9), Ken Stabler (7) and Ron Jaworski and Colin Kaepernick (4).
2C. Jalen Hurts threw four interceptions in his first 107 attempts this year. He’s thrown one interception in his last 275 pass attempts.
3. Howie Roseman certainly had his share of slam-dunk hits during the offseason, from draft picks Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean to free agents Zack Baun and Saquon Barkley. But then there’s Bryce Huff, whose $17 million annual salary makes him the 17th-highest paid edge rusher in the NFL and 7th-highest-paid player on the Eagles roster. He makes more than Barkley, Baun, Chauncy Gardner-Johnson, Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith and Reed Blankenship, among others. Even with Brandon Graham out for the year, Huff played just one snap against the Packers Sunday. One snap. Vic Fangio went with a three-man edge rotation of Nolan Smith (58 of 66 snaps), Josh Sweat (51 snaps) and Jalyx Hunt (21 snaps). Huff doesn’t play any special teams so he’s essentially become a wasted roster spot at the most important time of the season. No GM hits on everybody and all in all it was a tremendous offseason for Roseman, but $17 million a year for a guy who can’t even get on the field in a playoff game at a position where you lost a key guy to an injury is awful.
4. The Eagles are 6-0 at home in the conference semifinal round in franchise history, the best mark in the NFL. They’ve won those games by an average of 25-11 and haven’t allowed more than 17 points in any of them. Also undefeated at home in the second round but with fewer wins are the Lions and Seahawks (3-0), Bengals (2-0) and Jaguars and Cards (1-0). The Rams are 4-7 on the road in the conference semifinal round.
5. When the Eagles faced the Rams in the 1949 NFL Championship Game at L.A. Coliseum, they took a three-day train ride from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. It was a three-day trip, and the train – a Streamliner dubbed Eagles Special Train – departed on Tuesday, Dec. 13, from the old Broad Street Station at Broad and Market, where coach Greasy Neale and captain Al Wistert spoke to fans who showed up for a public send-off. The train stopped in Chicago on the first day so the Eagles could practice at the University of Chicago and on the second day in Albuquerque, where they practiced at the University of New Mexico. They arrived in L.A. on Friday and practiced at UCLA’s Gilmore Stadium, which was torn down in 1952 and is currently the site of CBS Television City. After the Eagles toppled the Rams 14-0, they boarded the east-bound train, which arrived back in Philly at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 22. According to the Dec. 23, 1949, Inquirer, “several hundred” fans were there to greet them.
6. Coaches who’ve won 70 percent of their regular-season games and at least three postseason games: Vince Lombardi, John Madden, Nick Sirianni.
7. With his two-sack game Sunday, Nolan Smith became only the second player drafted by the Eagles to have a two-sack playoff game as an Eagle. The first was Derrick Burgess, a 3rd-round pick in 2001. He had two sacks of Michael Vick in the 2004 NFC Championship Game, which earned him a monster contract with the Raiders. A few Eagles draft picks had multiple-sack games for other teams: Carl Hairston for the Browns in 1986, Reggie White with the Packers in 1993 and 1996, Clyde Simmons with the Jaguars in 1986 and Steve White of the Bucs in 1999.
8. Playoff teams averaged 146 rushing yards per game and 5.3 yards per carry this year against the Rams. The Rams have allowed at least 100 yards in 14 of 18 games and they were 4-6 when they allowed 120 or more rushing yards. Overall, the Rams finished 26th this year in total defense, 22nd in rushing yards allowed and 26th in yards per carry. They even allowed 4.8 yards per carry in their wild-card win over a Vikings team that wasn’t even trying to run the ball. The matchup between a Rams team that wasn’t good against the run to begin with and will be playing on a short week with coast-to-coast travel and the Eagles’ running attack is the biggest mismatch in this game. Saquon Barkley isn’t going to run for 255 against the Rams again, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s in the 175 range. I don’t think the Rams can stop him.
9. The Eagles haven’t allowed a 100-yard rusher in their last 11 postseason games. The last to hit 100 yards against them in a playoff game was James Starks, who ran for 123 yards in the Packers’ wild-card win at the Linc in 2010. Starks played 86 career games and had three 100-yard games.
10. The Eagles also faced the Rams in the playoffs back in 1989, a wild-card game at the Vet. The weather was terrible in Philly all week – very cold with lots of snow – so Buddy Ryan took the team down to the Falcons’ old facility in Suwanee, Ga., for a week of practice. During his final media sessions down there, a Rams writer asked Buddy about the challenge of facing Greg Bell, who had rushed for over 1,100 yards with 15 touchdowns that year. Buddy mumbled some empty platitudes about Bell – “runs hard, tough kid” – but when he was finished, on his way out of the room, he walked by a row of Eagles beat guys who had made the trip down from Philly and flashed that Buddy smirk and said to us under his breath: “Greg Bell, my ass,” and then cracked up as he walked away. Of course Bell went out and ran for 124 yards and a touchdown against Buddy’s defense that Sunday in the Rams’ 21-7 win. That’s about as Buddy as it could get.
Tune in to Mission 59 specials all playoffs long on NBC Sports Philadelphia, presented by Toyota.
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