Have the Philadelphia Eagles found their identity?

The Eagles played a much better game than the rest of season during last week’s victory over the Minnesota Vikings. 

The Eagles did even better Sunday, playing their most balanced and efficient game this season en route to a 38-20 victory over the New York Giants, the same Giants who just embarrassed the Eagles not even two weeks ago.

Something just felt different from the moment the game started.

The Eagles really needed to get their running game going, and that happened… and pretty quickly.

On the second play from scrimmage, Saquon Barkley broke off a 65-yard touchdown run.

Not only was that an early statement, but also something that Barkley needed to finally get going. He finished with a season-high 150 rushing yards. If it were not for a groin injury that caused him to exit the game, he could have had more.

But no Barkley? No problem.

The run game was still electric.

Tank Bigsby rushed for 104 yards on nine carries. On second-and-26 early in the fourth quarter, Bigsby ran for a 29-yard gain, leading to a 17-yard TD pass from Jalen Hurts to Dallas Goedert.

That gave the Eagles a 31-13 lead.

And  Bigsby’s play was a game-changer.

Bigsby, who started the season on a Jacksonville Jaguars, put the game away with that run, essentially. It was 24-13, the Giants had the Eagles in a tough spot. A second-and-26 is very hard to convert. Yet, Bigsby broke tackles and maneuvered through traffic in a very important spot in the game.

Imagine if the Giants stopped them there instead? Imagine if they scored and cut the Eagles deficit to 24-20? Momentum could have been flipped, but Bigsby did not allow that to happen.

He was great with the opportunities he was given.

Overall, the Eagles rushed for 278 yards. Hurts threw for four TDs. The offense finally looked unstoppable and explosive, which we all probably expected from the start. 

Maybe it just took time to wake up? Kevin Patullo called a much better game, and things were not as predictable. His play calls finally had some variety with a nice mix of run and pass and different formations.

DeVonta Smith had six grabs for 84 yards. Jahan Dotson had a 40-yard TD. Goedert was amazing, catching two TD passes.

The Eagles were without AJ Brown and Cam Jurgens, so this was an encouraging game script to see from Patullo. We have not seen that this season, so hopefully that balanced attack continues.

Personally, I do not have complete trust in Patullo just yet. However, his play calls over the last two weeks have instilled more confidence in me. I just need to see this become an every-week occurrence, but if it does, the NFC better watch out. The Eagles could be taking off in the second half of their season.  

“The goal is to be playing the best ball at the end of the season, and there’s a focus to do that,” Hurts said. “You saw a lot of guys make big-time plays (Sunday).”

Hurts finished with a 141.5 passer rating and 179 passing yards. As of Monday afternoon, he leads the NFL with the most total TDs (20). He also has the best touchdown-to-interception ratio (he only has one INT this season and 15 passing TDs).

Hurts (again) put together a perfect week. He is only the third quarterback in Eagles’ history to have a passer rating of 140 or more in back-to-back weeks (Randall Cunningham and Nick Foles are the other two).

“I think the best is yet to come,” Hurts said.

That should make every other team very, very scared.

“We like that balance,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said of his offense. “We had a lot of success with that balance. It’s a good feeling for us. And a tough feeling for them.”

And that’s just the offense!

The defense also played just as amazing.

The Giants were forced to punt four times, including three three-and-outs. The Giants got a meaningless TD with 2 minutes, 44 seconds left. So, the Eagles starters allowed just 13 points.

Jaxson Dart was sacked five sacks times and held to just 17 rushing yards, as opposed to two weeks ago when he rushed for 58 and a score. The Giants had just 68 total rushing yards. They brought great pressure and stopped the rushing attack.

Granted, maybe things would have been different if Cam Skattebo did not suffer that horrible ankle injury. But that doesn’t take away from the fact the defense looked great. Remember, this is a young unit. They will only get better as the season goes on.

The Eagles will enter their bye week 6-2, a great position to be in. Again, hopefully they will play this type of ball, and on both sides, down the stretch and become unstoppable again.

Right now, I just need to see more before making that statement.

We will find out Nov. 10 against the Green Bay Packers.