Sometimes, the eye test will suffice in telling you all you need to know about an NFL team's performance, and that was fortunately the case in Week 1 for Philadelphia Eagles fans. Anyone could see that Jalen Hurts looked great, several players at skill positions looked like dynamic playmakers and Nick Sirianni coached a good all-around offensive game.
But if you have felt like Sunday's game was a little too good to be true, you can support what your eyes have told you with all the scientific stuff: the stats, the metrics, the analytics and everything in between. As it turns out, all of these numbers confirm what the Eagles fan base has been thinking about all day. This new-look team really did perform at a level we haven't seen for quite some time.
According to our friends at Pro Football Focus, the Eagles' offensive grades were as follows, with their league ranking in parentheses. Note that Monday night's game between the Ravens and Raiders has not yet been played, meaning the rankings could ultimately wind up shifting slightly, but the point will remain the same: Philly did well across the board.
Offense: 78.9 (4th)
Passing: 87.9 (2nd)
Pass Blocking: 69.6 (5th)
Receiving: 74.4 (8th)
Running: 72.8 (10th)
Run Blocking: 65.8 (11th)
The only teams that topped the Eagles' offensively, based on that all-encompassing offensive grade, were Matt Stafford's Los Angeles Rams and the loaded units of the Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We also shouldn't neglect the Birds' defense, seeing as their 66.9 grade ranked ninth in the league.
But it's those offensive grades that are eye-catching, especially considering this was the first test for a team with a whole lot of skeptics coming into the year. And no, the Atlanta Falcons don't boast some monstrous defensive unit, but let's be real — this performance was impressive no matter who the opponent was. In fact, the Eagles' 2020 offense failed to register such a high offensive grade even once in 2020, with the peak coming in Week 5 when they were graded a 76.4 against the Steelers. It took literally a single game of the Sirianni-Hurts era to outdo every effort from the 2020 iteration of the team's offense, and that's a proud feat.
The same goes for the receiving corps, whose 2020 high came in Week 15 against the Cardinals and was a 74.4, meaning DeVonta Smith and company have already equaled what last year's unit did at its best.
One more fun statistic for you? J.J. Arcega-Whiteside was the second best run blocker of Week 1, regardless of position, trailing only Jack Conklin (h/t Cody Swartz), while DeVonta Smith ranked at No. 8. If that's not a sign that everything went well, I don't know what is.
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