PHILADELPHIA — For a moment, it sounded as if Nick Sirianni was talking out of both sides of his mouth. Not that you could blame him. Barely an hour had passed since the 43-year-old head coach had clinched his second NFC championship berth in three seasons and, well, there was a lot to process.
The Eagles’ 28-22 win over the Los Angeles Rams at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday felt less like a football game and more like a lifetime. Or, at least, a 10-episode season of prestige television. The home team never trailed after the first quarter, but not for a lack of trying.
In a driving second-half snow that left the field covered for most of the final two quarters, the Eagles alternated between sealing, unsealing, and resealing the victory. Not until Matthew Stafford and the Rams were 13 yards away from a game-winning touchdown did the Eagles salt away the thing for good. In the end, talent prevailed.
That’s usually the bottom line with this football team. The Eagles have an overwhelming amount of talent, at virtually every position. Rare is the game in which those disparities do not express themselves in some consequential fashion.
Jalen Carter always ends up in the opponent’s backfield, as he did on the Rams’ last two offensive plays of the game, a sack of Stafford on third-and-2 from the Eagles’ 13-yard line and then a pressure that forced the veteran quarterback to throw wide of his target on fourth down. Saquon Barkley always ends up in the opponent’s second.