The unexpected reason why Eagles are Super Bowl contenders

The Philadelphia Eagles have won six straight games since their bye week to take a healthy lead in the NFC East. After an uneven 2-2 start, the Eagles have emerged as legitimate Super Bowl contenders, and their impressive defense is the reason why. 

Since the Week 5 bye, the defense ranks No. 1 in the NFL in several advanced stats, such as EPA/play (-0.235), success rate (36.3 percent) and dropback success rate (37.0 percent). 

During its six-game winning streak, Philadelphia has allowed just 13.8 points and 211.3 yards per game. It's fair to mention the Eagles faced middling QBs Deshaun Watson of the Browns, Daniel Jones of the Giants and Cooper Rush of the Cowboys during that stretch, but they also shut down Cincinnati's Joe Burrow and Washington's Jayden Daniels.

In Week 8, the Eagles limited the Cincinnati Bengals to 17 points and 4.8 yards per play. On Thursday night, they held the Washington Commanders to a season-low 18 points, and they only reached 18 due to a garbage-time touchdown and two-point conversion when the game was already decided. 

The defense, led by first-year Eagles coordinator Vic Fangio, ranks first in the league in yards allowed per game (273.1) and yards allowed per play (4.7), fourth in opponent completion percentage (61.5 percent) and sixth in opponent red-zone touchdown percentage (46.4 percent). It's quite the contrast to last season's disappointing defense.

In 2023, the  Sean Desai-coordinated unit finished 26th in yards allowed per game (356.1), 31st in passing yards allowed per game (252.7) and 30th in points allowed per game (25.2). Things got so bad for the defense that Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni took play-calling duties from Desai at midseason and gave the responsibility to Matt Patricia.