We interrupt your regularly-scheduled World Series programming to bring you a Philadelphia Eagles story.

It was Birds vs. Steelers on Sunday, a much more interesting Pennsylvania battle than Fetterman vs. Oz, and as expected, the home team made light work of the rebuilding Yinzers, who are a long way removed from the halcyon days of Big Ben and Jack Lambert. Jalen Hurts looked fantastic, A.J. Brown was monolithic, and the Birds finally got over the “our second halves suck” hump with a strong effort coming out of the locker room, allowing them to pull the offensive starters in the fourth quarter with Houston coming up Thursday on short rest.

The Eagles are 7-0, as we go to the takeaways:

 

1) A.J. Brown going and getting that ball on the first touchdown is exactly what the Eagles were missing during the latter part of the Carson Wentz years. Find yourself a WR1 who will go grab the ball with a corner and a safety right there. It says a lot about the trust Jalen Hurts has in Brown for him to toss a deep pass into double coverage like that. Brown finished with six catches for 156 yards and three touchdowns, almost adding a fourth in the second half.

2) I liked the 3rd and 1 quick pitch on that first drive. The Eagles have done a great job this year in not over-thinking short-yardage situations. Just line it up, get behind your blockers, and pound the rock. Roll that Blount, (or in the case of the 4th and 2 conversion, give yourself an option read and then hit the quick pass to move the chains).

3) Brandon Graham has always been a shit talker on the field, and this time it cost the Eagles. That delay of game penalty erased a field goal, allowed the Steelers to put their offense back out there, and then they hit a really nice trick play to get six instead.

The goofiest thing about the sequence was the ref explanation:

“making a move that’s not necessary and unlike football”

lol ok, thanks for that, Clete Blakeman

They actually did a nice job coming back on the broadcast with Tony Romo narrating over the side-angle view, and you got a better idea of what Graham was doing up on the line of scrimmage. You could see him (maybe) yell something and then flinch, and so they ruled that he was trying to throw the offense off by simulating a snap, which is illegal:

4) That second TD to Brown, and third TD to Brown? Those are two of the best throws of Jalen Hurts’ NFL career. He couldn’t have placed those any better, just perfectly timed and thrown to the perfect location. Again with the trust thing as well – he just knows that if he puts it in the right spot, Brown will complete the play. You think he’s throwing this ball with regularity to Jalen Reagor? –

After seeing that pass, Chris Simms added Jalen Hurts to his top-40 QB list. He is now #39.

5) They threw the ball early and often, with barely any running, which makes sense since Pittsburgh came in with the fourth-worst passing defense and #1 worst defense in terms of giving up plays of 20+ yards. It paid off, mostly, because they came out after going up 14-7 and went pass/pass/pass/pass, which resulted in a three and out, but then a beautiful TD to throw to Brown. They just kept going there over and over again and eschewed running the ball, going into halftime with just six rushing attempts and 22 throws.

6) The Titans trading A.J. Brown may go down as one of the dumbest moves ever.

7) Brown got flagged for this. Technically taunting, but whatever, he earned it:

8) The Bradberry/Pickens sequence in the 2nd quarter was entertaining. Romo didn’t think that first pass was OPI (it was), then he questioned the second pass, which went right back to Pickens, thinking that might be a catch (it was close). Either way, interesting to see Pittsburgh go to the same exact play thinking they had something there on the outside.

9) Jordan Davis limping off wasn’t great. They took him to the locker room via cart. He’s a big part of their early-down defense, and you lose some Bear Front flexibility if he’s not available to play.

10) Beautiful drive to open the third quarter, and important, too, because they really needed to break out of the “great second quarters, shitty third quarters” routine. They needed to demonstrate that they were able to come out keep their foot on the gas pedal, and they did it with that five-play, 75-yard drive. Throw in the defense bending-but-not-breaking on the ensuing drive, and they were +4 in point differential on the two drives to begin the second half.

11) Giving up a fake punt is whatever, but that’s the second one in three weeks they’ve conceded. The Birds’ special teams unit is not a strength and hopefully it doesn’t bite them in the ass one of these days, against a better team.

12) How about Brown dropping an easy 2nd and 4 toss, only for Dallas Goedert to come back and make a ridiculous grab on the ensuing play to move the chains? Funny game, sometimes.

13) On the attempted pin-back punt, Jim Nantz said “the crowd’s all worked up because they don’t know the rule,” which made me laugh. Little bit of a dig at the Philly fans there, but I’m pretty sure most fans and a lot of media don’t know about the first-touch rule either:

14) The Eagles were only 1-1 in the red zone, which is funny. They bombed Pittsburgh from deep so often that they didn’t even enter the red zone on most of their drives.

15) Robert Quinn made his Eagles debut and was credited with a QB hit.

16) Kenny Pickett might be a decent NFL QB at some point, but he’s always going to be a lame-ass Pitt Panther. This ain’t the ACC. You’re not playing at a half-empty Heinz Field. Jordan Addison ain’t walking through that door. Go Mountaineers.

17) If you’re using Tostito’s Cheesy Enchilada dip, or any queso variant, the common thought is to go with Tostito’s scoops or another corn chip, but I highly recommend dipping sourdough pretzels in there. Give it a try, and don’t worry about the sodium. You only live once.

18) Nice to get Nantz and Romo for this game. It just feels like it means more when you get one of the top announcer pairs. Romo, specifically, breaking down RPO and offensive game play and all of that adds so much to the game. He’s not just a specialist who played O line, or linebacker, or whatever – he was a QB and saw the entire field and breaks down both sides of the game with expertise.

19) It’s starting to feel like 2017, isn’t it? The Eagles get off to a great start, only to arrive at a portion of the schedule featuring shit teams and bad or rookie quarterbacks. Sky is the limit here, folks.

20) We cut the cord last week and watched on YouTube TV. No issues. Live betting is a little funky, and you’re going to be behind if you’re following along on Twitter, but who really gives a shit about the latter anyway? One of the things I started doing this year was avoiding social media during games and just trying to focus mostly on the broadcast instead, and that’s made the experience much more enjoyable. You miss a little bit when it comes to stats, injury updates, and notes from the blue checkmarks, but it’s not so much to make you feel like you HAVE to be on social media during the game.

21) If I gotta see the Ace of Base “I saw the sign” commercial one more time, I’m gonna draw a nice, warm acid bath and hop right into the tub.

22) Finally: