The Eagles beat the Giants’ backups on Sunday evening, finishing 14-3 on the season and clinching the #1 seed in the NFC and a first-round bye.

It probably should not have come down to a conservative week 18 victory over Davis Webb, but that’s neither here nor there. Jalen Hurts returned to the lineup, they significantly limited the playbook to protect his shoulder, and the Birds took care of business, meaning that the pungent stank of the last two weeks can now wash off as we leave the regular season behind.

No matter what happens in the playoffs, we should look back at this season with a ton of positivity. Only three times in franchise history had the Eagles won 13 games (during the old 16-game schedule), so the infrequency with which this kind of success happens should not be lost on anyone. They really were the best team in the league for a large portion of the schedule, and may still be the best team depending on how you feel about the Chiefs, Niners, Bills, or Bengals. They’ve got just as much of a shot to win it it all as any of those teams, so it’s time to flush the negativity and appreciate the season-long achievement. They’ll get two weeks to get everybody healthy and rested, then it’s home field advantage, hopefully in front of a crowd that’s up for it.

The takeaways:

1) Not to be “that guy,” but every time you hear a statistic about breaking a single-season record, it doesn’t mean anything without the added caveat of the 17-game schedule. A.J. Brown needed 17 games to break a receiving yards record Mike Quick set in 16 games. I appreciate Ian Eagle for bringing this up during the game’s first drive.

It’s not about shitting on the achievement, it’s just that everything in this family of statistics needs to have a footnote attached. They should already be doing it when referencing a record that was set during the 16-game era, when the old schedules were 14 games prior to 1979.

(You could even make the argument that Brown breaks the record in 16 games if Gardner Minshew isn’t in there. There are always plenty of legitimate “what ifs” worth considering.)

2) Six passing plays and no runs on the opening drive. They got a field goal. Set the tone for the rest of the game, didn’t it? Some foreshadowing.

3) That was a nice Damar Hamlin tribute coming out of the first change of possession. The NFL community at-large has been pretty tasteful/tactful with how they’ve handled his situation and recovery.

4) With Chauncey Gardner-johnson back, they played him mostly in the slot with Reed Blankenship at safety. We’ll have to see how the snap counts end up looking, but it seemed like Josiah Scott spent much less time on the field.

5) 10 career scores for Boston Scott against New York:

6) T.J. Edwards and the 15-yard unnecessary roughness? Borderline flag, but you know the refs are gonna throw it if you give them a reason. It’s just the way it is with QB protection.

7) That Giants fake punt was something else. Not even the worst play “The Scottish Hammer” has had against the Eagles this season. Credit to the special teams though, they covered up the tight end and kept Jamie Gillan contained.

8) Some people wondering why Nick Sirianni punted on 4th and 2 from the Eagles’ 48. No clue what the analytics sheet says there, but they pushed New York back to the 14, so they flipped 38 yards of field position there while holding a 10-point lead, then forced a three-and-out.

9) They did a stellar job of limiting Jalen Hurts in the run game. Didn’t want him taking any unnecessary hits in a game where there were going to cruise. That’s why the play-calling was bland. No designed QB runs in the first half, just a handful of safe scrambles where he didn’t take any hits. The RPO game was largely absent and they tried to get through this game without getting Hurts re-injured. You see how vanilla they look when those calls come out of the playbook entirely. Don’t read too much into the play calling for this game. Read absolutely nothing into it.

10) Robert Quinn with a QB pressure? How about that.

11) Marcus Epps with a great break on the ball and just dropped that interception.  I blame Jonathan Gannon.

12) There was a 3rd and 29 in this game and Gannon had those dudes WAAAAAAAY BACK. Not fucking around with Josiah Scott in a disguised coverage.

13) Davis Webb’s family looked absolutely thrilled to be at the Linc:

14) Good point from Charles Davis (and others) about the onside kick and fake field goal. There’s risk of putting that on film so that the Giants’ playoff opponent knows what to look for. The counterpoint is trying to win this game and getting real reps with those plays, but not sure how much upside is there.

15) Miles Sanders with a “for who, for what” moment on that short pass there. Do you blame him? That was a hospital ball.

16) DeVonta Smith might have magnets in his hands. Guy’s catch radius is phenomenal. He just makes it look so easy.

17) Can’t believe the refs threw that flag on Landon Dickerson. I mean for fuck’s sake, that he wandered 2 yards past the line of scrimmage on a play that didn’t even go to that side of the field.* That’s two weeks in a row that the refs wiped out Eagles touchdowns with ridiculous calls that shouldn’t have been made.

*I know they are emphasizing calling these downfield plays now, but it’s mostly because of the prevalence of RPO, and not because of plays like that one. Dickerson didn’t influence that play one bit. 

18) Boston Scott in the pistol is an underrated look. He’s small and shifty. Start him behind Hurts and let the defensive line try to pick him out.

19)  Between Epps, T.J. Edwards, and Darius Slay in the 3rd quarter, the defense probably could have had a pick-six. No matter. They weren’t gonna get beat by Webb anyway.

20) Not sure why the Giants kicked from 4th and goal at the 6 when they didn’t have anything to play for anyway. Could have scored there to make it 19-7.

21) Brett Kern with a 29-yard punt was no bueno.

22) Milton Williams continues to make plays when he’s in there. He’s got a bright future ahead of him.

23) Reed Blankenship getting run over by Davis Webb is not a good look.

24) If you really want a true failure to point to, based on the parameters of 1) winning the game and 2) protecting Hurts, then putting yourself in a position where you had to leave him in instead of giving Gardner Minshew fourth quarter snaps is, indeed, a failure. If that touchdown had stood, they probably could have gone to him soon after, but instead it played out in a less-deal way.

25) They’re the #1 seed. Who gives a shit what else happened along the way. Enjoy it. This doesn’t happen often.