Eagles remain unbeaten with win over Rams: Philly stands 5-0, but imperfect in some ways

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The Philadelphia Eagles remain unbeaten after spoiling Cooper Kupp’s season debut with a 23-14 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. Here’s what you need to know:

The Eagles held the Rams scoreless through the final 30 minutes after giving up all 14 points in the first half.
Philadelphia rookie Jalen Carter had three total tackles and two sacks, while linebacker Haason Reddick added two sacks of his own.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts threw for 303 yards, one touchdown and an interception, adding 72 yards and another touchdown on the ground.
Kupp caught eight passes for 118 yards in his first game of the season.

Still unbeaten, yet still imperfect

The Eagles improve to 5-0 and depending on how the San Francisco 49ers do, may be the last remaining undefeated squad in the league. What’s remarkable about this team is that they remain very flawed. They’re winning games despite struggling mightily in the red zone, despite giving up chunk plays in the pass game and despite losing the turnover battle Sunday.

Philadelphia is, however, so versatile, well-rounded and talent-rich that it has the ability to overcome its mistakes in ways that other teams cannot.

Their offense may sputter at times, but the Eagles always have the home run threat. Or, they have the ability to go ground-and-pound and impose their will on foes while chewing up the clock. It’s hard to stop a team that can do it all. — Mike Jones, national NFL writer

Valiant defensive effort

Philadelphia has found itself short-handed on defense all season long, whether in their secondary or – this week – up front. But the Eagles managed to overcome those deficiencies as well. The mix-and-match secondary struggled in the first half, allowing Kupp to rack up 95 receiving yards in his return. However, the Eagles held him to just 23 yards in the second half.

The Eagles defensive front turned it up in the second half and generated increased pressure on Matthew Stafford, making it harder for him to find comfort in the pocket. Then, when they needed it the most, the pass rush came through as Reddick slammed the door on the Rams with two sacks on third and fourth down of their late fourth-quarter possession that ultimately decided the game. — Jones

Tale of two halves for Rams

Like many of their games this season, this was a total tale of two halves for the Rams offense — and really, they seemed to start to struggle when they ran through their opening scripts in the first half. Two touchdown drives and 168 yards of offense through the first 30 minutes were followed by three punts to open the second half. Los Angeles also called just three runs in the third quarter to 10 passes, although the Philadelphia had added more pressure (and the Rams were only down by a field goal to start the third quarter). — Jourdan Rodrigue, Los Angeles Rams writer

Eagles effective on third-and-long

The Eagles also killed the Rams on third-and long: Of eight situations in which Los Angeles had Philadelphia in third-and-5-plus-yards in the final four minutes of the fourth quarter, the Eagles converted six of them including three Hurts keepers.

While the defense held Philadelphia to a respectable 23 points and took the ball away once (the offense did not score after the takeaway), the long third downs and explosive plays — including a combination pass play and penalty involving cornerback Derion Kendrick in the late seconds of the second quarter — were huge blows especially when the offense could not sustain drives in the second half. — Rodrigue

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(Photo: Gary A. Vasquez / USA Today)