The Philadelphia Eagles just barely kept their winning streak going with a 20-17 win against the Arizona Cardinals. Although the Eagles won the game, it was a nail-biter. Whether the Eagles won or not came down to how each team’s kicker performed in the very last seconds. Both teams had to put replacement kickers in, so the Philadelphia Eagle, Cameron Dicker, filled in for Jake Elliot, while the Arizona Cardinal, Matt Ammendola, filled in for Matt Prater. Dicker kicked a 23-yard field goal with one minute and forty-two seconds remaining, which put the Eagles in the lead. During an interview with The Washington Post, when asked if he had any nerves before his field goal attempt, Dicker said, “‘None. I was ready to go. I was excited. The first kick was awesome. It’s a kickoff so you get to go out there and just hit a ball and it went well. I think I’ve played in bigger games in my life. I’ve been playing at Texas and it prepared me for this opportunity, so it’s cool.’” Tensions rose when Prater had to kick a 43-yard field goal with 17 seconds left, which would have sent the game into overtime. Prater’s attempt was unsuccessful, so the Eagles were victorious.

With the game against the Arizona Cardinals under their belt, the Eagles’ record climbed to 5-0. However, according to The Washington Post, the game against the Arizona Cardinals was “easily the Eagles’ worst all-around performance of the season”. The play-calls that the Eagles used were confusing and many first downs were given up. Although the Eagles’ winning streak survived yet another game, they are far from perfect, which was demonstrated in this game. Jalen Hurts commented on this during an interview with The Washington Post. He said, “‘I personally hate hearing 5-0. I don’t like to hear it. Because nobody wanted to mention the record when we were 2-5 (last season). Nobody wanted to talk about that. So, I don’t want to hear it now. I don’t want to hear it now. Can we come in here and control the things we can, attack every day and just grow and climb. That’s what matters. The process. Not anything else.’” Jalen’s advice encourages the Eagles to keep getting better, so tune in on October 16 to see if they perform well against the Dallas Cowboys!

The Washington Post link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nfl/eagles-are-undefeated-but-hardly-perfect-at-5-0/2022/10/10/c27d34c4-48a8-11ed-8153-96ee97b218d2_story.html