NY Jets: Scouting the Philadelphia Eagles ahead of Week 13

A win’s a win. The NY Jets went on to defeat the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium this past Sunday, breaking a three-game losing skid.

The return of quarterback Zach Wilson will certainly grab the headlines, but New York’s defensive performance stole the show. It wasn’t the first time the Jets’ defense played tough for head coach Robert Saleh, but this felt like the first time that they legitimately controlled the majority of a game.

The Jets held Tyrod Taylor and the Texans to 45 (!) total offensive yards in the second-half, yielding zero points. That sort of domination hasn’t quite yet been seen from the 2021 Jets, until now.

Although the defense will receive the majority of the praise, rightfully so, Wilson took it upon himself to control the game despite not playing at full health.

Wilson recorded the first rushing touchdown of his career, while also turning the ball over once. This isn’t the first time Wilson will have to play “boring” football to secure the victory, despite a shaky first start back from injury, Wilson was able to propel his team to their third win on the season.

The NY Jets could win their second consecutive game if they beat the Eagles

Now, it’s on to Philadelphia. The Eagles are set to travel (back) to MetLife Stadium after facing the cross-town rival New York Giants this past Sunday. The Giants were able to pull ahead of the Eagles to secure their fourth win on the season.

It’ll be something if the Jets can send the Eagles packing prompting them to lose to two New York teams in the span of two weeks.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. The Eagles aren’t a poor football team. First-year head coach Nick Sirianni has his team playing tough as Philadelphia came into the season with moderately low expectations.

Second-year quarterback Jalen Hurts is playing some respectable football this season. Battling a sore ankle, albeit something unforeseen, the Jets should be prepared to take on the dual-threat signal-caller come Sunday.

The Eagles have proved that they have what it takes to operate a seemingly effective offensive system under Nick Sirianni. The Jets will look to replicate their admirable defensive performance against Houston to try and mitigate the Eagles’ offensive attack.

On the defensive side of the football for Philadelphia, they host one of the league’s better defensive backs in former Detroit Lions cornerback Darius Slay.

It’ll be important for Wilson to keep an eye on Slay for the majority of the outing, throwing to his side too often could cause a stir in the turnover department for Gang Green.

Unfortunately for the Jets, they won’t have running back Michael Carter available this week, as the team placed the first-year standout tailback on the short-term injured reserve.

Although Carter wasn’t a part of the rotation this past Sunday, the Jets still seemed to find a way to open up the ground game with the likes of Tevin Coleman and Ty Johnson taking on the majority of the load.

A surprise contributor: third-year running back Austin Walter. Walter, who scored his first career rushing touchdown versus Houston, was an efficient change-of-pace playmaker for New York.

The Jets seem to like what they have in Walter, we wouldn’t be surprised to hear his name called more often come Sunday versus the Philadelphia Eagles. The more the better at a position that offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur’s system relies on the most.

The Jets were able to defeat a team in the Houston Texans that were the worse of the two on the field this past Sunday. This may not be the case in Week 13.

The Eagles are likely looking at the Jets as a chance to rebound from a poor performance against the Giants, but the Jets have a chance to play double-spoiler.

It won’t be as easy against an Eagles team that is multi-faceted on both sides of the football, but we’ve seen odder things over the years.

The Jets can either come out of the tunnel ready to win two-in-a-row, or ready to take a nap. But that’s NY Jets football, and that’s what makes it all the better to tune in.