6:44.
Remember those numbers.
You're going to be hearing a lot about them this week.
They very well have been the turning point in the Eagles season. And the coaching career of Doug Pederson. And the blossoming career of quarterback Carson Wentz. And the latest chapter of running back LeGarrette Blount.
There was 6:44 left in the fourth quarter of yesterday's game when the Eagles offense trotted back onto the field at StubHub Arena outside L.A., which happened to be overwhelmed with Eagles fans.
Philip Rivers had just marched the Chargers down the field and scored to draw the Bolts to within two points. The idea now was for their defense to make a stand, get the ball back for their offense, and then put the ball back in Rivers' capable hands.
Never happened.
In a defining moment, the Eagles then did what they so often have failed to do in the past.
They exerted their will.
And basically ran the ball down the Chargers' throat.
Blount ran like a man possessed. He basically ran over most of the Chargers' defense on a wild, 68-yard gallop to squeeze the life out of the Chargers.
This is what good teams do. No, this is actually what great teams do.
And it is what the Eagles did yesterday.
They ran off 13 plays. Rivers and the Chargers offense never got on the field again.
After the first two weeks and complaints that he was little more than Andy Reid lite, a coach who all too quickly abandons the run, Pederson has been stout the past two weeks.
Yesterday the Eagles came out and exerted their will on the Chargers. Their offensive line dominated on the West Coast.
Pederson stayed with the run, establishing it early and sticking with it.
Blount led the charge, along with key contributions from Wendel Smallwood and Corey Clement.
The Eagles now have an identity.
It fits this town perfectly.
It was seen in all those green jersey that overwhelmed Chargers fans in the stands.
As Merrill Reese so perfectly noted, LeGarrette was like a runaway train.
He's the face of the Eagles. In the stands. On the field. In your face.
The Eagles faced a gut-check, defining moment with 6:44 left in the game yesterday.
With LeGarrette Blount leading the charge, they answered the bell.
They're now 3-1 and sitting atop the NFC East.
Kudos to Pederson. And to Blount.
And to the fans.
In 6 minutes and 44 seconds, this Eagles team established their identity and issued a warning to the rest of the NFL.
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