By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Another home game, another strong defensive performance that disrupted a playoff team and their MVP-caliber offense.
After two straight divisional losses, the Eagles got back to the win column against the Falcons on Sunday, turning in one of their better games in a while.
Here are this week's grades.
Pass Offense – B
You certainly can't fault Carson Wentz for much of anything in this game. He finished 25-for-36 passing for 231 yards and while the lack of receivers around him meant another game with no passing touchdowns, he protected the ball fairly well. The only two mistakes from Wentz were his throw-away on 4th and 1 with seconds still left on the clock in the first half — rookie mistake, but the clock has to run out there — and the fumble lost late in the first half.
Again, the problem remains the receivers. This week was certainly better, and on two incompletions, penalties should have been called. But the big error this week was Jordan Matthews drop late in the first half. A perfect pass by Wentz between coverage goes completely by the wayside because Matthews can't hang on. He was untouched and the ball was perfectly placed. No excuses, it has to be caught. Luckily, it didn't cost the Eagles later, and they won by nine points, but if the games ends by a margin of three or less the other way, you could easily point to that play as the difference.
Once you hit this point in the season, it's not about recovering from a rough couple of games or slow starts or anything like that. What you see is often what you can expect. It seems like Matthews has been good for one drop in a crucial situation per game, and it's a tired act.
Run Offense – A-
There is the good and bad to this. The good: Ryan Mathews.
He was not listed as the starting running back, but from the beginning of the game, Mathews was in control. He finished the game with 109 yards rushing on 19 carries — an average of 5.7 yards per carry — and two touchdowns. That was the most carries for Mathews since the season opener against Cleveland and his highest rushing total of the season.
Also good was the Eagles balance on the ground. Mathews' performance was the headliner, but Wendell Smallwood also carried the ball 13 times for 70 yards. Darren Sproles only had two carries, but for 19 yards and Wentz picked his spots when taking off and was effective.
Now to the bad: the red zone playcalling.
The Eagles got inside the red zone and down to the goal line. On 2nd and goal with seconds left in the third quarter, a run attempt by Mathews was stopped just short of a touchdown, leaving the Eagles inches away on third down. The play called by Doug Pederson in this spot was terrible. After going with the north-south vertical run all game, you call a sweep in that spot? It was way too easy to stop and another moment that almost cost the Eagles the game.
Why? Because after settling for a field goal to put them ahead by only four instead of eight, the Falcons finally got the big play they were looking for against a defensive breakdown for the Eagles and took the lead. The Eagles rebounded, but that play call loomed large for a few moments there.
Still, that doesn't take away the great games from Mathews and Smallwood, who carried the Eagles offense at times on Sunday.
Pass Defense – B+
To hold Matt Ryan to less than 300 yards passing is a victory in and of itself. And realistically, so is a 10-reception, 135-yard game from Julio Jones. The Eagles weren't going to be able to contain that duo all day, but did fairly well. Jones didn't burn them on the scoreboard and in fact, his largest gain of the day was 29 yards.
Ryan honestly never found a groove. His only touchdown wasn't on a strong drive with a series of completions. It was a quick strike to a wide-open Taylor Gabriel for 76 yards. Otherwise, there wasn't much of a rhythm for Ryan and the Falcons didn't get the chance to pick up a lot of yards after the catch with solid tackling by the Eagles.
As a good defense should, the Eagles also stood tall in the wake of mistakes. The only drive where they were truly hurt was on Gabriel's touchdown, but otherwise, they stood tall in continuing to force field goals out of the Falcons.
Run Defense – A
The numbers reflect a run defense from the start of the season — 13 carries for the Falcons resulting in 48 yards. The Falcons were not going to run the ball much with Ryan and Jones available and Tevin Coleman out with injury. When called on, the run defense was there. The Falcons averaged 4.1 yards per carry overall, but one of those carries by Devonta Freeman was for 17 yards. On the other 12, the Falcons averaged 2.7 yards per carry.
Special Teams – B-
It was an interesting game for Caleb Sturgis. First off, he got a lot of work in this one. You would certainly prefer if your team wasn't attempting field goals on every possession and could punch in a few touchdowns.
But when he was called upon, he hit the field goals he needed to. Sturgis missed from 44 yards on his first attempt, then bounced back with successful attempts from 29 yards and 25 yards. He missed again from 55 yards before nailing a 48-yard attempt in the final two minutes to seal the win.
Special teams also continued to remain a strength in the return game. Twice, the Eagles nearly had returns go for touchdowns with the kicker being the last line of defense.
Overall – B+
There were still too many mistakes, again the reflection of an overall young team, rookie quarterback and rookie coach. But there's something about this team and home field and playing teams with far superior records.
They did it to the Steelers. They did it to the Vikings. Now, they've done it to the Falcons.
As encouraging as those performances are, particularly from the defense — three points to the Steelers, 10 to the Vikings, 15 to the Falcons — the number of games where miscues cost the Eagles nearly outweighs the success stories. And they still get tested by the Seahawks next week and the Packers the next before a stretch run with three divisional games.
With enough performances like this, playoff talk isn't out of the question, especially if the Eagles can change the tune in the final three NFC East showdowns.
Sunday's win over Atlanta was again a step in the right direction again, just as we thought with the Minnesota victory. If the Eagles can build on this win in Seattle, the entire outlook of the season could shift again.
