PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Eagles are a 4-1 football team. It says so right there in the NFL standings.
They choose not to spend much time thinking about how they've gotten to 4-1. It doesn't really matter, or at least that's one school of thought.
"Take it how you want to take it," Eagles left tackle Jason Peters said after his team's 34-28 victory over the St. Louis Rams. "I've seen teams get in the playoffs at 8-8 and go win the Super Bowl. We're just going to keep fighting and at the end of the year, we'll see where we're at."
The Eagles won their first three games despite falling behind by double digits in the first half every week. Last Sunday in San Francisco, they failed to score a point on offense and were still a goal-line stand away from taking the lead on the 49ers.
On Sunday, the Eagles built a 34-7 lead over the St. Louis Rams, a 1-3 team coming off its bye week. They allowed three touchdowns in just over 10 minutes of football. The Rams had the ball at midfield with a chance to score the go-ahead points. They didn't, but the Eagles were keenly aware of how narrowly they dodged an embarrassing come-from-ahead loss.
"I think guys are happy about the win," safety Malcolm Jenkins said. "But I don't think anybody's really satisfied with the fashion in which we won. To put ourselves up like we did, and to have the success we had early, I don't think anybody liked the finish. We felt like we let them back in the game."
Eagles coach Chip Kelly likes to talk about his four-minute offense, the way the Eagles were able to hold on to the ball for long chunks of the fourth quarter in victories last year. That aspect was sorely lacking in the second half of this game.
After the Eagles took a 34-7 lead with 2:15 left in the third quarter, the Rams drove 79 yards in just five plays to start their comeback. Every play on the drive was enough for a first down, from quarterback Austin Davis' 25-yard throw to Brian Quick to Benny Cunningham's 14-yard touchdown run.
When Eagles quarterback Nick Foles fumbled the ball away at the St. Louis 38, the Rams responded with another quick touchdown drive. After the Eagles were forced to punt, the Rams went 75 yards on six plays and a penalty to cut the lead to 34-28 with 4:41 left in the game.
The Eagles needed that four-minute offense. They held the ball for only two minutes. The running game wasn't effective enough, and Kelly never called a single pass play. The Rams got the ball on their own 7-yard line, and Davis took them to midfield with a 43-yard pass to Quick.
"Obviously, offensively, we have to do a better job of finishing people off," Kelly said. "Tough 4-1, soft 4-1, it doesn't matter. You're 4-1. It's the same thing. You could be 1-4 or 4-1. You've got to go back to work on Tuesday and be ready to go."
The good news for the Eagles is that their offense can be a lot better than it has been. Once again, they got touchdowns from their defense and special teams. Against the Rams, that was enough.
Against the New York Giants, Arizona Cardinals, Houston Texans, Carolina Panthers and Green Bay Packers -- the next five teams on the Eagles' schedule -- a partial game is not likely to be enough.
"In the beginning of the season, we had it in the second half," Jenkins said. "The last two games, it's been the first half. To be 4-1 at this point is always good."
That's what the standings say the Eagles are. As they know all too well, the standings tell only part of the tale.
