Brett Toth comes through in huge moment for Eagles
Brett Toth comes through in huge moment for Eagles originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
If you were a bit skeptical about the Eagles' decision to start Brett Toth at center against the Giants in Week 8, you weren't alone.
But Toth came through.
In his first-career start at center, Toth filled in admirably for Cam Jurgens (knee) in the Eagles' 38-20 win over the Giants on Sunday.
Great job. Did a great job," Saquon Barkley said. Not only blocking but understanding the schemes, putting us in the right positions. Hats off to him. Very proud of him."
Toth, 29, first joined the Eagles in 2019 but Sunday was just his fourth NFL start and his first start at center, a position he didn't really start learning until a couple years ago. And it hasn't always been smooth sailing; there have been plenty of errant snaps in training camp practices.
The Eagles had some other options entering their Week 8 game, but legendary offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland decided to stick with the 1-for-1 swap and started Toth at center against the Giants.
That proved to be the right decision.
We knew what we had in Brett, man," left tackle Jordan Mailata said. When we have these off-the-record talks with some of you guys and we talk about Brett, what he means to this team. The patience that he has, just waiting in the water, finally capitalizing on his opportunity at center. We knew he was a center. The last two weeks, I thought he's put up two great games back-to-back.
We just knew what we had and the player we have in Brett and what he was able to do. We talk about this big brain and how he's able to make those calls with all the unique fronts we're getting, putting everyone on the same call, we talk about communication that was part of the issues going the first six weeks that we had. Communication was part of it, execution was part of it. Today was just a clean game from Brett where we all knew where the point was. Just a great game by Brett."
Jurgens injured his knee in Minnesota and had to exit after just 15 snaps. He was replaced by Toth in that game and Toth had his ups and downs. But since Jurgens missed the entire week of practice, Toth got a chance to get all those reps leading up to the Giants game. That seemed to help.
Toth played 55 of 59 snaps against the Giants before Nick Sirianni pulled his starters. Toth gave up three pressures in pass protection but had the highest-run blocking grade on the team, according to ProFootballFocus.
What really stood out was Toth's ability to get to the second level and reach some blocks he wasn't able to reach just last week.
How did he do it?
Run as fast as you can," Toth said. Run as fast as you can, understand the relationship between you and the back. There were a couple during the week where I broke down where I shouldn't have. Understanding that if the linebacker tries to undercut you, that the relationship you have with the running back is going to make you right if you keep going. The biggest part is just don't break down, keep going. I had a couple good ones, had a couple that I need to do better on and maintain the block afterwards."
Toth admitted there are always nerves going into a game and he felt that entering Week 8 against the Giants. He specifically mentioned a few key players on that very good defensive line: Kayvon Thibodeaux, Brian Burns, Abdul Carter, Dexter Lawrence.
That's an unbelievable front," Toth said.
But he held up. The hope is obviously that Jurgens is able to heal up enough during the bye week to be back on the field for Week 10 against the Packers on Monday Night Football. Jurgens was a Pro Bowler in 2024 and getting him back to that level in 2025 would really help the offense.
But if the Eagles need to rely on Toth again at some point in 2025, they can at least feel good about it.
Brett taking full command up front, leading the way," Jalen Hurts said. You can't ask for anything more when he comes in and he does that. He knows the game, he knows what we do."