Sometimes we underestimate the intangibles of teams playing at home in a showcase game. We saw it on Monday with Cleveland waxing Cincinnati, and we saw it last night. The Eagles on paper are much better than the Texans, and ultimately they showed it. But it was game for three quarters, with Houston doing a little more than expected on offense and having a couple of decent choices.

QUARTERBACKS:

As highlighted in the preview, it's hard to really know if Jalen Hurts is going to be better as a passer or a runner. Last night it was as a passer, even though his final numbers were fairly average (but at halftime he was up at 176, on pace for over 300). Not much running, which I thought might happen if the Eagles won easily, though sadly I didn't bet it. But he ended up having a really nice night throwing it (21 of 27 for 243 and 2), which was required. It's funny to think now that Hurts slipped in fantasy drafts in part because of the fear he might struggle and get benched for Gardner Minshew. I took him grudgingly, late-ish, in one league and he's been carrying my team.

The Eagles probably aren't going to go undefeated, and there will be injuries that factor in and stuff. If Miles Sanders or A.J. Brown were to get hurt, the offense would look a lot different. But looking at the schedule, I'm not certain where their first loss will be. At Dallas maybe? That's about it. A 16-1 season looks possible.

Sorry, Davis Mills, Houston is going to be looking for a new quarterback in the offseason. I think Mills made one good play last night, the scrambling touchdown dart to Chris Moore. Three other notable completions (a pair of downfield throws to Phillip Dorsett, and the other touchdown to one of FOUR Houston tight ends to play at least a quarter of the time) were all flawed passes: one underthrown or it would have been a touchdown, and two off-target balls where the receiver made impressive twisting grabs to haul them in, one off the shoulder of a defender. Mills also threw 2 interceptions and finished with 154 yards. The Eagles have been making quarterbacks look bad for most of the season, but Mills did a fine job on his own of looking like a guy who's simply in over his head as an NFL starter.

RUNNING BACKS:

I'm not going to crow too much about our preseason endorsement of Dameon Pierce. Anybody who watched him play could see he was going to be good if Houston gave him the chance (in Week 1 they messed around with a committee with Rex Burkhead, thank heavens it only took them one week to move on from that. The real question is why Pierce lasted until the fourth round and was selected behind six other running backs. He runs people over and makes some nice cuts too; looks like he's going to be a good back in the league for a long time. Keeping in mind he's getting no help from Houston's unthreatening passing game, either. His lack of passing game usage and modest scoring in this offense limits his upside in PPR, but that seems like more a flaw in fantasy football than anything else. Difficult to watch the guy and not be really impressed. We were only subjected to a pair of Burkhead touches, though he did make a nice move to pick up a first down on his reception in Houston's initial scoring drive. I don't think Lovie Smith is a great coach but he's figured out what he has in Pierce.

Miles Sanders was excellent, as expected, against Houston's lousy run defense. Someone made the case for Sanders as a fantasy MVP and it's fair, considering where he was drafted in most leagues and how well he's performed. He's rushed for 70-plus yards in six games and scored in five of them, quite a nice starter these days. Boston Scott is just a little-used change of pace, with Kenneth Gainwell the favored passing downs back. Gainwell scored a short rushing touchdown, but it was out of a passing formation, and Gainwell simply isn't playing enough because the Eagles don't trail very much. There was talk about the Eagles adding a back before trade deadline, which I think they should have, with Sanders having an injury history. The offense would look a lot different with a Scott-Gainwell backfield.

WIDE RECEIVERS:

Some respect is due to Phillip Dorsett and Chris Moore, journeymen reserve wideouts working with a lesser young quarterback, thrust into starting roles last night who stepped up. Yes, "stepping up" was just 3 for 69 and 4 for 43 with a touchdown, but both would have been better had they not had to twist themselves into pretzels just to catch most of the passes Mills did throw them. Maybe Brandin Cooks returns to the team, but I gotta be honest I don't know why teams don't just cut veterans who they probably should have traded once the deadline is past. Stubbornness? Houston is 1-6-1, losing games at this point is to their long-term benefit, why not just play youngsters and cut malcontents loose.

A.J. Brown didn't have a big game, but 15 PPR points is 15 PPR points. He was comically wide open on his touchdown grab. You kind of figured the wide receivers might disappoint with Houston being so weak against the run. I made the mistake of starting DeVonta Smith in a FanDuel lineup, thinking that after Brown's huge game last week there'd be a pivot to Smith having the better game. Instead he finished with 2 catches for 22 yards; Quez Watkins looked better on his 2 grabs. That's four really lousy games for Smith out of eight, begging the question of how good a pro the guy actually is. I don't know. He's no Jaylen Waddle.

TIGHT ENDS:

I probably like Dallas Goedert a little too much, each week thinking he's going to have a big game. All too often, he doesn't, but last night sure was awesome. He's got a few of those, just not as many as you'd expect. Goedert has played 65 career games, and in six of them he's gone over 90 yards and just four of them he's caught 8-plus passes. Those are far outnumbered by the games he's caught 3 or fewer passes -- 34! Talented guy who you kind of have to start every week in a tough position for big numbers, but weird to think that more than half the time he disappoints. He should be a star.

As mentioned earlier, the Eagles played four different tight ends a quarter of the time, activating fifth-rounder Teagan Quitoriano off the injured list to make a twisting touchdown grab. I'd say to pick him up, but that was his only target all night; three different TEs caught passes, and a fourth (Jordan Akins) was targeted. It's not every offense that can make the three-TE rotations used by Indianapolis and Tennessee look streamlined, but here we are.

MISCELLANEOUS:

Eagles Defense has been a nice group to start each week. They're currently 1st or 2nd in sacks, interceptions and takeaways, and they've had their bye (so it's not like they've played more games than most teams). I think they're going to the Super Bowl (not really bold to say I realize, the other best teams in the NFL are in the AFC), and their defense is a big part of why.

Looking forward to talking about next week's Thursday tilt, Atlanta at Carolina!