Eagles defense takes pride in playing to the very end | Bob Ford

The game was already over, and had been over for quite a while, when Eagles cornerback Patrick Robinson whiffed on a tackle and landed on the ground to watch J.J. Nelson of the Arizona Cardinals disappearing toward the end zone.

It was a nothing play at that point, with the Eagles leading 34-7 and just over a minute left, but that didn't make Robinson feel any better after he bit on Nelson's spin move.

"I should have just made the tackle and the game would have been over," Robinson said.

If Nelson was surprised to have gotten loose with nothing but 15 yards of grass separating him from what looked like a sure touchdown, he was probably more surprised when safety Rodney McLeod came out of nowhere on the dead run and smacked him sideways as the receiver, the ball and the defensive back came together at the pylon.

"That was a pride deal, just pure hustle," safety Malcolm Jenkins said. "If they score there, it meant nothing. We could have easily given up on the play, but it shows the mentality we have as a defense. As long as the ball is in play, we're going to go hard."

The first ruling on the play was a touchdown, but after review, it was clear McLeod had knocked the ball loose before Nelson crossed the plane of the goal, and the play became a touchback instead.

"Add that to the stat sheet," McLeod said. "It's all about being there for my brother. We always talk in the d-backs room that you don't loaf on the field. It's in our DNA. Once you hit the field, you've got to be 100 percent, all there."

It wasn't just the defensive backs who were all there on Sunday for the Eagles as the defense played its best overall game of the season. Following a three-point win over the Giants and a two-point win over the Chargers, games in which the defense was able to merely hold its own, this was more of a statement. The defensive backs are still playing short-handed without Ronald Darby and Jaylen Watkins, but it wasn't apparent against the Cardinals.

Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz dialed up multiple packages for this game. He used five defensive backs most of the time against a pass-heavy Arizona offense, and six sometimes, and even went for heavier looks to keep the Cards off-balance. On one play, Schwartz had four linebackers on the field. Mix in a bunch of blitzes and it was the Eagles who were dictating their intentions.

"We tried to run against four [rushers] and didn't do very well," Arizona coach Bruce Arians said. "We couldn't block the four and when they blitzed we really couldn't handle it well."

The Cardinals are missing two starters and a key backup from their offensive line and came in with the worst running game in the NFL. Gaining 31 yards on 14 carries, that's probably how they exited Sunday's game, too. With it obvious that Carson Palmer had to throw, the Eagles sacked him twice and hit him another seven times.

"You can't step up to throw very long, especially when you're going sideways," Arians said.

This was the fewest points allowed by a Schwartz defense since a 34-3 win over Chicago that pushed the Eagles to 3-0 last season. Now, they are 4-1 heading into a Thursday game against the Carolina Panthers and, after Sunday's performance, it's fair to start wondering just how good they might be.

"To be honest, I don't know yet. I can't give a serious answer yet," Robinson said. "It's still early in the season … we still have some things to work on. If we keep getting better, we've got a shot to be a great team. But we're definitely not there yet."

After the game in Carolina, the Eagles are home for three straight games – Washington, San Francisco and Denver – before the bye week. By then, the answer might be more obvious.

"We have an idea where we want to go as a team and four wins isn't it," Jenkins said. "We know it's hard to win in this league, but when we work hard and prepare, we expect to win. And we expect to win a lot more than four games."

The offense didn't have a bad day against Arizona, either, but it really was the defense that set the tone early and kept doing so until the final minute, even when the game was decided, even when one more tackle or one more hit had lost meaning.

"I think [our message] is trickling down on everybody," McLeod said. "We stepped on the field at the end of the game, we could've easily been, 'Whatever,' but everybody was locked in and everybody's held accountable."

Sometimes, the way a team goes about its business when it doesn't really matter tells you how it will play when everything matters. That's what Sunday felt like. In a game that was never really in doubt, the Eagles erased a few more doubts about themselves.

Get insights on the Eagles delivered straight to your inbox with Early Birds, beat writer Zach Berman's twice-weekly newsletter for Eagles fans. Click here to sign up.