In Week 3, the Philadelphia Eagles trailed the Los Angeles Rams 19-7 on the half and 26-7 early within the third quarter. From there, Philly rattled off 26 unanswered factors en path to a dramatic 33-26 win, sealed by a blocked subject objective by Jordan Davis that the large man returned for a landing on the sport’s last play.
It was an emphatic finish to a shocking comeback, and one which many believed was the beginning of one thing particular for the Eagles.
However was it, slightly, a mirage?
Since then, the Eagles have gone 1-2, shedding to each the Denver Broncos and the New York Giants within the two weeks since their Week 4 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In these three video games, the Eagles have managed simply 14 second-half factors, together with being shutout by the Giants final night time over the ultimate half-hour.
And as you may count on, followers within the Philadelphia space are reaching for the panic button.
Is it actually time for Eagles followers to panic?
The Philadelphia fan in your life is probably going pointing to any one among a number of points which have plagued the Eagles this season, and confirmed up in prime time in opposition to New York.
On the defensive aspect of the ball, whereas Philadelphia definitely missed Jalen Carter and misplaced cornerback Quinyon Mitchell in opposition to the Giants as a consequence of an damage, that unit was pushed round by New York on Thursday night time. The Giants ran for 172 yards, with Cam Skattebo accounting for 98 of these yards and a trio of speeding touchdowns. They sacked rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart simply twice, and for the second consecutive sport, the Eagles didn’t generate a takeaway.
Most obvious was maybe New York’s drive late within the second quarter. After Philadelphia scored to take a 17-13 lead, the Giants put collectively a 15-play, 67-yard drive that labored greater than 5 minutes off the clock, culminating in a landing run from Skattebo. The one damaging play the Giants had on the possession was an incompletion; each different snap picked up constructive yards for the New York offense.
After taking the momentum away from the Giants, the Philadelphia protection allowed New York to take it proper again.
Then, after the groups traded three-and-outs to open the second half, the Eagles noticed the Giants rip off a nine-play, 56-yard landing drive ending in one other Skattebo landing to offer New York a ten-point lead.
By the tip of the night time, the Giants’ offense had posted an Anticipated Factors Added per Play of 0.30 (in distinction to Philadelphia’s -0.07) and secured a Success Fee of fifty:
By six video games, the Eagles have allowed 23.8 factors per sport, putting them proper in the course of the pack.
However they’re simply a part of the story.
A lot of the eye possible falls on the offense, which has seemed inconsistent for a lot of the season. Whereas Philadelphia tried to get Saquon Barkley going early within the sport — the working again ripped off an 18-yard achieve to open their first possession and a 13-yard achieve on the subsequent snap — the working sport slowly took a again seat as the sport script modified, and Philadelphia needed to throw extra to get again into the competition.
The Eagles’ passing sport once more seemed out of synch for a lot of the competition, with a number of examples to level to. Jalen Hurts missed a wide-open DeVonta Smith right here on this play from early within the third quarter:
Hurts then picked a foul second to throw his first interception of the season. With the Giants main by ten early within the fourth quarter, Philadelphia was contained in the purple zone with an opportunity to chop into that lead.
However in a second, their protection was coming again onto the sphere:
When the night time got here to an in depth, a few of the numbers had been brutal for Philadelphia. The Eagles transformed simply one among 9 third-down alternatives, as famous above, their EPA/Play was -0.07, and the loss sealed the truth that in each sport this season, the Eagles have been outgained by their opposition. Over the season, the Eagles have gained 1,647 yards, in comparison with 2,057 for his or her opponents.
That could be a yardage differential of -407.
Final yr, that metric was +1,501 within the common season and +115 within the playoffs alone.
Talking of differentials, because the Eagles head into their mini-bye, their level differential stands at -1. Solely the Pittsburgh Steelers, at -2, have a worse level differential amongst division leaders.
After the sport, Nick Sirianni did his finest to place the loss into perspective and rally the troops.
“Rise up,” mentioned Sirianni. “We’re going to take a while off and simply rise up and hold preventing. We’ve acquired lots of issues to repair. We’ve been right here earlier than. Let’s go.”
A few of his gamers on the offensive aspect of the ball addressed the “predictibility” of the Philadelphia offense.
“It appears lots more durable than it must be,” proper deal with Lane Johnson mentioned. “Perhaps transferring ahead, simply have somewhat bit extra selection, hitting the perimeter some.”
The veteran stopped in need of calling for a change at offensive coordinator, the place Kevin Patullo — who took over after Kellen Moore left to take over as head coach of the New Orleans Saints — has come beneath heavy criticism.
“I’m with Kevin till the tip. A variety of it comes all the way down to execution,” he mentioned. “We’ll return and have a look at this tape and see what we’ve acquired to repair, however transferring ahead, perhaps extra environment friendly, much less predictable, and capitalize on massive performs and explosives.”
Barkley had a considerably completely different view.
“I believe we additionally should get again into that perspective, that mindset, not likely giving a f— what individuals are attempting to do,” Barkley mentioned of Philadelphia’s skill to run final yr when groups knew the run sport was the main focus. “That’s one thing that I’m on the lookout for.”
The pinnacle coach discovered some vibrant spots within the speeding assault.
“I believe there was some good moments within the run sport as we speak,” Sirianni mentioned. “Acquired ourselves behind the sticks somewhat bit within the second half on a few of the runs there. We’ll have a look at the whole lot proper there. We all know we need to play. We all know we have now the fellows up entrance to have the ability to do this. Clearly, we’ve acquired to do a adequate job placing them in positions to succeed. After which we have now to execute.
”We’ll have a look at the whole lot working several types of schemes. However we’ll have a look at the whole lot to see what we’re doing nicely. Deal with this like a bye week right here this weekend.”
Nonetheless, Eagles followers are on edge, and so they have seen scenes like this earlier than. Final yr, Philadelphia limped into their bye week at 2-2 and seemed, within the phrases of 1 columnist, like a “mess.” However they got here out of their bye week on fireplace, going 12-1 the remainder of the way in which to lock up the NFC East. Philadelphia followers are hoping that current historical past and their present mini-bye are a possibility to reset simply as they did a season in the past.
That yr, the Eagles went into their bye week at 8-1, got here out of it to win video games in opposition to the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs and the Buffalo Payments to maneuver to 10-1, and seemed like the perfect workforce in soccer. From there, the wheels utterly fell off. Philadelphia went 1-5 the remainder of the way in which to cough up the division lead, in the end shedding on the street to Tampa Bay within the Wild Card spherical.
Are the 2025 Eagles the workforce that types it out, as they did a season in the past?
Or the workforce that sees the wheels fall off, as they did two seasons in the past?
There may be time to get issues proper, as Philadelphia did final season with their early bye week. They will begin by getting extra out of their offense, significantly the passing sport, which has not been as environment friendly because the Eagles want it to be to enrich their speeding assault. Connecting on a few of these open alternatives, as the primary instance above, can be begin. As too can be extra variety in each the run sport and the passing sport, and determining extra solutions in opposition to zone coverages.
If not, Eagles followers could be handled to a repeat of 2023.
Which is why some are reaching for that panic button this morning.
