PHILADELPHIA — The Eagles returned to practice Thursday for their first session in December after an extended absence. Players danced to “I’m Sprung” by T-Pain while staying warm in the frigid temperatures.
The sky, high above the heads, was not yet falling.
“To be quite frank,” Nick Sirianni said, “the best thing to do is be able to block everything out.”
Even these Eight Eagles Thoughts? Let’s get to them with the Eagles deep in preparation for Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers…
1. Is this 2023 again? That’s a question that’s emerged a few times in recent days, and you can understand the comparison: The Eagles jumped off to a fast start, had the emotional high-profile wins (Green Bay and Detroit this year; Kansas City and Buffalo in 2023) before two consecutive demoralizing defeats. The 2023 campaign included an embattled coordinator (and in-season demotion) leading into a Monday Night Football game on the West Coast.
The Eagles play on Monday in Los Angeles. You might have heard the “Fire Kevin” chant last week. If you’re reading this and shuddering because of the similarities, I get it.
But no, this isn’t 2023 again.
The reason? The Eagles are better this year on defense (even with Jalen Carter’s injury) and they have an elite coordinator, so I have a hard time seeing the defense collapsing. If last week was bad for the defense, they still held the Bears to 10 points entering the fourth quarter. If your concern is with the offense, it’s well-founded, because this group has underperformed through 12 games. But there’s so much talent on that side with a track record of success. That group has built equity, and even if it hasn’t been consistent this season, the spurts of offensive performance lead me to think they’re capable. The passing game flipped a switch last December. The offense can do the same this year. The 2023 season seemed hopeless by mid-December. I don’t view the Eagles that way despite the back-to-back losses, and if they could avoid the organizational hubris and remain honest about their issues, then there are also enduring lessons from experiencing a collapse in 2023.
“I think you saw a lot of that the lessons we learned in ’23 resulted in what happened last year,” Sirianni said. “Sometimes that sting of the loss, or like you said, the 2023 season, has even more impact, which is why I’m grateful for adversity and looking for an opportunity to get better from the adversity. I think that most definitely those have lasting lessons, (and I) won’t be specific about it. I have very specific thoughts and (have) written down exactly what we learned and how we learned it and what we did for that.”
The players believe there’s a culture in place to prevent collapse. Jordan Mailata, who is emerging as a team spokesman, said on his radio show on 94.1-WIP that “this is nowhere close to 2023” based on the way the Eagles practice. He admitted the in-game execution is lacking, but he did not feel the quality of practice, detail, and coaching was present in 2023.
“Maybe I need to see it as a fan to relate because as a player, it doesn’t feel the same,” Mailata said.
So, no, I don’t view this as a sky-is-falling situation. They must play better — especially on offense — and with one of the lightest schedules in the NFL ahead of them (they have the fourth-easiest schedule based on opponent winning percentage), there’s an opportunity to do so. The Eagles are where I thought they’d be through 12 games. I had them 8-4 and winning four of these final games to reach 12-5. I didn’t expect them to be a 14-3 team. It would be hypocritical of me to suggest this is a devastating situation when they’re around where I expected entering December. The comparisons might all be a stretch. The Eagles could establish a new precedent rather than follow an old script.
Jordan Mailata doesn’t believe the Eagles are having a similar season to their 2023 collapse. (Jeff Hanisch / Imagn Images)
2. If there were an obvious fix for the offense, then it would have happened by now. I don’t believe in change for change’s sake, so unless the Eagles felt there was somebody on staff who would be better at calling plays than Kevin Patullo, then a demotion might be more of a scapegoat than a solution. It’s important to ask, what do the Eagles do well, and can they lean into it?
The two quick changes that I would make would be increasing the tempo rate and better incorporating Jalen Hurts in the running game. From conversations in the locker room, the Eagles believe they’re best when they’re in tempo. The Eagles have an EPA/play of 0.09 when in no-huddle (No. 15 in the league) and -0.03 (No. 22) when huddling. If the offense is built around leaning on superb talent, let them play fast and catch the defense in bad looks. With Hurts, part of what makes him special is his legs. There seems to be an effort this year to run less. Maybe they’re conserving the legs for the playoffs. It’s not a coincidence that the best drive of the game last week included a Hurts run. When the Eagles need a spark, Hurts’ mobility can provide it. I would lean into that — at least to invigorate the offense.
3. There have been questions about whether Kevin Patullo should call plays from the coaching booth. It’s worth noting that Patullo has been on the sideline throughout his Eagles’ tenure, so it’s not as if he’s seeing the game differently this year. Also, in my 14 years covering the Eagles, they have never had a play caller in the booth. Pat Shurmur was in the booth when he was Chip Kelly’s offensive coordinator, but he was not calling plays. Could there be an advantage to seeing the game from a different perspective? It’s worth considering, but you can get that information from other coaches in the booth. There’s a benefit in being on the field for communication between series.
“I think the communication with the players is important. I’ve been on, since I’ve been here in ’21, I’ve been on the field every time,” Patullo said. “I think there’s a lot of communication with players, coaches on the field, making sure adjustments are done correctly. I have conversations with Jalen, with the O-line, with the receivers that are very important. I’ve been on the field for a long, long time. I don’t think I’ve been in the box since maybe 2011 as a coach. So, it’s been a while. I think just the relationship I have with the guys and the communication has been good, and we’ve just got to continue to improve in other areas, and we’ll be alright.”
4. Discussing the tush push on an endless basis can sometimes be easy fodder, but I’m genuinely intrigued by the play this week. Hurts was more outspoken than usual last Friday about how the play is becoming “tougher and tougher” to execute, and Al Michaels said on the Amazon broadcast that Hurts thought he was fine on the play without the pushers. It’s on my radar that Hurts might not be as enthused by the play as those who subscribe to the cult-like following it’s developed. One potential challenge is that opponents are trying to strip the ball from Hurts’ grasp. That might seem obvious, but officials have a hard time determining when forward progress is stopped. That led to a costly fumble last week.
“There are multiple ways ot run a quarterback sneak,” Hurts said. “There are multiple ways to attack short-yardage defense and short-yardage opportunities. And over my six years of being here, we’ve done that in multiple ways. So, just being able to have the versatility there, when needed, and knowing we have a great weapon with what we’ve been able to do with the quarterback sneak, but being able and just have all different things available for that. Those are things that are being discussed.”
The Eagles have had no gain or a fumble on four of their last seven quarterback runs with one yard to go. The play has not been as automatic as it once appeared.
“They adjust, you adjust, you try to make complements off of it, as many as you can, to keep them honest,” Sirianni said. “All the different things that you do to help. I know it’s a unique play that gets a lot of attention and a lot of talk, but you handle it the very same way. You still teach the fundamentals the same way you would in an inside zone and the adjustments that come off of that and the things that the defense is doing and how you can combat that.
5. With Jihaad Campbell losing playing time to Nakobe Dean and Drew Mukuba sidelined because of injury, the Eagles did not get any offensive or defensive snaps from their rookies in the last game. This does not leave me critical of the draft class — it’s a mistake to judge a draft after Year 1. The best class I’ve seen Howie Roseman draft was in 2018, when the Eagles selected Dallas Goedert, Avonte Maddox, Josh Sweat, Matt Pryor and Mailata. Sweat and Mailata took time to develop before becoming front-line players at premium positions. Let’s see how the class develops.
The one spot where I’m especially critical is in the fourth round, when the Eagles took Ty Robinson with the No. 111 overall pick. Robinson was 24 at the time they drafted him and plays a position where the Eagles lost two players from last year’s rotation. That’s not a down-the-line pick. That’s a pick made to contribute this season. He’s played 35 snaps. Robinson could take on a bigger role this week with Carter sidelined.
Campbell should also get more work on Monday. Fangio said he should have played Campbell more last week.
Campbell is still a potential Pro Bowler. Mukuba has already earned a starting spot for the Eagles. We’ll see how the rest of the class develops, but some patience is required to evaluate the class.
6. Speaking of the draft, Dane Brugler has an updated mock draft available. Brugler projects the Eagles taking Penn State offensive lineman Vega Iaone at No. 22 overall.
This is what he wrote: One draft pick isn’t going to rectify the Eagles’ run-game woes, but adding an athletic mauler such as Ioane (pronounced “Yo-wahn-ay”) sure would help. Tyler Steen has been up and down in his first year as a starter, and the Eagles have to be concerned about Landon Dickerson’s long-term durability.
It would surprise me if the Eagles didn’t take an offensive lineman in the first two rounds. They haven’t taken an offensive lineman in the first two rounds in three years. (To be fair, Tyler Steen was No. 65 overall in 2023, so he was close.) Roseman has never gone back-to-back years without taking an offensive lineman in the first two rounds until this three-year run. It’s reflected in the depth and the internal pipeline at the position. Brugler projected four offensive linemen to go between No. 17-32, so it could be a sweet spot for the Eagles to land one in the first round again.
7. On the topic of rookie offensive linemen, the Eagles will not activate Willie Lampkin to the active roster this season. Lampkin practiced for three weeks, and the Eagles let his window to return expire. That means he reverts to injured reserve. The Lampkin signing was more of a down-the-road move, taking the chance on a player who clearly intrigued them on preseason film after he signed as an undrafted rookie with the Rams. The Eagles claimed him off waivers (losing Trevor Keegan in the process) and held him on the roster before placing him on IR to ensure he was in their building. Lampkin will now have the offseason to compete to be the backup center next season. Between Lampkin, Cameron Williams and Myles Hinton, the Eagles have used the injured reserve to stash intriguing rookie linemen. (The Eagles have until next Wednesday to activate Hinton or else he’ll revert to IR.) It’s a sensible strategy to see if you can hit on one lottery ticket and get a potential starter or even valuable reserve, but it doesn’t change the fact that the Eagles must attack the offensive line with a valuable pick in the spring.
8. The decision to let Mekhi Becton leave in free agency resurfaces with Becton on the other sideline this week. He was a valuable starter for the Eagles last season before he signed a two-year, $20-million contract with Los Angeles with $6.94 million guaranteed. The Eagles miss Becton’s run blocking, although I understood letting him walk. The Eagles have four starters being paid among the top at their positions on the offensive line. They need at least one starter who’s on a cost-controlled rookie contract. The Eagles invested in Tyler Steen’s development, and by Year 3, they thought he was ready to start. It made sense, and defections are part of the reality of a Super Bowl team. (I felt less sympathetic for moving on from C.J. Gardner-Johnson because he was under contract.) If I’m going to fault the Eagles in any way with the move, it’s that I don’t think they did enough to add a viable backup option at the position. Remember: Becton wasn’t signed to start at right guard. Steen was injured during training camp, and Becton looked too good to take out of the lineup. There was no true competitor for that spot this year. It’s why a first- or second-round tackle with swing capabilities (like Josh Simmons) might have made sense.
It’s also worth noting that Becton has not been as productive this season in Los Angeles. He’s part of a Chargers offensive line that’s depleted entering Monday. If the Eagles beat the Chargers, it will need to be with a standout performance from the defensive line — even without Carter.