PHILADELPHIA — In the throes of the Eagles’ three-game tailspin leading into Sunday’s blowout win over the Raiders, coach Nick Sirianni urged his players and staff to lean into joy, to remember what made them fall in love with football in the first place.
“I’ve always thought that’s very important,” Sirianni said Tuesday. “You can go into a building and say, ‘Man, I’ve got to go to work today’ or ‘Man, I get to go to work today!’ That joy is part of it.
“In professional football, there are all these pressures and there’s all these ups and downs and everything like this, but we got into this game because we loved it. I think that’s a really important thing. I got into this through the grace of God of doing something I love for a living.”
Jalen Hurts had a slightly different take: “Joy comes from winning,” he said.
Hurts was an efficient 12 of 15 or 175 yards and three touchdowns with no turnovers in Sunday’s 31-0 victory over Las Vegas.
“I thought Jalen did a good job deciding where to go with the ball and making quick decisions,” said tight end Dallas Goedert, who had six catches for 70 yards and two TDs. “I thought he played a really good game. But it takes all of us being in the right spot, staying ahead of the sticks and finding the soft spot in the zone.”
Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert speaks with the media in front his locker at NovaCare Complex Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, at NovaCare Complex in Philadelphia. (MediaNews Group)
Facing that Raiders zone defense, Hurts operated from under center more than usual. It created more diversity in the running attack and more effective play-action passing than shotgun sometimes does.
Saquon Barkley and Tank Bigsby combined for 135 rushing yards, with Barkley scoring a touchdown, and Hurts himself ran seven times for 39 yards.
“He does a good job of taking what the defense gives him,” Sirianni said. “He’s got great football knowledge and football IQ in everything that he does, and (his) run game obviously goes hand in hand with that.”
The Eagles were 10-of-13 on third down, committed just three penalties and controlled time of possession by 18:50. Hurts being under center and running more often was clearly effective.
“I just think you’ve seen us be better at complementing some of the things we’ve been doing for the run game and being able to establish the run game,” Hurts said. “Some of those changes have been to try to get the run game going a bit, and a byproduct has been being able to throw it the way we have.”
“It’s just a marriage of whatever your runs are. So you want to marry whatever runs you have that week. This past week, it seemed we had a lot more runs under center, so it just naturally complemented when we put it together. That starts with Coach Sirianni and Coach KP (offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo).”
Hurts has passed the ball just 34 times from under center this year — one of the lowest counts in the league — but he has completed 22 of those throws for 300 yards and a 125.2 passer rating. After Sunday’s win, albeit against the Raiders, perhaps the Eagles’ offense has finally found an identity as the Birds try to clinch a second-straight NFC East title in Washington on Saturday,
Maybe there’s some joy in that.
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Tuesday practice report (walkthrough): DNP – RB Saquon Barkley (stinger), DT Jalen Carter (shoulders), LG Landon Dickerson (calf), T Fred Johnson (ankle), RT Lane Johnson (foot), TE Cameron Latu (stinger). LIMITED – RB Tank Bigsby (illness). FULL – LB Zack Baun (hand), OLB Jaelan Phillips (knee), T Cameron Williams (shoulder).
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