Our favorite football team will be taking the field again this week, and that means we have another opportunity to sit down and exchange some questions with the folks who run the SB Nation website for their opponents.
On Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings return to U.S. Bank Stadium to face the Philadelphia Eagles. That means we’re talking with Bleeding Green Nation, SB Nation’s home for Eagles football. I exchanged questions with Brandon Lee Gowton, the lead blogger over at BGN, to give us a chance to learn a little more about their team heading into this matchup. You can see my answers to his questions over at BGN, and here are his answers to the questions that I sent him.
1) The last five quarters of football have been pretty rough for the Eagles, leading to back-to-back losses after their 4-0 start. What happened at the end of the game against Denver and against New York that caused the Eagles to lose both of those games?
Vic Fangio’s defense has struggled. And while they’re not above criticism, there are multiple reasons why they deserve some level of grace.
1. They’ve largely had to carry the weight for this team due to an offense that leads the league in three-and-out percentage.
2. They’ve had some key injuries; Jalen Carter missed Week 6 and Quinyon Mitchell got hurt early on against the Giants. Top edge rusher Nolan Smith is on injured reserve.
3. They’re the youngest defense in the NFL and second-least expensive defense in the NFL.
The Eagles’ pass rush simply hasn’t been good enough and there’s a major concern mark at CB2, where neither Adoree’ Jackson nor Kelee Ringo are inspiring much confidence.
That being said, the bigger onus is on an underperforming offense. An offense that is the most expensive one in the entire NFL … by a wide margin. The difference between the Eagles in first and the 49ers in second is a similar distance between second and 14th.
It’s not ALL bad; the Eagles’ offense has had some good halves this season. But they routinely go through these prolonged stretches where they struggle to merely move the ball forward at all. That’s not hyperbole. Entering last week, over 20% of their drives resulted in zero yards or fewer gained.
Offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo has naturally caught a lot of heat for the offense’s struggles. And he’s certainly part of the problem, especially as it relates to play-sequencing and such. But he’s far from the ONLY problem with this offense. The Eagles can’t run the ball behind an offensive line that’s allowing Saquon Barkley to get contacted early into the play way too often. Jalen Hurts is coming off his worst game of the season. The passing attack has struggled to maintain rhythm. Nick Sirianni isn’t providing answers.
The Eagles were fortunate to be 4-0. Give them credit for finding ways to win but it’s just not sustainable when you’re getting outgained every single week. If there’s a silver lining to losing two games in a row, it’s that the team is forced to reflect and have some honest conversations about what needs to be fixed. We’ll see if the Eagles made the proper adjustments during their mini-bye.
2) It’s possible that the Eagles could be without their outstanding young corner, Quinyon Mitchell, when they face the Vikings. With Justin Jefferson being Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison back in the fold for the Vikings, how big a loss would Mitchell’s absence be and how would the Eagles try to compensate for that?
Missing Quinyon would be pretty devastating. At his best, he’s an absolute lockdown cornerback. And if he’s starting, the Eagles still have a massive concern at CB2.
If Mitchell can’t play, the Eagles will seemingly start both Adoree’ Jackson and Kelee Ringo at cornerback. Jackson is a replacement level starter who was recently dealing with a groin injury. Ringo got benched during the Eagles’ last game and only returned to the field because Mitchell got hurt.
The Eagles could try to get creative and play Cooper DeJean, who is an excellent nickel cornerback, on the outside. But there isn’t a great option to replace him in the slot.
And so I’m expecting the Vikings’ passing attack to have a pretty big day if Mitchell can’t play. The best chance of the Eagles mitigating aerial damage is by getting to Carson Wentz (assuming he starts) since he’s pretty prone to fumbling. But, again, Philly’s pass rush is in a dire situation after the unexpected retirement of former Viking Za’Darius Smith.
3) On a scale of 1-10, how tired are you and the rest of the Eagles fan base of hearing about the “Tush Push?”
If 10 is the most tired you can be, I’m at a 10. There just isn’t really anything interesting or unique or new to say about it at this point. And the vast majority of the arguments against it are in bad faith.
The ire against the play is inarguably connected to the Eagles’ success. Notice how there was no major effort to ban it after the 2023 season, where they epically collapsed? By contrast, there was much more consternation after they had Super Bowl appearances in 2022 and 2024.
While I’m not in favor of banning the play, I do think it could be funny if it does get banned because 1) it’ll be a testament to the Eagles’ success and 2) it won’t even massively change Philly’s short-yardage effectiveness. The push part isn’t even the most crucial element of the play. Jalen Hurts will still be hard to stop on more traditional QB sneaks.
4) Give us one “under the radar” player on each side of the ball for the Eagles who you think will play a role for the Eagles on Sunday.
Offense – If Landon Dickerson can’t start at left guard, the Eagles will likely go with Brett Toth. Toth graded out well enough as a run blocker in Week 6 but had struggles in pass protection. Jalen Hurts has fared well against extra rushers this season but has struggled with the defense rushing four through simulated pressures. If Toth proves to be a weak spot that the Vikings can continue to regularly take advantage of, the already struggling Eagles offense will not be likely to get back on track.
Defense – Josh Uche. He’s just one of four Eagles edge rushers remaining on the active roster after Za’Darius Smith’s retirement. Uche has yet to log a sack this season but he leads the Eagles in Pro Football Focus’s Pass Rush Productivity stat. He also ranks eighth among NFL edge rushers in pass rush grade. Feeling like he’s due to come up with a strip-sack. With 74 career fumbles in 102 games played, I know all too well about Wentz’s propensity to lose control of the football.
5) The Eagles, despite their back-to-back losses, are coming into this one as a slight favorite. How do you see this one playing out? Have the Eagles had enough time during their “mini-bye” to get their issues from the past two weeks corrected?
I don’t have a great feel for where the Eagles are at right now. The vibes feel bad. They were underperforming their record prior to two straight losses. It’s quite possible that more struggles are on the way. Then again, Sirianni has previously helped turn things around at times where it looked pretty bleak.
I do feel confident that the Eagles will put forth a better effort than they did against the Giants. That had to be a pretty humbling experience for them after getting bullied by an inferior team. I also think Wentz could turn the ball over and give his old team some extra opportunities.
Ultimately, though, the Eagles’ inconsistencies prevent me from predicting them to win comfortably. I’ll say they squeak by with a field goal win, 23 to 20.
Thank you to Brandon for taking the time to answer our questions this week!
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