Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles news and links …
A.J. Brown responds to speculation he’s not the same player – NBCSP
At his locker on Thursday evening, Brown was asked about some speculation that he might no longer be that same player. “I guess Saquon (Barkley) ain’t the same player either then,” said Brown, bringing up the Eagles’ running back who has also been having a down season. “I don’t got no comment about that. I don’t care about that.” Brown, 28, made it very clear that he does not think he has lost a step. “Y’all don’t believe that,” Brown said. In nine games this season, Brown has just 38 catches for 457 yards and 3 touchdowns. His yards-per-game average of 50.8 is by far the lowest of his seven-year NFL career. Some have pointed to Brown’s lack of separation. Brown is 78th out of 79 qualified receivers in the NFL in average separation per target (1.8 yards), per NFL NextGen Stats. That looks bad. But no one questioned Brown’s talent last season when he ranked 83rd out of 84 receivers in the same category. Back in Week 8, Brown missed the second Giants game because of a hamstring injury but said he’s “fine” now. “Nothing is wrong with me, guys,” Brown said. “I’ll say that.”
NFL analyst ‘totally confused’ by Eagles’ ‘ninth-grade passing game’ – NJ.com
“I don’t think the A.J. Brown (issue) is overly relevant to the conversation about the Eagles’ passing game,” Cosell said. “I’m just totally confused and, in many ways, befuddled by the fact that the Eagles’ passing game is so elementary and remedial in its concepts.” Cosell then reminded Tucker and listeners that he doesn’t “rip coaches.” But Cosell continued to question the offense run by Hurts, coordinator Kevin Patullo and head coach Nick Sirianni. “The question I keep asking myself is, why? And I wish I knew the answer to that, and I’m being honest. I wish I knew why the Eagles’ passing game looks like a ninth-grade passing game in terms of concepts and route combinations,” Cosell said. “That’s the question I keep asking myself, and I don’t have an answer. But this is not an A.J. Brown question whatsoever.”
4 things the Eagles should do to beat the Cowboys – BGN
Hello Bleeding Green Nation. My name is Dave Halprin, the founder of Blogging The Boys way back in 2005. I’ve been with the site ever since and some of you may know my name from the numerous ‘five questions’ articles that Brandon Lee Gowton and I have done together over the years. We’ll have another one of those this week, but I’ve been asked to give you guys a little more detail about certain aspects of the upcoming game. Specifically, we are going to talk about the four thing the Eagles should do to defeat the Cowboys on Sunday. I’ll have two things for your offense and two for your defense.
This week the Cowboys face division rivals, Philadelphia Eagles. What are your expectations for this home game clash? Mike: At home, Dallas should have the edge, but Philadelphia’s front and perimeter weapons make this a battle. If the Cowboys stay out of the early negative-play hole that’s burned them in a few first quarters, they can dictate pace and make the Eagles chase on the scoreboard instead of the other way around. Howman: One word: victory. They nearly beat the Eagles in Philly to start the season, and Dallas has improved on both sides of the ball since then. The Eagles aren’t an easy out, but nothing short of victory should be accepted this week. Jess: I’m not as confident as my colleague. Philly keeps finding ways to win, and their defense is looking scary. This is a night-and-day flip from the caliber of opponent we just faced. I think the Cowboys will make it competitive, but predicting a win feels too homeriffic for me. Tom: The Eagles don’t look as dominating this season and Nick Sirianni is making some headscratching decisions. I think it will be a close game and a Cowboys win would not shock me. Sean: It’s hard not to immediately remember how well the Cowboys adjusted post weather-delay in the first loss at the Eagles to slow down Saquon Barkley and their ground game. Dallas has even more of a reason to think they’ll be successful here again, and I think the offense will carry enough momentum from the Raiders win to make big plays downfield. The biggest area of concern right now for me would be blocking up the Eagles pass rush long enough to take these downfield shots. I’ll side with Howman and say the expectation needs to be a win, to finally achieve that elusive winning streak under Brian Schottenheimer.
NFL Week 12 picks, predictions, schedule, odds, fantasy tips – ESPN
Bold prediction: Jalen Hurts will complete multiple 40-plus-yard passes in a win. The Eagles rank second in air yards per attempt (8.7), while Dallas’ defense ranks second in air yards allowed per attempt (8.0).
Fantasy Football WR Report: Man, zone coverage performance ahead of NFL Week 12 – PFF
The Cowboys have played zone coverage at a top-10 rate this season but are a bottom-five team in yards allowed per coverage target (9.1), yards allowed per coverage snap (7.19) and first-down-plus-touchdown rate allowed (38.7%) while in zone. DeVonta Smith has been the Eagles’ go-to wide receiver against zone coverage this season, earning a team-leading target rate and placing in the top 20 in fantasy points per route run. He is an ideal player to start in a great matchup this week.
NFL Week 12 picks: Upset and score predictions, matchup breakdowns for every game – NFL.com
Why Dan picked the Eagles: I need to see this new version of the Cowboys compete with the NFC’s elite before I can buy into their chances of a turnaround in 2025. Yes, I liked what Dallas did in Week 11 — its first game since bolstering a woeful defense at the trade deadline — but the victory came against a Raiders operation that is in disarray right now. The degree of difficulty will be entirely different this week. Brian Schottenheimer’s squad is 0-4-1 against teams that are currently .500 or better, and now it hosts the 8-2 Eagles, who have shut down two of the league’s most potent offenses in consecutive weeks. While it might seem like Philadelphia is cruising right now, there is cause for concern, most notably the loss of Pro Bowl right tackle Lane Johnson to injury. The margin for error isn’t particularly large for a team that has scored a total of 26 points in its two games since returning from a bye. If Vic Fangio’s suffocating defense relents at all, Dak Prescott could find an opening and exploit it. I’m just skeptical that the Cowboys have been transformed on the fly.
Mekhi Becton’s situation is more dicey than Williams’ or Sweat’s. According to OverTheCap’s chart, Becton needs to play 53 percent of the Chargers’ offensive snaps to stay in the fifth-round tier. Becton has missed two games and he has missed significant snaps due to injury in four others. Becton has not played well this season for the Chargers when healthy, and Jim Harbaugh benched him to start the second half of the Chargers’ game against the Jaguars Week 11. Through 11 games, Becton has played 419 of a possible 738 snaps, or 69 percent. The Chargers are on pace to play 1141 offensive snaps this season. At that pace, Becton would have to play at least 605 snaps this season. Again, he has already played 419, so he would need another 186 snaps during the Chargers’ final six games, at their current pace. We’ll see if Becton’s benching carries over into the Chargers’ next game. But it does appear that there’s a decent enough chance that the fifth-round pick expected for Becton could be downgraded to a sixth-round pick.
DeVonta Smith Mic’d Up in CRUCIAL win vs. Detroit Lions – PE.com
DeVonta Smith returns to Mic’d Up versus the Detroit Lions. Watch the Eagles wide receiver’s game through his eyes and ears while reliving the defensive dominance in this big-time NFC win!
As the Cowboys prepare to play three games within 12 days, they’re first focus is on the Eagles. Heading into Sunday’s game, new Cowboys defensive tackle Quinnen Williams is prepared to stop the team’s signature play, the Tush Push. “It’s a cool play that they do on second-and-short, on third-and-short, and fourth-and-short,” Williams, who was acquired at the trade deadline from the New York Jets, told reporters. “I’ve never been against it. … I’m excited to see the game plan. Excited to go against it. Excited to be able to try and stop it.”
Alim McNeill: There’s no scheme to defending the tush push, just “more of a want-to” – PFT
The Lions’ defense stopped the Eagles’ tush push twice on Sunday, and on two other occasions the Eagles lined up to tush push but got called for false start penalties, as Detroit showed that Philadelphia’s Brotherly Shove isn’t as unstoppable as it sometimes seems. Lions defensive lineman Alim McNeill says there was nothing fancy about Detroit’s defensive success. “There’s no scheme to defending the tush push, just more of a want-to. Just the willing and want to get down there and stop the play. There’s no scheme to it, we just wanted to stop it. we didn’t want them to run the tush push four times and get it all four times,” McNeill said. McNeill said any time the Eagles were in a tush push situation, the Lions brought out their “big base defense” of himself, DJ Reader, Tyleik Williams and Roy Lopez. But he said it’s not just about the big bodies on the line.
Why Detroit Lions thought they had the right look on failed fake punt – Pride Of Detroit
In essence, the gamble was that Philly would be lulled into sleep on the play. Because so many teams opt not to run a fake when the Eagles keep their defense out there, Fipp thought they could catch them off guard. “You look around the league through the years, you’ll see a handful of times where the defense has been on the field, and what happens with those guys is they don’t think that the ball is going to be run on them because they’re out there,” Fipp said. “And every time they’re out there, they just punt the ball. And then, all of the sudden, get up underneath their pads and you roll them back for a yard, and it happens so quick on a guy that it ends up working out.” Obviously, that gamble didn’t pay off. The Eagles—knowing that Detroit is a team that isn’t afraid to fake punt—aggressively attacked the play, and thanks to Ojomo getting lower leverage on Nowaske, the trick play never really stood a chance.
Chicago Bears DB coach Al Harris. Al Harris has left his mark on defenses over the last few seasons, including his time with the Dallas Cowboys with Quinn. We saw the Cowboys’ secondary create a ton of turnovers in 2024 with 13 interceptions and 18 forced fumbles. Harris was with Quinn from 2021-2023, and honestly should’ve been the top choice for defensive coordinator over Joe Whitt Jr. when Quinn first arrived in Washington. Instead, Harris went to the Chicago Bears, and he’s doing the same thing there.
Giants-Lions injury updates: New York QB Jaxson Dart practices again – Big Blue View
New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart continued on Thursday to trend toward passing the league’s concussion protocol and being available to play Sunday against the Detroit Lions. Dart was a limited (con-contact) participant in practice for the second straight day. Cornerback Paulson Adebo (knee), edge defender Kayvon Thibodeaux (shoulder) and tight end Thomas Fidone did not practice for a second straight day, leading to the possibility they won’t be available on Sunday. This would be five straight missed games for Adebo, and two for Thibodeaux.
NFL Expert Picks for Week 12 of 2025 – SB Nation
This is going to be an absolutely wild sprint to the finish in the NFL. Typically by Week 12 we’ve separated the haves from the have nots, giving us a very clear idea about who will be in the postseason outside of the last one or two places in the bubble. Typically at this point we wouldn’t be talking about who would win divisions, but rather how the top teams all look for a run in the playoffs — differentiating who might have Super Bowl potential. Not in 2025. As it stands there are seven divisions that are all up for grabs, with the only real lock being the Eagles to win the NFC East with a 3.5 win lead over the Cowboys. Otherwise we’ve hit a point where a game or two could settle who wins the division, and who is out of the playoffs entirely. It’s an absolutely wild scenario, and a total blast as we settle into these final games of the season.
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