Jonathan Gannon.
If there was any one game that signaled to the world the 2023 Philadelphia Eagles were in the midst of a collapse the likes of which few NFL teams had ever seen, it was Week 17 against the Arizona Cardinals at Lincoln Financial Field.
The Cards limped into Philly with a 3-12 record in Gannon’s first season at the helm and appeared to be a get-right opponent for a struggling Birds team that, at 11-4, had gone 1-3 since running up a 10-1 record. The Cowboys had zoomed past them in the NFC East, but given they had been to the Super Bowl the year before and had won 10 of their first 11, it was assumed Gannon’s Cardinals would be fodder for them to consume as they tried to dredge up some momentum heading into the playoffs.
After jumping out to a 21-6 halftime lead, the much-maligned defense allowed 15 unanswered third-quarter points and a go-ahead touchdown with less than 30 seconds left for a crushing 35-31 defeat that officially welcomed everyone to a brand new hellscape they would never forget.
If you didn’t think there was a really good chance of a similar result happening on Sunday against the woebegone 2-11 Las Vegas Raiders, you’re either not a student of history or are far more optimistic than I.
Thankfully, the 2025 Eagles proved they are not their 2023 brethren, as owner Jeffrey Lurie, Sirianni, Jalen Hurts and everyone else in the organization insisted all week long, even after three straight ugly defeats to the Cowboys, Bears and Chargers and with an offense that looked far too similar to Matt Patricia’s incompetently coached ’23 defense.
It was fair to wonder if these Eagles could pull out of their slide in a way the ‘23 team couldn’t. And while Sunday’s 31-0 shellacking of Las Vegas doesn’t automatically mean everything is going to be peaches and cream the rest of the way, it is a far more comforting victory than any the ‘23 Birds experienced heading down the stretch.
It was the type of performance you would expect a Super Bowl contender to give against a truly awful football team, and it separates this year’s Eagles from the squad two years ago who, at a similar point in the schedule and experiencing similar panic by the media and fanbase, failed to wallop an inferior opponent at home.
All wins in the NFL are important, but let’s be honest. If the Eagles had only scraped by and won in a way similar to their 33-25 victory over a bad Giants team in ‘23, a shaky victory that occurred one week before the Arizona game, the comparisons to that season would be more applicable. But that ‘23 team was incapable of putting together the type of performance we saw from the Eagles on Sunday.
The defense allowed just 75 total yards, the fewest they’ve allowed in any game in the Super Bowl era, and the lowest total since Week 11 of the 1955 season. It was their first shutout since Week 6 of 2014, and their largest margin of victory in a shutout since 1990. Hurts became the first Eagles quarterback in the Super Bowl era to throw for three or more TDs in a game with three or fewer incompletions in that game, and had a QB rating of 154.9. Their offensive efficiency was off the charts. The back-ups on offense, led by Tanner McKee and Tank Bigsby, ran an 11-play drive in the fourth quarter that chewed up more yards (79) than the Raiders had accumulated all game (75). The struggling running game put up 183 yards.
By the end of the season, the 2023 Eagles were unable to defeat, let alone dominate, their inferior opponents. And after Sunday night’s loss by the Cowboys to the Vikings, the Eagles need to win just one of their final three games, two of them against the awful Washington Commanders, to clinch their second straight NFC East title and the No. 3 seed in the NFC. There is an outside chance at the No. 2 seed if Chicago loses two of their final three games and the Eagles win out, but the No. 1 seed is not happening, so you could see these Eagles take the final week of the season off for a Week 18 bye heading into the postseason.
That would be enormous.
While I picked the Eagles to win this week, it was not a pick of confidence. The memories of 2023 are still too vivid. There were too many eerie similarities developing, which is why Sunday’s victory was so comforting. For a team that has lived on the razor’s edge all season, there was good reason to question whether they could take advantage of a weak opponent and pound them into a fine dust the way they did on Sunday at the Linc.
It turns out you don’t need a giant, inflatable bunny rabbit inside the locker room for the good vibes to return. You just need to beat the crap out of a really bad team.
Knowing this type of football still lies within this group should springboard them over the final three weeks. Confidence is high they will be able to head into Washington on Saturday night and beat a Commanders team that may not have (and shouldn’t put) Jayden Daniels under center. Their Week 17 match-up in Buffalo will be difficult, taking on a Bills team that is battling the Patriots for control of the AFC East, but a home game against the Commanders in Week 18 should serves as a nice rest week heading into the tournament.
Vic Fangio’s defense is playing at an elite level, and doing it without Jalen Carter, who will hopefully return this week. And now it appears the offense is getting more creative and Hurts is willing to run the football more. Hopefully his ankle is not too injured for him to play this week, but Eagles fans should feel pretty good about McKee getting the nod if forced into action against a truly awful Washington defense.
Even without the top seed, the path back to the Super Bowl is wide open. There is no dominant team in the NFC. The Rams have lost three straight times to the Eagles, although truthfully, they probably should have won in Philadelphia earlier this year. The Bears are much improved, but no juggernaut. The Bucs, sitting at just 7-7, have struggled for much of the season. And yes, I’ll take my chances with Sam Darnold and the Seahawks, Jared Goff and the Lions, Jordan Love and the Packers and/or Brock Purdy and the 49ers at the Linc in the playoffs. The Packers just lost Micah Parsons for the season. The Rams might be without wide receiver Davante Adams for the rest of the regular season with a hamstring injury.
The way the Eagles won on Sunday should be a message to the rest of the conference. If you thought they were going to choke away a second season in three years, think again. In fact, maybe they’re hitting their stride late, the way they did a season ago.
If nothing else, Sunday’s win against the Raiders showed everyone things are not going to go the way of 2023. This is a different team. A better team. A more complete team.
Maybe they did learn some lessons from that horrific collapse, because they sure do appear to have altered momentum in a way they couldn’t two years ago.
See More:
