Before we get into this week’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers, here are some of the headings from my Philadelphia Eagles film review articles this year:
- Eagles–Giants Film Review: This offense is broken
- Eagles–Bears Film Review: Genuinely don’t understand how Kevin Patullo is still running this offense
- Eagles–Broncos Film Review: Incredibly frustrated (and quite frankly, bored) by this offense
- Eagles–Lions Film Review: Repetitive, stale, and joyless offense
- Eagles–Bucs Film Review: A coaching staff that seems more concerned with hiding flaws than maximizing strengths
- Eagles–Cowboys Film Review: An offense with no true identity
- Eagles–Packers Film Review: One of the least inspiring offensive efforts of the season
- Eagles–Bills Film Review: The offense needs to stop spending entire halves playing scared
Sadly, this result was incredibly predictable. I remember a comment a couple of months ago (this isn’t a criticism by the way) from someone saying I was too negative after an Eagles win. I totally understood. The truth is, I’ve hated watching this offense all year. It’s been incredibly badly designed. The Eagles got what they deserved. This result had been coming. This was an embarrassing way to go out. Not because the Eagles lost a close game, not because they were outmatched by a great team, but because they lost to a bad defense while repeating the same mistakes they’ve made all season. The offense produced a performance that felt less like a playoff loss and more like a summary of everything that went wrong in 2025.
Offense
From the very first snap, the offense made life harder for itself. Motioning A.J. Brown into a tight split immediately condensed the formation and dragged an extra defender into the box. Of course, that defender makes the tackle because AJ Brown isn’t a great blocker in this situation. And, he’s standing next to Grant Calcaterra. Whose usage in this was a joke.
This wasn’t about blocking or execution; it was about formation choices actively making the defense’s job easier. They want to run this stuff because other offenses do it, and it works. But they haven’t realised all year that it doesn’t work for this roster.
The run game numbers were dreadful, if you take away this one decent Barkley run. This ground attack produced almost nothing against one of the league’s weakest fronts. They tried to run the same run concepts that have failed all year and expected different results. The 49ers have been terrible at setting the edge all year. The Eagles could barely attack that particular weakness at all.
The red zone remains the strangest part of this offense. The creativity exists there, and nowhere else on the field. The execution is better, too. Dallas Goedert making history as the first tight end with a rushing and receiving touchdown in a playoff game should have been a cool story after a win. Instead, it felt like a sad footnote. How the staff can dial up clever designs in tight spaces but cannot sustain a coherent offense between the 20s doesn’t make a lot of sense.
What is this? 13 personnel play-action deep shot, targeting the tight ends? Hurts and Goedert aren’t on the same page, and I have no clue what this play is supposed to be. It’s just weird. If you are taking a shot from 13 personnel, send AJ Brown on the deep route, surely? I don’t hate the idea of a shot from 13 personnel, but the concept is awful, and the players seem confused!
The empty QB draw was one of the plays the Eagles have successfully run well this year. Predictably, the 49ers responded by blitzing it. That is exactly what I would do if I were facing this offense. That should have opened the door to man-beaters, rub concepts, and quick answers to take advantage of predictable man coverage across the board. Instead, the Eagles responded with static hitches and outs, routes that lose instantly against tight-man leverage. The out route to DeVonta Smith is so predictable. This isn’t a talent problem. The Eagles’ offense is more talented than the 49ers’ defense. This was a complete lack of answers from the coaching staff. You could blame Smith for not winning his route. Or you could acknowledge that a coach’s job is to make life easier for players, not harder.
Anyone want to explain what on earth this is supposed to be? This isn’t the preseason. This is the playoffs. Thank goodness I never have to watch this offense again. What else is there to say?
As always, despite all of the negative plays, the Eagles had a few positive ones to really make you think what could have been. We just haven’t seen Barkley be a big factor in the passing game all year. This was one of the few plays that actually allowed him to generate yards after catch. Barkley is most dangerous when he’s allowed to operate in space, yet the offense repeatedly asks him to grind into loaded boxes behind losing leverage.
Cam Jurgens’ struggles were once again on display, but the context matters. He is not built to win static power reps snap after snap. When the Eagles ask him to pull, climb, or work laterally, he holds up. You can see how well he moves here in the screen game. I would have done more of this to play to his strength. When they ask him to anchor against downhill interior pressure, he gets walked back. The Eagles are going to have to decide on him and Landon Dickerson. We will talk about that more in the offseason. I have takes.
The continued avoidance of Duo is baffling. The few times the Eagles ran true Duo, the offense actually looked functional. Again, this concept helps someone like Jurgens, who isn’t the biggest. Rather than commit to what works, though, the Eagles continue to use these successful plays sporadically and revert to the usual runs for most of the game. Outside zone, once again, was a complete disaster with seven attempts for 13 yards.
Play-action was one of the few efficient elements of the passing game. Seven attempts generated positive EPA. Yet as the game wore on, the Eagles abandoned it. Every single time they went under centre in the second half, they ran it. The pass game shrank into hitches, flats, and the occasional low-percentage shot. There was no intermediate layer to this offense. Receivers rarely catch the ball in stride beyond the sticks. YAC is almost non-existent unless it’s manufactured behind the line. I saw some real positives with the passing game a few weeks ago. The Eagles have just abandoned these plays to prioritise ball control and avoid turning the ball over. Well, Jalen Hurts didn’t turn over the football, and Brock Purdy did twice. But the Eagles still lost. It’s so frustrating.
This is where the season-long issue against split-safety coverage comes roaring back. The Eagles can still beat Cover 0, Cover 1, and Cover 3. They have no answers for Cover 4 or Cover 6. None. We have seen some in recent weeks, but we didn’t see them this week. There were no flood concepts. Barely any post/over deep crossing routes. The defense knows exactly where the ball is going. Without AJ Brown being the elite AJ Brown we are used to, the offense just doesn’t have answers anymore. I have been consistent. I am fine with a simple offense when the talent is simply that good. But right now, it isn’t!
The complete absence of a quarterback run game has been indefensible all season long. I tried to be fair to the Eagles and assumed that they would start doing it in the playoffs. I was clearly wrong. Hurts’ legs are the offense’s easiest schematic advantage. They force plus-one in the box. They hold backside defenders. And they were removed from the game plan entirely. An offense built around Hurts that refuses to use one of Hurts’ biggest strengths is fundamentally broken. Jalen Hurts is a good quarterback. But he is not an elite one if he does not run the football. Whoever runs the offense next year must get back to running Jalen Hurts.
Seeing Dart (tackle power) appear this late in the season almost felt insulting to me. Tackle power works for this roster. It fits their personnel and suits Jordan Mailata. They just haven’t run it all year, and suddenly pull it out once in the playoffs! Why?! I don’t understand. The play may have actually worked, but Tank Bigsby missed the hole. Of course, they never went back to it.
Goedert’s receiving production masks a real issue in the run game. His blocking effort and consistency have declined, and for an offense trying to find a physical identity, that matters. When tight ends lose at the point of attack, it’s hard to have a strong running game. I am on the fence about bringing him back next year. I want tight ends who can run block.
A.J. Brown had a rough night, and this drop on 3rd down was bad. But receivers don’t exist in a vacuum. Rhythm matters. Usage matters. Being iced out for long stretches and then asked to convert in high leverage situations is not a recipe for success. I haven’t really discussed Hurts much in this article. I thought he was underwhelming but as always, I think the coaching staff are more at fault than he is. I thought his ball placement was a little erratic, which is unlike him. However, he wasn’t missing open receivers or anything. Nothing is easy for him.
This sums up the Eagles’ offense. The routes collapsed into each other. This causes Smith to brace for contact before the ball arrives because the design funneled a safety directly into his window. It’s also not a great ball. Once again, that’s not on the receiver. That’s on structure.
And the final play was the perfect summary of this whole dreadful season. Fourth-and-long. Four verticals. No hi-low. No Barkley involvement. No conflict. A concept that will never work against Cover 4 against a team who routinely ran Cover 4. And an offense that routinely faces Cover 4, because they can’t beat it! Hurts didn’t play well, but no quarterback will thrive in this environment.
The Eagles repeated the same concepts they’d already shown earlier in the drive, and the defense sat on them. I thought Nick Foles did a fantastic breakdown of this play, which I recommend you watch. Get him on the staff next year?
Final Thoughts
This was the end this offense deserved. The Eagles won the turnover battle 2–0 and still lost. They ran the ball on 60% of early downs, despite it rarely working. They scored six second-half points as they can’t adjust to what the defense is doing. They finished with -3.25 pass EPA against a defense that is not good. This offense was the most expensive in the league and never found an answer to split-safety zone coverage. They didn’t lose because of bad luck or injuries, they lost because the offense never evolved, and the coaching staff are responsible.
UPDATE: Just as I’m writing this, the Kevin Patullo news has broke. I never want anyone to lose their job, but this simply had to happen. It wasn’t good enough all year.
Thank you so much for the views and comments this year Eagles fans. I appreciate you all. Time to break down a new OC…
Thank you for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to comment below and ask any questions. If you enjoyed this piece, you can find more of my work and podcast here. If you would like to support me further, please check out my Patreon here!
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