Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles news and links …
The 14 Stats That Explain NFL Week 2 – The Ringer
2: Jalen Hurts Completions More Than 10 Yards Downfield. The Eagles are 2-0, but their passing offense doesn’t look anything close to the unit that carried them to a Super Bowl title last season. Through two weeks, Hurts has attempted just eight passes more than 10 yards downfield and has completed only two of them. Among NFL starters, only Titans rookie Cam Ward has a lower completion rate on such throws. Against Kansas City, Hurts went 1-of-5 on those attempts, with his lone completion coming on a 28-yard heave to DeVonta Smith that set up a fourth-quarter tush push touchdown to put Philly up two scores. The lack of vertical bite is stalling Philly’s offense. Defenses are sitting in their short and intermediate passing coverages, daring Hurts to push the ball beyond the sticks. That led to empty possessions against Kansas City and kept a dysfunctional Chiefs team in the game far longer than it should have been. For all the talk of continuity on the Eagles offense, the passing attack has looked clunky and one-dimensional so far. Hurts has been bailed out by his legs, the offensive line, and clutch catches like Smith’s on Sunday, but this is not a sustainable formula.
What we know (and don’t) about the Eagles entering Week 3 vs. the Rams – Inquirer
Then there’s the offense. The explosive plays are still lacking, particularly in the passing game, which is confounding given the presence of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. Against the Chiefs, Hurts completed just one of four pass attempts that traveled 10-plus air yards, according to Next Gen Stats, with Smith recording the lone catch for 28 yards. It’s the first time in Hurts’ career that he’s had two games in a season in which he completed just one of those passes.
Fran’s film review: Plenty to fix for the Eagles’ passing game – PHLY
Bottom line for me coming out of this game: the Eagles’ passing game is obviously not hitting on all cylinders at the moment, but it’s an extremely small sample size, with a unit that did not work in preseason action under a new coordinator and playcaller in Kevin Patullo. I think the quarterback has been pretty sharp. They could stand to be more aggressive in the passing game, and I think they miss their Pro Bowl-caliber tight end. Get him (and guard Landon Dickerson) fully healthy, with added reps together, and I expect this group to round into form.
The Eagles’ offense is stuck in the mud, again – BGN
It might only be Week 2, but early season concerns with Brian Johnson turned out to be warranted. This team is trying to win another Super Bowl, the standards have to be higher. Patullo isn’t solely to blame, there are two other similarities to the 2023: the head coach and the quarterback. This is not the Eagles offense we expected to see, and everyone shares responsibility for the struggles. There is time to improve, but not much. 20-something point performances aren’t going to get it done against the Rams and Buccaneers over the next two weeks.
NFL Week 3 Odds: Rams slight underdogs in NFC Divisional rematch – Turf Show Times
Luckily, Rams second-year defensive tackle Braden Fiske, who tweaked his oblique pre-game vs the Titans but was able to power through the game, is on the mend and expected to be ready to roll. Philadelphia on the other hand is not really dealing with many major injuries heading into Sunday, however starting TE Dallas Goedert missed their most recent game so it will remain to be seen what his status will be this week. The Rams and Eagles looks to be a brawl, with two teams that could very well represent the NFC in the 2025 Super Bowl. I like Los Angeles to get a signature victory over Philadelphia in this one. While the Eagles are dangerous, I just don’t think they’ve looked great against either the Cowboys or Chiefs, where as the Rams offense seems to be on the upswing and their defense has only allowed one touchdown so far this season. I also am taking the over given that both have high-powered offenses and they went over 44.5 in their last matchup.
NFC Hierarchy/Obituary: Week 3 edition – PhillyVoice
1) Philadelphia Eagles. 1) Eagles (2-0): The Eagles ran six (lol) Tush Pushes on Sunday. They pretty clearly false started on at least one of them. But, it didn’t get flagged. Adam Schefter said, “This game was lost in March. This game was lost when the NFL owners refused to ban the Tush Push from happening. It wasn’t lost yesterday. It was lost in March. And there might be a lot of games that they Eagles play that are lost in March, because this play is unstoppable.” Lol, what a dweeby thing to say. Honestly, I can’t believe we’re still going in circles on this. The Tush Push isn’t unstoppable. If it were, every team would run it. There’s just one team that runs it at an extremely high level. Now, if the Eagles false start on the play, then they should absolutely be penalized. Similarly, when defensive linemen line up in the neutral zone, they too should be flagged. By all means, enforce the rules. Spoiler: When Roger Goodell tries again to ban it next offseason and there’s no new data to support claims that it’s “too dangerous,” the reason to ban will become, “It’s too hard to officiate.”
The Eagles offense has not looked comfortable on the field for parts of both games. I think that will change and they will settle down. The Rams have a really talented defense so they will be a good challenge for the Eagles. Thankfully the game is at The Linc so that will help. If the offense doesn’t start trending in the right direction, it will be time to get seriously concerned. I still have faith in the unit after two weeks. Do you remember who had the best offense in the NFL after two weeks last year? It was the Saints. They scored 91 points in those games and people wondered if they could be the surprise team to watch. The Eagles held them to 12 points in Week 3 and the Saints finished 5-12 after a 2-0 start. September football can be a mirage, good and bad.
Why don’t all teams use the unstoppable tush push? Here’s why – ESPN
The NFL is often described as the ultimate copycat league, so why don’t more teams try to duplicate the Eagles’ signature play? The league average success rate for a fourth-and-1 non-tush play is 67.0% since 2022, while the league average for a tush push is 84.8%. And the Eagles’ rate is nearly 12 points higher, but the teams opposed to the play have a variety of objections, including avoiding injury risk to quarterbacks or not having personnel ideally suited to running the play. Meanwhile, the Eagles keep pushing along, and it’s not sitting well with some teams, including Chiefs coach Andy Reid, who accused Eagles linemen of false starts. “We’ve tried it at other places and it’s not the same replication that it is in Philly,” said Saints coach Kellen Moore, who was the Eagles’ offensive coordinator this past season. “They’re the ones that are doing it and all of us have tried to replicate it in some way. And, usually, at the end of the day, it’s their play.” The Eagles’ dominance hasn’t been well received by everyone. The Green Bay Packers proposed banning the play, but that proposal narrowly failed during contentious league meetings in May. There are still many vocal proponents of banning it, with the measure falling just two votes short of passage. But, for now, the only thing standing between the Eagles and more successful tush push plays are NFL defenses. And they are yet to devise reliable ways to stop them. “There’s some secret ingredient that they got going on over there compared to everybody else,” Colts defensive tackle DeForest Buckner said.
Nick Sirianni responds to Chiefs’ claim that Eagles false started on tush pushes – NBCSP
By now you’ve probably seen some pretty compelling video evidence that the Eagles’ interior linemen were getting a head start or lining up offsides on their tush pushes Sunday in Kansas City. “You can’t get all the calls right,” Chiefs all-pro interior lineman Chris Jones said after the Eagles’ 20-17 win at Arrowhead. “Just because we see it, sometimes the official is 15 to 20 feet away and sometimes they can miss those small things. “We think he jumped multiple times. The official didn’t see it, so it wasn’t called. We just have to go play the next down. It happens. People jump all the time.” The Eagles ran seven tush pushes on Sunday and converted five, although one successful conversion was actually negated by a penalty on the Chiefs. The Eagles accepted the penalty since it gave them better field position. The Chiefs aren’t the first team to claim that the Eagles are getting away with false starts when they run the tush push, but because this was a Super Bowl rematch everything in the game was magnified.
Spadaro: Eagles’ September formula is simple – Win. Work. Repeat. – PE.com
“Our job, especially early in the season, is, and what I’ve said constantly to the team, is find a way to win, take pride in winning any way that you possibly can,” Head Coach Nick Sirianni said after Sunday’s win. “Work to get better throughout the week. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. We have to keep getting better. I think that when you come off a season like we came off of last year, I think the expectation is that you’re going to pick up right where you left off. There are steps to this, right? There are steps for all the teams that are playing right now and there’s steps to get better. As you’re getting better, our goal is to play our best football by the end of the year, as you’re getting better, find ways to win. Get better, and then repeat.”
7 winners and 5 losers from the Chiefs’ loss to the Eagles – Arrowhead Pride
Head coach Andy Reid: The play calling — and the offense in general — feels stale and predictable. Failed runs on third and fourth down are as frustrating as they are obvious. The defense held the Eagles to 214 total yards (fewer than 100 passing) and just 20 points, a performance that should have been enough to win. None of this suggests Andy Reid is on the hot seat, but tweaks are needed. He owns the creativity (or lack thereof), the effort and preparation and the in-game rhythm. Reid never makes excuses and always takes the blame — and right now, there’s plenty to go around. The real question is how quickly he can get it fixed.
Vikes Views: Carson Wentz or Max Brosmer? – Daily Norseman
The Minnesota Vikings lost a few starters on Sunday Night. Starting QB J.J. McCarthy is the most notable name on that list. McCarthy is expected to be out 2-4 weeks with a high ankle sprain. The team decided to move on from backup Sam Howell in the offseason and sign free agent Carson Wentz. They also kept undrafted rookie Max Brosmer on the roster as QB3. They are going to go with Wentz on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. However, if you were able to choose, which QB would you want to start this Sunday?
If Daniels can’t play on Sunday due to the knee injury, backup Marcus Mariota would get his first start since 2022. He played in three games for the Commanders last season, his first with the team. Josh Johnson is the team’s third-string QB, and he would be active as Mariota’s backup on game day.
Cowboys vs. Giants Stock Report: Brandon Aubrey, George Pickens on the rise – Blogging The Boys
Stock Down: Matt Eberflus. Speaking of… I remain bullish in an overall sense on the Eberflus era as far as him finally holding the defensive coordinator role is concerned. I am admittedly spooked, though. The Giants offense looked absolutely hapless in Week 1 and coincidentally that came against the defensive mind that all are being measured to right now in Dallas, and that was Dan Quinn. The Giants’ surge on offense was completely unpredictable which means that the Cowboys defense was shockingly poor. It wasn’t just Russell Wilson finding the fountain of youth, though. The Giants had success everywhere on offense, including notable rookies in Cam Skattebo and Jaxson Dart. Everything they touched turned to gold. Maybe you felt the Wilson-to-Nabers touchdown near the end of regulation was inevitable right after George Pickens scored for Dallas. Isn’t that troubling? That we had extremely low expectations for the defense and that they fully lived up (I guess down?) to them? That falls on the leader.
Giants-Chiefs odds: New York will be an underdog in meeting of 0-2 teams – Big Blue View
The 0-2 New York Giants play their first home game of the 2025 NFL season on Sunday night. They are currently 5.5-point underdogs in that contest to the stunningly also 0-2 Kansas City Chiefs, per FanDuel Sportsbook. The Giants are -255 on the moneyline, with an over/under of 43.5 points. The Giants are, of course, coming off a gut-wrenching 40-37 overtime loss on Sunday to the Dallas Cowboys. Russell Wilson threw for 450 yards and three touchdowns, and it took a 64-yard field goal by Brandon Aubrey of the Cowboys to force overtime. The Giants, though, are 0-2 for the third straight season and seventh time in nine years. It is familiar territory.
NFL Week 3 panic meter: Bears, Bengals raising alarms; Chiefs, Giants merit patience – NFL.com
New York Giants: The Giants played the most exciting game of Week 2, even if they wound up taking a loss that dropped them to 0-2. That 40-37 overtime defeat in Dallas won’t ease the frustrations around that franchise, but there was one encouraging aspect to it: Quarterback Russell Wilson reminded us that he still can play football at a high level. Wilson passed for 450 yards and three touchdowns, including a 48-yard scoring pass to Malik Nabers in the final minute that gave New York the lead before Dallas sent the game into overtime with a field goal. Wilson wasn’t perfect — his lone interception in OT gave the Cowboys the opportunity to win the game — but the biggest question surrounding the Giants heading into Week 2 was how long they should wait before supplanting Wilson with first-round pick Jaxson Dart. That now feels like a conversation that doesn’t have the same urgency. Russ undoubtedly has his limitations. The Giants also would be better served to give Dart as much time as possible to keep learning before playing in a meaningful game. That was whole point of having Wilson around in the first place. He’s given the Giants a decent reason to stick with that plan. VERDICT: PATIENCE. [BLG Note: Lol, the Giants deserve patience as they’re staring 0-3 in the face and wasting their time by playing Russ?]
Trevor Lawrence simply isn’t who we thought he was – SB Nation
Trevor Lawrence has run out of excuses. Throughout his five years in the NFL there have been myriad justifications why Lawrence has struggled to live up to the unbelievable hype he entered the league with. Bad coaching, questionable weapons, mediocre blocking — all have been factors in why Lawrence hasn’t met expectations since being the No. 1 overall pick in 2021. The Jaguars have slowly but surely addressed these problems, but they’re still losing, and the constant has been Trevor Lawrence. There’s too much binary analysis of NFL quarterbacks in football discourse. Everyone is either “garbage” or “GOAT” with no room for nuance in the middle. It’s this grey area which Lawrence finds himself. He’s not a bad quarterback, but he isn’t a special one either. Much like the team he’s on: Trevor Lawrence is a JAG. [BLG Note: Justice for Doug Pederson.]
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