Everyone has an opinion.
It’s the quarterback. It’s the offensive coordinator. It’s the playcalling. It’s the plays themselves. It’s the head coach. It’s the running back. It’s the offensive line. It’s the run game coordinator. It’s the wind. It’s early December and no one has even begun Christmas shopping yet.
Spend any time online to partake in Eagles discourse and you’ll see a myriad of opinions on what’s gone wrong with the offense in 2025. No matter your opinion, you’re going to get yelled at by somebody.
You’re wrong. Or, you’re right. It depends on the X account you engage with.
The clearest answer as to what’s wrong with the Eagles offense is… all of it. There are no wrong answers. All we’re trying to do is assign the proper amount of blame so that we can come up with some kind of plan to fix it. The fact there are so many culprits makes it difficult to come up with an easy solution.
Here is my list of what’s officially to blame for the malaise, with their percentage of the blame in parenthesis. You, of course, will totally agree with all of this.
Nick Sirianni (35%)
Nick Sirianni has had one of the most bizarre head coaching careers in NFL history. Is there a more maligned head coach in NFL history who has gone to two Super Bowls in three seasons, never missed the playoffs and has one of the best winning percentages of all time? It seems ridiculous on its face to criticize someone who’s helped establish a potential NFL dynasty, but one must also remember Sirianni also oversaw one of the most galling in-season collapses of all-time and is in danger of watching a second one here in ‘25.
It’s easy for fans to look at Sirianni’s offensive philosophy and wonder what it is he thinks will change by continuing down the same path. When one considers he doesn’t call plays, has little input on Vic Fangio’s defense and can’t seem to articulate why something like pre-snap motion could be beneficial, it really makes one wonder if Sirianni has been the driving force behind the success of the last four years or simply along for the ride.
Sirianni’s approach at the end of the first half in which they ran out the clock to the 2-minute warning came because he was terrified of leaving too much time on the clock for the inevitable three-and-out that inevitably followed. His decision was instructive, as have been his repeated 3rd-and-long coward draws and screens that demonstrated absolute no confidence in the very offense he has designed and implemented on a weekly basis.
What does it say about your ability as a head coach if you don’t have any confidence in your own creation?
And ask yourself, if Ben Johnson were running the Eagles’ offense, how would it look?
I don’t know if this falls into the Sirianni or Patullo bucket, but maybe they can share this particular failure.
Kevin Patullo (20%)
I honestly don’t know how much of the Eagles’ issues lie at the feet of Patullo and how much of it is him being overmatched. In ‘23, Brian Johnson appeared to have the same issues Patullo is having, and it’s fair to wonder if Patullo is being handcuffed by what his boss and quarterback want to do in a similar way to Johnson. It’s also fair to note that Kellen Moore was an experienced playcaller and was able to navigate Sirianni and Hurts better than Patullo has.
We’ve been screaming at Patullo for using nothing but hitches, curls and go-routes, with almost nothing happening in the middle of the field. We’ve ripped him for offensive gameplans that opposing defenses have all but said were predictable and easy to defend.
While the majority of the blame lies at the feat of Sirianni, Patullo also isn’t bringing anything new to the table. Everything is stale, everything is predictable, and when they do try something different, such as putting Barkley and Tank Bigsby in the backfield at the same time…
…it looks like something he drew up in a bathroom stall at halftime and tried to throw into the gameplan on the fly. He continues to use players incorrectly…
…and there’s no ingenuity in anything they’re doing whatsoever. He’s shown an inability to find a way to utilize the talent at his disposal. Just look at the kind of stuff Shane Steichen is doing with the Colts.
It is the responsibility of the coaching staff to force changes on players if they don’t want them, and it is their responsibility, not the QB or anyone else, to put together a gameplan that will move the ball and score points. I don’t know if a change in play-caller is going to work, but I do know it won’t hurt, and it’s time to make the call.
Jalen Hurts (20%)
Assessing blame on Hurts is difficult to quantify. His detractors unfairly malign him at times which forces his supporters to vociferously support him and ignore any negatives he’s bringing to the table. But if you have eyes, you can see that Hurts is not playing well right now. He’s missing open receivers and leaving a lot of meat on the bone on the field. It’s not the first time he’s done this. He’s the NFL equivalent to a streaky power hitter, like a Bryce Harper or Kyle Schwarber. He can carry an offense when he’s hot, but when he’s off, it’s an offensive killer.
Numerous reports have indicated Hurts prefers to run a more vanilla offense, that he doesn’t like a lot of pre-snap motion and traffic over the middle of the field. If true, that limits what kinds of plays Patullo can even call. Jimmy Kempski also noted in his post-game column that Hurts hasn’t wanted to run the football as much this season, further neutering the run game and overall offensive explosiveness and efficiency.
Against Chicago, as Brian Baldinger outlined, Hurts did not see the field well at all.
Now, others have noted that the first play in which he ignored Dallas Goedert running wide open in the middle of the field wasn’t Hurts’ fault, that the play needed to go on the hot read to Smith with an all-out blitz on, but the miscommunication resulted in the throw sailing behind his wide receiver. That said, Hurts was simply not good and more needs to be done to open up more of the field.
In order for this offense to work, Hurts needs to run the football, he needs to accept a more varied route tree, he needs to throw the ball where it’s designed to go, show patience in the pocket, and throw across the middle. He’s done it all before, and he’s done it at an elite level.
And not for nothin’, but if you’re going to give Hurts the ultimate say in the formations you’re using, the routes being run and whether or not he runs the ball, then just let him call the plays. It’ll make things a lot less confusing for everyone.
Offensive Line (15%)
The O-line just isn’t what it has been in the past. Lane Johnson has been in and out all season and is out for another few weeks. Tyler Steen has not adequately replaced what Mekhi Becton gave them in the run game a year ago. Cam Jurgens and Landon Dickerson have been playing through injury, and I don’t know what is going on with Jordan Mailata in the run game. As this excellent thread details, last year’s offensive line was far more mobile and athletic in the run game, and it made all the difference in the world.
We’ve always been able to rely on Jeff Stoutland to save the passing offense when needed, but that lever has not been there this season.
I mean, just look at this play.
The Eagles employ an offensive coordinator, a running game coordinator, and a passing game coordinator, and it’s clear nothing is coordinated. The interior of the line has been particularly bad.
And can we please stop thinking that adding more tight ends to the running scheme is going to work?
I’m not sure how this gets fixed, other than going with a ton of 12 and 21 personnel and trying some different stuff, asking less of the offensive line and creating more space. Jeff Stoutland is an outstanding coach, but he needs to do better, too.
Saquon Barkley (5%)
Last year, Barkley averaged 125.3 yard per game. This year, it’s 61.7, the lowest since 2021 with the Giants (45.6). His 3.7 yards per average is also tied for the lowest of his career (2021). Physically, he looks like the same player, but it’s fair to wonder if a season of slamming into the backs of his offensive linemen or on-rushing linebackers at the line of scrimmage is beginning to take its toll.
For most of the season, the offensive line and playcalling were holding him back, but last week, Barkley missed some obvious running lanes and appears to be just a bit off. It’s not earth-shattering stuff, and if the offensive line gets its act together, I anticipate big runs from Saquon. But he’s not without some blame here.
A.J. Brown gets called for a ticky-tack offensive pass interference call. Saquon fumbles for the first time all year at a critical juncture in Dallas. Jalen has the ball stripped on the Tush Push, of all things, although in my view, the play should have been called dead when forward progress was stopped.
Windy conditions. Slippery fields. Sometimes, when things aren’t going your way, the avalanche consumes you.
The Eagles were hit for 14 penalties in Dallas and have been the victims of some questionable referee decisions the last two weeks.
Now, they also benefitted from a questionable defensive holding call that iced their victory over the Lions three weeks ago, and these things tend to balance out over the course of a long season. That said, right now, the little things aren’t going their way, either.
It’s hard to fathom, but the offense has actually regressed since the bye four weeks ago. What had been an inconsistent worry has turned into full-on panic, and there is real fear the 2025 season is slipping away in the same fashion the 2023 season did. Even though he won a Super Bowl just a season ago, I don’t know if Sirianni could survive two epic collapses in three seasons.
That said, there is still time for things to reverse themselves. If Sirianni, Hurts and Patullo can get out of their own way and actually make real changes to the gameplan, this team can go on a run. But right now, it feels virtually impossible to imagine.
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