It’s Time for the Philadelphia Eagles to Panic

It’s Time for the Philadelphia Eagles to Panic

Blame Game

Offensively, the Eagles are simply incapable of playing a complete game. In the first half, they scored 17 points, looking like they were actually finding a rhythm. In the second half, they sputtered with a ton of self-inflicted wounds, unable to score. Why does that sound familiar? Because they have done it almost every single game. The coaching staff is doing them no favors; more on that in a moment. But they don’t deserve all of the blame. The players are simply not playing well enough when opportunities are there. Jalen Hurts is not playing well enough right now, and it is costing them desperately. Hurts is far from the only one. The offensive line has not played up to its standard. Saquon Barkley has not looked like his normal self. The pass catchers have been inconsistent, often looking disinterested. At the end of the day, though, Hurts has simply not been good enough. And as the quarterback, he bears the most blame. Hurts has been far too inconsistent this season. With the offense looking strong for a half of play, then losing the next half, a lot of that is a direct reflection of how Hurts has played. He came out of the gates sharp against the Giants, then had his worst half of the season in the second half. Hurts is directly responsible for the Eagles leaving 14 points on the field yesterday. Missing a wide-open DeVonta Smith on what would have been a walk-in touchdown kept seven points off the board. Later, he threw the essentially game-ending interception, targeting A.J. Brown over the middle of the field on what would have been a touchdown.

Hurts has to be better. Calling out his subpar performance doesn’t mean he isn’t a good player, or hasn’t been a good player in the past. But this is simply unacceptable for the Eagles. When the offense is already struggling, and then on top of that, they are blowing wide open opportunities, a team can’t overcome. The offense will not turn it around if Hurts continues to play this way. It has been bad enough that there should be full-on panic offensively.

Bad Coaching

Kevin Patullo is in over his head. His play calling is often questionable, and although there are times where players are open (like the plays above), they are very few and far between. There is absolutely no reason an offense with this much talent should be this bad. The offense has been so bad relative to expectations that a coordinator/play-caller change is on the table, and it is only Week 6! With a mini bye now, and their actual bye coming in Week 9, a change could come sooner rather than later. Nick Sirianni deserves more blame for this mess, though. It is not being discussed enough how he has set this team up for failure. This is the second time he has been able to choose his own offensive coordinator, the other time being in 2023. Both of those seasons have resulted in underwhelming, to put it nicely, offenses. This is Sirianni’s offense, too, though. He may not be the playcaller, but he has a huge influence on this offense. With him not calling plays, he has become the definition of a “CEO Head Coach”. That is not necessarily a bad thing, as we have seen them be very successful with Sirianni in this role. Especially last season, with the Eagles playing smart, mistake free football while Sirianni was excellent at in-game management and culture building. There has been none of that this season. The Eagles are bound to have a lot of coordinator turnover under Sirianni. That is the reality of having a “CEO head coach”. But if he can’t maintain a strong offensive foundation, can’t call plays, his team repeatedly makes terrible mistakes, has a questionable at best culture, and has questionable in-game management, what exactly is he doing for this team? A coach’s job is to elevate the team, getting more out of less. Sirianni is doing none of that right now.

Defensive Concern

The Eagles’ defense looked helpless against a rookie quarterback without his best wide receiver. Yes, they were missing a few players, like Jalen Carter in Quinyon Mitchell. That highlights a terrifying reality for the defense, though: They are always an injury or two away from their defense looking like one of the NFL’s worst units. Vic Fangio deserves the benefit of the doubt in regards to this game being an outlier. They have played well for much of the season, and we saw their unit gradually improve over the course of the 2024 season. This unit does not have nearly as strong personnel, though, and they showed that if they are missing any of their key players, they fall off dramatically. It’s hard to imagine Howie Roseman not making a trade to improve the defense, whether that is on the defensive line or secondary help. This team doesn’t have the depth it previously did. The Eagles’ once reliable unit now has question marks everywhere.

The Eagles have a mini bye week before heading to Minnesota to take on the Vikings in Week 7. They need to use this extra time to find answers to their glaring problems. If they don’t find them, and soon, it may be a painful rest of the season.