It feels good to play a week of football where the Eagles aren’t the number one topic of the national conversation, doesn’t it?
But some in the national media still had things to say about the Birds after they snapped a three-game losing streak with a 31-0 win over the Las Vegas Raiders …
Injuries catching up with rest of NFC
The Eagles aren’t out of the woods offensively, even after delivering against a weak Raiders team. But with the Cowboys’ loss to the Vikings, the Eagles are just one win or Cowboys loss away from clinching a playoff berth — and becoming the first team to repeat as NFC East champs in 20 years.
But what Week 15 showcased for former Eagle Chris Long is that the NFL is wide-open this season. The Eagles still have work to do, but they’re not the only contender with issues.
“If you’re the Eagles, you kind of feel like, if we can get our [expletive] together, the Rams … might have lost Davante Adams for a little bit … Green Bay’s lost Micah [Parsons], Christian Watson, Tucker Kraft, these are tough injuries to overcome for these other teams,” Long said.
Were the Eagles the biggest winners in Week 15? Damien Woody said on ESPN’s Get Up that he thinks so.
“Obviously, you win the game against the lowly Las Vegas Raiders, but the Dallas Cowboys lost, and you look at some of the other losses in the conference,” Woody said. “If you’re Philadelphia, you come out of this week thinking, if we get our offense back on track and these other teams lose, we’re still in a good spot right now.”
The Birds are one game back of the Bears for second in the NFC and two games back of the Rams, with the easiest remaining schedule of the three. It’s extremely unlikely that the Birds could secure the bye at this point, but second in the NFC is still very much in play.
Jalen Hurts was incredibly efficient against the Raiders, throwing as many touchdowns (3) as incompletions.
Hurts ‘had a statement to make’
After a career-worst performance against the Chargers, Jalen Hurts needed a game like Sunday’s against Las Vegas. Hurts went 12-for-15 for 175 yards and three touchdowns, and was out of the game by the fourth quarter.
Emmanuel Acho said on Speakeasy that he wasn’t ready to say Hurts was fully back, given the opponent, but was encouraged that the Eagles took care of business instead of falling into the trap.
“The Eagles played the second-fastest game in NFL history against the Raiders,” Acho said. “Here’s why that matters, you got in, you got out, you got on with your life. You did what you needed to do and you did it efficiently.”
Former Eagle LeSean McCoy was also impressed with Hurts’ performance.
“I don’t want to say he’s silenced all doubt because it is this Vegas team, but it’s the way he looked,” McCoy said. “He looked really, really good, he looked really confident, like he had a statement to make.”
A quick, stress-free Eagles win? Been a while since we’ve had one of those!
The 31-0 shutout victory over the Raiders went by so quickly (2 hours, 31 minutes) that you could’ve blinked and missed it. In case you want to relive the victory, here are the best moments from the broadcast …
Look, would you love to see him only repping Philly? Sure. But if he keeps playing like he played today — even against a Raiders team that’s “not very good,” according to Fox color analyst Greg Olsen — Hurts can wear whatever he wants.
“That even-keeled personality, I think people sometimes have a hard time understanding how to react to it,” Olsen said. “He can be so calm in the big moments, and when you expect a lot of emotion, you expect a lot of fire, that’s just not his personality. But I do think it serves him so well when things do get rocky and everyone else is riding those emotional ups and downs. He’s just so steady.”
Mistaken identity
After firing former Eagles coach Chip Kelly, the Raiders have a new offensive coordinator — Greg Olson. Olsen wanted to stress during the Raiders’ first offensive drive that they are not the same person.
“Not me, I am not calling plays for the Raiders,” Olsen said. “Olson with an O.”
After retiring in the offseason, Brandon Graham came back mid-year, and earned his first sack of the season on Kenny Pickett in the first quarter.
But quarterback Philip Rivers stole some of his thunder, coming out of retirement at 44 and making his first start since 2020 for the Colts against the Seahawks on Sunday afternoon.
“This is the year of retired guys coming back,” Fox play-by-play commentator Joe Davis said. “Philip Rivers saw Graham come back and said, why can’t I?”
“There’s old, and then there’s Philip,” Olsen joked.
Of course, when you think of snow games in Philadelphia, you think of the famous Santa game. But given how the Birds had been playing coming into Sunday’s game, you’d be forgiven for feeling more like the Grinch.
But thanks to the Birds’ shutout victory, even the Grinch’s heart may have grown a few sizes …
To what I imagine was the delight of the fans freezing at the Linc, the Eagles played one of the shortest games in franchise history, clocking in at 2 hours, 31 minutes, give or take a minute.
But it could have been a contender for the all-time record for shortest game, set in 1996 at 2:29 by the Colts and the Chargers. Of course, ad space is king, and a long ad break just seconds after the two-minute warning stretched the game out just enough to block the Birds from setting an NFL record.
Bobby Brink was blunt about the Flyers’ 4-3 shootout loss to Carolina.
“We were pretty bad,” Brink said of the second period that saw the Flyers’ 2-0 lead evaporate Saturday night at the Xfinity Mobile Arena. “We just lost battles, didn’t support each other. Stopped taking it to them. Let them take it to us.”
The Flyers jumped out to an early lead in the first period. Brink scored the first goal of the game with a snipe off a Trevor Zegras zone entry, and Zegras capped off his excellent first period with a goal of his own, burying a feed from Konecny behind the net.
The Canes’ man-on-man coverage system is notoriously suffocating defensively, and the Flyers felt it in the second period, struggling to break the puck up the ice and generate any consistent offensive zone time.
Flyers center Christian Dvorak leaps over teammate right wing Bobby Brink’s first period goal past Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov on Saturday.
Ty Murchison, playing his third game in place of the injured Cam York, turned the puck over on a breakout to former Flyer Shayne Gostisbehere. He fired one quick pass to Nikolaj Ehlers, who sniped the puck over Samuel Ersson’s shoulder to put Carolina on the board. With just over five minutes to go in the period, Canes defenseman Alexander Nikishin tied it with a huge slap shot from the blue line.
“Carolina is a pressure team,” said Flyers coach Rick Tocchet. “You’ve got to go at them with pressure. I think we backed off. We started to stop skating. We need some wall play. If we made a couple wall plays, we would have had two or three three-on-ones, but Carolina puts a lot of pressure. I think they’re the worst team when it comes to odd-man rushes. So that’s when you really need to dig in.”
The Flyers improved a bit in the third period, but still struggled to get on the board.
“It was better than the second, but I don’t know, we’ve got to have a better effort than that,” Brink said.
Late in the third, Seth Jarvis snuck past the Flyers’ defense and easily tucked the puck in one-on-one against Ersson. That might’ve been just the kick the Flyers needed, because just 23 seconds later, Carl Grundströmtook advantage of a two-on-one opportunity and beat Pyotr Kochetkov to tie the game at three on just the Flyers’ second shot of the period.
Grundström was called up on Dec. 2 in place of the injured Tyson Foerster, and is on a three-game point streak, including the game-winner in San Jose and the game-tying goal against Carolina.
“He can skate, and he’s not afraid to get inside,” Tocchet said. “When you’re a player in the NHL and you can skate and you’re an inside player, you can pay the mortgage, that’s how you do it. I think that he wants to stay here. You can tell. What a couple of big goals for us so far.”
Forcing overtime on Saturday wasn’t enough for the Flyers, who fell in the shootout for the first time this season after five wins.
The Flyers’ three-on-three struggles continued, with their best chance coming off a two-on-one opportunity from Zegras and Konecny, but Zegras flubbed the pass, allowing Kochetkov to make an easy save, and Ersson made a strong save on Jordan Staal with just seconds to play.
Zegras had his first shootout miss of the year. Brink, Konecny, and Michkov also missed, and Jackson Blake won it for Carolina in the fourth round.
The Flyers won’t have much time to marinate in what went wrong, with another matchup against Carolina in Raleigh on the docket for Sunday night. They hope they can get another period like the first, and to avoid a repeat of the second.
“They were doing a good job of coming down on our wingers on the wall,” Zegras said. I thought in the D-zone, some faceoff stuff we’ve probably got to clean up. I think just build off that first period, because I thought we were doing some good stuff.”
Up next
The Flyers will play Carolina at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET. The game will air on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
The Eagles are looking to snap a three-game losing skid on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field. After the disaster at SoFi Stadium against the Chargers, the Birds are desperate to get back in the win column against a 2-11 Raiders squad without its starting quarterback.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Sunday’s game …
How to watch
The game will kick off on Fox at 1 p.m. from the Linc. Joe Davis and Greg Olsen will call the game from the booth, with Pam Oliver on the sideline.
If you’d rather listen to Merrill Reese and Mike Quick call the game, the radio broadcast can be found on 94.1 WIP, and if you’re not heading to the Linc, but want to watch the game with your fellow Birds fans, here are a few spots to check out.
The Eagles beat the Rams in the snow in the divisional round of the playoffs last year. It doesn’t look like the snow will be a factor, but the wind and cold could be.
Eagles vs. Raiders weather
The National Weather Service is calling for 2-4 inches of snow in the Philadelphia region on Sunday, but it is expected to move out of the area well before the Eagles game kicks off in South Philly. Temperatures are not expected to climb above 30, and the wind chill will likely be in the teens thanks to 15-25 mph winds.
The big injuries for the Eagles are again along the offensive and defensive lines. The Birds will be without right tackle Lane Johnson, who will miss his third game with a Lisfranc injury. The team is 0-3 in his absence. The Eagles will also be without defensive tackle Jalen Carter, who will miss his second straight game after undergoing a procedure on his shoulders.
The Raiders will be without quarterback Geno Smith, paving the way for backup Kenny Pickett to make his first start since Week 17 of last season, when he was a member of the Eagles.
Out
QB Geno Smith (shoulder/back)
WR Alex Bachman (thumb)
T Kolton Miller (ankle)
Questionable
S Jeremy Chinn (back)
C/G Jordan Meredith (foot)
TE Ian Thomas (calf)
Eagles vs. Raiders odds
The Eagles are favored by 11.5 points at FanDuel and 12.5 at DraftKings as of Friday afternoon, with a projected total of 38.5 points at both sportsbooks. For more information on prop bets, check out our betting roundup.
The Rams and Seahawks are tied for the best record in the NFC heading into Week 15.
Eagles playoff picture
With four games remaining in the regular season, the 8-5 Eagles hold a two-game lead over the rest of the NFC East and hold the third seed in the NFC. Elsewhere in the division, the 2-11 Giants and 3-10 Commanders are both eliminated from playoff contention. The Cowboys, at 6-7-1, are the only remaining NFC East team in the hunt, but even with an Eagles win and a Dallas loss, the Birds cannot clinch a playoff berth this week.
NFC East standings
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Meanwhile, in the race for the top seed in the NFC — and the lone first-round bye — the Eagles have some work to do. They’re two games behind the NFC West-leading Los Angeles Rams, and hold the head-to-head tiebreaker thanks to their Week 3 win.
However, even if the Rams falter, the Eagles are also two games behind the Seattle Seahawks, who are in second in the NFC West and the top wild-card team. The San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers, and Chicago Bears are also each one game ahead of the Eagles in the win column. The Eagles only hold the tiebreaker over the Packers.
NFC standings
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Can the Eagles offense turn things around against the Raiders?
Story lines to watch
How will Jalen Hurts bounce back from a career-worst performance in L.A.? He plans to stay the course.
“I take the approach I’ve taken for a while, and it’s seemed to work,” Hurts said Wednesday. “I think right now it’s just a matter of being more detailed, more focused.
“When you put forth the work, put forth the effort, good things happen when you need them to happen. That’s my mentality. That’s how I’ve gotten to where I am today.”
Outside the Eagles facility, however, a debate over whether the team should bench Hurts has dominated airwaves, locally and nationally. According to Jeff McLane, it’s a question that has some merit after Hurts’ third straight loss. Others — like Nick Sirianni, who called the idea “ridiculous” earlier this week — aren’t as convinced.
Jake Elliott’s missed field goal against the Chargers proved critical, but the Eagles’ end-of-half conservatism has become a trend.
The defense has been lights out while the other side of the ball has struggled. Jordan Davis still believes in the Eagles offense.
Jason Kelce wasn’t a fan of the “positivity rabbit” that popped up in the Eagles locker room last week. It was gone after their loss to the Chargers.
One number to know
8-1: Pete Carroll’s all-time record against the Eagles as a head coach. Carroll has beaten the Eagles five times at Lincoln Financial Field and went undefeated against the Birds as head coach of the Seahawks. The Birds’ only win over Carroll came in 1998, when he coached the Patriots.
Jeff McLane: “This is as close to an ideal get-back opportunity that Hurts and the offense could have at this stage of the season. Las Vegas has a decent defense and I suspect all the problems on that side of the ball won’t be solved. But you can’t lose if the other team doesn’t score points, and an Eagles’ shutout is in play. Really.” | Prediction: Eagles 24, Raiders 9
Jeff Neiburg: “I think the Eagles did enough positive things offensively Monday to convince me they won’t have trouble moving the ball Sunday. They just need to avoid turnovers. Easier said then done, of course.“ | Prediction: Eagles 27, Raiders 11
Olivia Reiner: “This is a game the Eagles should win, even in the offense’s current state of disarray. But don’t expect it to be a blowout. It’s going to be cold and windy at the Linc (remember how the Eagles fared in those conditions against the Bears?), so it seems unlikely that this game is going to be high-scoring if the weather gets ugly. Perhaps that works to the Eagles’ advantage, seeing as they’ve been practicing in an icebox all week and the Raiders are living it up in temperate Las Vegas.” | Prediction: Eagles 20, Raiders 13
Here’s a look at the latest from our columnists, starting with David Murphy, who thinks talk of benching Hurts is short-sighted, but not as crazy as it sounds.
David Murphy: “You know what’s really, truly, magnificently ridiculous to think? That any quarterback could play as poorly as Hurts has played in back-to-back losses to the Bears and the Chargers without prompting some level of discussion about whether or not he should continue to start. As good as Hurts has played in his two Super Bowl appearances, that’s how bad he has played over the last couple of weeks.” Read more.
Marcus Hayes: “[A.J. Brown] was getting fewer and fewer looks. The ball just wasn’t finding him. He wanted the ball more. Hell, I wanted him to get the ball more. After all, with due respect to the golden oldies and one year of Terrell Owens, the Eagles have never had a receiver quite like him. But getting it to him has spelled disaster.” Read more.
Mike Sielski: “The Eagles are an excellent defensive team, and that is all, and that is not enough, not even close. Not with an offense like this. Not with this team’s tendency to commit untimely and inexcusable penalties. Not with so many questions that don’t get answered and so many problems that don’t get solved.” Read more.
Kenny Pickett started the Eagles’ Week 17 game against the Cowboys last season.
What the Raiders are saying
Pickett, who is plenty familiar with the Eagles as a player and a fan, is looking forward to starting against his former team Sunday — and has a bit of an idea what to expect.
“They’ll be ready to go,” Pickett said. “They have a hell of a team, there’s not a ton of new faces on that team, there’s a lot of really good players, I know the coaching staff, and how prepared they’re going to be for the game, so it’s a great opportunity.”
On what he took away from his Eagles experience: “Seeing what it looks like to be world champions, the dedication, the commitment from every position group, it was really player-led — that was a really cool thing. I think we had a great veteran leadership and a lot of those guys are still there.”
On the potential snowy weather: “I’m a Northeast guy, so this is new to me, going out and practicing in December and it’s 60 degrees every day. It’s unbelievable here, but I’m more used to when it hits November, December for it to be more like what it’ll be on game day, so I’m pretty familiar with it.”
Nationally, this week’s main character was Hurts, who took the mantle from offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo. Things didn’t get off to a good start for the Eagles quarterback, with many, including ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, placing blame for their latest loss squarely on Hurts’ shoulders.
“You can’t make that throw,” Smith said of Hurts’ game-sealing interception in overtime. “You’re in field-goal range, in a position to tie. You know how much is on the line.”
“Do your job,” former Eagle Emmanuel Acho said on his Speakeasy podcast. “… He’s been average all season, and he was atrocious today. He was the reason they lost today.”
Nick Sirianni called the idea of benching Jalen Hurts “ridiculous.”
However, by the end of the week, Smith found himself on the other side of the debate, explaining why Hurts would continue starting to those calling for him to be benched.
“Jalen Hurts ain’t going to be benched,” Smith said Thursday on First Take. “The backup quarterback’s name is Tanner McKee, right? We all know Tanner McKee ain’t playing. We just know this, OK? Down the line, in the future, sure, but this year, Tanner McKee is not going to replace the reigning defending Super Bowl champion and Super Bowl MVP.”
Here’s what else the national media had to say about Hurts this week …
Dan Orlovsky: “I was probably the most critical person of Jalen Hurts early in his career. He … was the MVP of the Super Bowl. And 10 months later — 10 months later from doing that — we’re going, ‘Do you think we should bench the quarterback?’ … Do you know how stupid of a question that is?”
Colin Cowherd: “The truth is, the more Jalen Hurts throws, the worse Philadelphia is. Those are the facts.”
LeSean McCoy: “Did he play bad? Yes. Did he play horrible? Hell yeah, but he ain’t no four-pick-type quarterback. He had a bad game. A lot of quarterbacks have that.”
When the Las Vegas Raiders roll into town on Sunday, they’ll be led by an old friend — former Eagles backup quarterback Kenny Pickett, who’s set to start in place of the injured Geno Smith.
Here’s what Pickett and the rest of the Raiders had to say about the Eagles ahead of Sunday’s game …
‘They have a hell of a team’
The Birds, losers of three straight, will be desperate for a get-right game against the 2-11 Raiders.
Pickett, in his first start of the year, is expecting the Eagles to be ready.
“They’ll be ready to go,” Pickett said. “They have a hell of a team, there’s not a ton of new faces on that team, there’s a lot of really good players, I know the coaching staff, and how prepared they’re going to be for the game, so it’s a great opportunity.
“Seeing what it looks like to be world champions, the dedication, the commitment from every position group, it was really player-led, that was a really cool thing,” Pickett added. “I think we had a great veteran leadership and a lot of those guys are still there.”
With the weather set to reach below-freezing temperatures and snow on the horizon, the Raiders, out in sunny Las Vegas, are preparing for their coldest game of the season so far.
But for Pickett, who spent his college and most of his NFL career in Pennsylvania, he’s used to it.
“I’m a Northeast guy, so this is new to me, going out and practicing in December and it’s 60 degrees every day,” he said. “It’s unbelievable here, but I’m more used to when it hits November, December for it to be more like what it’ll be on gameday, so I’m pretty familiar with it.”
Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll shown during a game against the Chargers on Nov. 30.
Carroll on the Tush Push
Despite the never-ending discourse, the Eagles haven’t been nearly as successful on the Tush Push in 2025 as they have in years past.
That hasn’t stopped the play from being a lightning rod of controversy and a point of focus for opposing coaches, including Raiders head coach Pete Carroll.
“If you notice it’s the surge, and the defense does everything they can to throw their bodies at that thing, and then it’s the second surge that usually gets the first down,” Carroll said. “ … It’s the initial, and then it’s the second push that makes the difference.”
Kids heading in for hockey practice at Scanlon Recreation Center in Kensington on Wednesday were hit with a big holiday surprise.
Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim and Sixers guard Quentin Grimes were both on hand to gift $15,000 worth of hockey and basketball equipment, including new skates, helmets, and basketballs, through a partnership between the two teams and Bank of America. Gritty was also on-site in a Santa costume, of course.
“Sports is such a connector,” said Jim Dever, Bank of America Greater Philadelphia’s president. “No matter what your socio-economic level is, sports is just that. For us to make some dreams come through in an area that — certain sports are very expensive, so if we can help bridge that gap in some way, it’s just a great positive.”
After distributing the gear, Grimes joined the prepractice pizza party, and interacted with the kids before they started their skate.
“It’s the holiday season, I love giving back,” Grimes said. “I love being around the youth and to try to inspire them and give them some inspiration to always chase your dreams, and to give back for the holidays. It was really good, really fun.”
Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim hopped on the ice to skate with some of the young athletes taking part in the Ed Snider Youth Hockey & Education program at the rink on Wednesday.
Then, Sanheim hopped on the ice to skate with some of the young athletes taking part in the Ed Snider Youth Hockey & Education program at the rink for a free skate.
“It’s an expensive sport, so it’s hard for kids to get into, and so for us to allow them to have the gear to do it, it makes it easier for them to take it up,” Sanheim said. “I really hope that they enjoy it just as much as we do. We love the sport, and we were at their age when we started and took it up. So I hope we create hockey players out of this.”
Wednesday’s donation was the first of a series of equipment donations across the Philadelphia area as part of the partnership between the Flyers, Sixers, and Bank of America, with equipment purchased from C&M Sporting Goods in Havertown.
Monday’s loss to the Chargers was not a pretty one for the Eagles offense, which was led by a career-worst performance from Jalen Hurts.
The Birds (8-5) are now riding a three-game losing streak, but they still sit in the driver’s seat in the NFC East with the Cowboys hot on their heels. That streak has not been good for their position in the NFL power rankings. Here’s where the Eagles stand heading into Week 15 …
ESPN: Ninth
The Eagles dropped three spots from sixth after their 22-19 loss to the Chargers. Tim McManus pointed to the Birds’ poor third-down conversion rate and high three-and-out percentage as some of the most shocking statistics from their skid.
“The Eagles have been among the worst on three-and-outs for most of the season — shocking giving all the talent on that side of the ball,” McManus wrote. “But a mix of pre-snap penalties and a substantial drop in rushing success has prevented the offense from getting into a flow. They ranked 11th in third-down success rate last season (40.28%) but entered Monday’s game near the bottom at 34.46%.”
The Ringer dropped the Eagles to seventh, their lowest rating of the season. Diante Lee has the Birds on fraud watch given the team’s deterioration compared to how it looked one year ago.
“Philadelphia’s offense has spent this entire season seemingly afraid of the shadow cast by its own immense roster talent, running away from any bit of discomfort and hoping that the rest of the league would quietly submit instead of challenging the Eagles’ right to the NFL throne,” Lee wrote. “Complacency kills in this sport, and it’s only the Eagles’ fault that they’ve allowed complacency to ruin two of their past four seasons.
“While the Eagles offense has failed to evolve, their opponents have been picking away at every weak spot, notably Kevin Patullo’s scheme and the play of Jalen Hurts. The typically risk-averse QB committed five turnovers in Monday’s loss to the Chargers, a new low point for the Eagles’ passing offense. Philadelphia still has a comfortable lead in the NFC East, but this offense hardly looks like a playoff-caliber unit.”
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts committed five turnovers in his team’s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Athletic: 12th
Josh Kendall and Chad Graff gave their most pessimistic take on every NFL team in this week’s power rankings. For the Eagles, that worst-case scenario is that A.J. Brown has been right about the offense all along.
“The mercurial wide receiver has been advocating for a more wide-open offense (and himself) all year long,” Graff and Kendall wrote. “The last month has suggested he was right. The Eagles act like they’re getting extra points for degree of difficulty on offense, and Jalen Hurts isn’t making things much easier. He turned the ball over twice on one play Monday night and finished with four interceptions (one of which bounced out of Brown’s hands) and a 31.2 passer rating. Philly has lost three in a row.”
NFL.com: 13th
Eric Edholm said that time is running out for the Eagles to figure themselves out on offense, and the group wasted another elite performance from the Birds defense.
“It’s hard to blame a defense that held the Chargers to 3.9 yards per play and didn’t allow a touchdown after Los Angeles’ opening drive,” Edholm wrote. “The Eagles consistently got good starting field position from the return teams but had eight empty drives and went 0-for-2 in the red zone. After a third straight loss, this will be another long week in Philly. If the Eagles can’t get right in Sunday’s home game against the lowly Raiders, the reigning champs are in serious trouble.”
The Eagles continue to spiral, losing their third consecutive game on Monday night in overtime against the Los Angeles Chargers behind an uncharacteristically bad performance from quarterback Jalen Hurts.
While it was once again a bad showing from the offense, it appears that offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, the target of much criticism this season and even recent vandalism, is escaping the bulk of the blame — at least for one week — thanks to Hurts’ struggles in LA.
Here’s what the national media, including a few former Eagles, had to say about the team’s performance …
“If you were going to tell me going into last night that somebody was going to throw four interceptions, I would have thought it’d probably be the guy with only one hand,” ESPN’s Dan Graziano said on Get Up, referencing Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert’s broken non-throwing hand.
No one has defended Hurts more than former Eagle LeSean McCoy over the course of the season, but even he didn’t have much to say in Hurts’ defense after Monday night’s performance.
“Did he play bad?” McCoy said on Speakeasy. “Yes. Did he play horrible? Hell yeah, but he ain’t no four-pick-type quarterback. He had a bad game. A lot of quarterbacks have that.”
“You guys have been waiting for a moment like this,” McCoy said later in the show. “You talk about Jalen Hurts all the time and you try to bash him. The truth is, all he does is win. You can’t really bash him.”
His podcast cohost Emmanuel Acho wasn’t buying his defense of the Birds quarterback, especially after a third straight loss.
“Do your job,” Acho said. “… He’s been average all season, and he was atrocious today. He was the reason they lost today.”
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts on the sideline during the loss to the Chargers on Monday.
On First Take, Stephen A. Smith said the Eagles ultimately lost because Hurts and the offense once again failed to step up and deliver in a big moment. While not all of Hurts’ turnovers were his fault — one slipped right through A.J. Brown’s hands — his game-sealing pick was a bad mistake.
“You can’t make that throw,” Smith said. “You’re in field-goal range, in a position to tie. You know how much is on the line. Dallas has a tie on its record in your division and they’re tugging at your heels. …
“If you’re playing this game like Jalen Hurts has shown he’s capable of playing this game, that is a mistake at that particular moment in time that you simply cannot make. He made it, and once again we find ourselves sitting here talking about the Eagles offense, because the Eagles defense, outside of the 80-yard drive to open the game, put the Chargers pretty much on lock and key.”
"Jalen Hurts and that offense didn't answer the call, and that's why the [Eagles] lost this game." 👀@stephenasmith reacts to the Eagles' MNF loss to the Chargers 🏈 pic.twitter.com/Cwm756KM0g
So, is there hope that the Eagles can turn it around in time for the playoffs? Or is the offense doomed to repeat the collapse of 2023?
“I thought they would [turn it around] until last night,” Jeff Saturday said on Get Up. “When you look at the way that they’re moving, the only thing that feels different about this than a couple years ago, their defense can win games, and they’ve already beat the best teams.”
Despite the concerns, the First Take panel still believes the Eagles will ultimately win the NFC East and make the playoffs.
“The Philadelphia Eagles are going to win the NFC East, they are,” Chris Canty said. “When you look at the remaining schedule, they’re going to cruise to 11 wins.
“That’s not the conversation we should be having about the Philadelphia Eagles. The conversation we should be having about the Philadelphia Eagles is how can they position themselves to go back-to-back, because that’s all anybody was talking about after Super Bowl LIX. … We were ready to compare the Eagles to those modern-day dynasties. They are a far cry from that.”
"The Philadelphia Eagles are going to win the NFC East."@ChrisCanty99 believes the Eagles will win the NFC East despite their recent struggles 👀 pic.twitter.com/5ReiFyCS9G
Saturday said he thinks the Eagles listened too much to outside noise about the offense, and moved away from the more conservative style that won them games last year.
“I’m very concerned, because I don’t think they know who they are,” Saturday said on First Take. “… It was such a boring offense to watch, but they won that way. It was a very low-risk, high-reward profile that they were playing under. I understand their run game was struggling, their offensive line wasn’t the same, they’re not as dominant, I get all of that, but there is a style of play that translates to wins for the Philadelphia Eagles.”
Could that mean more Saquon Barkley moving forward? If so, it’s something LeGarrette Blount would endorse.
The former Eagles running back said on Good Morning Football that the Birds need to find a way to get Barkley more touches in order to improve the offense. Barkley showed off a bit of the explosiveness from last season with his fourth-quarter, 52-yard touchdown, but a struggling and injured offensive line has prevented the running game from reaching its full potential.
“You’ve got to get him more and more touches,” Blount said.
One disgruntled Eagles fan with access to the traffic signs near Lincoln Financial Field chose to display just one message on Monday morning: “Fire Kevin Patullo.”
The broadcast of Friday’s loss to the Bears, the Birds’ second in a row and fourth of the season, caught fans streaming toward the exits after the Bears’ touchdown late in the fourth quarter. But don’t take those early departures for lack of passion.
One fan made a Fire Kevin Patullo website, recounting the Eagles offense’s many struggles so far in 2025.
“We don’t need to pass for 250+ yards a game … but we could,” the site’s intro reads. “We don’t need to rush for 100+ yards a game … but we could. We shouldn’t go 0-8 passing in ANY half … but we did. We should run when we’re up 14 pts in the 2nd half … but we didn’t. We should NEVER run just 1 time in a half … but we did. We shouldn’t run the ball when it’s 3rd and long … but we do.”
Another fan apparently told his new girlfriend that they needed to stop talking until the end of the season, since the Birds have been playing badly ever since they got together.
“I like you a lot so don’t take that as a dismissal, just need to turn our luck around for the Birds and I think you’d understand that too,” he wrote to her on Snapchat.
Like any good Eagles fan, she was fine with it since it was “for the Birds,” she replied. After posting it on Reddit, a few r/Eagles users offered to pay for their next date after the season if the Birds turned their luck around.
Meanwhile, NFL Network analyst Rich Eisen took to YouTube to implore Eagles fans to stay calm, considering the Birds are still 8-4 and extremely likely to make the playoffs.
“I understand, one year, 10-1, making the playoffs and then they got one-and-doned, and you’re afraid that’s going to happen again, because of what I said, of too many mistakes, but everything I just said is fixable,” Eisen said.
With five games left in the regular season, the Eagles are running out of time to fix it.
It really was a Black Friday in Philadelphia after the Eagles suffered another disappointing loss, this one to the Chicago Bears, 24-15.
A few days later, everyone from former Birds to your extended family has spent the holiday weekend talking about where the Eagles offense has gone wrong this year. Here’s what some of the national media are saying …
Nick Sirianni calling plays?
Should Nick Sirianni step in to call plays on offense for the rest of the season? Sirianni hasn’t called plays since the early days as the Birds’ head coach, before Shane Steichen ultimately took over the reins and didn’t look back.
On NFL Countdown on Sunday, Rex Ryan said that Sirianni should consider it. Alex Smith appeared to agree.
“They don’t outcoach anybody on the offensive side of the ball,” Alex Smith said. “A.J. Brown took a lot of flak a few weeks ago, he was the lone bright spot. He doesn’t look that wrong now. There’s clearly something wrong there on offense.”
“They were in a similar situation last year, when all of a sudden they stopped and said, who the hell are we?” Ryan said. “Get back to running the dang football, whatever it takes. You’ve got to get Jalen Hurts involved. You can scheme, too! Ben Johnson schemed the hell out of them, and you’ve got better players than Ben Johnson does.”
Kevin Patullo has been with the Eagles since 2021 but is in his first season as the team’s offensive coordinator.
Nick Foles weighs in
Nick Foles sees everyone’s frustrations with the Eagles offense, but he’s not ready to pull the plug on offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo just for the sake of making a change.
Foles doesn’t believe Sirianni wants to call plays himself, and the solution to the Birds’ offensive woes in the long term might be outside the building.
So, in the short term, Foles pitched a few potential solutions, including moving Patullo up from the sideline into the booth.
“Being a pass game coordinator, [Patullo’s] role was to be in the box, to be in the booth, to oversee what is happening on the field from an up-above perspective, not being on the sidelines with the players and feeling the emotions from the sideline,” Foles said. “He was in a controlled environment to see coverages, to see plays, and to make recommendations for the passing game.”
Foles is incorrect in saying that Patullo worked from the box as passing game coordinator. He actually worked from the sideline, but the point remains.
Being on the sideline surrounded by the players provides a different perspective than being up in the box, which is also where Vic Fangio calls plays from. It’s a less distracting environment, and it can be easier to make adjustments as the drive develops instead of waiting to watch tape on delay.
“Get out of the sideline, get away from the emotions, because that could be clouding your vision,” Foles said. “You have a different perspective from the sideline. You can’t see the coverages as they’re forming. You can’t see the defensive alignments very well.”
Chris Long agreed with Foles that it’s hard to bring in a new coordinator or replace the coordinator at this point in the season.
Brian Daboll was fired as Giants head coach on Nov. 10.
The Eagles could explore bringing in an outside consultant to help improve Hurts and the offense’s performance, but Long is not sure who stands out as a potential candidate aside from fired Giants coach Brian Daboll.
“You look at a lot of these Eagles coordinators that have had success, they’re not homegrown,” Long said. “The ones that are homegrown, they’re just not working out. You’ve got problems everywhere.”
After Super Bowl LIX, Long said many, including himself due to his connection to the Birds, got a bit too “fanboy-ish” about the Eagles and about Hurts’ skill set, and their shortcomings are in full focus now.
“We get so hyperbolic about everything in pro sports,” Long said. “If we’d all just said, the quarterback’s not a perfect quarterback, you have to build around him … It’s not just the roster, because the roster was in pretty good shape when we rolled it out this year. It’s got to be the scheme, too.”
