Jason Kelce used the latest episode of his New Heights podcast to break down what went wrong for the Eagles on Sunday. After the Birds blew a 21-point lead to fall to the Cowboys, Kelce identified the core of the loss as a limited running game and crumbling second-half offense.
But alongside his brother, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, the former Eagles center also gave fans reason to be optimistic about the team’s potential in the latter part of the season. He also announced a free tailgate for fans before Friday’s game against the Chicago Bears.
Here’s what you missed …
‘New Heights’ to host Black Friday tailgate
Jason Kelce is hoping to stir the energy back up around the Birds before their game against the Bears with a Black Friday tailgate hosted by New Heights. The tailgate will begin at 11 a.m. in Lot K outside Lincoln Financial Field, with free admission for fans on a first-come, first-served basis.
And it sounds like it’s going to be a wild affair.
“I don’t know how many people we can admit or how many people will show up, but we do know we’re going to be drinking, eating, and having a gay old time,” Kelce said. “That’s right, we’ll have food, merch giveaways, photo booth, DJ, games — and of course a belly bucking competition! They’ve allowed us — I never thought legal would let this happen. Thank you to the legal team at Wondery.com and whoever is doing it on our behalf.
“We’ve already picked vetted contestants, so you can’t apply, but you can witness the festivities. If you want to see mostly fat guys rub bellies into each other to see who can win some type of prize that we have yet to determine, if you want to show up and see these bellies get bucked, show up in Lot K on Friday. … We’re going to have a [expletive] blast!“
What’s “belly bucking?” Good question …
Fixing the Eagles offense
When it came to breaking down the Eagles’ collapse on Sunday, Kelce largely blamed the offense’s inability to keep up with the Cowboys in the second half on a severely lacking running game.
Kelce pointed out how Lane Johnson’s absence has further hampered the Eagles’ ground attack. The veteran offensive tackle, who suffered a foot injury during the team’s Week 11 win over Detroit, is expected to be sidelined for several weeks.
“I know it’s very fashionable to blame Kevin Patullo and the play-calling, but the passing game felt like it was pretty good in this one,” Kelce said. “The thing that is really hurting this offense right now is the run game. It has not been clicking for the majority of the year. It’s multifaceted. The offensive line has been banged up, there’s been guys in and out. … It’s been hard to build cohesion as a unit.”
Eagles offensive tackle Fred Johnson has been filling in for injured starter Lane Johnson.
Kelce also addressed the self-inflicted wound of the Eagles’ pair of turnovers in the fourth quarter, granting the Cowboys ample opportunity to make a comeback.
“Outside of the run game, the ultimate thing that killed this team was … the turnovers at the end of the game, which were extremely costly,” Kelce said.
However, the former center attempted to quell some concerns by assuring that the offensive line will improve as the team adjusts from the injury misfortune.
“I think that this offensive line, as they continue to get the reps together, they will block better as a unit, and that will make a huge difference in the ways these plays get executed,” Kelce said. “I feel confident about the Eagles moving forward.”
Just weeks after a triumphant moment, Byron Young found himself dealing with the greatest tragedy of his life. Back in March, the defensive tackle returned home to Mississippi for a festive weekend with family. Not only did they celebrate him being part of the Eagles’ 2024 Super Bowl championship team, but his aunt’s birthday as well. A day later, Young’s father, Kenny, died suddenly. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane profiled Young’s emotional journey in a recent feature.
You can read the article in full on inquirer.com and via the following link: https://www.inquirer.com/eagles/byron-young-late-father-memory-key-chain-nfl-week-13-20251126.html
Listen to an excerpt of Jeff’s conversation with Young on this bonus episode of unCovering the Birds.
unCovering the Birds is a production of The Philadelphia Inquirer and KYW Newsradio Original Podcasts. Look for new episodes throughout the season, including day-after-game reactions.
When Byron Young’s father died earlier this year, he asked his mother for his dad’s key chain.
It’s not your normal key chain. It’s made from the end of a snapped belt, the key ring looping into one of the belt’s holes. There’s a date carved into the brown leather on one side. It’s faint now, but Young said he thinks it reads “7-1-9” for July 1, 2009.
“I think the date that was on the belt was the date that he cut the belt and put it on his key chain,” Young said. “I want to say the belt was broken or something, and he just put it on there. I don’t think there was any deeper meaning.”
But the chain has great significance to Young, the Eagles’ 6-foot-3, 292-pound defensive tackle. When he first linked it to his keys, he marked the other side of the belt with the date “4-7-25,” nearly 16 years after his father’s original carving and just a week after Kenny Young, 62, suffered a fatal heart attack.
Byron Young turned father Kenny’s broken belt into a key chain that serves as a reminder of his father’s love.
“It’s just something that I knew he always carried around since that day, I believe,” Byron said, “and so it’s just something I want to keep with me.”
Young grabbed the key chain from his locker stall when a reporter recently asked how he kept his father’s memory alive, crying as he gripped the belt. He doesn’t hide his emotion. He said he gets that from his father, who openly shed tears when he spoke about his love for his family or God.
“I think a part of being masculine is being able to show your emotions and explain the way you feel and express the way you feel to other people,” Young said. “Not just balling everything up and thinking, ‘Oh, I’m a man. I can’t talk about this.’”
When Young found out his father had died back home in Mississippi on March 31, he drove to teammate Gabe Hall’s house, overcome with grief. They met just before the 2024 season and spent the next six months as part of the same position group, training side by side nearly every day during the offseason. The goal was to make the Eagles’ 53-man roster after having served mostly as reserves. But his father’s death put Young’s football plans on hiatus. He flew home the next day.
Eagles defensive tackle Byron Young has appeared in all 11 games this season.
“I expected him to be gone for the rest of summer,” Hall said. “I was like, ‘OK, he’s not going back. I’m going to miss him.’ But he came right back. And he was like, ‘Bro, it’s time to get to work.’ When I saw that, I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s my dog.’”
Hall said Young trained with a “chip on his shoulder” that motivated him. They played golf — along with former Eagles tackle Laekin Vakalahi — to break the monotony. And they sometimes spoke about Young’s father.
Hall said he did his best to keep his friend from ruminating on the loss. Young had all the inspiration he needed.
“A lot of working out, man, a lot of working out ’cause it’s what he would have wanted,” Young said of his father.
Young and Hall initially made the active roster. The latter was soon moved to the practice squad where he remains, while the former has played in every game this season as the Eagles’ fourth defensive tackle.
The 25-year-old Young said he doesn’t dwell on his father’s absence or his last moment with him because it was like so many.
“He wasn’t the type that didn’t tell you that he loved you. He wasn’t the type that didn’t tell you he was proud of you,” Young said. “He would always let you know, to the day that he passed, that ‘I’m proud of you; you’ve done a lot of great stuff.
“‘I love you.’”
Byron Young (center) with his siblings and father, Kenny (center) and mother Melissa (left).
‘A passionate person’
Young didn’t play in Super Bowl LIX in February. His season ended in October when the Eagles placed him on injured reserve with a hamstring injury. But he was in New Orleans for the game, as was his family, which made the two-hour drive south from Taylorsville, Miss.
His parents, Kenny and Melissa, were unable to get on the field at the Superdome to celebrate with Byron after the Eagles toppled the Kansas City Chiefs. But the family had a proper party back home a month later with Byron and his brothers Kendrick, Regrick, and Brandon, and sister Shavon.
Byron Young (center), flanked by parents Melissa (left) and Kenny (right) at a family Super Bowl celebration last March. Kenny died suddenly two days after this photo was taken.
A day later, the Youngs gathered after Sunday church services to celebrate the birthday of Melissa’s sister. At one point, Kenny stood up and delivered a speech. He loved to talk. But he also wanted to express his love for his two sisters-in-law.
“He shed a few tears. What’s crazy is my uncle told him, ‘You get up there talking like you about to leave us,’” Byron said. “It just so happened that he did. I don’t know if he knew, or I don’t think he knew, but I don’t think anybody had any idea.
“But, man, he was just always a passionate person.”
Kenny Young didn’t have anything close to an ideal upbringing, according to his wife and son. But he was a man of faith and found mentors through the Friendship Church of God in Christ in Collins, Miss. He had just ended a relationship when one day in church he prayed that his next girlfriend would become his wife, according to an oft-repeated family anecdote.
His plea was answered when he met Melissa in the library at the University of Southern Mississippi. She was a student, and he liked to go there to read the magazines. They started dating and married two years later.
Kenny was a “hands-on man,” as his wife described him. He worked on farms growing up and was mechanically inclined. He was a laborer at Georgia-Pacific and pulled the wood that the company manufactured into paper products.
The work was physically grinding. Byron recalled his father’s long hours and hearing his keys jingle in the early mornings as he was leaving for the next 12-hour shift. But Kenny also was a present dad to five children, Melissa said.
There were rules and discipline. He coached his sons in youth football and sometimes took them to chop firewood for parishioners who needed warmth during the winter months. He loved to joke and laugh.
“The best way to describe Kenny is he loved well,” Melissa said. “He had a great love, reverence for God, and he spoke the truth out of love, and he didn’t want anybody to go to hell. … He was a deacon in our church.”
Byron Young hugging father Kenny after he was selected by the Las Vegas Raiders in the third round of the 2023 draft.
Kenny had been promoted to less strenuous jobs in his later years at Georgia-Pacific. He was a lathe machine operator who “pushed buttons,” Byron said, to keep wood on the straight and narrow. He could have retired, Melissa said, but he told her he was needed to spread the gospel at work.
“We had talked about the two of us retiring at age 65, maybe coming out the same year, but God retired him at age 62, and his work was done,” said Melissa, who’s still a pre-K teacher. “And I feel like God said to my husband, ‘Well done, that good and faithful servant.’
“He slipped away quickly and easily. He didn’t go through any suffering.”
‘A mini-him’
Kenny worked on Monday, the day after his sister-in-law’s birthday, after Byron flew back to Philly. Later that night, Kenny got into bed with his wife.
“He liked to play. And I thought he was making a sound just playing with me,” Melissa said. “And I said, ‘Well, Ken is gonna quit making that sound in a little bit.’ So I guess it may have been a moment, and he kept making the sound. … I got up and I turned the light on, I called his name and I pushed him, and he was not responsive.”
Melissa called Shavon and they dialed 911. They got Kenny off the bed, elevated his head, and tried chest compressions. One of Byron’s brothers called him immediately. There was nothing that could be done.
“He wanted to turn around and come drive right back,” Melissa said of Byron. “But one of his brothers convinced him not to. … They told him to get a flight, because he will get here by plane quicker than he would if he got on the road and drove.
“And he probably was not in any condition to be on the road anyway.”
Young called Hall instead. He wanted to know if he could watch his dog while he was away. They had worked out at NovaCare Complex, the Eagles’ practice facility, earlier that day. Hall sensed something was wrong.
“I was like, ‘You OK?’” Hall said. “This was late. You don’t just call me late.”
Young told him about his father and asked if he could drive over.
“He allowed me to cry on his shoulder,” Young said. “We just sat in silence because there was nothing really to be said.”
Eagles defensive tackle Gabe Hall helped Byron Young cope with the pain of his father’s death.
At one point, Hall said, Young cracked a joke. Hall had never met Young’s father, but he had heard stories about his sense of humor.
“You could tell he was kind of a mini-him, in a sort of way,” Hall said. “I just knew that was a person he always talked about. He talked about his dad at least a few times a week.
“You could just tell when a man respects somebody in their life.”
Kenny played football growing up, but couldn’t pursue it beyond high school because he had family responsibilities, his son said.
“According to him, he was one of the best ever,” Byron said. “And I don’t doubt it.”
He stopped coaching his sons when they reached a certain level. But he influenced their every decision. Byron wanted to play at Ole Miss, but Kenny felt Alabama and coach Nick Saban would be best for his son.
The first training camp was difficult.
“I remember calling him one day and not wanting to be there anymore,” Young said of his father. “He just told me that’s what I signed up for. … I didn’t really tell anybody else but him. He told me that wasn’t something that he wanted me to do because I gave Alabama my word that I would be there for four years.
“And that was kind of the end of me thinking that I was going to transfer.”
Young played in 13 games as a freshman, won a national title as a sophomore, and was All-SEC by his senior season. When the Las Vegas Raiders drafted him in 2023, he and his father had a long, knowing embrace.
Byron Young spent one difficult season as a member of the Las Vegas Raiders before being cut and landing in Philly.
The NFL brought its own struggles. Young played in only six games as a rookie and was cut by the Raiders the following August. He still has the voicemail his father left him offering encouragement and advice.
“It’s something like the last thing that I have on my phone of his voice,” Young said. “And … I just always keep that in my mind.”
The Eagles signed him off waivers the next day. Exactly one year later, Young made the 53-man roster out of 2025 training camp. He said he wasn’t surprised “because I knew the work that I had put in.” He just wished his dad could have been there to see it.
“I believe that he knows, and that he’s in heaven or resting right now,” Young said, “and eventually I’ll see him again.”
For now, he has mementos. There’s Kenny’s 1967 Pontiac GTO parked in the shed his father built that Byron hopes to finish restoring. And, always with him, his father’s key chain.
“Hopefully, one day I have a son or a daughter,” Young said, “and I can give it to them.”
Bucko Kilroy spent a week in a Philadelphia courtroom three years after a Life magazine story described him as football’s dirtiest player. He sued the magazine for libel, claiming the accusation that he purposely injured opponents had ruined his reputation.
He was a two-way lineman for the Eagles who once played in 101 straight games. Dirty? Never, Kilroy said. A lawyer representing the magazine during the 1958 case asked Kilroy if he remembered kicking the Chicago Bears’ Ray Bray in the groin. “It is all according to what you mean by kicking,” Kilroy said.
Upton Bell’s secretary interrupted him in his office to tell the newly hired New England Patriots general manager that someone was on the phone for him. It was a collect call from a pay phone.
“I said to myself, ‘Who the heck is this?’” said Bell, whose father founded the Eagles in 1933.
It was Kilroy, who was working for the Dallas Cowboys and had scouted with Bell years earlier. He wanted to work for the Patriots.
“He was calling from a phone booth because he didn’t want Dallas to know that he was applying for the job,” Bell said. “He said, ‘There’s no way they can trace this to me.’ Typical Bucko.”
Francis Joseph “Bucko” Kilroy, who will be inducted Friday into the Eagles Hall of Fame during the game against the Bears, spent 64 consecutive years in the NFL as a player, coach, scout, and front-office executive. He grew up in Port Richmond, starred at North Catholic and Temple, and won NFL championships with the Eagles in the 1940s before helping Bill Belichick win Super Bowls as a scouting consultant in the 2000s. Kilroy was there.
Bucko Kilroy during his time as the Eagles’ player personnel director in 1960, when they won the NFL championship.
Kilroy was one of the league’s first scouts and a front-office innovator who helped teach a lineage of future decision makers from Hall of Famer Bill Parcells to current Tampa Bay general manager Jason Licht. He was much more than the dirtiest player in football. And everything — from the players he was targeting in the draft to the phone calls he made — was a secret.
“I would ask him, ‘Is that for public record or not?’” said Tom Hoffman, the Patriots’ director of public relations during Kilroy’s tenure as GM. “He would tell me, well, he can always disseminate confidential misinformation.”
Battle scars
The incident happened, Kilroy told the lawyer, about 10 years earlier during a preseason game. He fell down on a kickoff and Bray jumped on top of him. Kilroy said he put his foot up and flipped Bray over. Kilroy was ejected and fined $250.
The lawyer asked Kilroy if that was a fair description of a “vicious kick in a very vulnerable spot.” No, Kilroy said. “I wasn’t trying to kick him, I was trying to ward him off. The man was trying to jump on me. How else could I get rid of him? Am I going to let him jump on me?”
Kilroy spent most of his adult life with the indention of a cleat on his cheek, a scar from his time in the NFL when face masks were rare and gentlemen were even rarer. A kick to the face may not have been a penalty, but it did leave a battle scar. Kilroy’s NFL was wild — penalties like roughing the passer were years away — and the guy from Port Richmond fit right in.
“Nothing came easy for him,” said Dan Fahy, Kilroy’s great-nephew. “He had to work hard. He had that grit and that desire and that ferociousness to succeed. He saw football as a game of toughness and that meant playing the game tough.”
An Eagles player from 1943-55, Kilroy crushed opponents’ faces with his huge hands, tripped ballcarriers, and drove quarterbacks into the turf.
When he injured a Pittsburgh Steelers player in 1951, the Steelers said they would get revenge on Kilroy when the teams played again. Bring the brass knuckles, he replied. He was a 6-foot-2, 243-pound menace who never backed down.
“I can remember my father getting a call from Bucko’s wife [Dorothy] complaining because my dad [who became NFL commissioner] had fined him,” Bell said. “I think he kicked someone in the head. I can hear the whole conversation and he’s telling her, ‘Mrs. Kilroy, if Bucko goes the rest of the season without getting in trouble, I’ll give you the money.’ Bucko had promised to buy her a mink coat with his bonus. So she was calling because she thought she was losing her coat. My dad said, ‘I won’t give him the money back, but I’ll give it to you.’ And that’s what he did. Bucko didn’t get in trouble the rest of the year and my father had the check issued to her, not him. She got her coat.
“He did have a reputation for being a dirty player. But there were a lot of guys around like that. The game was totally different. He was also a pretty damn good player. Guys were fearful of him.”
Eagles lineman Bucko Kilroy with his wife, Dorothy, in the hospital after he suffered a career-ending knee injury against the New York Giants in 1955.
Kilroy’s uncle, Matt “Matches” Kilroy, pitched in the majors (his 513 strikeouts in 1886 are still a record) and his father owned a bar on Richmond Street. He grew up in St. Anne’s parish during the Great Depression and played in the NFL with the same vigor he did as a kid against the boys from Nativity.
Kilroy started his professional career in 1943 with the Steagles, the team Bert Bell formed during World War II by combining the Eagles and Steelers.
He played on the weekends, commuting from New York while serving in the Merchant Marines. It was the start of an NFL career that spanned more than six decades without missing a season.
“Football hasn’t just been a part of my life,” Kilroy said in 1993 after joining North Catholic’s Hall of Fame. “It is my life.”
Kilroy was roommates on the Eagles with Walt “Piggy” Barnes, who later found work in Hollywood as an actor in Clint Eastwood movies. Kilroy worked during each offseason — he sold cars at night one year after working mornings in a stone quarry — and lived in a twin house on Wakeling Street in Frankford.
When the Eagles won the 1948 title by beating the Chicago Cardinals, it was Kilroy’s fumble recovery that positioned the Birds for their only score during a snowstorm at Shibe Park. A year later, the Eagles repeated as champions and were gifted $500 and cigarette lighters. If they wanted championship rings, the players had to pay $65.
Kilroy, who was later named to the NFL’s all-decade team for the 1940s, was the oldest player in the NFL at age 34 when he entered his 13th and final season. His career ended in the 1955 opener against the Giants. They were still angry at Kilroy for injuring quarterback Arnie Galiffa two years earlier. The Giants mangled Kilroy’s knee during a pile-up and he never played again.
Bucko Kilroy was the oldest player in the NFL when he retired with the Eagles in 1955 at age 34.
“These guys had it for him,” Fahy said. “But his own teammates would have told you that he had it coming. He had a reputation.”
‘Ornery critters’
Kilroy and teammate Wayne Robinson — who also sued Life magazine — were described in the article as “ornery critters.” Cloyce Box of the Detroit Lions explained in court that an ornery critter was a “domesticated animal which at periods of times acts without the scope of that domestication.”
Otto Graham, the Hall of Fame quarterback from Cleveland, said in court that the Eagles were the “roughest football team in the National Football League.” And Kilroy? “Well, he was the bad boy, one of the bad boys, of the league,” Graham said.
Kilroy left that pay phone in 1971 to work with Bell in New England as the personnel director. He was the Eagles’ player personnel director when they won the 1960 NFL championship, making him one of the league’s first scouts. He later built scouting systems for the Dallas Cowboys that led to five straight division titles. He was instrumental in launching the scouting combine for the draft.
Kilroy’s Patriots hit on three first-round picks in 1973 by selecting future Hall of Fame lineman John Hannah, running back Sam Cunningham, and wide receiver Darryl Stingley. Three years later, the Pats again had three first-rounders and Kilroy drafted another future Hall of Famer in defensive back Mike Haynes.
“He was a brilliant mind,” Hoffman said.
Kilroy was promoted to GM in 1979 and later became the Patriots’ vice president before becoming a scouting consultant, a position he held until he died in 2007 at age 86. Belichick honored him the next spring when the Patriots drafted for the first time without Kilroy. He was a pillar of the league, Belichick said. Kilroy spent one year longer in the NFL than George Halas. He was more than a dirty player. And that was his best-kept secret.
“You would think, ‘This is just some big, dumb football player,’” Bell said. “But if you got to know him, you learned how smart he was. He was one of the greatest characters I’ve ever known and I’ve known most of the great characters. I once told him, ‘Bucko, you’re so secretive. Are you sure you didn’t work in the CIA?’
“Bucko Kilroy belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That’s how good he was. And if I don’t get a phone call from Bucko Kilroy in a phone booth, I don’t hire him.”
Kilroy won his lawsuit against the magazine and was awarded $11,600. It was more than he ever made in the NFL as his first season with the Steagles earned him just $1,300.
But the lawsuit wasn’t really about Kilroy as much as it was about the NFL, which was trying to protect its image as it grew in popularity. The league needed to respond to an article titled “Savagery on Sundays” and Kilroy’s libel case was the response. Kilroy played football with an edge, so calling him dirty was hardly an offense. “I don’t think Bucko was ever offended by anything,” Bell said.
Saquon Barkley isn’t going to become the first running back in NFL history to have a second 2,000-yard season — at least not in 2025. At his current rate, he’ll barely exceed 1,000 rushing yards, a benchmark he hasn’t failed to reach while playing a full season in his NFL career.
What was Barkley going to do for an encore? It was one of the big storylines for the Eagles before the season started. Repeating last season’s success was always going to be difficult. But this? He has just one game over 100 yards after having 11 such performances in 16 regular-season games last season.
The Eagles are struggling on offense, and it’s fair to say their inability to consistently run the ball is the biggest concern of all. There are a variety of reasons. Barkley thinks he’s in “a little funk,” but tackle Jordan Mailata blamed the offensive line’s execution.
There are multiple hands sharing the blame, but regardless of who shoulders it most, Barkley’s drop-off has been precipitous. Here’s a look at some numbers that show the drastic decline:
32.4%
It’s worth starting here because it can help explain everything in some ways. We knew opposing defenses were going to change their approach. The Eagles surely did, too.
Last season, Barkley faced eight or more defenders in the box 20.6% of the time, according to Next Gen Stats. That was 20th in the NFL among qualified rushers.
This season, Barkley is facing eight or more defenders in the box 32.4% of the time, the seventh-highest rate in the NFL.
Saquon Barkley is wrapped up by Cowboys outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney in the second quarter in Week 12.
Barkley did much of his damage in 2024 against opposing teams’ nickel packages. This year, the Eagles are facing fewer of those. Teams are matching the Eagles’ personnel, and the Eagles are running a lot of 12 and 13 packages (one running back plus two tight ends and one running back plus three tight ends, respectively).
Defensive coordinators seemingly have decided that they’re going to sell out to stop the run and dare Jalen Hurts and the passing offense to beat them.
Mailata is right that the running game’s issues start with the offensive line. A running back needs blockers, and right now Barkley just isn’t getting enough help in front of him.
There’s a variety of reasons for that, even though the Eagles returned four-fifths of their starting offensive line. First off, the replacement for Mekhi Becton at right guard, Tyler Steen, has not had the same kind of success run blocking. But the four returners haven’t been themselves, and injuries mostly are to blame. Lane Johnson has suffered multiple ailments, the latest a Lisfranc injury in his right foot. Cam Jurgens started the season coming off back surgery and has since suffered a knee injury and a concussion. Landon Dickerson has experienced bad injury luck going back to his collegiate career and probably hasn’t been 100% since high school.
Eagles tackle Jordan Mailata leaves the field after the game against the Cowboys in Week 12.
Last season, Barkley had room to run. This season, he doesn’t. That’s clear in the numbers, too. In 2024, Barkley ran 3.8 yards per carry before being contacted. This season, that number has dropped to 2.3 yards per attempt, according to Pro Football Reference.
“It’s on all of us,” Mailata said Sunday after the Eagles blew a 21-0 lead partially because they can’t run the ball. “You can just watch the film. We always say we’re one block away, and as tiring and as repetitive as that is, that is the truth. I’m tired of saying it, but it starts with us. We’ve got to do a better job of execution, and until we do that, this running game is not going anywhere.”
15 mph
Barkley in open space meant a lot of room to sprint. He finished second in the NFL in 15-plus-mph runs with 73 in 2024. This season, he is eighth with 28 such runs, according to Next Gen, and he’s on pace to finish with just 43 15-plus-mph runs.
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley scores during a run in the first quarter against the Giants.
Blocking is a big factor there. But what about Barkley’s burst and his overall health? He touched the ball 482 times last season between rushes and receptions in the regular season and playoffs. His previous high was 377 in 2022.
Barkley’s training regimen is pretty good. But that’s a lot of wear and tear in one season. Barkley said he was healthy on Sunday when asked after the game.
Next Gen’s expected rushing yards model calculates “how many rushing yards a ballcarrier is expected to gain on a given carry based on the relative location, speed, and direction of blockers and defenders.”
The model also calculates a metric called “rushing yards over expected,” which is “the difference between actual rushing yards and expected rushing yards on an individual play or series of plays.”
Last season, Barkley was second in the NFL with 546 yards over expected — an average of 1.6 yards over expected per attempt — behind Derrick Henry’s 562 yards over expected. The third player on the list, Chuba Hubbard, had 270 yards over expected, which shows how otherworldly Henry and Barkley were in 2024.
This season, Barkley is at minus-3 yards over expected and zero yards over expected per attempt. Those numbers rank 32nd in the NFL.
What’s the takeaway here? The blocking hasn’t been good, but Barkley hasn’t been himself at beating defenders, either.
The NFL’s leader in punts after three plays did not have any such three-and-out drives in the first half of Sunday’s 24-21 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
The Eagles built their 21-0 lead behind an offense that moved the ball efficiently through the air and looked more creative than it had in the two weeks prior. They got the ball after halftime and immediately completed a pass to Grant Calcaterra for an 8-yard gain to move the ball to their own 40-yard line.
Then, a penalty that offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo seems to think was a turning point of sorts happened. On the ensuing second-and-2, the Eagles put Matt Pryor on the field in their jumbo set and called a run-pass option that got Dallas Goedert free in space. Jalen Hurts hit his tight end for a 20-yard reception that moved the ball to Dallas’ 40-yard line. But the Eagles weren’t lined up right, and an illegal formation penalty knocked them back to a second-and-7. Two incompletions later, the Eagles punted.
It was a sign of things to come, as penalties — including another that wiped out a 16-yard gain in the fourth quarter and kept the Eagles out of the red zone — helped keep the Eagles off the scoreboard after taking a 21-0 lead 18-plus minutes into the game.
Eagles wide receiver Devonta Smith is tackled by Cowboys safety Donovan Wilson in the third quarter of Sunday’s game in Dallas.
“I think when you look at the first half, it was kind of one of those deals where — and we talked about it today as an offense — we were able to do what we wanted to do, keep on track, keep the pace going, keep ahead of the sticks, and keep it moving,” Patullo said Tuesday. “In the second half, we came out, we went empty, we got a completion, and then we had an illegal formation on an explosive.
“When you have a penalty on an explosive, which flipped the field around on us, it was a 20-yard gain, now all of the sudden you’re behind the sticks.”
Penalties have been a problem for the Eagles, who have drawn the seventh-most flags in the NFL. The offense accounted for seven on its own and four in the second half Sunday.
“We talked about it, we went through all the drives and we’ve got to do a better job as a staff and as a whole unit in general with this stuff of just continuously pressing onto this issue,” Patullo said. “Because it’s been something that’s appeared and we know it’s there and we just got to get rid of it.
“That’s kind of what stopped us in the second half. … We had some penalties, we had some things go on that if they go the other way we’re talking a whole other deal right now. It’s a whole other game, and we know that, and that’s what’s disappointing and that’s what’s frustrating.”
Patullo, who Nick Sirianni said Monday will continue calling plays, said there was “a lot to be encouraged from” with the offense on Sunday.
“But at the same time, when those things happen, when you go into the locker room after the game, the frustration level is high because we know how close we were, and if those things don’t go the way they go it’s a whole other outcome,” he said.
Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni walks off the field after the Eagles lose to the Dallas Cowboys 24-21 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025.
Penalties, of course, weren’t the only thing that halted the Eagles. They seemed to take their foot off the gas a little bit, and their inability to run the ball showed up once again. Saquon Barkley tallied just 22 yards on 10 attempts. The lack of a running game has hampered the offense for most of the season.
“We’re trying pretty much anything and everything we can to find ways to get him going,” Patullo said. “I know that the guys are excited for something new this week to see if we can get it going.”
The Eagles listed five players as nonparticipants in their estimated practice report following Tuesday’s walk-through ahead of Friday’s home game vs. the Chicago Bears.
Xavier Gipson (shoulder), Brandon Graham (groin), Lane Johnson (foot), Drew Mukuba (ankle), and DeVonta Smith (shoulder/chest) were all listed as out.
Barkley (groin), Reed Blankenship (thigh), and Landon Dickerson (knee), meanwhile, were listed as limited. Adoree’ Jackson, who was being evaluated for a concussion Sunday after leaving the game, was listed as a full participant.
The Eagles (8-3) scored 21 points in the first half of Sunday’s game against Dallas (5-5-1). But the second half was a different story. The Birds were held scoreless, allowing the Cowboys to score 24 consecutive points to win the game.
Even after the Eagles beat Green Bay and Detroit, many power rankings remained skeptical about their offensive performance. Being shut out in the second half by a team that allows the second-most points per game in the NFL (28.5) did not help.
On a short week, the Birds host the Chicago Bears on Black Friday. Here’s a look at where the Eagles stand in the latest round of power rankings as the season enters Week 13 …
The Athletic expressed skepticism about a litany of elements surrounding the Eagles but ultimately moved the team down only one spot.
“The Eagles blew a 21-0 lead to the Cowboys, Saquon Barkley never got going on the ground and the vibes in Philly look miserable,” Chad Graff and Josh Kendall wrote. “And yet, they’re 8-3 and remain one of the most talented rosters in the league.”
Saquon Barkley averaged just 2.2 yards per carry against the Cowboys, the lowest that he’s had in a game since he was with the Giants in December 2023.
Sports Illustrated is still high on the Eagles’ ability to win games. But it was critical of the team’s ability to close them out when leading.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts breaks a tackle on his way to a first-quarter touchdown run on Sunday.
“The Eagles had a dominant first half and tried to play clock control in the second half against Dallas to avoid the kind of situations that occurred anyway: Jalen Hurts in critical third-and-mediums where he is prone to take devastating sacks,” Conor Orr wrote. “Still, the fact that Lane Johnson does not need Lisfranc surgery and could be back before the playoffs means that this team can continue to win despite the constant clamoring to the contrary.”
The loss to the Cowboys moved the Eagles down two spots. This week, ESPN opted to highlight each team’s best Thanksgiving memory. The outlet decided on the Eagles’ 27-0 win over the Cowboys in 1989, nicknamed the “Bounty Bowl.”
“Rumors swirled heading into the game at Texas Stadium that coach Buddy Ryan had put a $200 bounty on former Eagles kicker Luis Zendejas, who had some critical words aimed at Ryan after leaving the team,” Tim McManus wrote. “That seemed to be confirmed when Eagles linebacker Jessie Small decked Zendejas on a kickoff, leaving the kicker shaken and angered. The game helped fuel one of the fiercest rivalries in all of football for decades.”
The Ringer moved the Birds down just one spot following the loss but wondered about the team’s inconsistent play translating to the playoffs.
“The Eagles are uber-talented, they’re proven winners, and they’re building one of the league’s best defenses … but they also check every box of a fake contender. Philadelphia has one of the worst second-half offenses in the league, averaging just 8.8 points and 144 yards after halftime this season (both sixth worst in the NFL),” Diante Lee wrote. “Being risk averse helped the Eagles win a Super Bowl last season, but it’s currently taking away all the team’s margin for error.”
The Los Angeles Rams remained in the No. 1 spot, and the Seattle Seahawks and Broncos were ranked Nos. 2 and 3, respectively.
The outlet moved the Eagles down two spots and was critical of the offensive play-calling in the second half.
“How did they blow a 21-0 lead in losing to the Cowboys with Saquon Barkley getting just 10 carries? They have offensive issues in a big way,” Pete Prisco wrote.
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley finished with 10 carries for 22 yards against the Cowboys.
The last time Philadelphia lost after leading by 21 points was during Andy Reid’s first game as head coach, in September 1999.
Frank Schwab had the Eagles falling four spots from No. 1, with the Rams, Seahawks, Broncos, and New England Patriots, taking the top four spots.
“This is a significant drop for the Eagles, but their offensive issues are tough to ignore after that debacle at Dallas,” Schwab wrote. “Saquon Barkley continues to be very quiet. Everyone knew his 482 touches last season might be an issue, and those predictions seem prescient.”
Even though Barkley sat out the final game of last year’s regular season, his 345 carries led the league and 50 more than his previous career high in 2022.
The Eagles were dropped three spots by NFL.com, which expressed growing concern about the offense’s production.
“After three drives, it felt like the Eagles’ passing problems were fixed. By the game’s end, it was clear they very much were not,” Eric Edholm wrote. “Whatever rhythm they found early on started dissipating quickly.”
The Rams stood No. 1 on NFL.com’s list for the second straight week following a blowout win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Since Lane Johnson was first drafted by the Eagles in 2013, the team is 15-25 without him. For comparison, the Birds are 120-62-1 when Johnson has played.
The right tackle’s absence hurt the Birds’ offense in Sunday’s loss to the Cowboys, Jason Kelce said on Monday Night Countdown, but it wasn’t the only problem.
“He has meant so much to the Philadelphia Eagles,” Kelce said. “In pass [protection] they leave him one-on-one on an island at a higher rate than anyone in the league. He does it all extremely well, but it’s not just him this year, the whole offensive line has been banged up.”
The struggles for the Eagles O-Line has stuck out for Jason Kelce 👀
"This year is the first year they have really struggled to run the football. … It is crippling this offense." pic.twitter.com/DU88ZiOPmG
Cam Jurgens and Landon Dickerson have both been injured up this year, with Jurgens missing two games due to a knee injury and Dickerson missing one with an ankle injury. The left guard also tore his meniscus in preseason.
“They’ve been a top 10 rushing unit, as an offense, the Eagles have, every year since Jalen Hurts has been the starter. This year is the first year they have really struggled to run the football,” Kelce added. “A lot of it comes down to being banged up and not being the cohesive unit they have been, and healthy, in the past, but it is crippling this offense right now.”
The longtime Eagles center wasn’t alone. Super Bowl-winning defensive end Chris Long also pointed to the Eagles’ offensive line struggles as a major reason for the offense’s continued inconsistency.
“This team has been built around the offensive line since we won a championship,” Long said on his Green Light podcast. “That team was built around the offensive line. This team is built around the offensive line. We always talk about, who’s the main character. The main character has always been the offensive line.”
“Now the main character is not perfect, it puts strain on the passing game. You can talk about the coordinator — I don’t know how much of it is the quarterback or the coordinator just not knowing what the [expletive] to do. If anything short of a Super Bowl, you’re going to hear a lot of stuff come out about the behind the scenes, because it’s just not functional right now.”
Chris speaks on the Eagles offensive struggles and why the main character has always been the offensive line pic.twitter.com/nIFp25siZL
Long questioned what the team will look like in a “post-[Jeff] Stoutland” world because the driving force of the team has always been the running game and the high-powered offensive line — and Stoutland has been the coach of that unit for more than a decade.
Because of the inconsistencies from half to half, Long is also worried about a potential playoff matchup. The team is talented enough to pull out wins, but it has been very up-and-down.
“They’re almost better off being down 14 points because it forces them to open the offense up, rather than being up 14 points, a la the [Los Angeles] Rams game,” Long said, referring to the Week 3 win when the Eagles rallied from a 26-7 deficit.
Vic Fangio said Tuesday he expects to have Reed Blankenship available to play in Friday’s game against the Chicago Bears.
Blankenship, the 26-year-old starting safety, suffered a thigh injury in the third quarter of the Eagles’ loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday while making a tackle on running back Javonte Williams. He did not return to action, requiring Sydney Brown to take over his role in the Eagles defense.
The news of Blankenship’s improved health is a boost to a banged-up secondary. Sources told The Inquirer on Monday that Drew Mukuba, the Eagles’ rookie safety, will require surgery to repair a right leg fracture he suffered on what was essentially the second-to-last play of Sunday’s game.
With Mukuba likely on his way to injured reserve, Fangio said Brown is the next man up to start on Friday. Brown, the Eagles’ 2023 third-rounder out of Illinois, played 26 defensive snaps on Sunday, conceding two Jake Ferguson receptions for 26 yards, according to Pro Football Focus.
Fangio was complimentary of Brown in his efforts to stay ready as the third safety this season.
“I think he’s been doing a good job in practice with the reps that he does get,” the Eagles defensive coordinator said. “He’s done a good job staying in tune in the meetings, in the walk-throughs, and I’m excited to see how he does.”
The Eagles will have other depth options at safety on game day behind Blankenship and Brown. Fangio acknowledged that Michael Carter, the 26-year-old defensive back whom the Eagles acquired from the New York Jets ahead of the trade deadline, has been serving as the fourth safety for the last three games.
Additionally, Fangio said there is a chance that Andrè Sam, the 2024 undrafted free-agent safety out of LSU, will be elevated from the practice squad to the game day roster.
Cooper at cornerback
The Eagles also saw attrition at cornerback, as Adoree’ Jackson entered the concussion protocol in the third quarter after making a tackle on Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens.
When Jackson exited the game, Cooper DeJean assumed the outside cornerback spot opposite Quinyon Mitchell on a mostly full-time basis. (Kelee Ringo also played one snap on the outside.) Carter took over for DeJean as the nickel cornerback. Fangio called the duo the “next best combination” beyond the starting pair.
Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb makes a big catch in front of Cooper DeJean in coverage on Sunday.
It was a tough showing for DeJean. He allowed four receptions on five targets for a team-high 148 yards, according to PFF. However, Fangio wasn’t outwardly critical of the 22-year-old defensive back.
“He got beat a couple times,” Fangio said. “I thought he was tight, just at the catch point, got beat. It’s going to happen some.”
If Jackson can’t play on Friday, Fangio said that “it’s possible” he rolls with the same combination of cornerbacks that ended the game on Sunday. He has been pleased with the contributions of the 5-foot-10, 184-pound Carter, who conceded just one reception on three targets for 7 yards against the Cowboys, according to PFF (although two of those targets were drops).
“I think he’s a good player,” Fangio said. “Good, natural football player. Understands the game. Has got good instincts. Got good technique to his game. He’s quick. We’re pleased to have him.”
Unsurprisingly, Xavier Gipson’s decision to field a punt at the Eagles’ 2-yard line and subsequent fumble at the 7 late in the fourth quarter of the loss to the Cowboys wasn’t part of special teams coordinator Michael Clay’s plan.
The turnover didn’t ultimately amount to a Cowboys score, as the Eagles defense forced a turnover on downs when Dak Prescott threw an incomplete fourth-and-1 pass for Ferguson at the goal line. Still, Clay acknowledged that his group has to know when to be “at the mercy of the bounce“ on the return depending on the field position.
“Sometimes, you saw in the Rams game against Seattle, that ball hit at the 1½-foot line and it bounced out,” Clay said. “You just tip your cap. That’s a heck of a job right there. So any time we can control what we can control, we would like that.
“But again, we’re not out there in between the white lines. We try to give as much confidence in our guys to go out there and make a play; it’s just really unfortunate that it happened at that juncture of the game.”
Gipson didn’t just turn the ball over on the play. He also suffered a shoulder injury and was spotted in the locker room after the game sporting a sling on his right arm.
The Eagles have a variety of options to replace Gipson as both the punt returner and kick returner (alongside Will Shipley) if he can’t play. Before the Eagles claimed Gipson off waivers from the New York Giants, running back Tank Bigsby served as a kick returner.
Eagles running back Tank Bigsby could be an option for the Eagles on Friday as a kick returner. He returned kicks for the team earlier in the year.
However, Bigsby muffed a kick in the Week 6 loss to the Giants that forced the Eagles offense to start a drive at their own 7-yard line. He was stripped of his kick-return duties afterward. Still, Clay expressed that he hasn’t lost confidence in Bigsby if they call upon him Friday.
“Tank works extremely hard,” Clay said. “We’ve been working him every day. Maybe you guys see him on Thursdays catching kicks from Jake [Elliott], things of that nature. In walk-through, going through the mechanics. So he’s always in that mix for us to be a returner.”
Meanwhile, Jahan Dotson had been serving as the Eagles’ punt returner before Gipson joined the team. Britain Covey, who spent time as the team’s punt returner over the last two seasons, is an option on the practice squad. Clay wouldn’t divulge who will be assuming those return-specialist roles against the Bears, though.
“Obviously, the roster is so much in flux and obviously that happens to special teams so much,” Clay said. “That’s what we do. We prepare, not just one guy. We prepare the entire roster for it if someone does go down or if things of that nature.
“So we have players in place. Howie [Roseman] does a good job with the roster, giving us an opportunity to fill that void if someone does get nicked or banged up throughout the game or throughout the week.”
It’s time for another blackout at Lincoln Financial Field during the Eagles’ Week 13 matchup on Black Friday.
The team announced it will don its all-black alternate uniforms for the first time this season against the Chicago Bears. As part of the holiday matchup, the Eagles are encouraging fans to ditch their green — whether that’s midnight or kelly — and instead dress in black.
The Eagles’ black jerseys first debuted in 2003. They added black pants to match in 2014, during the Chip Kelly era. And if that wasn’t enough, the team added a black helmet in 2022. And although this is the first time they will wear the all-black look this season, the Eagles have worn their black pants twice. They first wore them in their Week 6 loss to the New York Giants, but with their white jerseys and midnight green helmets. In Week 10, they wore black pants and matching black helmets with their white jerseys in their 10-7 win over the Green Bay Packers.
When it comes to the black jersey, the Eagles have had quite a bit of success, especially over the last two years, defeating the Giants in both instances. During the 2023 season, the Birds defeated their NFC East rivals, 33-25, at home on Christmas Day. They most recently wore the uniform during last year’s regular-season finale, which resulted in a meaningless Birds win — nearly all the starters sat out with the No. 2 seed in the NFC already secured.
Now, there’s much more on the line. Not only do the Eagles need a win coming off an embarrassing loss to the Dallas Cowboys, but they’re also facing a tougher opponent — the 8-3 Bears — in a nationally broadcast game.
