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  • Jalen Hurts’ vow, Nick Sirianni’s home life, Saquon’s ‘Whiplash,’ and more from the ‘Hard Knocks’ finale

    Jalen Hurts’ vow, Nick Sirianni’s home life, Saquon’s ‘Whiplash,’ and more from the ‘Hard Knocks’ finale

    HBO released its final episode of Hard Knocks covering the NFC East on Tuesday after the Eagles’ season-ending wild-card playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

    The finale of the docuseries, which unlike past episodes spent the majority of its 45-minute run time focusing solely on the Eagles, covered Saquon Barkley’s new favorite motivational movie, Nick Sirianni’s home life, and what the team talked about after the loss. (Don’t worry, we tried to keep the parts about the actual game to a minimum.)

    Here’s what you may have missed from the final episode of Hard Knocks: In Season With the NFC East …

    Not quite my tempo

    Most people likely know that actor Miles Teller is also a huge Eagles fan. But did you know that one member of the Eagles is a huge fan of his?

    Saquon Barkley was caught speaking to backup quarterback Tanner McKee, detailing how he was motivated by Teller’s hit film Whiplash ahead of the Eagles’ first practice leading up to the team’s wild-card game.

    “I feel good,” Barkley said. “And I watched this movie called Whiplash. That [expletive] had me doing sit-ups and push-ups in my house. I went outside, and I was running hills. Like, I got to chill out, bro.”

    Eagles running back Saquon Barkley found inspiration in a Miles Teller movie.

    The 2014 film won a trio of Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for J.K. Simmons, who plays an uncompromising professor at the prestigious music academy Teller’s character attends. It stresses the need to push back against mediocrity in pursuit of greatness, a theme that Barkley applied to the Birds offense as a whole.

    “I do feel like there’s potential that we haven’t tapped into, especially on the offensive side of the ball,” Barkley said, with a Whiplash-style drumbeat playing in the background. “I am excited about that. That we still get to go out there and put in a complete game. I believe that with the men and people we have in this facility, it’s time, and we are going to get it going.”

    The extra motivation led the reigning offensive player of the year to his fourth 100-yard game of the season with Barkley rushing for 106 yards, 35 above his average.

    ‘Effort is free’

    Speaking of tempo, Hard Knocks revealed a moment during practice in which Jalen Hurts implored his offensive teammates to get to the huddle quicker so they have more time at the line to assess the defense and change the play if need be.

    Barkley and Hurts also spoke of their different approaches to practice, with the running back keeping things light while the quarterback is all business. Barkley called it “a beautiful mix.”

    “It’s not anything new in terms of the habits I’ve built,” Hurts said of his stoic demeanor. “It’s just a matter of doing those things consistently. That’s how I’ve always known to get myself ready to go out there and play.”

    Hurts, the son of a football coach, explained why he prepares and carries himself the way he does, saying one of his father’s lines that stuck with him is “Effort is free.”

    “Effort is something that you can control,” Hurts said. “And so, as a quarterback, what’s my effort in the way I execute? What’s my effort in the way I lead? What’s my effort in the example that I set? And trying to put yourself in positions to get ready for whatever the moment may demand. And so, you like to take your mind to a place where you can see it or visualize it, and then you can go out there and react with an intense and competitive mindset, and find a way to win.”

    Sirianni coaches his kids

    As tensions rose inside the Eagles organization, with a playoff game looming and many calling for the job of offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, who was removed from his position Tuesday, Hard Knocks did a great job of reminding viewers that coaches are people, too.

    Halfway through the episode, Sirianni, who has also come under fire from Eagles fans, is featured alongside his wife, Brett, and their three children, Jacob, 10, Taylor, 8, and Miles, 5. The Eagles head coach seems to be training his children to be wide receivers, following in their father’s footsteps. Sirianni was a receiver himself in college at Division III Mount Union, as the series highlighted in an earlier episode.

    “All right, now we do this last game,” Sirianni says. “I throw as hard as I can, and then you throw as hard as you can, whoever drops first.”

    His youngest, Miles, is wearing the jersey of A.J. Brown, who got in a sideline spat with the Eagles coach on Sunday.

    With Sirianni and his wife sitting on the couch, the coach has his children running routes and directs Taylor into open space, where she catches the pass over her two brothers.

    “Are you as competitive at home as you are at the facility?” one of the filmmakers asks off camera as Sirianni smirks.

    “Yeah, he is,” Brett says with a laugh and little hesitation. “With everything possible.”

    Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham leaves the field after the playoff loss to San Francisco.

    Letting down BG

    Brandon Graham may be an Eagles legend, but he is for sure not a fortuneteller.

    The 15-year vet who came out of retirement to rejoin the Birds was mic’d up during practice, exuding his trademark enthusiasm while optimistically predicting the outcome of the playoff game.

    “I ain’t going to lie, I’m hype for the offense,” Graham said. “Things just about to keep building, we’ve just got to stay locked in and have fun out there and run to the ball. I ain’t going to lie, that clip when they was running to that sidelines right there, I said, boy, we fly like that, we’re going to be smothering.”

    Graham doubled and tripled down on this prediction, going as far as saying that he’d come back after winning the Super Bowl in 2026 just so he could win it in 2027.

    “Man, let’s go get us another one, man,” Graham said to defensive line coach Clint Hurtt. “Why not? I mean, I’m coming right back. I say 3-for-3, come on, let’s go! Let’s just get this one, but I’m with you, though.”

    Of course, that didn’t happen. But maybe Graham has one more season in him?

    Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) and linebacker Zack Baun in happier times: a Sept. 28 win against the Buccaneers.

    The Bald Eagle

    All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun got a special highlight leading into the Eagles’ final game of the season, starting in practice when some friendly razzing was caught on tape.

    “Hey Zack, let me see your head,” rookie Jihaad Campbell asked during practice.

    “Nah,” Baun said. “I haven’t shaved in a couple of days, man.”

    “The thing about being a bald guy is you either are ashamed of it or you own it, and that’s just your personality,” Baun said. “So I’m a bald guy. What can I say?”

    Baun is also seen at home with his wife, Ali, and son, Elian, flipping through a scrapbook Ali made to celebrate his “storybook” 2024, a year in which he went from a special-teams player to an All-Pro and Super Bowl champion.

    Baun also spoke on his fan-given nickname, the Bald Eagle, saying that he and his wife approve of the name. But the real star of this segment? Baun’s son, who was shown on the field adorably celebrating the Eagles’ NFC championship game victory last year.

    The end of the line

    Next up, the game.

    Hard Knocks offered some insight into the Eagles’ season-ending loss, including Baun taking blame for the 49ers trick-play touchdown — “That’s me; I lost him,” Baun admitted — and Sirianni exerting himself in the offensive play-calling.

    “Hey, what about [deep] shots, Kevin?” Sirianni asked Patullo before a third-and-9 shot to Brown, who dropped the ball.

    But the moment that got the most attention from fans came after Sirianni’s final meeting with his players.

    “We didn’t end the way we wanted to end,” Sirianni told his team. “I know that’s tough. I can feel it in the room, you can feel it. We all feel the same feeling. Use that adversity, use that pain. All that is necessary for our growth. I have no doubt in my mind that we will get better from this.”

    The episode then cuts to just two men remaining in the auditorium at the NovaCare Complex: coach and quarterback.

    “We’ll be back,” Hurts vows.

    “I have no doubt,” Sirianni responds.

  • From Lane Johnson’s worth to a fan base’s anger, here’s what we learned about the 2025 Eagles

    From Lane Johnson’s worth to a fan base’s anger, here’s what we learned about the 2025 Eagles

    In the final scene of Burn After Reading, the Coen brothers’ brilliant comedy about government espionage and … divorce, a CIA administrator, played by J.K. Simmons, listens as a subordinate named Palmer lays out a wild sequence of events. To sum it up: Tilda Swinton is married to John Malkovich but has been having an affair with George Clooney, who himself is married but has been dating Frances McDormand, who is friends with both Brad Pitt, who gets shot in the face by Clooney, and Richard Jenkins, who is in love with McDormand but gets hacked to death with an ax by Malkovich, who is left in a coma after getting shot by a CIA agent. At the end of the story, a dumbfounded Simmons finally rolls his eyes and asks, “What did we learn, Palmer?”

    I don’t know about you, but that scene makes me think of the 2025 Eagles.

    So, what did we learn from this season? Here’s what:

    The offensive line has been the key to the Eagles’ success for years. This year, they lost that key.

    The debates around Jalen Hurts, Nick Sirianni, Kevin Patullo, and A.J. Brown — and around what Jalen Hurts, Nick Sirianni, Kevin Patullo, and A.J. Brown might have said to one another on the sideline during the Eagles’ loss Sunday night to the San Francisco 49ers — are all, to a large degree, academic. If the team’s offensive line had played at the level that it did in 2024, or anywhere close to that level, the entire scope of the season, let alone Sunday’s result, would have been different. One statistic clarifies how great the falloff was: Last season, Saquon Barkley averaged 3.8 yards before contact. This season, he averaged 1.4, according to TruMedia.

    Eagles linemen (from left) Tyler Steen, Cam Jurgens, and Landon Dickerson had their ups and downs this season.

    There are obvious explanations for the line’s regression: injuries, general wear and tear, replacing a road-grading guard in Mekhi Becton with a lesser run-blocker in Tyler Steen. Demoting Patullo, as the Eagles did Tuesday, was the predictable and correct move. Still, there’s no getting around the reality that one of the reasons few people complained about Kellen Moore’s play-calling in 2024 is that the 2024 OL could create holes and lanes for Barkley anytime, anywhere. Patullo did not have that luxury, and it’s unlikely the next conductor of the Eagles offense will, either, because …

    The 2025 Eagles played not to lose. In the end, that’s why they did.

    … Lane Johnson has been the franchise’s most important player for a long time, and his future is murky. He turns 36 in May. He didn’t play after mid-November because of a Lisfranc sprain in his right foot. He is a surefire Hall of Famer. Since the Eagles drafted him in 2013, their record with him is 110-57-1, and their record without him is 18-27. The end of a great career is approaching, perhaps not next season but certainly sometime soon, and the franchise has to start making plans to replace him or to mitigate the effect of his absence. One way would be to draft some promising offensive linemen. Another would be …

    … for the Eagles to set themselves up as a defense-first team. That’s where their best young players are, and there are such players at every tier of the unit: Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and Moro Ojomo at tackle; Jalyx Hunt and Jihaad Campbell on the edge; Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean (if they can keep him) at linebacker; Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean in the secondary. Plus, well, Vic Fangio. And the Eagles are going to need that defense to be elite, or as close as possible, because …

    … the questions about Jalen Hurts aren’t going away. The biggest of them, ahead of the 2025 season, was whether the Eagles could rely on him more than they once did. In ’24, their running game was so dominant that they could get away with throwing the ball less often than any other team in the NFL and still win the Super Bowl. This season — without Barkley ripping off 6 yards every carry, with Hurts himself running less frequently and without the same explosiveness he had in the past — the offense sputtered and stalled. Given that Hurts will turn 28 in August and has absorbed his share of punishment over his five years as the Eagles’ starter, it’s fair to wonder whether that dynamism with his legs is gone forever.

    Jalen Hurts is tackled by San Francisco’s Keion White and C.J. West during the fourth quarter of the playoff loss on Sunday.

    It’s not that the Eagles can’t win a championship with Hurts. Of course they can. They did. It’s that they have to ask themselves, What conditions do we have to create to ensure that Hurts will be at his best, and can we create them? The Eagles and everyone around them have to set their expectations for Hurts and the entire franchise accordingly, for these last five-plus months proved that …

    … Philly fans are at their worst when their teams don’t meet expectations. Based on the collective outrage since Sunday’s game, you’d never know that the Eagles won a Super Bowl less than a year ago and haven’t had a losing season in five years.

    Eagles fans react during the wild-card playoff loss to San Francisco.

    There seems to be a repulsive sense of entitlement and hair-trigger anger growing within the fan base, symbolized by a Bucks County indoor golf course whose owners allowed customers to drive balls at a projection of Patullo’s face. Patullo already had someone chuck eggs at his house in November, and if that incident could be dismissed as dumb kids doing dumb things, this one had a calculated maliciousness to it, especially considering the way it spread over social media.

    You want to be a jerk in the privacy of your own home? Go for it. But a business or anyone else doing something like this for the likes and the attention is lousy, and it has the potential to snowball into something worse. It doesn’t matter how bad a play-caller Patullo was or wasn’t. Cut out the juvenile crap. The Eagles lost. Grow up and get over it.

  • Jason Kelce defends Kevin Patullo but blasts ‘mediocre’ Eagles; Donovan McNabb points finger at A.J. Brown

    Jason Kelce defends Kevin Patullo but blasts ‘mediocre’ Eagles; Donovan McNabb points finger at A.J. Brown

    It’s been two days since the Eagles’ loss to the San Francisco 49ers and fans are demanding the firing of Kevin Patullo, calling for A.J. Brown to get traded, and looking ahead to an offseason of change — from free agency to the draft to the start of training camp.

    The Eagles season ended sooner than expected, and that means there are plenty of questions surrounding the team as eight others continue to battle in the playoffs. Here’s what they’re saying about the Birds after their early exit …

    ‘Mediocre across the board’

    Former Eagles center Jason Kelce believes the offensive coordinator isn’t the only person who should be blamed for Sunday’s loss.

    “I know that everybody is out on Kevin Patullo. I happen to know the guy, I love Kevin Patullo,” Kelce said on ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown. “I know he’s a great coach. I know it wasn’t the best performance this year, offensively. They had the No. 1 highest-paid offense in the league and were mediocre across the board. That’s unacceptable. They had their chances to win that game [Sunday]. The players didn’t make the plays.”

    The 49ers defense held the Eagles to 19 points in Sunday’s loss at Lincoln Financial Field. Kelce praised the San Francisco defense for its efforts in the win over the defending champs.

    “What Robert Saleh did to that defense, it’s commendable what they’ve done to get to here,” Kelce said. “It’s absolutely a testament to that organization and how well they’re built and how they function across the board. Kyle Shanahan with the trickeration, finding a way to get things open. You tip your cap to them. But Philly had their opportunities.”

    The Jalen Hurts roller coaster is about to lose Kevin Patullo. How will the next rider fare?

    Patullo ‘needs to be gone’

    Although Kelce may not be among those calling for Patullo to get fired, his coworker Marcus Spears certainly is.

    “I’m not going to teeter around it, Kevin Patullo’s [butt] needs to be gone,” Spears said on Monday Night Countdown. “This was a horrible year of calling the offensive plays. And I don’t think the Philadelphia Eagles offense is as bad as we watched it based on the talent. That’s what kept us on the string all year long.”

    ‘They’re not trying unless they’re trailing’

    Patullo has been a member of the Birds coaching staff since Nick Sirianni arrived five seasons ago, but this was his first year as the offensive coordinator after he replaced Kellen Moore, who took the head coaching position with the New Orleans Saints. After the Birds’ short postseason run, ESPN’s Get Up show posed the question: Was Kevin Patullo the Eagles’ weakest link this season?

    “The frustrating part about watching that offense, and it’s happened all year and it’s very on display in this game, is that it appears as if they’re not trying unless they’re trailing,” Domonique Foxworth said on Tuesday. “What I’m watching in the second half, it’s second-and-8, it’s second-and-10, it’s third-and-10, it’s third-and-11. And they’re running the ball and throwing swing passes. I’m not a fan of the Eagles, I’m just a fan of football. Like, come on. I imagine Eagles fans are watching this like, ‘Try something. We won a Super Bowl last year. We’ve been together all year and our answer on third-and-10 is a swing pass to Saquon Barkley?’”

    Free-agent moves? Stars moving on? Answering all of the Eagles’ biggest offseason questions

    A lot was made about the Eagles going conservative in the second half Sunday, but it’s been an issue throughout the season.

    “This is the point that we made about this team all year. And maybe they just weren’t as good as we wanted them to pretend that they were,” Foxworth continued. “But the point that we made was, the reason we wanted them to be more aggressive offensively is that there will come a game where the breaks won’t come your way and you wish that you would have extended the lead. And I’m watching this game and they’re like, ‘We’re up by one, let’s go ahead and punt.’”

    Foxworth also noted the difference between how the Eagles and Niners attacked those situations, with San Francisco being proactive while the Eagles seemed content to sit back and wait for something to happen.

    “You watch this [49ers] team, which knows they’re not that good — or knows that they don’t have that much of a margin of error — they’re like, ‘Look, we’ve got to take shots.’ And we’re watching the Eagles like, ‘Come on. Do something, do something, do something.’”

    Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown had multiple costly drops in the team’s wild-card loss.

    ‘Our offense becomes dull and stale’

    Although most of the blame is being directed toward Patullo, there are some critics, including former Eagles running back LeSean McCoy, who have questioned Jalen Hurts’ role in this year’s predictable offense.

    McCoy went on The Speakeasy podcast after the game and said the quarterback was holding back the offense. “We can’t do different exotic looks, different formations, different motions because I’m hearing that [Hurts] can’t really do it,” he said.

    Nick Sirianni had a worse year than Kevin Patullo, Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, or anyone on the Eagles | Marcus Hayes

    But Hurts didn’t appear to hold back the offense a year ago, and former Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb defended the Super Bowl LIX MVP on 94 WIP.

    “Let me break it down for this, and I know there’s a lot of rumblings about what Jalen wants to run and what he doesn’t like,” McNabb said. “He’s deserving of that decision as the quarterback of the franchise. He’s the face of the franchise. He’s won you a Super Bowl. He’s been Super Bowl MVP. You know he’s been in this league long enough where he decides what he likes and what he doesn’t like.

    “It’s our choice as the quarterback to be able to be comfortable with what we’re calling. So we can eliminate that whole mindset that everybody on the outside is trying to create. That whole narrative.”

    Instead, to McNabb, there was one critical moment that changed the Eagles offense for the rest of the season.

    “To me, with this offense, everything shifted ever since A.J. [Brown] started talking he wasn’t getting the ball,” said McNabb, who played alongside another outspoken wide receiver in Terrell Owens. “The offense shifted and everything was kind of going to A.J., and DeVonta [Smith] being the third option. And so, that’s kind of to me where it took us away from what we were very successful with last season to what’s going on with this season. And we didn’t make that change.

    “And so we’re trying to please people now. So, our offense becomes dull and stale because we don’t move guys around.”

    Will A.J. Brown be traded? Kevin Patullo fired? Is Jalen Hurts holding Eagles back? Here’s what they’re saying.

  • The Jalen Hurts roller coaster just lost Kevin Patullo. How will the next rider fare?

    The Jalen Hurts roller coaster just lost Kevin Patullo. How will the next rider fare?

    Jalen Hurts knew the score. He knew Kevin Patullo was done. It made zero sense for the Eagles quarterback to say he wanted the offensive coordinator to return, knowing it was a fait accompli.

    “It’s too soon to think about that,” Hurts said Monday when asked about wanting Patullo back. “I put my trust in Howie, Nick, and Mr. Lurie.”

    Who will be the Eagles’ next offensive coordinator? Start with these eight names.

    The Eagles haven’t officially fired or demoted Patullo as of this writing, but it’s only a matter of time before Howie Roseman, Nick Sirianni, and Jeffrey Lurie come to that conclusion after a once-banging offense ended a calamitous season with a whimper on Sunday. (Editor’s note: Patullo was removed from his position Tuesday).

    It was hard to find any source within the NovaCare Complex who expected otherwise. And if you listened closely to Hurts’ comments at his locker stall the day after the Eagles lost to the San Francisco 49ers, you could hear in his tone an elegy for Patullo.

    “I hate that, you know … [pause] … I hate that,” Hurts said before another pause. “I hate that it ended this way, but I know we’ll be better from it.”

    Hurts was talking about how the season ended, but he just as easily could have been talking about Patullo’s fate.

    He could have also, of course, stood up on his stool and defended the coach. He could have taken accountability for his role in the first-time play-caller’s struggles. He could have pointed to specific plays he failed to make and specific ways he limited the offense.

    But it really made no sense. Patullo will be the latest coordinator to exit the annual roller coaster that is having Hurts as your quarterback. From the highs of getting head coaching promotions (see: Shane Steichen and Kellen Moore) to the lows of getting canned (see: Brian Johnson and eventually Patullo).

    Hurts, meanwhile, will remain and have a fifth different coordinator and sixth play-caller since Sirianni became head coach in 2021. And if you want to go all the way back to college — as Hurts has noted before — he’ll have his 14th different play-caller in the last 11 years.

    That’s a lot of change and most of it out of his control, especially in Philadelphia after Sirianni gave up play-calling during his first year. But Hurts isn’t a pup anymore. And even he seemed to acknowledge that play-caller turnover isn’t a credible excuse after he won a Super Bowl in his first season with Moore.

    The Eagles need to ask themselves some hard questions. Jalen Hurts should face a few of them.

    “I accept the change,” Hurts said when asked about areas he wanted to work on this offseason. “I accept that those things come, whether expectations are met or whether we’re making Super Bowl runs. I’ve experienced both ends of it, and so I have a unique perspective on that.

    “So I’m not going to allow that to be an excuse for us not to make championship runs and for us to not have the success that we desire and that I desire.”

    Hurts is just one piece of the puzzle, just as Patullo was. They’re major parts of the machinery, so they rightfully get the most attention. But too much outside blame was placed on the coordinator because he was new, while not enough was directed toward the quarterback because of his previous success.

    It’s understandable. Doesn’t make it accurate.

    Inside the Eagles, most understood that there were myriad reasons for the offense’s decline. The personnel wasn’t as good. The offensive line wasn’t as healthy. The coaching staff wasn’t as sharp. And it’s damn hard to repeat as champions. The margin for error is slim in the NFL.

    The Eagles’ best leaders looked internally at themselves and what they could improve and refused to point fingers. But there was definitely some redirecting of criticism, with the split about evenly distributed between Hurts and Patullo.

    The Hurts critics just seemed louder. Some of the gripes were performance-based. Like the offense isn’t exotic and moves slowly because Hurts can’t read complex defenses or doesn’t want pre-snap motion. Or his inability to process post-snap limits middle-field throws. Or he doesn’t want to run as much anymore.

    All claims can have some semblance of truth, but the first two didn’t seem to hinder the offense when the going was good. The scheme, as wide receiver DeVonta Smith said Sunday, was essentially the same since 2021.

    Eagles grades: Another overly conservative offensive performance results in season-ending flop

    There was more nuance than that. The system evolved to become more run-based. Moore brought in some new passing concepts in 2024, but some were never used. The Eagles could rest on their talent more than most.

    But they rolled it back again in 2025 as running back Saquon Barkley said on Monday — similar to how they did in 2023 — and defenses caught up. And Patullo, as it increasingly became clear, wasn’t able to consistently dial up sustainable drives. He showed his acumen in the red zone, but getting there was often a battle.

    If there was a conflict between Hurts and Patullo that went public, it was over designed quarterback runs. Hurts didn’t originally deny reports that he didn’t want to run as much, but when asked last week about how that factored into his good health this season, he suggested that it wasn’t his doing.

    “The approach this year, and the way the games have been called with this coordinator — with Coach KP — it’s just kind of gone that way,” Hurts said. “I’ve taken it in stride and [am] giving my best with the position they’ve put me in.”

    It’s hard to believe that Hurts doesn’t have a say in those conversations. He has said his influence has steadily increased. Some team sources have said it’s much greater than has been conveyed. But if he has been overpowering coaches, isn’t that as much of an indictment of Sirianni and Patullo as it is the quarterback?

    Hurts was asked Monday how comfortable he had been with being uncomfortable in the offense.

    “I think that’s the essence of what my career has been,” Hurts said. “Can’t say that every situation I’ve been in has been the most comfortable, but I’ve been able to find my way out of it and find ways to win and find ways to success. And so that’s a part of growth, and I’ve never run away from growth.”

    Hurts has progressed. He’s better as a drop-back passer. He’s better at reading coverages. He’s better vs. the blitz. But in his growth as an NFL quarterback, he may have lost sight of how his mobility made him dynamic.

    “He is not who he thinks he is,” an Eagles source said.

    Teammates openly call him “Lil Jordan” in reference to his relationship with Michael Jordan, being one of the faces of the Air Jordan brand, and wanting to emulate and be the NFL version of the iconic basketball player. It’s a slight tease and Hurts rolls with it, several players said.

    He is an easy target. No one faces as much scrutiny. And some of the internal forces against him seem to be holding his famously stoic demeanor against him. He isn’t the most cuddly creature.

    But he has taken steps in that regard, as well. When A.J. Brown made it apparent he was frustrated with Hurts earlier in the season, he went to the receiver first to clear the air, two sources close to the situation said.

    “That was mostly about not being on the same page,” one source said.

    It took a while, but Hurts and Brown, whose friendship dates back almost a decade, have smoothed things over off the field. It’s unclear if they’ll be on the field together next season, although the quarterback intimated that he wants the receiver back.

    “A.J. and I have talked. We’re in a good, great place,” Hurts said. “I know you all can talk to him and ask.”

    The last sentence was a sly reference to Brown not talking to reporters in over a month. He again wasn’t available during locker clean-out day.

    Hurts, meanwhile, didn’t miss a media requirement all season. He’s heard the criticisms and he’s hardly ever thrown shade toward a teammate, coach, or otherwise. Maybe he could have taken some of the arrows for Patullo.

    But that stagecoach has departed. There will be a new coordinator in town soon enough. Hurts wouldn’t say how much influence he’ll have over the decision. He still may not be especially approachable, but Roseman, Sirianni, and Lurie have his number.

    “Overall, my line is always open,” Hurts said. “And so however involved or whatever level of inquiry I [have], I’ll definitely be available. Ultimately, I put my focus on controlling the things I can.”

  • Nick Sirianni had a worse year than Kevin Patullo, Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, or anyone on the Eagles

    Nick Sirianni had a worse year than Kevin Patullo, Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, or anyone on the Eagles

    Nick Sirianni had a very bad year.

    He hired an overmatched offensive coordinator, watched his franchise quarterback regress, and did nothing to curtail the serial insubordination of A.J. Brown, then oversaw an offense that delivered the Eagles’ worst playoff loss in 22 years.

    “At the end of the day, we didn’t do a good enough job,” Sirianni said, “and that starts with me.”

    Yes, it does.

    Kevin Patullo’s offense wastes two Quinyon Mitchell interceptions in crushing Eagles playoff loss

    How impotent was Sirianni?

    For the last two seasons, Brown frequently has criticized the passing game both in person and on social media. This came to a head when Brown called the offensive issues a “[expletive]-show” on Nov. 11.

    Later that week, owner Jeffrey Lurie had to step in and muzzle the wide receiver. At practice. In public.

    Some folks consider Sirianni to be a brilliant coach. Really? Do you think Andy Reid or Bill Belichick would have needed Clark Hunt or Robert Kraft to come to practice to muzzle Tyreek Hill or Randy Moss?

    The enduring image of the offseason surely will be Sirianni, Patullo, and Hurts on the sideline during a timeout discussing the final play of the final drive on Sunday. As Patullo spoke to what appeared to be a befuddled and reluctant Hurts, Sirianni stood there, mostly silent, looking like a cross between a deer in headlights and a dog hearing a high-pitched whistle.

    You know what he didn’t look like?

    A confident head coach.

    More and more, Sirianni seems less a coaching savant and more a dude who happens to be in the right place at the right time to take advantage of the best rosters in Eagles history.

    Culture creatures

    Since Lurie’s admonishment to Brown, and in violation of league rules, Brown has boycotted the media. That included Sunday’s game and Monday’s locker clean-out. As he did so often this season, he left his teammates to clean up his mess.

    ‘It’s too soon to think about that’: Jalen Hurts puts off talking about Kevin Patullo’s future

    It was unprofessional — but then, unprofessionalism always has been an issue during Sirianni’s five-year tenure. He sets that tone and creates that culture.

    When the Eagles won in Kansas City in 2023, he taunted Chiefs fans as he walked up the tunnel.

    When the Eagles beat the Browns at home in the middle of the 2024 season, Sirianni taunted Eagles fans as he left the field, then, incredibly, brought his three young children to what was certain to be a fractious postgame news conference.

    Sirianni issued an apology after that incident, but, two weeks ago, after the Eagles won in Buffalo, Sirianni taunted Bills fans as he walked up the tunnel — a taunt that drew a side-eye eye roll from Brown, who was walking beside him.

    On Sunday, he charged down the sideline to hurry Brown off the field, then had a few choice words for Brown, who barked back at him, then, a few moments later, tried to get after Sirianni again.

    This ended the lost season nicely, considering it began when defensive tackle Jalen Carter, having walked toward the Cowboys huddle to taunt a young lineman, then spat on Dak Prescott and was ejected.

    It’s hard to blame the players. After all, why should they be expected to control themselves if their coach can’t control himself?

    Focus

    Left tackle Jordan Mailata, the team’s de facto spokesman and often the adult in the room, was asked both at midseason and after Sunday’s loss about the Eagles’ biggest issue. Each time, his answer was the same:

    “Focus.”

    Another clear measurable of a lack of discipline: penalties.

    In 2024, the Eagles committed 103 penalties for 793 yards, 37 of them pre-snap penalties. In 2025, they committed 117 penalties for 1,073 yards, 42 of them pre-snap calls. Those are increases of 14%, 35%, and 14%, respectively.

    This is a team that was expected to defend a Super Bowl title.

    This was a disaster.

    Sirianni’s disaster.

    That’s why it’s amazing how little culpability has fallen at Sirianni’s feet.

    Nakobe Dean and Jaelan Phillips want to be back with the Eagles, but one has a greater chance than the other

    Granted, Patullo didn’t take advantage of his first OC opportunity … but, after losing at home to the Bears in Game 13, Sirianni inserted himself into the game-planning process. After Sirianni’s insertion, the Eagles played three playoff teams. They averaged just 17 points.

    Hurts, mired in self-preservation mode, ran the ball 33% less often this season than his previous three seasons and scored only eight rushing touchdowns after averaging 14 the three previous seasons. Patullo makes the calls, but the buck stops with Nick.

    Brown dropped two passes in Sunday’s wild-card loss to the visiting 49ers and, during the regular season, too often seemed … indifferent? Disengaged?

    “I have a special relationship with him,” Sirianni said after Sunday’s dustup.

    Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown had a critical drop in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s NFC wild-card game.

    If that’s true, then Sirianni needed to mobilize that connection, because Brown just had the worst of his four seasons as an Eagle.

    There were other issues.

    Saquon Barkley’s rushing total dropped from 2,005 yards and 13 touchdowns to 1,140 yards (865 fewer yards), and seven touchdowns (six fewer scores). For context, only 21 backs gained at least 865 yards this season and/or scored more than six touchdowns.

    The offensive line regressed, and while injuries to Lane Johnson, Landon Dickerson, and Cam Jurgens limited their performance and availability, the performance of their backups left much to be desired.

    At any rate, now that it’s over and the distractions have faded, we can better assess Sirianni’s role in the lost season of 2025. The football world will zoom out to the “30,000-foot view,” as Sirianni likes to call his CEO style of coaching.

    What they see will not be pretty.

    None of this is irredeemable. Sirianni is still a newish head coach, only five years in, and, at 44, he’s a relatively young man.

    It’s the first time he’s been in a situation dealing with overpaid divas who won him a Super Bowl.

    Maybe, if he’s in this situation again, he’ll act the way a head coach should act.

    With backbone.

    And conviction.

    What now for Kevin Patullo, A.J. Brown after the Eagles offense went belly-up again in the playoff loss to the 49ers?
  • ‘It’s too soon to think about that’: Jalen Hurts puts off talking about Kevin Patullo’s future

    ‘It’s too soon to think about that’: Jalen Hurts puts off talking about Kevin Patullo’s future

    A dramatic end to the Eagles’ campaign for a Super Bowl repeat could bring some dramatic changes to the team in the coming days, weeks, and months.

    But less than 24 hours after the 23-19 wild-card loss to the San Francisco 49ers, Jalen Hurts said he wasn’t ready to declare whether he hoped to see offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo return for a second season.

    “It’s too soon to think about that,” Hurts said Monday afternoon during the Eagles’ locker cleanout. “I put my trust in Howie [Roseman], Nick [Sirianni], and Mr. [Jeffrey] Lurie.”

    What now for Kevin Patullo, A.J. Brown after the Eagles offense went belly-up again in the playoff loss to the 49ers?

    The offense’s shortcomings, fresh off the Eagles’ Super Bowl-winning season, reflected poorly on Patullo, the 44-year-old, first-time offensive coordinator. He had a wealth of talent at his disposal on the most expensive offense in the league that returned 10 of 11 starters from the championship run.

    Yet the group underperformed and often collapsed in the second halves of games, the latest example coming Sunday night against the 49ers. The offense finished the regular season ranked No. 19 in the league in scoring, No. 24 in total yards, and No. 13 in expected points added per play, which measures the average points added by the offense on each play.

    The Eagles fared worse in each category compared to last season. Still, Hurts said that any discussion about impending changes to the Eagles’ offensive coaching staff or personnel would not occur in his parting meeting with team officials on Monday.

    “No, I’d speak more so on just having a home base of what we do, who we are, and obviously we really made an effort to establish an identity along the way,” Hurts said. “Ultimately, it was a bit too late. Always got a lot of confidence when we step out on that field with this group, with this team. It just wasn’t our turn this time around.”

    Hurts used “home base” as another way to say “identity,” something that the Eagles struggled to establish throughout the season. He said the team needed to find its “comfort zone of where you lay your head,” the go-to concepts that the Eagles could execute at a high level, no matter the caliber of defense they faced.

    Where is the Eagles’ home base going forward? Hurts said the team has time to figure it out. Ultimately, though, the quarterback emphasized that he just wants to win.

    Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo and quarterback Jalen Hurts never seemed to get into a rhythm this season.

    “You play the game to play for championships and put yourself in those opportunities to win championships,” Hurts said. “And so, obviously, that starts with having cohesiveness and great sequencing and having a flow where everyone’s on the same page and going out there and doing that.”

    Hurts is no stranger to change. He has had six offensive play-callers in his NFL career, including Doug Pederson, Sirianni, Shane Steichen, Brian Johnson, Kellen Moore, and now Patullo. In the aftermath of Johnson’s 2024 firing, Hurts said that he longed for continuity at the position.

    But he acknowledged Monday that he has embraced the revolving door of offensive coordinators and translated those changes into postseason appearances. After all, the Eagles won a Super Bowl in Moore’s lone year as the offensive coordinator.

    Nakobe Dean and Jaelan Phillips both want to be back with the Eagles, but one has a greater chance than the other

    “The changes have not prevented us from having an opportunity to go on championship runs, and so with all the changes and with all the things that have gone and have changed over time, we still found ourselves in the playoffs, and we still found ourselves in positions to be in the tournament and play in the tournament,” Hurts said. “I don’t like the trend of wild-card [loss], big-time [Super Bowl appearance], wild-card [loss], big-time [Super Bowl win], and wild-card [loss]. … So competitively as a quarterback, as a leader, that’s a big focus of mine, trying to break that.”

    Hurts will look to return the Eagles to their winning ways next season, when he embarks upon his sixth year as the full-time starting quarterback. Given his track record and his importance to the team, he said he has a degree of influence in important matters concerning the offense.

    “I think overall, my line is always open, and so however involved or whatever level inquiry I am, I’ll definitely be available,” Hurts said.

    Those important matters include the roster. While 10 of the 11 starters on offense are under contract for next season (tight end Dallas Goedert is a pending unrestricted free agent), Roseman may opt to make some changes to its core.

    Could A.J. Brown’s future in Philadelphia come into question? The 28-year-old receiver is under contract through 2029. He had expressed his dissatisfaction with the offense earlier in the season, but he has not spoken publicly since the Dec. 8 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. Hurts did not directly answer a question about whether he wants Brown back in 2026.

    Jalen Hurts says that he and wide receiver A.J. Brown are in a “great place.”

    “A. J. and I will talk,” Hurts said. “We’re in a good, great place.”

    Many of the team’s prospective changes are out of his hands. Repeatedly, Hurts acknowledged that he must focus on the details within his control, especially his own performance. While he seeks a “home base” for the offense, he said he has never run away from the growth that comes with embracing the responsibilities he finds uncomfortable as a quarterback.

    With the extra time that comes with an abrupt playoff exit, Hurts said he will do a “deep dive” on how he can improve as a player and as a leader before the Eagles restart once more next season.

    “Obviously, every year is different,” Hurts said. “Changes are inevitable in a number of ways, but my focus is on growth. My focus is on improvement, and my focus is on embracing the challenges that come with where I am in my career.”

    Will A.J. Brown be traded? Kevin Patullo fired? Is Jalen Hurts holding Eagles back? Here’s what they’re saying.
  • Time for the Eagles to answer to their true bosses: angry Philadelphians

    Time for the Eagles to answer to their true bosses: angry Philadelphians

    With less than a minute remaining in Sunday’s game against the 49ers, with the Eagles down 23-19 and their back-to-back Super Bowl aspirations on the line, fans crowded together in McGillin’s Olde Ale House erupted into E-A-G-L-E-S chants as a way to keep hope alive.

    Unfortunately, Jalen Hurts was sacked and threw three straight incompletions to end their playoff run early. The Birds’ journey had ended, and with it, the hopes of the region.

    Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown is unable to make the catch as 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir defends during the second half Sunday.

    Brandon LaSalata, 24, made the drive from Richmond, Va., to watch Sunday’s wild-card matchup surrounded by Eagles fans.

    “I don’t know what happened,” LaSalata said. “We need to get rid of Kevin Patullo. I think that hopefully next year we’ll be a better playoff contender. We should have gotten through this round. I don’t know what happened. I’m very upset.”

    On the other side of the pub, 27-year-old Lancaster native Dominic Polidoro sat with his head hanging low in defeat.

    “I feel pretty deflated,” Polidoro said. “This team was probably the most talented team in the league. It’s really disappointing to see them fall short. We had higher hopes.”

    Eagles coach Nick Sirianni speaks during a news conference after the loss.

    Somber morning commute for Eagles fans

    On Monday morning, the air in Center City was dry, stiff, and unforgiving. And so were the Eagles fans cussing out their favorite team after the season-ending loss.

    “I don’t mind losing, but give me an effort. A.J. Brown has to get traded. [Nick] Sirianni has to get fired. Offensive coordinator, fired,” said 73-year-old North Philadelphian Rodney Yatt. “And then we’ll go from there.”

    Sunday’s game was marred by incomplete passes, a sideline argument between Sirianni and star wide receiver Brown, and, according to fans, tough calls from referees.

    Clay Marsh, 35, of Manayunk, doesn’t think a loss falls to one player.

    “I don’t think it was A.J.’s fault,” Marsh said. He saw the offense as disjointed and questioned offensive coordinator Patullo’s strategy, which Marsh said was an overreliance on “running it up the middle” with Saquon Barkley.

    “Even if we won, it felt like we were going to go into Chicago and probably get spanked anyway,” Marsh said. “Maybe we saved ourselves some real embarrassment.”

    Patullo has been at the center of fans’ ire, not only after last night’s loss but throughout the season. That agita hit a new low when someone egged Patullo’s family home in November after a 24-15 loss to the Chicago Bears.

    The latest Patullo roasting comes in the form of a Bucks County golf simulator that allows players to drive balls directly into a digital fairway featuring Patullo’s face. The Golf Place co-owners Justin Hepler and Killian Lennon shared a video of themselves relieving their frustrations and honing their swings.

    West Philadelphian James Booker, 49, said the small mistakes in the game added up to the loss. He pointed to Brown’s dropped passes and a missed extra point by kicker Jake Elliott that could have brought the Birds into tie-game territory later on.

    Despite the hard loss, Booker doesn’t think Sirianni should be canned.

    “You can’t just say you want to up and fire him, even though fans like to do that a lot — Sirianni got us to this point,” Booker said. “I only hope for a better season next year.”

  • Will A.J. Brown be traded? Kevin Patullo fired? Is Jalen Hurts holding Eagles back? Here’s what they’re saying.

    Will A.J. Brown be traded? Kevin Patullo fired? Is Jalen Hurts holding Eagles back? Here’s what they’re saying.

    The Eagles’ road to repeating as Super Bowl champions ended abruptly Sunday with a 23-19 loss to the San Francisco 49ers at Lincoln Financial Field. Following their early exit in the playoffs, most of the national discussion centered around who’s to blame and potential offseason changes surrounding the Eagles coaching staff — and A.J. Brown, after his sideline spat with Nick Sirianni and several key drops.

    Here’s what they’re saying about the Birds following their wild-card loss to the Niners …

    ‘That was a total embarrassment’

    The Eagles offense came up short — again — continuing the theme of this year’s inconsistent unit. Despite a strong first-half performance, Kevin Patullo’s group was more conservative in the second half and mustered just a pair of Jake Elliott field goals.

    What now for Kevin Patullo, A.J. Brown after the Eagles offense went belly up again?

    The regression of the Birds offense has been a main topic of discussion throughout the season. So, for ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky, it wasn’t surprising to see the team’s downfall on Sunday night.

    “That was a total embarrassment from Philly, offensively,” Orlovsky said Monday on Get Up. “And we all saw it coming. We talked about it all season long. The fact that they didn’t see it coming is concerning. Yes, there’s going to be changes. But, Howie Roseman, their general manager, has got to be sitting back going, ‘Wait, wait, wait, wait, this is a roster that I put together that should no question have contended for another Super Bowl.’ …

    “We all saw this embarrassing performance coming and it still happened. And it was allowed to happen.”

    On X, Orlovsky, a former NFL quarterback, also broke down the Eagles’ final drive Sunday night, posting the video with a one-word caption: “Ugly.”

    To former NFL quarterback Cam Newton, Sunday’s performance revealed all the flaws the Birds “tried to mask” throughout the season.

    “The Philadelphia Eagles were who we thought they were,” said Newton on First Take. “And yesterday’s performance was a microcosm of that. We’ve seen insufficient play. We’ve seen ups and downs and the downs and the ups. … What we’ve seen is nothing new. They tried to mask it. They tried to put lip balm. They tried to put eyeliner. They tried to put mascara on it and they tried to challenge the status quo of you’ve been doing this all year.”

    Shell-shocked Eagles locker room emotional after losing to the 49ers: ‘It’ll never be the same team again’
    Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown can’t pull in a deep pass from Jalen Hurts during the second quarter. He dropped several passes in the loss.

    Will the Eagles trade A.J. Brown?

    The most action Brown saw all night was when the broadcast caught Nick Sirianni yelling at him on the sideline. The receiver recorded three receptions for 25 yards; he missed a potentially big first-half reception and had a costly third-down drop later in the game. After the loss, Brown didn’t speak to media.

    Former tight end Shannon Sharpe believes it’s time for the Eagles to move on.

    “Me, personally, I think it’s the best if the Eagles just go their separate ways,” Sharpe told Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson on the Nightcap podcast. “He needs to go somewhere where he feels like he’s going to get — he’s looking at it, Ocho, like I need to be getting the Puka Nacua type targets.”

    Former NFL safety Ryan Clark also believes Brown won’t be in Philly next season.

    “A.J. Brown is getting traded,” Clark said on ESPN’s First Take. “He wants out and they need to want him out. That relationship is over. That relationship is done and part of it is the Philadelphia Eagles, but a lot of it is on A.J. Brown. … A.J. Brown this year was more problems than he was worth.”

    The 2025 Eagles played not to lose. In the end, that’s why they did. | Mike Sielski

    If the Eagles do move on from Brown, however, it might not happen until later in the year. According to Spotrac, trading him before June 1 would cost the Birds a fortune.

    “If the Eagles were to bite the bullet and trade Brown early this offseason,” Michael Ginnitti writes, “they’d be taking on the 4th largest single season dead cap hit in NFL history (and making a heck of a lot more financial trouble for themselves as well).”

    Jalen Hurts and the Eagles scored a pair of touchdowns in the first half, but settled for just two field goals in the second.

    ‘Jalen Hurts is holding them back’

    Although most of the finger pointing has been directed at Patullo, former Eagles running back LeSean McCoy said a lot of the Eagles offensive struggles could be because of the team’s starting quarterback, Jalen Hurts.

    “Jalen Hurts, I need you to be special, make plays,” McCoy said on The Speakeasy show. “I did a lot of digging, man, and I won’t throw them under the bus here. But I know some people, right. And the problem is, we can’t do different exotic looks, different formations, different motions because I’m hearing that [Hurts] can’t really do it. So, we get to a game like this, we got to have it. We’re playing against the Niners. They’re with their second unit. …

    “I look at the quarterback, like, if we have all these special players, Hall of Fame-type running back, Hall of Fame-type wide receiver, top three dual wide receivers with A.J. [Brown] and [DeVonta Smith] and a really solid tight end with Dallas [Goedert] and we can’t move the ball? … We got to make some big decisions next year.”

    McCoy wasn’t alone.

    “They certainly could be more creative on the offensive side and we know that. But, Jalen Hurts is holding them back in that department,” Chris Simms, a longtime Hurts detractor, said on Pro Football Talk Live. “I know these things. He doesn’t want the offense expanded, to a degree. So, that kind of handcuffs them a little bit.

    “And then, when you’re an offense, you can’t go to do advanced geometry when you brought up a minute ago that you can watch the film and go here’s a basic play and the guy’s open and he doesn’t throw it. That doesn’t give the coaches the confidence to go, ‘Let’s go deeper into the playbook.’”

    The Eagles need to ask themselves some hard questions. Jalen Hurts should face a few of them. | David Murphy
    Nick Sirianni lost a home playoff game for the first time Sunday.

    ‘There’s enough blame for everybody’

    Former Eagles linebacker Seth Joyner believes Sunday’s loss was a team effort.

    “There’s enough blame for everybody,” he said on The Seth Joyner Show. “Wide receivers dropping balls, not catching balls, not giving maximum effort. Players on the defensive side standing around not necessarily ready. … They got out-coached, out-played, and they got out-willed today.”

    However, another former Eagles linebacker, Emmanuel Acho, narrowed it down to three individuals he would like to blame for the loss — and perhaps there’s no surprise that it’s Brown, Patullo, and Hurts.

    “A.J. Brown given how talented you are and how much dust you kicked up throughout the course of the season, you have to show up in the biggest moments,” Acho on The Speakeasy talk show. “So, A.J, first person I’m looking at is you because you’re capable. Second person I’m looking at is Kevin Patullo.

    “And then lastly, Jalen Hurts. I just need you to be more special. … So, really if I’m going to look at three people: A.J. Brown, got to look at you in the eye. Kevin Patullo, got to look at you in the eye. Jalen Hurts, got to look at you in the eye. Those are the three people that start with the blame.”

  • The Eagles need to ask themselves some hard questions. Jalen Hurts should face a few of them.

    The Eagles need to ask themselves some hard questions. Jalen Hurts should face a few of them.

    Multiple things can be true at the same time. They usually are when a team’s season ends the way the Eagles’ did on Sunday.

    It takes a special kind of bad to lose this limply. It is a collective bad, an existential bad, a bad that raises all kinds of hard questions that a team must confront head-on and wrestle with in the darkness. That is true even of a team that is less than a year removed from winning a Super Bowl. In fact, it is especially true for such a team.

    The bad that the Eagles were in a 23-19 loss to the 49ers is a disconcerting bad. It is a bad that shakes you to your core, a bad so bad that you spend an entire season desperate to disbelieve it.

    More than anything, it is a bad that is nearly impossible to achieve if your quarterback is doing the things he needs to do.

    Jalen Hurts did not do those things for the Eagles on Sunday. His counterpart did them for the 49ers. That is why the Eagles are headed home. It is why the 49ers are headed to Seattle. The difference in this particular playoff game was the same as it is in most of them. One team had a quarterback who rose above his circumstances. The other did not.

    “It starts with me and ends with me,” Hurts said afterward.

    Whether or not he truly believed those words, he was correct.

    A team that cannot, or will not, put pressure on a defense in the intermediate-to-deep part of the field is a team whose luck will eventually run out. Whether Hurts can’t or won’t doesn’t matter at this point. He didn’t, and that’s that. He completed just three passes that traveled more than 10 yards in the air, on 11 attempts. Those three completions gained a total of 38 yards. He was 17-for-20 on his short throws.

    Compare that to Brock Purdy, who was dealing with an offense that lost its last blue-chip pass-catching weapon when tight end George Kittle tore his Achilles tendon with six minutes left in the second quarter. The game should have been over then, one of several moments when that was the case. That it wasn’t is largely a testament to Purdy, whose poise and patience and intentionality were on display against an Eagles defense several calibers above that of the practice-squad Niners.

    San Francisco’s game-winning 66-yard touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter featured a 16-yard completion to Demarcus Robinson and a 5-yard scramble, both for first downs, to help set up his 4-yard touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey with just under three minutes remaining. A couple of possessions earlier, he found fullback Kyle Juszczyk of all people for a 27-yard gain that set up a trick play touchdown on an end-around pass from wide receiver Jauan Jennings to McCaffrey.

    The 2025 Eagles played not to lose. In the end, that’s why they did.

    There was a 14-yard pass to backup tight end Jake Tonges on third-and-14 late in the second quarter, a 45-yarder to Jennings earlier in the period, and a 61-yarder to Robinson that set up a touchdown on the 49ers’ opening drive.

    Purdy’s numbers on throws longer than 10 yards: 8-of-13, for 178 yards. His two interceptions were the cost of doing business.

    “You’ve got to be able to be explosive,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “It’s really hard to dink and dunk down the field. It’s really hard to get behind sticks with negative plays. You’ve got to be able to create explosives. Again, at the end of the day, there were a lot of elements [where] you end up with a loss, and we haven’t had this feeling of ending our season since 2023 with the loss. That’s why it hurts because it’s been a while. But yeah, at the end of the day, we need to find ways to be more explosive. Again, that starts with me.”

    Sirianni is right. Everything starts with him. But it ends wherever the quarterback takes it. The ball is in his hands. The clock is in his head. He is the one who decides how long to continue looking down the field. Whatever the game plan, whoever the play-caller, a quarterback almost always has the ability to force the issue. That’s especially true for a quarterback with Hurts’ ability to buy time and gain yards with his legs. He gained 14 yards on five carries against the 49ers. Purdy gained 24 on nine.

    “Well, I think finding a rhythm and whatever you define aggression as, maintaining the fluidity and the flow throughout four quarters of the game, so I think there’s opportunity for us to improve in that,” Hurts said. “Just finding a rhythm. Ultimately it is just all something that you either learn from it or you don’t.”

    One thing people lose sight of while focusing on the play-calling is that the quarterback sets the rhythm. He is the orchestra conductor. The great offenses are almost always a reflection of their quarterback. It wasn’t Tom Moore’s offense or Todd Haley’s offense or Charlie Weis’ offense: it was Peyton Manning’s and Ben Roethlisberger’s and Tom Brady’s. It’s no coincidence that the energy of this Eagles offense as a collective often resembles Hurts’ individual demeanor.

    Nobody should have to apologize for pointing out these things. High standards are not unfair. The only way to fix an offense as bad and boring and listless as the Eagles’ is to be unflinchingly honest about its component parts. The quarterback is inseparable from the play-caller. The right guy for the second job is a guy who can make it work with the guy in the first one. The next Eagles play-caller will be getting a quarterback who does not have elite size, or arm strength, or pocket presence, and who no longer makes up much of that difference with his ability to create on the run.

    Hurts didn’t get much help from his pass-catchers on Sunday. He didn’t get as much help from his play-caller as Purdy got from his. The Eagles will need to fix both of those things this offseason. Hurts isn’t, and shouldn’t be, going anywhere.

    The defense propped the Eagles up all season. On Sunday, it bent, broke and the 49ers advanced.

    That said, Hurts is who he is. Who he was on Sunday is the guy he has been all season, and most of the last 2½ seasons, if we’re being honest. It worked when the Eagles had an overwhelming talent advantage at all of the other positions. If that is no longer the case, they need to figure out a new formula.

  • Eagles go cold in second half as 49ers end their bid to repeat as Super Bowl champs

    Eagles go cold in second half as 49ers end their bid to repeat as Super Bowl champs

    In the end, the Eagles offense couldn’t rise to the occasion, a shortcoming it had all season long.

    With under a minute remaining in the wild-card round Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers, Jalen Hurts was tasked with driving down the field and leading a touchdown drive to erase the Eagles’ 23-19 deficit. Upon reaching the 49ers’ 20-yard line, Hurts was sacked and threw three straight incompletions, ending the Eagles’ aspirations of repeating as Super Bowl champions.

    There were three lead changes in the fourth quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. The 49ers managed to pull off the win without injured inside linebacker Fred Warner, defensive end Nick Bosa, and tight end George Kittle, who suffered a torn Achilles tendon in the second quarter.

    Here’s our instant analysis from the Eagles’ loss to the 49ers:

    Nick Sirianni’s first home playoff loss was a story of missed opportunities.

    Tale of two halves, again

    The Eagles offense followed an all-too-familiar script — it came out strong in the first half, only to disappear at times in the second.

    In the first half, Kevin Patullo and Nick Sirianni opted to run early and often to great success. On the second play of the Eagles’ opening drive, Saquon Barkley took a handoff from Hurts in the shotgun, bounced to his right, and scampered upfield for a gain of 29 yards. His run helped set up the Eagles’ first touchdown of the day, a 1-yard run by Dallas Goedert to make it 7-6, 49ers, after a missed Jake Elliott point-after.

    Barkley finished the first quarter with nine carries for 48 yards (5.3 yards per carry).

    Barkley had an up-and-down showing in the passing game. First, the good. In the second quarter, Hurts had an unblocked defender in his face on second-and-6 from midfield, and dumped the ball off to Barkley, who turned a routine checkdown into a 20-yard gain.

    His play eventually led to Goedert’s second touchdown of the game, a 9-yard catch that made it 13-7, Eagles.

    Then, the not-so-good. On third-and-3 from the Eagles’ 37-yard line early in the third quarter, Barkley dropped a pass in the open field, causing the Eagles to go three-and-out for a second straight possession.

    His woes continued in the second half. After averaging 4.7 yards per carry (71 yards on 15 carries) in the first, Barkley went for 0.8 yards per carry (six carries for 5 yards) in the third quarter.

    Patullo and Sirianni seemed to lean conservative in their play calls in the third quarter as they clung to their 13-10 lead. Three plays after Quinyon Mitchell’s first interception of the night in the third quarter, Barkley was stuffed for a loss of a yard by 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir on a second-and-18 zone run.

    The Eagles lost nine yards on the four-play drive and punted. On the following possession, still up by three, the Eagles settled for a 41-yard field goal. They had seemingly waved the white flag on third-and-13 with a Hurts 4-yard keeper, appearing content to take the points. However, Sirianni pushed back on the notion that he had grown conservative in the second half.

    “I think that’s always the go-to [perception] if it [doesn’t] go the way you want,” Sirianni said. “If it goes the way you want it to go in the first half and then not the second half, I think that’s the go-to of people [thinking] you take your foot off the gas, but we were playing more balanced, got the run game going a little bit, trying to mix our play actions in, trying to get our passes in to create explosives. At the end of the day, we didn’t create enough explosives.”

    Barkley was slightly more effective in the fourth quarter, and was able to return after being hobbled by a leg injury after a hard hit that caused him to miss snaps. But at that point, the Eagles were often in catch-up mode due to the 49ers scoring a pair of touchdowns.

    Rare drops plagued A.J. Brown. The 28-year-old receiver had three receptions on seven targets for 25 yards. On the Eagles’ final possession, he dropped a third-down pass over the middle of the field, only to be bailed out by Goedert’s conversion on the ensuing fourth down. With the season on the line, Goedert was targeted later in the drive on fourth-and-11 from the 49ers’ 21, but linebacker Eric Kendricks broke up Hurts’ pass.

    As a passer, Hurts went 20-for-35 (57.1%) for 168 yards and one touchdown. While the Eagles won the turnover battle, they didn’t win the explosive play battle. Hurts’ longest pass went for 20 yards and Barkley’s longest run was 29, marking the Eagles’ only plays of 20-plus yards.

    “I take ownership for not being able to put points on the board,” Hurts said postgame. “It all starts with me and ends with me. And so there’s a sense of a lot there that you can learn from. I think as a team, as a collective group and personally for me as a quarterback, how you see the game, how you feel the game, and ultimately just, ‘OK, how can I find a way to win?’ We weren’t able to do that today.”

    Quinyon Mitchell logged two interceptions in a losing effort for the Eagles.

    Mitchell’s two picks for naught

    Quinyon Mitchell, named to his first All-Pro team on Saturday, stepped up in the second half in an attempt to reinvigorate the Eagles offense.

    The 24-year-old cornerback contributed a pair of interceptions, keeping the surging 49ers offense off the field and giving Hurts & Co. an opportunity to put points on the board.

    However, the Eagles only mustered a field goal off his picks. On his first interception in the third quarter, Mitchell undercut an erratic play-action pass intended for Skyy Moore, giving the Eagles offense prime field position at their own 48.

    They punted after four plays, one of which was a Cam Jurgens holding call on second-and-10.

    One series after the 49ers took a 17-16 lead on a fourth-quarter trick play — a 29-yard touchdown pass from wide receiver Jauan Jennings to Christian McCaffrey — Mitchell struck again. Again, he undercut Brock Purdy’s pass, this time intended for 49ers tight end Jake Tonges.

    The Eagles began the series at their own 38 and managed to move the ball 32 yards on eight plays. But the wind proved problematic in the passing game. Late in the drive, a deep pass intended for Jahan Dotson in the end zone died in the wind, eventually leading the Eagles to settle for a field goal. Elliott made the 33-yard attempt, putting the Eagles up, 19-17, with eight minutes remaining.

    Ultimately, Mitchell’s interceptions proved to be missed opportunities for the Eagles offense.

    The Eagles defense made some big plays but also had key miscues and allowed Christian McCaffery to get into the end zone twice.

    Mistakes haunt Eagles

    A litany of mistakes crippled the Eagles on both sides of the ball. The Eagles lacked detail, one of Sirianni’s core values, reflected by their seven penalties for 48 yards. The 49ers, conversely, were flagged once for 15 yards.

    The Eagles’ mistakes led to 49ers points. Late in the fourth quarter, the Eagles up 19-17, Reed Blankenship was flagged for holding Tonges on second-and-6 just outside the red zone. His transgression wiped away a Jalen Carter sack and gave the 49ers a fresh set of downs at the 20.

    The 49ers took advantage of his mistake, as Purdy connected with McCaffrey on a 4-yard touchdown pass to regain the lead, 23-19.

    “I should have never held him,” Blankenship said. “I thought I was pretty late. But at the end of the day, I’ve just got to be better doing that and be better doing my job.”

    The defense also had breakdowns in coverage. Wide receiver Demarcus Robinson’s 61-yard reception against Mitchell on the second play of the game brought the 49ers into the red zone. Robinson caught a 2-yard play-action pass for a touchdown, also against Mitchell, putting the 49ers up, 7-0.

    In the second quarter, Jennings had a 45-yard reception while aligned in the slot, slipping past Cooper DeJean to make the grab. His big play eventually led to points, too, in the form of a 36-yard field goal.

    Elliott’s missed extra point was also costly. Had he made it, the Eagles could have played to tie the game with a field goal on their final possession.