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Tag: Kevin Patullo

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

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

    The Eagles’ 2025 season came to an end sooner than many expected Sunday night, with an underwhelming 23-19 loss to the San Francisco 49ers ending the dream of a Super Bowl repeat.

    With the offseason officially here, The Inquirer has identified the most significant questions the team will face as it attempts to avoid the sting of a premature exit at this time next year.

    Do you expect a change with embattled offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo?

    (Editor’s note: Patullo was removed from his position on Tuesday).

    The offense’s performance this season did not reflect well on Patullo. The unit finished the year 19th in the league in scoring, 24th in total yards, and 13th in expected points added per play, which measures the average points added by the offense on each play.

    For comparison’s sake, here’s how the 2023 Eagles offense fared under former offensive coordinator Brian Johnson, who was fired in the offseason: No. 7 in scoring, No. 8 in yards, and No. 9 in EPA per play.

    The Eagles seem certain to move on from Kevin Patullo as the play caller.

    Yes, that season was different, as the Eagles lost six of their last seven games. But both the 2023 and 2025 offenses regressed substantially following Super Bowl appearances. The 2025 Eagles returned 10 of 11 offensive starters from the Super Bowl-winning team, and yet the most expensive offense in football couldn’t make it past the wild-card round.

    While all of the offense’s shortcomings this season can’t be pinned exclusively on Patullo, something has to change. If the Eagles fire a coordinator and decide to hire an external replacement, there’s always a chance that person would want to handpick his own assistants. In 2024, Kellen Moore brought in former quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier. Vic Fangio overhauled the defensive staff. — Olivia Reiner

    Is there any reason to expect changes with A.J. Brown or any of the other skill-position stars?

    Four of the offense’s big five skill players — Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, Brown, and DeVonta Smith — are under contract through at least 2028. Brown is under contract through 2029. Dallas Goedert, meanwhile, is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the start of the new league year.

    Given Goedert’s status as a pending free agent, his future as an Eagle is in question. The 31-year-old tight end had a career year with 11 touchdowns, plus two more in the postseason. After an injury-riddled 2024 season, he stayed mostly healthy and started 15 games in 2025. But he’s an aging — and potentially expensive, given his touchdown output — tight end who took a step back as a run blocker this year.

    It would be expensive for the Eagles to move on from A.J. Brown.

    Then, there’s the elephant in the room. Will Brown be back in 2026, let alone finish out his contract in Philadelphia? He voiced his frustration with the offense’s inconsistency earlier in the season. While he made an impact on paper during the regular season and eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards for a fourth straight year, he also was part of the problem at times, especially in the wild-card loss to the San Francisco 49ers. He finished with three receptions on seven targets for 25 yards.

    Brown’s contract would be very difficult to move. Cutting him before June 1 would incur $72 million in dead money in 2026. The Eagles would still be on the hook for $43 million in 2026 if they traded him, too. But, as our colleague Jeff McLane wrote, would a change of scenery benefit the 28-year-old wide receiver, send a message to the locker room, and eventually clear some salary-cap space? — Reiner

    Besides Goedert, which Eagles are scheduled to become free agents? Which members of that group will be the highest priorities for the team to re-sign?

    As Reed Blankenship noted Sunday in the locker room: “It’s not going to be the same.”

    “Who knows where we all end up?” the safety said. “That’s just part of the business side of it. They can’t keep us all. I wish they could.”

    Blankenship is one of the Eagles’ nearly two dozen free agents. Like Blankenship, a few are notable players who may not be back.

    Will the Eagles be willing to pay 31-year-old Dallas Goedert?

    Let’s start with Goedert, who had a career year — the most prolific touchdown season in the history of Eagles tight ends. There are zero tight ends on next season’s roster as it stands. Along the offensive line, reserves Fred Johnson, Brett Toth, and Matt Pryor are free agents. So is wide receiver Jahan Dotson. Deeper reserves like running back AJ Dillon, quarterback Sam Howell, and injured fullback Ben VanSumeren are set to hit the market, too.

    Blankenship, linebacker Nakobe Dean, and edge rusher Jaelan Phillips are the marquee names among the defensive free agents. Two more starters from Sunday’s game are also scheduled to be free agents: safety Marcus Epps and cornerback Adoree’ Jackson. Other free agents include edge rushers Brandon Graham, Joshua Uche, Azeez Ojulari, and Ogbo Okoronkwo. Punter Braden Mann’s contract also is up.

    As for which players the Eagles will prioritize, it’s not hard to imagine them wanting to rework something with Goedert before they look elsewhere for a tight end. Phillips will be at or near the top of the priority list, too. The Eagles are thin at edge rusher and could use an impact player like Phillips at the top of the depth chart to pair with Jalyx Hunt and Nolan Smith. Blankenship’s position is a priority, but it remains to be seen what his market looks like and what the Eagles decide to do at safety. Rookie Drew Mukuba will be coming off a season-ending injury at one of the safety spots.

    As for Dean, he may be the most expendable among the top free-agents-to-be with Jihaad Campbell waiting in the wings. — Jeff Neiburg

    Howie Roseman has a reputation for being aggressive in all aspects of the Eagles’ business.

    What is the Eagles’ salary-cap situation heading into the offseason? What does history say about their willingness to be aggressive on the free-agent front?

    According to Over the Cap, the Eagles have $20.3 million in cap space for 2026. It is not a lot, partially because some Eagles have increases in their cap hit. Jalen Hurts’ cap number, for example, jumps from $21.87 million this past season to $31.97 million next season.

    The Eagles have 40 players under contract and have eight draft picks. As it stands, they again will have a high-priced offense. Seven of the eight players with cap hits of at least $9 million are offensive players.

    While there isn’t a ton of money available for Howie Roseman to play with, history shows us he is willing to be aggressive to create more room and to improve his roster to compete for a Super Bowl. He also has mastered the art of structuring contracts to game the NFL’s salary-cap system. — Neiburg

    The Eagles moved up to select Jihaad Campbell in the 2025 draft.

    How many draft picks are the Eagles scheduled to have in 2026? How aggressive do you expect them to be in moving draft capital to address other needs (or to move up in the draft)?

    The Eagles are set to have eight draft picks, including three projected compensatory picks, in 2026:

    • Round 1
    • Round 2
    • Round 3 (from the New York Jets in the Haason Reddick trade)
    • Round 3 (projected compensatory pick for Milton Williams)
    • Round 4
    • Round 4 (projected compensatory pick for Josh Sweat)
    • Round 5
    • Round 5 (projected compensatory pick for Mekhi Becton)

    Roseman has a track record of moving up in the draft, even if it’s just a couple of spots, to go get a player on the team’s short list. His most significant jump came in 2016 when he moved up six spots from No. 8 to No. 2 to select Carson Wentz. Last year, Roseman moved up one spot from No. 32 to No. 31 to get Campbell.

    He goes after what he wants in veterans, too, with his most prominent example occurring in 2022 with his draft-day acquisition of Brown from the Tennessee Titans. Given that the Eagles have eight picks, Roseman has plenty of ammo to make moves and address the team’s needs. — Reiner

    The limited availability of tackle Lane Johnson this season means the Eagles must consider the future along the offensive line.

    Which personnel groups do you expect Howie Roseman to concentrate most on upgrading heading into 2026?

    Where to begin? The Eagles still have a pretty solid roster, but they do have some flaws and are set to have a few holes.

    They have no tight ends. They have no obvious answer yet for a Lane Johnson replacement. How long is Landon Dickerson going to hold up? They went heavy at offensive line toward the end of the draft last season, but they could soon need top-end talent.

    They are in the market for wide receiver help, regardless of where the Brown saga leads them. They need edge rushers. They need cornerbacks. They may need a new kicker.

    A high-impact edge rusher, like Phillips, should be high on the list of most important personnel groups to upgrade the talent level, and it will be interesting to see how the Eagles go about addressing tight end. They obviously will sign a few in free agency and could draft one. Could Goedert return?

    There are a lot of unanswered questions right now. It’s that time of year.

    The Johnson replacement is a tricky one, too. He still is very good when he’s on the field, but the clock is ticking. Same for Dickerson, who has had multiple surgeries and has played through plenty of pain. — Neiburg

    Will another NFL team lead the charge to ban the Tush Push, as the Packers did last offseason?

    Will the Tush Push be in the spotlight again this offseason? What are the mechanics of a potential rule change from a league/competition committee standpoint?

    Earlier in the season, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Tush Push was getting banned in the spring. This year, instead of detractors fixating on its aesthetics and its player safety risks, its officiating was called into question.

    But false-start penalties mounted on the Eagles as the season progressed. Defenses improved at stopping the play, too. The Eagles grew less effective on the Tush Push and eventually, in short-yardage situations, stopped running it entirely. The last Tush Push the Eagles ran in the regular season occurred in Week 16 against the Washington Commanders. It failed, just like four of their previous six attempts.

    The public outcry against the Tush Push seems to have dissipated with the Eagles’ waning efficiency. In fact, fans seemed to love the Buffalo Bills’ 10-yard push sneak for a touchdown in their wild-card win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Bills were among the teams that voted to effectively ban it in the offseason, too.

    Unless there is new injury data that suggests the play is dangerous, the path to a ban is unclear. The officiating of the play still would be an issue on a traditional quarterback sneak. Perhaps the league again would seek to eradicate an offensive player pushing the runner downfield on any play, which was illegal in the NFL before 2005. Ironically, it was legalized because it was difficult to officiate.

    A rule proposal, either submitted by the competition committee or by one of the 32 clubs, would be the first step to getting rid of the play. That proposal would need at least 24 “yes” votes from the 32 owners at the spring league meeting to pass. Last year, the Green Bay Packers submitted an assisting-the-runner proposal, but it didn’t garner the requisite support. — Reiner

    The Rams’ return trip to Philly next season should be among the highlights of the 2026 home schedule.

    Who are the Eagles’ 2026 opponents?

    In addition to their six division games, the Eagles will face the 2025 winners of the NFC North (Chicago Bears on the road), NFC South (Carolina Panthers at the Linc) and AFC North (Pittsburgh Steelers at the Linc); they’ll face the entire NFC West (Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks at the Linc, 49ers and Arizona Cardinals on the road) and the entire AFC South (Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts at the Linc, Jaguars and Tennessee Titans on the road).

    The Eagles are scheduled to play nine home games in 2026. Dates are expected to be announced as part of the NFL schedule release in May.

    Compiled by The Inquirer staff.

  • 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.”

  • ‘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.”

  • Philly-area golf simulator facility is letting angry Eagles fans smash golf balls into Kevin Patullo’s face

    Philly-area golf simulator facility is letting angry Eagles fans smash golf balls into Kevin Patullo’s face

    Immediately following the Eagles’ loss to the San Francisco 49ers, a somber feeling started to take over the Golf Place. Those gathered at the Bucks County golf simulator facility to watch the Eagles while working on their swings began to pack up and go home, and co-owners Justin Hepler and Killian Lennon began to close up shop.

    But in a brief moment, an idea was developed to help Birds fans release their anger after a disappointing loss: letting them hit golf balls at offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo’s face — or at least an image of it.

    Earlier in the season, some fans broke the law by egging Patullo’s Moorestown home after the Eagles’ Black Friday loss to the Bears. The Golf Place’s idea keeps the flying objects far from the real Patullo, and within legal bounds.

    “It was a fun way to let off some steam, but also make it fun for everybody involved,” Hepler, 24, said. “And obviously Killian in the video is a diehard Eagles fan, so he was pretty upset. But, everybody in here has gotten a kick out it.”

    The Golf Place, located in Langhorne, has been open for a brief two-and-a-half months but is now getting more attention after the video of Lennon, 29, went viral overnight, accumulating over 200,000 views on social media and over 10,000 likes.

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

    “We knew it had some potential because this was eight minutes after the game ended,” Hepler said. “So we thought it was pretty hilarious.”

    So why the face of the first-year coordinator? To them, the answer is simple.

    “No one’s happy with the offense this year, obviously,” Hepler said. “I’m sure you can see all the Eagles fans that related to it. You can see all the comments saying, ‘This could have been recorded any month of the year.’ We could have had this for not just a today type of deal.”

    The Eagles offense took a major step back under first-year coordinator Kevin Patullo.

    As of Monday afternoon, one person had already entered the store asking to take them up on their offer of hitting golf balls at Patullo. They said all fans are welcomed to request the same thing.

    And although Hepler isn’t an Eagles fan, he knows there’s a glaring change that needs to be made by the team this offseason.

    “Fire Patullo,” Hepler said. “That’s the answer for them. I mean, that’s what everyone says. That’s what Killian’s first response was, and I think that’s the overall message.”

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

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

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

    Kevin Patullo is as good as done. A.J. Brown’s future is murkier.

    But whatever happens to the offensive coordinator and the team’s top receiver, some form of significant change is coming to the Eagles offense after a season of frustration ended fittingly with another bipolar performance on Sunday.

    Patullo will be the easiest to cut off, not because he was solely responsible for the regression or even for the substandard play calling that doomed the Eagles in their 23-19 loss to the 49ers in the playoffs, just as it had throughout most of the 2025 regular season.

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

    Most players, including tackle Jordan Mailata, publicly supported the first-year coordinator on Sunday. They pointed the finger at themselves and their execution, or lack thereof. But the powers that be, as Mailata noted, can’t just wipe out the bulk of the highest-paid offense in the NFL.

    “It’s easier to blame somebody who gets paid less than your starting people, right?” Mailata said. “And everybody knows that. Everyone in this [expletive] locker room — even you [reporters] know that. But the story makes better sense if we’re pointing to somebody else than not the players.”

    Brown might seem the logical piece to move considering how his drops against San Francisco seemed indicative of an apathetic season by his standards. General manager Howie Roseman isn’t normally fond of trading Hall of Fame talent, and Brown’s contract may make it difficult to move the 28-year old.

    But the Eagles will need to find ways to clear salary-cap space with salaries for quarterback Jalen Hurts and others on offense increasing and young homegrown players on defense, including defensive tackles Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis, slated for extensions.

    Getting rid of Brown may send a message. But for as great as fellow receiver DeVonta Smith can be, most defenses still spent each week in 2025 devising coverages to cloud Brown. He didn’t have his best season by any stretch, and sometimes ran poor routes and couldn’t pull in grabs he normally makes.

    He let two of Hurts’ downfield throws slip off his hands on Sunday.

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

    “He’s got the best hands I’ve ever seen,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “The way he catches the ball, the amount of different types of catches that he’s made. When you get as many targets as he does, you’re going to have some drops. Not ever using an excuse, but the ball moves differently in the wind.”

    Brown declined interview requests after the game, much like he has for the last month. He got into a brief altercation with Sirianni on the sideline in the second quarter when the coach yelled for him to get off the field after a three-and-out.

    “I love A.J. I think he knows how I feel about him,” Sirianni said. “I have a special relationship with him. We’ve probably [gone] through every emotion you can possibly have together. We’ve laughed together, we’ve cried together, we’ve yelled at each other. We’re both emotional.”

    Brown’s emotions have sometimes gotten the best of him. He’s admitted to mistakes he’s made when using social media to voice frustrations with the offense. He’s among the most-liked players in the locker room. But a change of scenery may be best as he enters the latter stage of his career.

    A.J. Brown logged another 1,000-yard season, but it was a tumultuous year for the star wide receiver.

    Sirianni and Hurts aren’t going anywhere, nor should they. But they face another crossroads just two years after the Eagles offense underwent its first facelift. Sirianni fired coordinator Brian Johnson, certainly with input from owner Jeffrey Lurie and Roseman, and Kellen Moore was brought in to spiff up the system.

    Johnson was more of a Hurts guy, not that Sirianni took pleasure in ending his tenure in Philly. But Patullo has been with the coach since their days with the Colts. They’re kindred spirits in football and friends away from it. But even Sirianni can’t deny that Patullo was in over his head.

    “There will be time to evaluate everybody’s performance,” Sirianni said when asked about his coordinator’s future.

    If the Eagles weren’t coming off a Super Bowl, maybe Patullo could have been given more time to learn on the job. Maybe Sirianni has built up enough clout to hold off Lurie/Roseman. But precedent suggests that the Eagles will move fast, and that they already have possible replacements lined up.

    Who could be next? Mike McDaniel? Kliff Kingsbury? Brian Daboll? Nate Scheelhaase? Todd Monken? Frank Reich? Whoever it is, it should be someone with a pedigree of improving quarterbacks, and preferably one who actually played the position.

    Hurts didn’t evolve this season. He ran less and it not only made him less dynamic, but it gave defenses one less option to worry about in the running game. And it made his deficiencies in the drop-back passing game more glaring.

    “I think I’m always growing,” Hurts said when asked about working with Patullo. “I’m always taking in my experiences and learning from everything that we go through. I think it’s tough to single out one individual, especially in a moment like this.

    “We’ve all got to improve and that’s how I look at everything that we go through.”

    Hurts didn’t play poorly in windy conditions at Lincoln Financial Field. In fact, it was a very Hurtsian performance. He made some good throws. He didn’t turn the ball over while his counterpart, Brock Purdy, tossed two interceptions.

    But Hurts’ arm lacked the velocity to cut through the breeze at times. He left clean pockets far too early. And he failed again to deliver a game-winning drive. He may play by far the most important position on the field, but the Eagles’ struggles Sunday and all season weren’t all on his shoulders.

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

    And the same applies to Patullo. How much was he handcuffed by Sirianni’s emphasis on not giving the ball away? The Eagles led, 13-7, midway through the second quarter. But the offense failed to generate a first down on four of its next five possessions against a 49ers defense that was down to its fourth and fifth linebackers.

    There were dropped passes, penalties, missed blocking assignments, and Hurts throwaways over that span. There were also conservative calls like running on second-and-18, or Hurts keeping on third-and-13. Sirianni was aggressive on two fourth downs in the first half. He seemed to settle for field goals after the break.

    “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,” Sirianni said. “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.”

    49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, meanwhile, dialed up four pass plays that gained 27 yards or more, including a double-reverse trick play that had receiver Jauan Jennings hitting running back Christian McCaffrey for a 29-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter.

    Gadget plays aren’t going to solve core offensive problems. But the Eagles offense, overall, wasn’t diverse enough. There weren’t enough passing concepts that utilized the middle of the field. There weren’t enough layups for Hurts schemed off under center play-action plays.

    The offense moved too slowly in its pre-snap operation and it crippled an already battered offensive line in the running game. Left guard Landon Dickerson admitted after the game what was obvious: He was playing through multiple injuries. Center Cam Jurgens never looked fully recovered from offseason back surgery.

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

    Right tackle Lane Johnson missed the final eight games with a Lisfranc foot injury. He practiced last week, but his replacement, Fred Johnson, said he found out Saturday that he would be starting instead.

    “That’s not normal,” Fred Johnson said. “Lane came out this week and prepared like he was a starter. He tested it this week with his reps. Saturday he just felt like he wasn’t ready.”

    But the Eagles, for the most part, were healthy. They returned 10 of 11 starters from a Super Bowl-winning offense. The only new cog was Patullo, so he bore the brunt of blame. But Mailata said that was “very unfair.” Dickerson said he did a “tremendous job.”

    The offensive linemen also acknowledged Patullo’s inexperience.

    “I think he improved over the year,” Fred Johnson said when asked about Patullo. “That’s about it.”

    There was some individual grumbling about the play calling from various corners of the locker room over the course of the year. But it never rose to the level it did when Sirianni demoted former defensive coordinator Sean Desai midseason in 2023.

    Despite Sirianni’s claim last week that the Eagles had found an identity, it never really materialized. They wanted to ride Saquon Barkley and the running game much as they did en route to the Super Bowl a year ago. But it just ended up being a rinse-and-repeat offense for most of the season and again on Sunday: some glimmers of hope in the first half, darkness thereafter.

    “It’s been a common theme for us this year,” Barkley said. “We haven’t done a good enough job of playing complete football, putting two halves together. Sometimes you get into this moment and [believe] we’ll just figure this out. And it just caught up to it.

    “It’s been the same thing all year.”

    Jake Elliott’s missed kick proves costly in what could be his final game with the Eagles

    There’s a word for doing the same thing over and over and expecting the same results. It could be used to describe the furor in Philly whenever an offensive coordinator fails to succeed. Patullo will likely suffer a fate because Eagles leaders won’t want to be labeled as such for sticking with him.

    There’s a strong argument for making a move. But there’s change every season.

    “There’s a lot of great guys in this locker room on this team, lot of great coaches, a lot of great people upstairs,” Dickerson said. “Every team’s got a one-year expiration on it, so this team will never be put together again.”

    The tearing apart starts now.

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

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

    The play that encapsulated everything the Eagles offense wasn’t this season was a play that they themselves didn’t even run. First snap of the fourth quarter Sunday night for the San Francisco 49ers, first-and-10 from the Eagles’ 29-yard line, and there was Kyle Shanahan, calling a double-wing reverse pass that made one of the NFL’s best defenses look like a bunch of suckers. Brock Purdy handed the football to Skyy Moore, who pitched it to Jauan Jennings, who rainbowed a pass toward the end zone to Christian McCaffrey, who didn’t have an Eagles player within 5 yards of him.

    A six-point Eagles lead suddenly was a one-point deficit. And though that touchdown technically wasn’t the winning score in the 49ers’ 23-19 wild-card victory, it was the perfect symbol for the difference between a team that played like it had nothing to lose and a team that played like it was fearful of taking the slightest of chances.

    From Nick Sirianni to Kevin Patullo to Jalen Hurts, the Eagles spent too much of this season acting as if being daring was taboo for them. Sirianni preached the importance of minimizing turnovers, citing the Eagles’ marvelous record during his tenure as head coach when they protected the football better than their opponents. But it turned out that a Super Bowl champion cannot defend its title on caution alone. The 49ers committed two turnovers. The Eagles didn’t commit any. And the final score was the final score.

    In the locker room afterward, player after player used the same word as the cause of the Eagles’ struggles during the regular season and their quick exit from the postseason: execution. “If there are multiple players saying that,” tackle Jordan Mailata asked, “why don’t you believe us?” Good question. Here’s why: It’s a familiar, sometimes default way of thinking among elite athletes: It doesn’t matter what the coach calls. It doesn’t matter if my opponent knows what’s coming. If I do exactly what I’m supposed to do exactly when I’m supposed to do it, nothing can stop me, and nothing can stop us.

    “I don’t think we were playing conservatively,” running back Saquon Barkley said. “I think it comes down to execution. A lot of the same calls we have — I know it was a new offensive coordinator and new guys, but we kind of stuck with the same script, to be honest, of what we did last year. It’s easy to say that when you’re not making the plays. … If we’re making the plays, no one is going to say we’re being conservative.”

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

    The Eagles could get away with following that mantra last season. Their offensive line was the best in the league, and they shifted midseason from having Jalen Hurts throw 30-plus passes a game to giving the ball to Barkley and counting on him for consistent yardage and big plays. But, as Barkley acknowledged, they returned this season with pretty much the same offense — after the other 31 teams had an offseason to study what the Eagles had done and come up with ways to neutralize it.

    “If they call inside zone and we call inside zone and they run it better than us, they just ran it better than us,” Barkley said. “They executed better than us. That’s just my mindset. Maybe I’m wrong.”

    He is. There rarely was any surprise to the Eagles’ attack this season, rarely any moments when A.J. Brown or DeVonta Smith was running free and alone down the field, when Barkley wasn’t dodging defenders in the backfield, when anything looked easy for them. When everyone in the stadium knows you’re likely to call a particular play in a particular situation, yes, you had better be perfect in every aspect of that sequence. But when you catch a defense off guard — as Shanahan did on Jennings’ pass — your execution can be less than ideal, and the play will still work.

    Look at Sunday: Barkley had 15 carries in the first half and 11 in the second. He had 71 yards in the first half and 35 in the second; after halftime, the 49ers started sending more players toward the line of scrimmage just before Hurts took the snap. The proper countermove would have been to throw the ball downfield more often, but the Eagles were reluctant to court such risk. It doesn’t much matter whether Patullo couldn’t scheme up such plays or whether, even if Patullo had opened up the offense, Hurts would have held the ball anyway. The result was the same. They settled for what was safe.

    “I think that’s always the go-to. … People think you take your foot off the gas,” Sirianni said. “We didn’t create enough explosives. They did.”

    To the end, the head coach struggled to see the connection between his conservatism and the problems that plagued his offense. No Super Bowl appearance, no title defense, not even a spot in the playoffs’ second round. Over 18 games, this team wrote its own epitaph.

    The 2025 Eagles: They played not to lose. Which is why they did.

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

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

    This time last year, few fans outside of the most rabid of the NFL knew who Kevin Patullo was. For the record, he was the Eagles’ passing game coordinator and coach Nick Sirianni’s favorite lieutenant.

    Now, everybody knows his name. After 18 games of ineptitude as the Eagles’ offensive coordinator, Patullo will bear the blame for the lost season of 2025, no matter how much he looks like his buddy, Nick.

    Patullo cannot survive the week. The blame will fall to him.

    It might not be true. The defense needed two months to round into shape.

    It might not be fair. Sixty percent of the offensive line was injured to some degree all season, and neither wide receiver A.J. Brown nor running back Saquon Barkley played to his usual standards.

    Still, it’s hard to believe that owner Jeffrey Lurie, who spent $128 million on an offense that cost him more than twice what the defense cost, will give another chance to the least popular assistant coach since Juan Castillo moved from offensive line to defensive coordinator in 2011. Castillo was fired in October 2012, two months ahead of Andy Reid’s departure.

    An offense that featured Barkley, Brown, Jalen Hurts, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, and a well-paid, pedigreed offensive line scored two early touchdowns against the visiting 49ers on Sunday night. And then just six more points.

    It had been 22 years since the Eagles suffered such a gutting home playoff loss, a 14-3 collapse in the NFC championship game. Move over, Carolina.

    The Eagles gave away a 23-19 wild-card playoff loss to a 49ers team that had crossed three time zones with a depleted roster, that, after the second quarter, also had lost one of its better players, tight end George Kittle. Hurts and Patullo’s offense had a chance to score the winning touchdown in the closing minutes, but the drive broke down and failed at the 21-yard line on the quarterback’s fourth-down incompletion intended for Goedert with 40 seconds left.

    Asked his evaluation of Patullo’s first season, Hurts replied: “We’ve all got to get better.”

    Eagles tackle Fred Johnson sits on the bench after the loss to the San Francisco 49ers at Lincoln Financial Field.

    Left tackle Jordan Mailata said, effectively, let he who is without sin cast the first stone:

    “Nobody wants to blame the guy we paid $22 million, so let’s blame the offensive coordinator,” said Mailata, who averages $22 million per season.

    Niners coach Kyle Shanahan acts as his team’s play-caller, and, despite absences and injury, he gave Patullo a master class in scheme and preparation.

    The 49ers’ first possession, comprised mainly of passes for 61 and 11 yards, lent credence to the people who wanted the Eagles to play their starters instead of resting them in Game 17 the week before. The defense looked more than just rusty. It looked inept.

    The Eagles’ maligned offense somehow stayed sharper than their celebrated defense. On its first possession, six runs from Barkley helped move the Eagles to the 1, where tight end Goedert ran the ball for just the fourth time in his career and scored his first rushing touchdown.

    What if everything isn’t Kevin Patullo’s fault? What if the Eagles’ aging, exhausted offense just stinks?

    The Eagles’ next score happened because Barkley waited for Landon Dickerson to block a defender on a 20-yard screen pass. Later, Hurts waited for a defender to clear the path between himself and Goedert, whom Hurts found for a 9-yard touchdown pass.

    The game was punctuated by a sideline incident with 2 minutes, 2 seconds to play in the first half as the Eagles prepared to punt. Head coach Nick Sirianni ran 30 yards down the sideline toward the touchy wide receiver Brown, who, in Sirianni’s view, was taking too much time exiting the field. Brown stopped and appeared to heatedly argue the point. Security chief Dom DiSandro separated them.

    A few seconds later Brown left the bench and shouted in Sirianni’s direction, and was ushered away by sideline personnel and teammates.

    Some of the stars starred.

    Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts runs off the field after the loss to the 49ers.

    Goedert, who this season set an Eagles record with 11 touchdown catches, tied for the league lead, ran for one touchdown — the first tight end to do so in NFL playoff history — and caught another.

    Quinyon Mitchell, the team’s best defensive back since Brian Dawkins, collected his third and fourth interceptions in his five career playoff games.

    Barkley ran 26 times for 106 yards and caught a 20-yard pass.

    Brown? He managed just three catches for 25 yards. He failed on two consecutive deep shots to connect with Hurts, disconnects that immediately preceded his latest sideline incident.

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

    Brown often has expressed frustration with the Eagles offense the past two seasons. Sunday, as he has done for more than a month, he left the locker room without fulfilling his league-mandated obligation to speak with reporters.

    It continued the season’s theme:

    Brown wearing a frown.

    Patullo’s offense breaking down.

    Philly might have seen the last of both of them.

  • Eagles vs. 49ers: Predictions, odds, injuries, playoff schedule, and what everyone is talking about

    Eagles vs. 49ers: Predictions, odds, injuries, playoff schedule, and what everyone is talking about

    The playoffs are finally here. The Eagles officially kick off their quest to repeat as Super Bowl champions on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field against the San Francisco 49ers.

    Here’s everything you need to know ahead of their wild-card matchup.

    How to watch Eagles vs. Niners

    Eagles vs. Niners will kick off on Fox at 4:30 p.m. ET. Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady will call the game from the booth, and Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi will be on the sidelines.

    If you’d rather listen to Merrill Reese and Mike Quick call the game, the radio broadcast can be found on 94.1 WIP, and if you’re not heading to the Linc, but want to watch the game with your fellow Birds fans, here are a few spots to check out.

    Eagles’ postseason adjustments, concerns with the offense, breakout players, and other AMA highlights

    Playoff bracket and wild-card schedule

    There will be six games played over the next three days. Here’s the full playoff schedule for the wild-card round …

    NFC

    • (4) Rams vs. (5) Panthers | Saturday, 4:30 p.m., Fox
    • (7) Packers vs. (2) Bears | Saturday, 8 p.m., Prime Video
    • (6) Niners vs. (3) Eagles | Sunday, 4:30 p.m., Fox
    • Bye: (1) Seahawks

    AFC

    • (6) Bills vs. (3) Jaguars | Sunday, 1 p.m., CBS
    • (7) Chargers vs. (2) Patriots | Sunday, 8:15 p.m., NBC
    • (5) Texans vs. (4) Steelers | Monday, 8:15 p.m., ESPN
    • Bye: (1) Broncos

    Who could the Eagles face in the divisional round?

    First, the Birds need to take care of business on Sunday, but if they do, they could face one of three potential remaining NFC teams: the Los Angeles Rams, the Carolina Panthers, or the Chicago Bears. They could not, however, face the Seattle Seahawks or Green Bay Packers.

    The lowest advancing seed will play the top-seeded Seahawks in Seattle. And because the Panthers and Rams — the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds, respectively — play one another, a team with a lower seed than the Eagles is guaranteed to advance. The Packers (or Niners, if they beat the Eagles) could also be in that spot.

    If the Packers beat the Bears, Green Bay would be the lowest remaining seed and would face Seattle. The Eagles would then play the winner of the Panthers-Ram game, and would get to host that team in the divisional round. However, if the Bears win, the Eagles would travel to Chicago for the divisional round, with the Panthers-Rams winner heading to Seattle.

    Because the Eagles-Niners game is the final NFC wild-card matchup, the winner won’t have to wait to find out its opponent.

    The Eagles could get offensive tackle Lane Johnson, left, back for Sunday’s wild-card game.

    Final injury report

    It sounds like the Eagles won’t know until Sunday whether or not right tackle Lane Johnson, who has been out since Week 11 with a Lisfranc (foot) injury, will make his return to the offensive line. Johnson, interior lineman Brett Toth (concussion), and outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari (hamstring) are all listed as questionable for the Birds’ wild-card game. Ojulari was the only of the three who practiced fully on Friday. Johnson and Toth were limited all week.

    On the flip side, the Eagles will be getting several banged-up players back in time for the playoffs. Defensive tackle Jalen Carter (hip), linebacker Nakobe Dean (hamstring), edge rusher Jaelan Phillips (ankle), tight end Dallas Goedert (knee), and safety Marcus Epps (concussion) were all full participants in Friday’s practice and are expected to play.

    Eagles officially list Lane Johnson as questionable for wild-card round

    Meanwhile the 49ers have quite a few injuries, including to several starters. Veteran tackle Trent Williams, linebackers Dee Winters and Luke Gifford — after the team put LB Tatum Bethune on IR earlier this week — and cornerback Renardo Green are among those listed on the injury report for Sunday’s game. The following players are all questionable:

    • WR Jacob Cowing (hamstring)
    • LB Luke Gifford (quadricep)
    • CB Renardo Green (ankle)
    • WR Ricky Pearsall (knee, ankle)
    • DL Keion White (groin, hamstring)
    • T Trent Williams (hamstring)
    • LB Dee Winters (ankle)

    Eagles-Niners odds

    The Birds are a 5.5-point favorite at DraftKings and a 4.5-point favorite at FanDuel as of Friday afternoon. The over/under on both sites is set at 44.5.

    As for the Super Bowl, the Seahawks are the betting favorite to win it all. At FanDuel, the Eagles have the fourth-best odds, at +800, behind Seattle, the Rams, and the Broncos. At DraftKings, the Eagles have the fifth-best odds, at +950, also behind the Patriots.

    For more betting lines, click here.

    Kevin Patullo is in his first year as the Eagles offensive coordinator.

    Storylines to watch

    What is the state of the Eagles’ offense? With Johnson potentially set to make his first start since Nov. 16 against the Detroit Lions, the banged-up offensive line could get a big boost.

    In the starting offense’s final game of the year in Buffalo, they played one of their best first halves and worst second halves of the year. Which version will show up at the Linc on Sunday? And what will that mean for the future of offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo?

    More storylines to watch:

    • Saquon Barkley is extra excited for this weekend’s showdown with Niners running back Christian McCaffrey, whom he calls “one of the best to ever do it.”
    • Linebacker Nakobe Dean’s return from injury could be critical against 49ers ground attack. After his last playoff game ended in injury, he’s “elated” to be back.
    • The Eagles are entering the playoffs relatively healthy, while the 49ers have a few key injuries.
    • Could the weather be a factor? Wind gusts are expected to reach 40 mph Sunday.
    • Will Jalen Hurts’ “clutch gene” be the difference against the Niners?

    One number to know

    5 — The total number of No. 3 seeds who have reached the Super Bowl since seeding was introduced in 1975.

    Eagles vs. 49ers: These numbers and trends could impact Sunday’s result
    Jalen Hurts and the Eagles last faced the 49ers in Dec. 2023.

    Our Eagles-Niners predictions

    Here’s how our writers are predicting Sunday’s game …

    Jeff McLane: “There’s a push when it comes to the Eagles’ underperforming offense vs. the 49ers’ subpar defense; but I give the edge to a great Eagles defense over a very good, but not great 49ers offense.” | Eagles 23, Niners 17.

    Jeff Neiburg: “It hasn’t been an encouraging season from the Eagles’ offense, to put it mildly, but the 49ers are down multiple linebackers and don’t have an abundance of talent in the secondary. If the Eagles don’t beat themselves, which you can’t rule out, they should be able to establish a running game that gets the offense back on track.” | Eagles 24, Niners 20.

    Olivia Reiner: “Maybe the Eagles can finish what the Seahawks started last week and continue to punish the 49ers on the ground. Maybe Jalen Hurts and the passing attack can exploit the 49ers’ thin inside linebacker corps with passes over the middle of the field. Neither have been characteristic of the offense this season, though. Or, maybe, the defense will stifle Shanahan’s offense while Nick Sirianni, Kevin Patullo, and the Eagles offense do just enough to get by. It wouldn’t be the first time.” | Eagles 24, Niners 20.

    Matt Breen: “The Niners had a great finish to the season before their dud against the Seahawks, but they just seem too banged up to hang with the Eagles.” | Eagles 24, Niners 13.

    Jeff McLane’s keys to Eagles vs. 49ers in the wild-card round

    National media predictions

    The national media is divided over this one, but there’s a definitely lean toward the home team. Here’s a look at how they are predicting Sunday’s game …

    Nick Sirianni opted to rest his starters in Week 18 despite a chance to get the No. 2 seed in the NFC.

    What we’re saying about the Eagles

    Our columnists had plenty to say about the Eagles this week, including Mike Sielski, who believes their toughest opponent is not any team in the bracket, but themselves.

    “From Eagles fans to the players themselves, there has seemed to be an ever-present blanket of expectations weighing on them. It’s as if the only thing that would make anyone happy and relieved at any moment this season would be another Super Bowl victory — a benchmark so lofty that it virtually guarantees people will be worried at best and miserable at worst unless the Eagles win every game 49-0.”

    Here’s more from our columnists …

    David Murphy: “The pertinent question for Kevin Patullo and the Eagles now is what the offense will look like moving forward. This is a weird time of year. Sunday’s wild-card game against the 49ers could be the start of a month of football that leaves us memory-holing our four months of angst. Or, it could be the start of the offseason, and a litany of questions that sound way closer to January 2024 than January 2025.”

    What we know (and don’t) about the Eagles entering the wild-card round vs. the 49ers

    Marcus Hayes: “It was Zack Baun. The best linebacker in football over the last two seasons. The man tasked Sunday with covering and tackling Christian McCaffrey, the best offensive player in football, and George Kittle, the league’s best tight end. In a city that still worships linebackers like Chuck Bednarik, Seth Joyner, and Bill Bergey, Baun somehow remains largely anonymous.”

    Mike Sielski: “There’s more than one way to be an excellent head coach, even if one of those ways gets a little more attention, a little more scrutiny, a little more credit these days. The film can tell you how good a coach Kyle Shanahan is. What Nick Sirianni does well sometimes isn’t so easy to see. Come Sunday, may the best savant win.”

    San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is a big Vic Fangio fan.

    What the Niners are saying

    Kyle Shanahan is one of Vic Fangio’s biggest fans. Shanahan is such a big fan, that he’s tried to hire Fangio in San Francisco “all the times that there’s been an opportunity.”

    “I mean, Vic schematically, he has always been the best to me,” Shanahan said. “As good as anyone there is. Has a very sound scheme that he doesn’t need to change up very much. It just naturally changes with how he does his coverages, how he does his fronts, the personnel groupings he does. He’s very good at getting a bead on what you’re trying to do and making you adjust.”

    49ers coach Kyle Shanahan has ‘always respected’ Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio

    Sunday should be an extremely hostile environment for the Niners. Tight end George Kittle recalled a few of his craziest stories on Thursday.

    “I just thoroughly enjoy it because it’s so unique every single time,” Kittle said. “I’ll never forget my rookie season, the year they won the Super Bowl, it was my first time playing in the Linc. There were like four 10-year-old kids holding a seven-foot tall papier-mâché middle finger that had a rotating thing on it that made the middle finger come up. That was the coolest thing, I’ll never forget it. That was my rookie year and I was like this is excellent.”

    Kittle isn’t the only member of the 49ers offense looking forward to playing in the Linc. Kyle Juszczyk is also ready to take on Eagles fans.

    “It’s more difficult [going into a hostile environment] but the payoff is better,” Juszczyk told reporters. “There’s nothing like that feeling of going into a hostile territory and getting a win. Yeah, it’s a little bit more difficult, but it’ll be worth it in the end.”

    The 49ers know the Eagles — and their fans — but downplay history in Philly: ‘They hate all of us equally’

    What else we’re reading (and watching)

    • 👨‍⚖️ A rowdy game against the 49ers game led to Eagles Court inside Veterans Stadium, where the hardest part was “keeping a straight face.”
    • 🚒 Philly bar Ladder 15 turned away 49ers fans who were planning a playoff takeover. “We were backing our city,” the managers said.
    • ⚾ To the Eagles, Vic Fangio is a savvy defensive mind. To his native Dunmore, he’s a former umpire, bartender, and “Hector.”
    • 🎞️ Eagles-49ers film review: Christian McCaffrey’s touches, dangerous George Kittle, and where Brock Purdy struggles
    • 🖊️ Dallas Goedert tried to keep things light amid a trying offseason. He ended up having an unlikely career year.
    • 📺 NBC’s Cris Collinsworth says Eagles fans haven’t changed.