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Tag: Nick Sirianni

  • Eagles backups fall short against Commanders, squander chance to collect NFC’s No. 2 seed

    Eagles backups fall short against Commanders, squander chance to collect NFC’s No. 2 seed

    The No. 3 seed will have to do for the reigning Super Bowl champions.

    With Nick Sirianni opting to rest most of the starters, the Eagles fell, 24-17, to the Washington Commanders on Sunday night. After the Los Angeles Rams’ victory over the Arizona Cardinals, the Eagles will draw the No. 6-seeded San Francisco 49ers in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

    Meanwhile, the Detroit Lions defeated the Chicago Bears, 19-16, on Sunday. Because of the Eagles’ loss, the Bears clinched the NFC’s No. 2 seed.

    The Eagles backups couldn’t pull off the win. Tanner McKee and the offense got out to an early 7-0 lead over the Commanders, who came out on top after three lead changes throughout the game.

    The Eagles had multiple opportunities to even the score late in the fourth quarter but turned it over on downs twice. With 1 minute, 21 seconds remaining, McKee threw incomplete to Kylen Granson on fourth-and-3 from the Commanders’ 31.

    The Eagles got the ball back with 53 seconds left at their own 28, but McKee couldn’t make anything happen (three incompletions, one sack).

    Here’s our instant analysis from the Eagles’ regular-season finale:

    Commanders defensive tackle Daron Payne grabs Eagles quarterback Tanner McKee.

    Roller coaster for McKee

    In the most meaningful game of his NFL career to date, McKee made big plays and big mistakes.

    He was efficient in the passing game to start. Through his first two possessions, McKee went 5-for-7 for 82 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown pass to Grant Calcaterra that put the Eagles up, 7-0.

    He also had DeVonta Smith at his disposal for those first two possessions, as the 27-year-old receiver sought to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards for the season. He needed just 44 yards to hit the milestone and he quickly earned them. McKee opened the game with a 17-yard completion to Smith in the flat.

    Smith caught two more passes on the ensuing possession, an 8-yarder and a leaping 27-yard grab over Commanders cornerback Jonathan Jones. His three catches for 52 yards brought him to 1,008 on the season, prompting Sirianni to pull him from the game.

    McKee and the Eagles offense faltered in the red zone on the next two possessions. In the second quarter, they marched 54 yards down the field to the Commanders’ 6-yard line, but Washington stopped the Eagles on fourth-and-2. McKee had pressure in his face from defensive end Jacob Martin, fled the pocket to his right, and threw the ball away.

    Later in the second quarter following an interception from Jalyx Hunt, Darius Cooper caught a 17-yard, in-breaking pass to the Commanders’ 5. However, the rookie receiver spun the ball at Jones in celebration and was flagged for taunting.

    The Eagles couldn’t overcome the 15-yard penalty. On third-and-10 from the Commanders’ 20 with 59 seconds left in the first half, McKee threw an interception to safety Jeremy Reaves in the end zone on a pass intended for Jahan Dotson.

    “Just me trying to force it,” McKee said of his interception after the game. “Felt like I tried to get too much back in one play. I saw the coverage, I knew what it was, knew it was going to be a tight throw, tried to fit a really tight ball in. Just dumb, trying to force it. Obviously that was one of the big things that I can learn from.”

    The Commanders moved into field goal range on the brief possession that followed the pick, setting up Jake Moody for a 56-yard field goal to pull Washington ahead, 10-7.

    In the third quarter, McKee turned down an opportunity to scramble for a first down on second-and-1, instead throwing an incomplete pass intended for Cooper. Tank Bigsby couldn’t pick up the requisite yard on third down, forcing the Eagles to punt from their own 29.

    McKee’s performance continued to slide on the final drive of the game. He threw a pair of incomplete passes on first and second downs, took a sack on third down, then tossed another out of bounds on fourth.

    He finished the night going 21-for-40 for 241 yards with a touchdown, and an interception.

    Jalyx Hunt made an impact, but the defense faltered late.

    Hunt’s surge overshadowed

    A handful of key Eagles defensive players earned significant snaps against the Commanders, including Hunt, Jordan Davis, and Moro Ojomo.

    Hunt, the 2024 third-rounder out of Houston Christian, was clutch against the Commanders with his pair of takeaways. In the second quarter, as the Commanders sought to break a 7-7 tie, Hunt dove to undercut a pass intended for Deebo Samuel and picked off Josh Johnson deep in Eagles territory.

    He had an assist from Joshua Uche, who generated the initial pressure on Johnson that forced him to make an ill-advised throw.

    Hunt also scooped up a botched snap in the third quarter, giving McKee and the offense prime field position at the Commanders’ 28. The fumble recovery set up Bigsby’s 2-yard touchdown run.

    But the second-year edge rusher’s heroics were overshadowed by a shaky showing from the Eagles’ depth cornerbacks. Jakorian Bennett, Kelee Ringo, and Mac McWilliams combined for six defensive pass interference or holding penalties (three on Bennett, two on Ringo, one on McWilliams).

    In the fourth quarter, Bennett’s pass interference penalty in the end zone gave the Commanders a fresh set of downs. The Commanders capitalized with a 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end John Bates, tying the score at 17.

    “It is what it is, I guess,” Bennett said. “I’m going to try and clean up on film and whatnot. But I’m just out there trying to play my game.”

    Ringo’s pass interference call, which Terry McLaurin drew halfway through the fourth quarter, took the Commanders from their own 23 to the Eagles’ 45. The Commanders eventually took advantage of the field position when Johnson scrambled for the game-winning 1-yard touchdown run to put his team up, 24-17.

    Tank Bigsby got some time in the rushing spotlight in Week 18.

    Big Tank

    With Saquon Barkley resting, Bigsby earned his most extended look of the season since the Eagles acquired him from the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sept. 9.

    He rose to the occasion. The 5-foot-11, 215-pound running back collected a season-high 75 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. He also snagged a catch for a career-long 31 yards in the second quarter, turning a dump-off into a long gain while breaking a tackle from Jordan Magee.

    In the third quarter, Bigsby scored his second career touchdown as an Eagle. After Hunt recovered a Johnson fumble in the red zone, Bigsby had five straight carries, starting at the Commanders’ 18-yard line. His 2-yard punch-in on third-and-goal allowed the Eagles to regain the lead, 14-10.

    “My confidence has been there,” Bigsby said. “When I get the opportunity, be the best player I can be for my teammates and be the best player I can be for this team.”

    Injury report

    Brandon Johnson, who started at safety alongside Sydney Brown, injured his ankle while attempting to pick off a deflected pass in the second quarter.

    With Johnson out, Michael Carter moved from nickel cornerback to safety. McWilliams, the fifth-round rookie out of Central Florida, slotted in at nickel corner.

    Calcaterra hurt his ankle and knee on a hip-drop tackle from Reaves in the third quarter.

    Brett Toth was evaluated for a concussion in the fourth quarter and did not return to action.

  • Nick Sirianni defends taunting Bills fans: ‘We had fun winning that game’

    Nick Sirianni defends taunting Bills fans: ‘We had fun winning that game’

    During the 2023 season, an emotional Nick Sirianni taunted Kansas City Chiefs fans following a narrow win by the Eagles.

    “Hey! I don’t hear any [expletive] anymore Chiefs fans!” Sirianni yelled as he left the field. “See ya!”

    Things went downhill from there. The Eagles went on to lose five of their next six games in an epic collapse that cost them an NFC East title, followed by an early playoff exit.

    That trash-talking Sirianni was back following Sunday’s win against Buffalo, where the Birds coach offered a similar-sounding taunt aimed at Bills fans.

    “There was a lot of talking by those Buffalo fans coming in. Not so much anymore!” Sirianni shouted as he exited the field. “Not so much anymore.”

    Wide receiver A.J. Brown, who was walking in next to Sirianni, didn’t appear too impressed by his coach’s outburst. Neither was 94.1 WIP morning show host Joe DeCamara.

    “Can he just not help himself?” DeCamara said during Monday’s broadcast. “I think he’s a great coach. This is an aspect of his thing I could do without.”

    So what got Sirianni so worked up? During an interview Tuesday morning on WIP, Sirianni said it didn’t have anything to do with growing up in nearby Jamestown, N.Y., or having friends and family in the stands. Instead, he offered a simpler explanation.

    “Football is fun,” Sirianni said. “It’s OK to show emotion. It’s fun to show emotion. Like, it’s OK to be excited.”

    Sirianni certainly hasn’t been shy showing his emotion during his five-year tenure as Eagles coach. It has led to some awkward moments, like when he yelled at Birds fans in the stands last season or was caught mugging for the camera after the Eagles went up 14-0 on the New York Giants during a 2023 playoff game.

    The outbursts might cause some fans to cringe, but you can’t question the results. Since Sirianni took over as head coach in 2021, the Eagles have advanced to the playoffs five straight seasons, played in two Super Bowls, and took home a Lombardi Trophy last season. Sirianni already ranks second in wins in franchise history (including the playoffs), and is just one of five head coaches in NFL history with a career winning percentage above .700.

    Even during Sunday’s game, Sirianni was seen on the sideline jawing with Bills players and celebrating following a first-quarter touchdown pass to Dallas Goedert.

    “We had fun winning that game,” Sirianni said. “And, yeah, you’re going to be emotional after the game and you’re going to be emotional in the game.”

    “I love seeing our guys show emotion after they make a big play, and I show emotion after they make a big play,” Sirianni added. “That’s one of the reasons why you get into coaching. You can’t make plays anymore, and you want to help other people make plays.”

    No update on whether Eagles starters will play

    If Sirianni has made a decision on whether to play or rest his starters Sunday against the Washington Commanders, he didn’t open up about it Tuesday morning.

    “We still have time,” Sirianni said. “There’s benefits to rest, there’s benefits to play, and we’ve just got to do what we think is best for the football team.”

    The Eagles will likely enter the playoffs as the No. 3 seed and face either the San Francisco 49ers or Los Angeles Rams in the wild-card round. But the Birds could move up to the No. 2 seed and face the Green Bay Packers with a win Sunday and a loss by the Chicago Bears against the Detroit Lions.

    Rams loss eliminates one Eagles wild-card opponent as playoffs approach

    Columnist David Murphy thinks Sirianni’s lack of a straight answer is a signal he’s giving serious thought to resting his starters.

    “If the Eagles punt on Week 18, it will allow the coaching staff and front office to spend an extra week preparing for the playoffs. It will give Jalen Hurts and the rest of the starters the ability to participate in that scouting and game-planning process,” Murphy wrote. “That’s a big, big deal.”

  • The Eagles are going to keep driving you crazy with their passive offense. Get used to it.

    The Eagles are going to keep driving you crazy with their passive offense. Get used to it.

    The quieter his offense is, the louder Nick Sirianni gets. There he was Sunday night, strutting down a tunnel at Highmark Stadium in the aftermath of the Eagles’ 13-12 victory over the Bills, crowing about how all those Buffalo fans had nothing more to say, how they didn’t have so much bleep to talk anymore. He caught up to A.J. Brown and turned to look him in the eye, and Brown shot a smirk back that said, Coach, did you watch us try to move the ball after halftime?

    Did Sirianni watch it? Of course. Did he care? My guess: only so much. If you’re complaining about the Eagles’ impotent offense and unimaginative play-calling both from Sunday’s second half and from several previous games this season, if you’re waiting for Sirianni and coordinator Kevin Patullo to have some eureka moment and suddenly start dazzling everyone with their play designs and a wide-open style of offense, you’re missing the key to understanding the 2025 Eagles.

    They want to play like this. They want to rely on their defense. They want to limit every and any available possibility that their offense and special teams might commit a turnover. It took some time and some trial and some error, but they’ve settled on an approach, and this is it.

    Running back Saquon Barkley (right) embraces defensive tackle Jalen Carter after the Eagles defense stopped the Bills on a two-point conversion attempt late in the fourth quarter Sunday.

    By they, I don’t necessarily mean Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman. They’re happy with the wins, to be sure, and they’re surely thrilled that Roseman and Vic Fangio have worked to create a defense of such quality that the Eagles can gain all of 17 yards in a single half and still hold on to beat a Super Bowl contender, which is what happened Sunday. But you can pretty much guarantee that Lurie, in particular, is looking at the money and salary-cap space that he has allocated to Brown, Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, and Cam Jurgens and asking himself, Did I really spend all that money so Jalen could hand the ball to Saquon on delayed inside handoffs in second-and-long situations?

    No, by they, I mean Sirianni. If he rented a small plane, attached to its tail a banner that read, WHEN WE DON’T TURN IT OVER WE WIN, and flew it over Lincoln Financial Field, he could not be more overt about his intentions here, about the way he wants the Eagles to play. He even put the lie to the notion that nothing revealing comes out of HBO Max’s Hard Knocks series anymore, because the cameras captured him in a team meeting earlier this month spelling out this strategy.

    Eagles’ inexplicable second half offense nearly soils defensive gem vs. Josh Allen and the Bills

    “This is what it’s about this week,” he said to an auditorium full of players. “We’ve got to be obsessed with the football. We’ve got to be obsessed with the [expletive] football. When we take care of the football, it is so hard to beat us. When we turn the football over as a defense, it is so hard to beat us. …

    “This is the most important fundamental we have. We’ve got to be so locked in to this, because as we continue on this year, this is what presses us: the ball, the ball, the ball, the ball. We win when we take care of the football. We win when we turn them over on defense.”

    During Sirianni’s five-year tenure as their head coach, the Eagles have won 42 of the 44 games in which they have committed fewer turnovers than their opponents; that record includes Sunday’s win, when Josh Allen lost a fumble while trying to fend off Jaelan Phillips and the Eagles did nothing so daring that might have cost them possession of the football. That 42-2 mark is a stark and striking statistic, one that has a talismanic quality for Sirianni. He believes in its power so deeply that he is willing to bet that the Eagles can build an early lead, then hold any opponent at bay thereafter.

    Let us raise a glass to the Tush Push. It’s dead, and the Eagles have to find an alternative.

    Two games from the last five weeks are particularly insightful in this regard. On Nov. 23, the Eagles lost to the Dallas Cowboys, 24-21, after getting out to an early 21-point lead. On Dec. 8, they moved the ball well against the Los Angeles Chargers but still lost, 22-19 in overtime, largely because Hurts threw four interceptions and lost a fumble. One could certainly conclude from those losses that the Eagles should have continued to be aggressive on offense, that it would be a mistake for them to dial back their aggressiveness. They tore up the Dallas defense for that game’s first 15½ minutes, and it took an all-time terrible performance from Hurts, maybe the worst of his career, to cost them a victory against the Chargers.

    Eagles coach Nick Sirianni banters with Buffalo Bills fans after Sunday’s victory in Orchard Park, N.Y.

    But after scoring a combined 60 points against a couple of bad teams (the Las Vegas Raiders and Washington Commanders), the Eagles went right back to being conservative against a good team, the Bills. The lesson that Sirianni took from the Dallas and L.A. losses wasn’t, In one game, we took our foot off the gas pedal, and it came back to bite us. In the other, Jalen had the kind of game that he’s unlikely to have again. So we can afford to open things up. No, the lesson he took was, We opened things up, and we lost. We can’t afford to do that again.

    Can the Eagles return to the Super Bowl and win it again this way? Yes, they can. But that doesn’t mean they will, and even if they do, their journey there will be stressful and tenuous, with winter storms and giant potholes. But this is the road they’ve chosen. So stop mentioning the firepower that they have on offense, the players whose talents are being wasted. Stop arguing over whether Hurts is a winning winner who just wins or a fraud who has been propped up by the infrastructure around him. Those discussions are pointless. This is who the Eagles have been this season. This is who they are. This is who they’re going to be. They don’t have Trent Dilfer at quarterback, but they’re going to play like they do. Get used to it.

  • The Eagles wouldn’t be foolish to rest their starters in Week 18. But they’d better be right.

    The Eagles wouldn’t be foolish to rest their starters in Week 18. But they’d better be right.

    I really don’t know where to begin. Maybe with my Ron Burgundy voice.

    I don’t believe you.

    That means you, Nick Sirianni. And you, fellow media members. The big question from Sirianni’s news conference Monday isn’t a question at all. In fact, the Eagles coach is making an obvious error — albeit minor and forgivable — by playing along. There is simply no possible way he could be entertaining the idea of resting his starters in their regular-season finale against the Commanders in Week 18. Not with all the Eagles would stand to gain as the No. 2 seed, which would be theirs with a win over Washington and a Bears loss to the Lions.

    Why wouldn’t the Eagles go for the No. 2 seed? Nick Sirianni pointed to the Super Bowl for some insight.

    Right?

    Uh … right?

    “This is a marathon of a season,” Sirianni said Monday, one day after the Eagles eked out a 13-12 win over the Bills and then watched the Bears lose to the 49ers and thus fail to secure the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs. “Yes, your seeding is not locked down yet, but you are thinking, ‘Hey, can I put ourselves in the best position seeding-wise,’ while also you’re thinking to yourself how important byes are and creating them if you don’t earn the right for the first-round bye. Those are all things you’ve got to think through and go through.

    “I think a lot of guys would say last year that that was a big deal, being able to have a built-in bye last year to set us up for what we ultimately did last year.”

    C’mon, Nick! I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt here. You’re only doing that thing where you play the dummy on TV. We both know how good at this job you are. Few coaches in the NFL have as good of an understanding of what it takes to win in this league. Nobody has a better feel for his team, for his players, for his competitive reality. You know who the Eagles are and what they need and what situations will set them up for success.

    Nick Sirianni was unsurprisingly noncommittal when asked Monday if he intended to roll out his starters for the final regular-season game or rest them.

    Surely, you would agree with this long list of things that your team doesn’t need:

    • The Eagles don’t need a wild-card matchup against the Rams. Nor the 49ers. Nor the Seahawks. But especially not the Rams.
    • They don’t need a divisional round road game against a team they’ve already lost to in a stadium where the high temperature on Monday was 24 degrees with wind speeds well into the double digits.
    • They certainly don’t need any whiff of a quarterback controversy, which means they certainly don’t need to spend next week prepping for a playoff game while answering questions about Tanner McKee. And that means they don’t need their home crowd to watch McKee shred the hapless Commanders on Sunday, one week after Jalen Hurts failed to complete a pass in the second half of their narrow win over the Bills.

    The Eagles would eliminate all of these possibilities by securing the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs. So, why wouldn’t they try their darndest to do so? Why would Sirianni even think about keeping Hurts on the sidelines and sending McKee and the second-teamers out there on Sunday?

    Eagles just might muddle their way to another Super Bowl, thanks to Jalen Carter and the NFL’s best defense

    I’m assuming the argument is as follows. The Eagles do not control their own destiny with regard to the second seed. If the Bears beat the Lions next week, Chicago gets the No. 2 seed, regardless of how the Eagles fare against the Commanders. The Lions don’t have anything to play for and the Bears just came up 3 yards short of beating a 49ers team that has a 50% chance to enter the playoffs as the NFC’s top overall seed. Chances are, the Bears beat the Lions (they are 2.5-point favorites). Thus, chances are, the Eagles are locked into the third seed and will be hosting one of the three NFC West powers instead of the sputtering Packers. In which case, the Eagles would gain far more by giving their starters an extra week to rest and prepare for the playoffs than they would by winning a meaningless game.

    OK, I’ll admit. It’s a compelling argument, especially when you consider how much the Eagles seemed to gain by resting their starters in Week 18 last season.

    An even more compelling argument is the one that Sirianni wouldn’t dare say out loud. I suspect it might be the real reason he is giving serious thought to resting his starters. The reason is Sirianni himself. And his coaches. If the Eagles punt on Week 18, it will allow the coaching staff and front office to spend an extra week preparing for the playoffs. It will give Hurts and the rest of the starters the ability to participate in that scouting and game-planning process. That’s a big, big deal.

    Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts did not complete any of his seven passes in the second half against the Bills.

    It doesn’t really matter that the Eagles don’t know who they will be playing. The extra week would allow them to prepare for everybody, and those preparations can pay dividends throughout the playoffs if and when they run into those teams. In short, rest for the players is more of a bonus. The real benefit of looking past the Commanders is the preparation.

    On the other hand … The benefits of the No. 2 seed are much more real this year than they are in a lot of years. The Packers are, by far, the easier matchup in the wild-card round. You’d much rather host them and then host a divisional round game and then potentially host an NFC championship game than any of the alternatives.

    As for the McKee thing … Sirianni will shrug it off. I can’t imagine it will be a consideration. But you are fooling yourself if you don’t look at it as a potential downside. If Hurts’ backup goes out there and looks like a world-beater on the eve of the playoffs, it will only ratchet up the pressure on the Eagles’ starter. To be clear, the people calling for McKee would be wildly off base. It’s a silly notion to think anybody but Hurts gives the Eagles the best chance to win a football game. But perceptions are what they are. And they can definitely bleed into a locker room.

    Eagles’ inexplicable second half offense nearly soils defensive gem vs. Josh Allen and the Bills

    Long story short, Sirianni’s decision is much tougher than it looks at first glance. The extra week of internal preparation is incredibly valuable. The Eagles can still beat the Commanders with the backups playing, while allowing the starters to focus their practice weeks on the postseason.

    I just keep coming back to one thought. Imagine if everything breaks in a certain direction. The Bears lose. The Rams end up as the sixth seed. But the Eagles’ backups lose to the Commanders and their road to the Super Bowl ends up being home vs. the Rams, then on the road at the Bears, then on the road at the Seahawks or 49ers.

    All season, Sirianni preaches that the NFL is all about handling the opponent in front of you and then letting the other stuff sort itself out. Now, more than ever, he should listen to himself.

  • Why wouldn’t the Eagles go for the No. 2 seed? Nick Sirianni pointed to the Super Bowl for some insight.

    Why wouldn’t the Eagles go for the No. 2 seed? Nick Sirianni pointed to the Super Bowl for some insight.

    If you were waiting with bated breath for Eagles coach Nick Sirianni to appear in front of a camera Monday afternoon and reveal his exact plans for Sunday’s season finale vs. the Washington Commanders, you are probably new around here.

    Sirianni was unsurprisingly noncommittal when asked if he intended to roll out his starters for the final regular-season game or rest them with the No. 2 seed in the NFC — and a guaranteed home playoff game if you win your first one — still up for grabs.

    “It’s not a decision I have to make today or even tomorrow,” Sirianni said Monday, a day after the Eagles’ 13-12 victory over the Buffalo Bills coupled with Chicago’s loss kept the Eagles alive for the No. 2 seed in the conference.

    Eagles’ inexplicable second half offense nearly soils defensive gem vs. Josh Allen and the Bills

    The Eagles need to beat Washington at Lincoln Financial Field and hope the Bears lose at home to the Detroit Lions in order to leapfrog Chicago into second place in the NFC. Both games will kick off at 4:25 p.m. Sunday, so the Eagles won’t have any additional insight before kickoff. In addition to the possible second home playoff game, the second seed would mean hosting a banged-up Green Bay team in the wild-card round and avoiding a more difficult NFC West opponent.

    “Things are still up in the air as far as seeding goes,” Sirianni said. “It’s pretty similar to where we were last week.”

    The Eagles, of course, played their starters as normal on Sunday following a week when resting and seeding were topics of conversation at the NovaCare Complex.

    Jalen Hurts and the Eagles can clinch the No. 2 seed in the NFC with a win over the Commanders on Sunday and a Bears loss to the Lions.

    “We’ve done it both ways,” Sirianni said. “We’ve had opportunities to rest; we’ve had opportunities to continue to get a better seed and played.

    “You go through your process, but every season is a little bit different, every team is a little bit different. We’ll end up doing what we think is best for the team.”

    Given the advantage the No. 2 spot provides, it’s fair to wonder why the Eagles wouldn’t pursue it vigorously.

    Sirianni pointed to the past when asked that question Monday. The Eagles rested their starters in the season finale last year, when they were locked into the No. 2 seed. When the Eagles reached the Super Bowl in the 2022 season, they played their starters in the finale to win, earn the top seed, and create a bye for themselves.

    Eagles favored over Commanders in Week 18; Super Bowl odds take a dip despite win

    Bye weeks and extended rests have gone pretty well for Sirianni’s teams. The Eagles are 11-4 in games that come at least 10 days after their previous contests (including playoff games). That’s a winning percentage of .733, which is more than Sirianni’s career winning percentage of .699 (including playoffs).

    “This is a marathon of a season,” Sirianni said. “Yes, your seeding is not locked down yet, but you are thinking, ‘Hey, can I put ourselves in the best position seeding-wise,’ while also you’re thinking to yourself how important byes are and creating them if you don’t earn the right for the first-round bye. Those are all things you got to think through and go through.

    “I think a lot of guys would say last year that that was a big deal, being able to have a built-in bye last year to set us up for what we ultimately did last year.”

    Time will tell how the Eagles decide to approach Sunday.

    The Eagles may believe they can have it both ways — resting some starters and playing others, while still being in a good position to beat Washington. The 4-12 Commanders are a weaker opponent that could be starting third-stringer Josh Johnson at quarterback.

    “You guys don’t know what we’re doing yet,” Sirianni joked. “We’re leaning and getting all the information.”

  • Eagles’ inexplicable second half offense nearly soils defensive gem vs. Josh Allen and the Bills

    Eagles’ inexplicable second half offense nearly soils defensive gem vs. Josh Allen and the Bills

    ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Jalen Hurts sat at his locker stall and nodded as Nick Sirianni spoke. The quarterback listened intently to his coach until he ended the conversation with an adage that summed up the Eagles’ defensive-minded 13-12 victory over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

    “Hey,” Hurts said to a parting Sirianni, “a win’s a win.”

    They mostly have defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s unit to thank. Special teams should get kudos as well. And lastly, they should give gratitude to Bills coach Sean McDermott, who shockingly went for two and the win despite the ineptitude of the Eagles offense in the second half.

    Eagles grades: Jalen Hurts is silenced in second half; Jalyx Hunt’s breakout game helps beat the Bills

    For more than three quarters, Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen was rendered mortal by the Eagles defense. But he flipped a switch and drove the Bills to two touchdowns in the final frame as Hurts and Co. kept going three-and-out.

    McDermott’s team would have had all the momentum going into overtime. But Fangio’s group answered the bell once more and hurried Allen into throwing his two-point conversion attempt wide of receiver Khalil Shakir.

    It might have been the wind that followed a steady rain at Highmark Stadium, but a collective sigh of relief seemed to release from an Eagles sideline full of offensive players holding their breath. Namely, Sirianni, Hurts, and offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo.

    The second half was that bad, especially when you consider the Bills’ suspect run defense. The Eagles ran 17 plays and gained just 17 yards before Hurts knelt in the victory formation. They produced one first down. Hurts didn’t complete any of his seven pass attempts.

    In the first half, the offense seemed to build off the improvements shown in the previous two games. The offense wasn’t exactly high-powered, but it was effective as the Eagles took a 13-0 lead into halftime. But Sirianni and Patullo seemingly took their foot off the pedal.

    “We weren’t in a mode of saying, ‘Hey, 13-0 is enough,” Sirianni said. “Not against this quarterback, not against this offense. And so I don’t think our mindset was ever that. But I’ve got to do a better job there in that scenario. I’ll put that on myself.”

    This wasn’t the first time this season that the Eagles have watched a double-digit lead evaporate, or the first time the offense has had disparate halves, or the first time the coach’s conservatism has come under question.

    Sirianni can add another victory to a remarkable 43-2 record when the Eagles win the turnover margin during his five years at the helm. The offense didn’t give the ball away once, while the defense forced an Allen fumble.

    NFL playoff picture: Eagles scenarios following Bills win; four divisions will be decided next week

    But Hurts seems to be coached into doing anything to avoid turnovers. He had four throwaways and gave himself up for one sack on his eight drop backs in the second half.

    “I don’t think it’s a conservative thing to have good ball security and be mindful that the turnover margin directly correlates with winning,” Hurts said. “That’s a truth of the game, and that’s a well-known fact of what we’ve been able to do and how we’ve been able to play over the last five years collectively.”

    But how can an offense that gained 174 yards — 110 of them through the air — look almost the polar opposite after a 15-minute break? The Bills made some adjustments in their run defense, according to guard Landon Dickerson. Tackle Fred Johnson said their defense became more “exotic.”

    The Eagles ran on first and second down on four of five drives, though. Hurts threw from under center only once — after Saquon Barkley ran for 5 and 10 yards on the first two plays of the second half. On the Eagles’ next 15 plays, they picked up just 2 yards.

    Barkley kept running into heavy lines and stacked boxes. Certain Eagles, notably center Cam Jurgens and tight end Dallas Goedert, couldn’t sustain blocks with Bills defenders flying downhill. This was a unit ranked 31st in run defense.

    “I don’t know if they had a bead on it, but we just didn’t take advantage of our situations well enough,” Jurgens said. “We can put that on our shoulders and do a little better, especially do better when we’re calling these runs, and we need to make things work.

    “And I know I missed a couple blocks I want back.”

    There were good moments on the ground through Barkley’s first two carries of the second half. He had 66 yards on 13 rushes up until that point. But he gained just 2 yards on his final six rushes. The Eagles just don’t have consistent enough blocking to run at will and there seemed to be times when Hurts needed to check out of calls against bad looks.

    Saquon Barkley fell short of the big game many expected of him against the porous Bills run defense.

    “We kind of went back to a consistent theme of playing really well one half and not well the other half, not putting a full game together,” Barkley said. “And, obviously, we know we’ve got to get better at that. Easier to get better from it when it’s a win.

    “But, personally, I feel like when it’s like six minutes left, you want to end the game with the ball in your hands and we didn’t do that, I didn’t do that. I take responsibility for that.”

    Barkley shouldn’t. He’s the least of the problems. But for all the positives in that realm since the Chargers game, the Eagles seem to be back to square one on the ground. And there’s obvious concern that the offense has regressed heading into the postseason.

    How the Eagles’ ‘sturdy’ defense weathered the storm in Buffalo to squeak by the Bills

    “We’ve got to mix in some of the play-action things that we’ve done so well in the last couple weeks and not wait there again. That’s on me,” Sirianni said. “You know, I know what the first play is going into every series.”

    Patullo’s first-half play calling had some rhythm. Receiver A.J. Brown was getting open and Hurts was finding him. The Eagles turned Allen’s fumble into seven points with another red zone conversion and a touchdown pass to Goedert.

    But there were some head-scratching moments as well, like the third-and-9 draw to Will Shipley or the third-and-8 screen to Goedert at the Bills’ 13-yard line. As Sirianni noted, Buffalo wasn’t going away. The Eagles needed to pounce when they had chances.

    And they needed to double down in the second half. How often was the defense expected to save the offense? Predictably, Fangio’s group relented — until it didn’t, thanks in part to McDermott, one of La Salle High School’s most esteemed alums, throwing caution to the wind.

    Wins don’t get asterisks, of course. That was a solid team the Eagles beat, a sort of litmus test for how they stack up against one of the AFC’s best. The Eagles have a defense that can match almost any offense, and a decent special teams.

    Nick Sirianni attempted to accentuate the positive after the win.

    But the Sirianni-Patullo-Hurts offense has been a running (pun intended) joke. After 16 games, it would be ridiculous to think it’ll finally find its way in the postseason. The Eagles can scrape by as long as they don’t turn the ball over, and that may be enough.

    “You’ve got to feel pretty good, right?” Sirianni said when asked about the state of the Eagles. “Three-game winning streak. In this league, three-game winning streaks are hard. Winning 11 games is hard. Winning the division is hard. And so, you feel really good about some of the things, but there’s also an opportunity to self-scout yourself and do some different things there.

    “We’ll see what we do this upcoming week. I think there’s still an opportunity for us to get the [No.] 2 seed.”

    There was at the time Sirianni spoke, and that possibility held up later in the evening, after the Chicago Bears lost to the San Francisco 49ers. The Eagles’ only path to the No. 2 seed is to defeat the Washington Commanders while the Bears lose to the Detroit Lions. Both games will be played at 4:25 p.m. next Sunday. Sirianni may also want to play his starters to give his offense another outing against the Commanders’ subpar defense.

    But it seems like some issues won’t ever be properly resolved until the offseason.

  • Lane Johnson eyes a return, Jaelan Phillips loves Philly, the Eagles (finally) win, and more ‘Hard Knocks’ highlights

    Lane Johnson eyes a return, Jaelan Phillips loves Philly, the Eagles (finally) win, and more ‘Hard Knocks’ highlights

    After two dreary episodes, Hard Knocks finally got to film an Eagles win as the team snapped its three-game losing streak against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.

    The HBO documentary series released its third episode focused on the NFC East on Tuesday night, bringing a behind-the-scenes look at each team’s preparations for Week 15 of the NFL season.

    The latest episode looked into Saquon Barkley’s dissatisfaction with the running game, Lane Johnson’s injury rehab, the team’s reaction to Brandon Graham’s big day, and more.

    Eagles vs. Commanders in Week 16: Here are the numbers that matter

    Here’s what you may have missed from Episode 3 of Hard Knocks …

    Barkley wants to ‘open up the playbook’

    It’s not breaking news to say that Barkley has underperformed so far this season. No one expected another offensive player of the year campaign or another 2,000 yards rushing — but no one expected the Eagles’ running game to rank in the bottom half of the league either.

    With the Eagles seeing an uptick in rushing success in the team’s loss to the Chargers, Hard Knocks made sure to give Barkley more screen time this week.

    In a quick interview, the veteran running back chalked up the team’s failures on the ground, and on offense in general, to poor execution by the team on early downs.

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    “What I see this year for me personally is that I don’t think I’ve lost a step,” Barkley said. “We’ve had glimpses of it, glimpses of when we’re on, we’re a really hard offense to stop. Now we just need to be consistent. If you’re able to get to second-and-manageable and not second-and-long, you get more runs called and it opens up the playbook a little bit more.

    “Establishing the line of scrimmage and making sure I’m doing what I need to do to set linebackers up and set defenders up to put us in a position to be successful.”

    Barkley isn’t wrong. The Birds lead the league in three-and-outs. Luckily, they faced an opponent which, at least for one week, eased those concerns — more on that in a bit.

    Eagles tackle Lane Johnson (65) hasn’t played since the win over the Detroit Lions on Nov. 16.

    Paving the Lane for a return

    Eagles fans — and likely the players as well — have been awaiting the return of future Hall-of-Fame right tackle Lane Johnson. The 6-foot-6, 325-pound lineman has been rehabbing a Lisfranc injury in his foot and had missed the previous three games before Sunday.

    Hard Knocks took a camera crew to Johnson’s home, showcasing the former Oklahoma star’s well-known personal gym and his workout routine on his path to recovery.

    “Last few games haven’t gone our way,” Johnson said. “Not being out there, not being a part of it, it’s frustrating. I hate it, I absolutely hate it. But I’m attacking the rehab process as diligently as I can.”

    While there is no official timetable for his injury, Johnson hinted at a return against the Commanders this Saturday.

    “Day by day, rep by rep, I am getting close to getting back on the field, maybe next week,” Johnson said. “Usually, after a few losses, its very motivating. And we have everything in front of us.”

    The Eagles are about to win the NFC East again, as usual. Here’s how they’ve done it. | Mike Sielski
    Linebacker Jaelan Phillips (left) and defensive end Brandon Graham have added a new element to the Eagles defense.

    ‘A resurgence of my career’

    If you didn’t know much about one of the newest Eagles, linebacker Jaelan Phillips, Hard Knocks provided a perfect rundown on the former Miami Dolphin.

    After suffering an Achilles tear in 2023 and an ACL tear in 2024, the Birds’ trade-deadline acquisition has had to overcome a lot to get where he is today — a difference-maker for the defending Super Bowl champions.

    “When you go through multiple injuries, obviously there can be a lot of self-doubt, a lot of tough times,” Phillips said. “It’s just a blessing to be able to be back on the field and be with a team that has so much fun playing together.”

    The Eagles’ success has been riding on the defense this year. The 1991 team remembers what that’s like.

    Added linebacker Nakobe Dean: “I mean, J.P., he came in and fit just like a glove. His personality matched everyone’s personality. We’re a young defense, we like to have a lot of fun.”

    Speaking of fun, Phillips seems to be having a blast with the Birds so far.

    Phillips, who could be playing his way to a contract extension, was shown practicing his best gladiator impression in Green Bay, dancing during practice, and singing the Eagles fight song against the Raiders — a breath of fresh air for a team previously mired in frustration.

    “When I first got here, I said it was the best thing to ever happen to me,” Phillips said. “Because I am a person who realizes what a great opportunity this could be, to be able to come into Philadelphia to this amazing team with this great energy I feel like is just a resurgence of my career.”

    Game time

    In the lead-up to Sunday’s game, Hard Knocks took a peek inside the Eagles QB room as Jalen Hurts attended a meeting with fellow quarterbacks and position coach Scott Loeffler.

    “This quarterback thing is so [expletive] easy to play whenever all the [stuff’s] going right,” Loeffler told Hurts, who was coming off the worst game of his career. “This is the time that we need to step up to the plate, when the [stuff] hits the fan.”

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    During the game, fans were able to see Barkley’s earlier words about the running game come to life almost immediately. Dominating on the ground and controlling the line of scrimmage did, in fact, open up the rest of the offense. After the Eagles’ final touchdown Sunday, Hard Knocks captured a joyful moment between Hurts and Nick Sirianni after A.J. Brown’s touchdown up the seam in the third quarter.

    “I got you, baby,” Hurts said to Sirianni.

    “I know, listen,” Sirianni responded. “You better say great [expletive] design.”

    “Great [stuff],” Hurts said, before being jumped by Sirianni. “I put it up the seam.”

    “I know you did,” Sirianni said.

    But the true highlight of the game came on defense.

    Old man Graham, who returned to the team after a brief retirement at age 37, recorded two sacks against Pete Carroll’s Raiders, with Phillips and Sirianni doing the vet’s signature celebration in unison.

    Brandon Graham proves ‘you can teach an old dog new tricks’ with two sacks as Eagles shut out Raiders

    After the game, the Eagles’ first win on Hard Knocks, defensive tackle Byron Young made sure to exclaim that “Unc still got it.”

  • Benching Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts would be short-sighted, but it isn’t ridiculous to wonder

    Benching Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts would be short-sighted, but it isn’t ridiculous to wonder

    Nick Sirianni is only half right.

    It is ridiculous to think that the Eagles might consider benching their Super Bowl MVP quarterback with four games left in the season and a division title all but assured.

    Yet, Sirianni and his coaching staff have a long list of equally ridiculous things they must consider.

    • It is ridiculous to think that an offense with the defending Super Bowl MVP at quarterback could go five straight games failing to score more than 21 points.
    • It is ridiculous to think said offense could score the fifth-fewest points in the NFL during that five-game stretch.
    • It is ridiculous to think that the four teams that have scored fewer points than the Eagles since Week 9 are all teams that have either A) benched their quarterback (Saints, Vikings), B) played with a backup quarterback (Washington), C) or continued to start Geno Smith at quarterback rather than benching him.
    • It is ridiculous to think that the Jets have outscored the Eagles by seven points over the last five games while shuffling Tyrod Taylor and Justin Fields at quarterback.
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    In his weekly interview on Eagles flagship station 94.1 WIP after the team’s 22-19 loss to the Chargers on Monday, Sirianni dismissed the notion that he might make a change at quarterback.

    “No, I think that’s ridiculous,” Sirianni said. “I know every time I go out on that field with Jalen Hurts as our quarterback, we have a chance to win the game. That’s something that’s been proven. We’ve won a lot of football games.”

    But you know what’s really, truly, magnificently ridiculous to think? That any quarterback could play as poorly as Hurts has played in back-to-back losses to the Bears and the Chargers without prompting some level of discussion about whether or not he should continue to start. As good as Hurts has played in his two Super Bowl appearances, that’s how bad he has played over the last couple of weeks.

    Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo is shown with A.J. Brown and Jalen Hurts against the Chargers on Monday night.

    In the Eagles’ loss to the Chargers on Monday, Hurts did something that only 10 other quarterbacks have done over the last 10 seasons. Here’s the list of names of quarterbacks who have thrown four interceptions on 40 or fewer pass attempts with no touchdowns while averaging six or fewer yards per attempt:

    • Max Brosmer (2025)
    • Sam Howell (2023)
    • Trevor Lawrence (2021)
    • Davis Mills (2021)
    • Jake Luton (2020)
    • Sam Darnold (2018 and 2019)
    • Nathan Peterman (2017)
    • Andy Dalton (2017)

    Apart from Lawrence, all of those guys eventually either lost their job as starter or never really had it to begin with. It took a couple of years for Darnold and Dalton. But it certainly wouldn’t sound ridiculous now to know that people were talking about benching them at the time. In fact, the two words that might best describe all eight of those players are, “Eminently benchable.”

    The rebuttal from Sirianni, et. al. is as follows. None of those eight players have been to two Super Bowls, and they’ve certainly never won one. None of those eight players have ever come close to factoring into an NFL MVP discussion. With the possible exceptions of Lawrence and Darnold, none of those players have ever come close to the quarterback Hurts was in the first nine weeks of the season, let alone at his peak.

    If you are going to ding Hurts for throwing four interceptions in his most recent start, you have to credit him for throwing only one in his first nine starts of the season. The Eagles offense didn’t set the world on fire in those first nine games, but it was the kind of unit that plenty of NFL teams would be thrilled to have. They scored 30 points three times, twice against potential playoff opponents (Rams, Bucs). We’ve seen this offense be plenty good enough with Hurts under center this season.

    Nobody was talking about benching Patrick Mahomes in 2023 when the Chiefs lost five of eight games and averaged under 20 points per game between Weeks 8-16. It’s a good thing, too. Mahomes recovered to win his last five starts, four of them in the postseason, the last three of them on the road, including a 25-22 victory over the 49ers in the Super Bowl.

    Again, so the argument goes.

    Sirianni’s head is in the right place. No team in modern NFL history has benched a quarterback this late into a season and gone on to win a Super Bowl. Nick Foles and Jeff Hostetler caught lightning in a bottle, but they were injury-related replacements. It’s absolutely ridiculous to think that the Eagles’ Super Bowl odds would improve with Tanner McKee at quarterback. That’s true even if you limit the discussion to the aptitude of each player. When you broaden the scope to include the ramifications within the locker room and the organization of benching a player of Hurts’ caliber, the discussion does seem more than a tad silly.

    What isn’t silly is the thought process of those fans and media members who have floated the prospect of a switch to McKee. The Eagles aren’t going to win a Super Bowl with Hurts playing as he has in recent weeks. Something is broken, and Sirianni and his coaching staff need to figure out a way to fix it. Hurts doesn’t need to be a world-beater to be a quarterback who can lead these Eagles to a second straight title. But he needs to be functional.

    Hayes: Nick Sirianni: Sitting Jalen Hurts ‘ridiculous’? Hardly. Bench him if he struggles Sunday.
    Eagles coach Nick Sirianni defended his quarterback this week when asked about the possibility of benching Jalen Hurts.

    “You always praise the things that they do well, and you correct the things that you want them to improve,” Sirianni said on Wednesday when asked about his approach to coaching Hurts. “That’s our job as coaches. The tone or the energy or whatever you do, won’t get too much into that. You may not coach everything exactly the same as far as demeanor. There’s a time to yell, there’s a time to bring [it] up, but it always goes back to, and I think there’s an art to this, it always goes back to the standard. Did you meet the standard, or did you not meet the standard? Then there’s an art to how you correct it in the sense of that. But it always goes back to the standard. Did you meet it? Great, and you’re going to praise that. Did you not? Then you correct it.”

    They need to correct it fast. The Raiders and Commanders are two opponents who won’t offer an opportunity for any excuses. These next two games are an opportunity for Hurts to quiet the noise and get himself back into a rhythm that can carry over into the postseason. If that doesn’t happen, you’ll only need one word to characterize the thought of the Eagles in another Super Bowl.

    Ridiculous.

  • Jake Elliott’s missed field goal proved critical, but the Eagles’ end-of-half conservatism has been a trend

    Jake Elliott’s missed field goal proved critical, but the Eagles’ end-of-half conservatism has been a trend

    Adoree’ Jackson’s interception of Justin Herbert with 10 seconds remaining in the second quarter Monday night was gift-wrapped thanks to Jaelan Phillips getting a hand on Herbert as he released the ball. But there was another present: Kimani Vidal’s 15-yard personal foul.

    It set the Eagles up on the Chargers’ 30-yard line. After a miserable half, they were in field goal range to at least cut Los Angeles’ 10-6 lead to 10-9. They had two timeouts to try to advance the ball and give Jake Elliott an even more manageable field goal.

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    Instead, Jalen Hurts took a shotgun snap, looked only to his left, where three receivers were running routes near the sideline, and launched the ball intentionally out of bounds. Elliott trotted onto the field and missed from 48 yards out — just his second miss of the season on a field goal inside 50 yards, although he missed an extra point a week earlier.

    Any analysis of what went wrong could theoretically stop right there. SoFi Stadium is indoors, and Elliott knows it’s a kick he needed to make.

    “They need to stop,” Elliott said of his misses. “I feel like I’m striking the ball well. Last week, obviously, windy conditions. But no excuses here indoors. It’s frustrating.”

    Elliott was rightly frustrated with himself, but he had reason to be frustrated with his team for not making the kick any easier on him. The Eagles had two timeouts, but the play they called looked more like a time-waster than one with a real chance at advancing the football.

    Four of the five route-runners were near the sideline. The fifth, Jahan Dotson, wasn’t even to his break before Hurts fired the ball out of bounds.

    Here’s a screenshot of where the receivers were when Hurts released the ball:

    The play the Eagles ran before attempting a field goal before halftime Monday night. (Screenshot from NFL Pro film review.)

    It was a low-percentage play that the Chargers covered easily. Perhaps the Eagles were simply just comfortable with the distance for Elliott, who had already converted from 41 yards and 30 yards in the first half and entered Monday 9-for-10 on kicks inside 50 yards.

    But why, with two timeouts, was there not any effort to use the middle of the field to try to make the attempt a little bit easier for Elliott?

    “We’re trying to advance it,” Nick Sirianni said when he was asked Wednesday. “The way we tried to advance it was to the sideline, and it didn’t work. We have plays in our offense to be able to advance it, without getting too much [into it], in the middle, and then we have plays in our playbook that try to advance it on the sideline. We chose the one on the sideline and it didn’t work.”

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    The three points would have been critical, but it’s not the only reason the Eagles lost. Still, the inability to get points before halftime when they are available has been an ongoing theme for the Eagles.

    On the year, the Eagles have started a possession inside 1 minute, 20 seconds on the clock before halftime eight times and have zero points to show for it from those scenarios. (They have started four possessions just before the two-minute warning and have come away with points on three.)

    Eagles coach Nick Sirianni has been conservative this year in late-half situations.

    Every situation and every game is different. The Eagles had two of them vs. Denver. The first possession came with 1:19 left and the ball on their own 11-yard line. They went three-and-out, but they forced a Broncos punt on the ensuing drive that gave them another possession starting at their own 5-yard line with only eight seconds left. Hurts took a knee. No harm, no foul there.

    But it’s worth exploring a few of these late-clock examples in which points were possible. In Week 3 vs. the Los Angeles Rams, the Eagles had a woeful first half of offense. But they got the ball on their own 35-yard line, trailing 19-7, with 10 seconds left on the clock and three timeouts. They opted to have Hurts kneel and go to halftime. They eventually won the game, but only because of two blocked field goals. Three points may have been critical.

    Against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 7, the Eagles got the ball back at their own 16-yard line with 59 seconds left and all three timeouts. To their credit, they came out firing. Hurts connected with DeVonta Smith on first down for 6 yards. Then, without huddling, the two hooked up again for a 16-yard gain to the Eagles’ 38-yard line. The Eagles took their first timeout with 34 seconds left.

    Hurts threw incomplete on the next play and was sacked on second down to bring up a third-and-13 from the Eagles’ 35-yard line. There were 23 seconds on the clock when Hurts was tackled, but Sirianni decided to let the clock expire rather than calling a timeout to run another play. The Eagles hit halftime with a 14-6 lead and kicked off to Minnesota to start the second half.

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    “In that particular case, it was time to let that drive end and go to the locker room,” Sirianni said the next day, after the Eagles’ 28-22 victory. “Third-and-13 is not a guarantee. I believe in our team and believe in our guys at all costs, but you’ve also got to play smart.

    “Third-and-13 in that situation where you’re not in a guaranteed, ‘Hey I’m getting points if I convert this third-and-13.’ I’m still going to have work to do once I do get this third-and-13.’ The risks kind of outweigh the potential benefits from it. At that point, you don’t get it and then you have to punt.

    “Obviously, I wanted to go and get points, which is why you saw the drive go as it was, but once we did take the sack, we played that how I wanted to play that. I have no regrets there.”

    Coach Nick Sirianni walks off after the Eagles lost in overtime to the Los Angeles Chargers.

    Sirianni is somewhat obsessed with situational football. He has studied end-of-half scenarios — not just his own, but other situations around the league. Each scenario in a given game has different context, including how the offense is playing at that time.

    The Eagles have pushed the envelope in these spots in the past, but they have gone conservative at times this year.

    Against Dallas in Week 12, the Eagles, leading 21-7, started a drive with two timeouts and 17 seconds left in the first half at their own 28-yard line. They called a handoff to Saquon Barkley that went for 1 yard and let the clock expire. Perhaps a chunk run would have resulted in a timeout and some aggression from the Eagles to try to score points, but how often have chunk runs been reliable? And if the point was to just get to halftime, why not just kneel?

    Points weren’t guaranteed, but they were possible.

    The Eagles, of course, lost that game by three. Just like they did Monday.

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  • A.J. Brown is ‘fine,’ Zach Ertz in tears, Nick Sirianni’s glory days, and more ‘Hard Knocks’ highlights

    A.J. Brown is ‘fine,’ Zach Ertz in tears, Nick Sirianni’s glory days, and more ‘Hard Knocks’ highlights

    It doesn’t get much worse than a prime-time loss headlined by a five-turnover performance from your starting quarterback. Especially when Hard Knocks is there to film it.

    The HBO documentary series released its second episode on the NFC East on Tuesday, bringing a behind-the-scenes look at each team’s preparation for Week 14 of the NFL season.

    The latest episode looked into the Eagles’ wide receiver room, Zach Ertz’s unfortunate injury, and what players were saying on the sideline during Monday night’s deflating loss.

    Here’s what you may have missed from Episode 2 of Hard Knocks …

    Brown feels the love

    If you have listened to sports radio throughout the season, you have likely heard about A.J. Brown.

    Described by some as a diva receiver, the seventh year All-Pro wideout received a large amount of screen time from Hard Knocks this week, starting with some of his charity work at a local Acme.

    “Shopping’s on you today?” one Philadelphia resident asked.

    “It’s on me,” Brown responded. “Go get you another steak.”

    “Just spreading holiday cheer and just paying for customers’ groceries,” Brown said in a later interview. “Trying to make someone’s day.”

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    Brown appeared to make one shopper’s day in more ways than one.

    After he met a pair of customers and told them their groceries were on his foundation, one of the women thanked the Eagles wide receiver and finished by telling Brown, “You’re fine.”

    In case Brown didn’t hear her, she leaned in and whispered in his ear, “I said, ‘You’re fine.’” Brown thanked her before the two shared a laugh.

    “She kind of surprised me,” Brown said during an interview. “I read her lips perfectly fine the first time, but it just didn’t register in my brain. And then she leaned in and whispered it again, and I was just in shock. But that was a cool moment.”

    After checking in on DeVonta Smith’s Pilates workout, and reliving some of Nick Sirianni’s college highlights (more on that in a bit), the episode moved to the wide receiver room for a conversation between Smith and Brown about a fear you wouldn’t expect to hear out of an Eagle.

    “If you get on a plane,” Smith said, “you [are] not afraid of heights.”

    “It ain’t like we got a choice,” Brown responded. “What are you going to do, drive?”

    Smith shared an interesting strategy for surviving a plane crash, which we wouldn’t recommend trying.

    As the much-needed positive vibes continued, the show showed Brown and quarterback Jalen Hurts sharing a laugh in practice.

    The end for a franchise legend?

    The Washington Commanders’ portion of the show focused on Zach Ertz, the former Eagles tight end and Super Bowl LII champion.

    Former Eagles tight end Zach Ertz scoring a touchdown against Washington in 2017.

    The 35-year-old is second all-time in receptions for the Birds, and was candid with the documentary crew about not knowing how long he has left in the game.

    “I try and exhaust myself in this career as much as I can,” Ertz said. “I don’t know how much longer I’m going to play in my whole career, it’s just been focused on the task at hand and how I can be better as a player.”

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    In meetings, coaches even poked fun at Ertz’s increasing age — comparing the tight end, who recently rose to top five all-time in career receptions for his position, to a clip of then 89-year-old Bryan Sperry scoring a touchdown in a 2015 Kansas football alumni scrimmage.

    It was a hard watch, especially for those who knew what was coming next.

    During the team’s 31-0 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, Ertz suffered a season-ending ACL injury — with Hard Knocks providing an up-close view of the ordeal, letting fans witness Ertz’s raw emotions leaving the field.

    “I think it like hyperextended in the back,” Ertz said. “I don’t think I can get up by myself.”

    The former Eagles star may have played his last down of football after leaving the field in tears.

    A game to forget

    The second episode ends with the Eagles’ overtime loss to the Chargers, the team’s third straight defeat in what some worry will be another end-of-season collapse.

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    In the week leading up to the game, Sirianni focused on motivation as the team looks to get back on track. But his own college highlights brought excitement to the team, especially Brown.

    “You want to know his personality? Just watch these highlights,” Brown said as the episode showed Sirianni catching touchdown passes — and celebrating — at Mount Union College. “And that’s how he coaches and how he wants to be on the sideline, but he may have to calm down — like he is the coach.”

    Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts threw four interceptions against the Chargers on Monday night.

    As for the actual game, one many Birds fans likely don’t wish to relive, Hard Knocks makes sure to cover every excruciating detail — starting with Hurts’ two turnovers on one play in the second quarter.

    “Damn, man,” Smith said. “We can’t get all the way down there and do that.”

    Later, in the fourth, following Saquon Barkley’s 52-yard touchdown on a fake Tush Push, the show shifts focus to a potential go-ahead touchdown Brown dropped in the back of the end zone, leading to overtime.

    “I’m more than capable of making those plays,” Brown said after the game. “Jalen trusts me in any situation. I made some plays, but I wasn’t great when it mattered.”

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    Before the Eagles took the field on offense in OT — trailing by three and needing a field goal to tie it or a touchdown to end the game — Barkley had this to say to Brown and Smith.

    “One of us three, all right?” Barkley said. “It’s that simple.”

    After Smith’s huge third-and-16 conversion to get the Eagles across midfield, the hype built even further.

    “We are about to score,” Brandon Graham said from the sidelines. “You hear me?”

    Of course, the game ended on Hurts’ fourth interception of the night on a pass to Jahan Dotson, and the Eagles fell to 8-5.