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  • ‘Not elite’ Bryce Harper could use better lineup protection. Here are the Phillies’ options.

    ‘Not elite’ Bryce Harper could use better lineup protection. Here are the Phillies’ options.

    Maybe Bryce Harper is still ticked off. Maybe, even after his air-clearing with Dave Dombrowski, he implanted a chip on his shoulder. Maybe he’s just trying to sell T-shirts.

    Either way, he got our attention.

    As usual.

    In case you missed it, because the holidays can be hectic, the Face of the Phillies posted a 101-second TikTok video in which he took seven swings while wearing a long-sleeve black shirt with two words — NOT ELITE — printed in all caps across the chest.

    Cue the social media buzz.

    @3ryceharper

    Eastside in my blood🥱

    ♬ Eastside – benny blanco & Halsey & Khalid

    Whatever the motivation, Harper’s choice in workout wear was as intentional as his “Rivalry Pack” cleats or his color-coordinated arm sleeves. He rarely does or says anything without thinking it through.

    And if Dombrowski’s candid assessment of Harper’s 2025 — “He didn’t have an elite season like he has had in the past,” the Phillies’ president of baseball operations said in October — rang in Harper’s ears as he rang in the New Year, well, would it be so bad? The last time someone publicly slighted him, Harper homered twice and stared a hole through Braves shortstop Orlando Arcia in Game 3 of the divisional series in 2023.

    Besides, Dombrowski wasn’t wrong. Although he omitted the inflamed right wrist that sidelined Harper for a month and ate into his counting stats (e.g., homers, RBIs, walks), Harper lagged in other areas.

    To wit: Harper swung at 35.6% of pitches out of the strike zone, 129th among 144 qualified hitters, according to Statcast, and worse than the league average (28.4%) and his career mark (29.3%). If you’re wondering why he faced a lower rate of strikes (43%) than any hitter in baseball last year, that’s the biggest reason.

    How can Bryce Harper have an ‘elite’ season in 2026? It starts with examining his atypical 2025.

    “He expanded a little bit more than we’re accustomed to,” hitting coach Kevin Long told Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast. “I don’t know what his actual chase rate ended up being, but it was probably 35%. That’s high. If he gets that number down to 32, just drop it 3%, now he’s swinging at better pitches [and] he’s going to do more damage.”

    But while Harper must revert to better plate discipline, the Phillies could also stand to better protect him in the batting order. Manager Rob Thomson is already scribbling possible lineups, crossing them out, and making new ones.

    “I’ve got some ideas, but I haven’t talked to the players yet,” he said last month. “I don’t want to talk much more about that. But, yeah, I’ve thought long and hard about it.”

    Two-thirds of the way through the offseason, it’s fair to wonder if Dombrowski has provided Thomson with better alternatives than he had last season. With five weeks until spring training, let’s look at the options:

    Kyle Schwarber (right) batted in front of Bryce Harper for most of the 2025 season en route to finishing second in the NL MVP race.

    Kyle Schwarber

    Two weeks into last season, after Harper drew 10 walks in 12 games, Thomson moved Schwarber down in the order to bat third or fourth behind Harper.

    It stayed that way for 45 games.

    But Harper injured his wrist, and upon returning, Schwarber was firmly in the midst of a 56-homer season that resulted in a runner-up finish in the NL MVP race. Thomson left him in the No. 2 hole, one spot ahead of Harper.

    “Schwarber is having, at that point, a career year, and I just didn’t want to mess with it,” Thomson said. “And the fact that Harper was protecting Schwarber, too.”

    Bryce Harper plans to join Kyle Schwarber and play for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic

    Fair enough. And then there was this: Although Schwarber would seem to represent Secret Service-level protection, Harper saw even a lower rate of strikes (41.7%) while batting behind him.

    “It’s actually gotten worse,” Harper noted in May, “which is crazy.”

    Long’s theory: When it comes to superstar hitters, lineup protection doesn’t matter much. In Harper’s case, the numbers support that idea. He has seen only 42.7% of pitches in the zone in seven seasons with the Phillies and 42.1% since he arrived in the majors.

    Former Cubs manager Joe Maddon once walked Harper 13 times (four intentional) in 19 plate appearances over four games at Wrigley Field in 2016.

    “I don’t care where you hit [Shohei] Ohtani, I think they’re going to pitch him the exact same way,” Long said. “They’re scared to death of him. I think Harper’s in that category. You can kind of put him wherever you want, but I do not think pitchers are going to give in to him. I just don’t. I think they’re going to try to be very careful.

    “Can we maybe help him out and put somebody [else] behind him? That may be part of the equation as well. But in Bryce’s case, I think it’s more, if this is where it’s been the last six years since he’s been here, then the onus falls on me to make sure that he’s swinging at the right pitches and him to make sure that he’s not expanding. No matter what, he has to control his at-bats.”

    The path of least resistance is to put Schwarber back behind Harper, an alignment that Thomson is considering. Thomson prefers to alternate left- and right-handed hitters through the order. But Schwarber’s success against lefties (.300 average in 2024; major-league-record 23 left-on-left homers in 2025) leaves Thomson comfortable with Harper and Schwarber back-to-back.

    It might be easier to protect Schwarber. He tends to be more disciplined than Harper (21.5% out-of-the-zone swing rate last season; 22.8% for his career). He strikes out more often than Harper but is less likely to get himself out in front of the Phillies’ middle-of-the-order righty options, such as …

    Adolis García is poised to be the Phillies’ right fielder after signing a one-year, $10 million contract.

    Alec Bohm and Adolis García

    In 2022, the Phillies threw $100 million at Nick Castellanos to supply sock from the right side. Among 179 hitters with at least 1,500 plate appearances in the last four seasons, he ranked 87th in slugging (.426) and 172nd in wins above replacement (1.3).

    And now, he’s about to disappear.

    Castellanos clashed with Thomson and lost his everyday job last season. All parties agree that a change of scenery is best. The Phillies will trade or release him, likely before spring training. Either way, they will pay all or most of his $20 million salary in the final year of his contract.

    Adolis García could be a steal, or just another Nick Castellanos. Here’s why the Phillies like the gamble.

    The Phillies already replaced Castellanos with free-agent right fielder Adolis García, a candidate to bat behind Harper if he hits like he did earlier in his career. From 2021 to ‘23, García slugged .472 with 97 homers, tied for sixth among all right-handed hitters.

    But García was available because of the last two seasons. He slugged .397 and hit 44 homers, tied for 28th among all right-handed hitters. His swing-and-miss rate soared. And he got non-tendered by the Rangers.

    Maybe García can provide at least a $10 million value at a position that will cost the Phillies roughly $30 million. If so, he’d be viable as right-handed protection for Harper in a batting order that would look something like this:

    Bohm emerged in 2023 as the Phillies’ best protection for Harper. He excelled with runners in scoring position, often making teams pay for pitching around Harper, and drove in 97 runs in back-to-back seasons in 2023 and ‘24. He started the All-Star Game in 2024.

    The Phillies balked at trade offers for Bohm last offseason, with rival teams suggesting they overvalued a player who hasn’t hit more than 20 homers in a season. Then he got off to a brutally slow start, prompting a move down in the order and the Harper/Schwarber arrangement. Bohm dealt with injuries through the middle of the season and finished as a league-average hitter (102 OPS-plus).

    Is he primed to bounce back? Or is he who he is?

    “I think he’s much closer to that type of [97-RBI] hitter than he was last year,” Dombrowski said. “All of a sudden you put him, that same guy, fourth or fifth in your lineup, and I think that’s a pretty good addition in itself.”

    J.T. Realmuto (left) has batted behind Bryce Harper at times over the last several seasons.

    Getting creative

    After the All-Star break, nobody took more at-bats behind Harper than J.T. Realmuto, mostly a function of Bohm’s injuries and Castellanos’ reduced role. But at times over the years, the iron-man catcher reliably protected Harper.

    Now, Realmuto and the Phillies are having a staring contest over variations of a multiyear contract, the free-agent catcher seeking a better combination of years and salary. There’s still mutual interest in an agreement, according to major league sources. It remains likelier than not that they will come together.

    But what if they don’t?

    The Phillies’ contingency plan could set in motion several dominoes. First, they would pivot to a catcher, in free agency or a trade, to pair with Rafael Marchán or Garrett Stubbs. The new catcher would be a downgrade from Realmuto but also cost less than his catcher-record $23.1 million annual salary.

    The savings could then be applied to another area of the roster. Maybe an addition to the rotation — Ranger Suárez is still available — or the bullpen?

    Or, if Bohm had to be packaged for a catcher, the Phillies could take a run at a free agent, such as Alex Bregman or Bo Bichette, right-handed hitters with power who could slot in behind Harper.

    The Phillies are sticking with a veteran core in 2026. But this time the kids have to play too.

    Maybe it will help restore Harper’s elite status.

    It can’t hurt. Take it from Maddon.

    “I am about [lineup] protection, and I’ll argue that with anybody,” Maddon said. “Regardless of what the stats indicate, if the number of balls out of the zone are the same, I still would put somebody back there [behind him] because I still believe it causes pause with how you’re pitching.

    “Maybe you say, ‘If we walk him, we walk him.’ There’s that attitude, also. But if there’s a guy behind him, I’m telling you, you’re not going to want to do it if there’s a real guy.”

  • The advantage to the Eagles’ resting their starters, Bryce Harper’s inspiration, and other thoughts

    The advantage to the Eagles’ resting their starters, Bryce Harper’s inspiration, and other thoughts

    First and final thoughts …

    The stakes for the Eagles on Sunday are clear: If they beat the Washington Commanders and if the Detroit Lions beat the Chicago Bears, then the Eagles would secure the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs.

    It would likely make for an easier road back to the Super Bowl (easier on paper, anyway), because they’d be assured of having home-field advantage in at least the wild-card and divisional rounds, and the matchups they’d face in those games might be more favorable.

    So the Eagles had a choice: They could play their starters against the Commanders, giving their most important players no rest ahead of the postseason, with no guarantee that, even if they beat Washington, that they’d end up with the second seed anyway.

    Or they could sit their starters, banking that a well-rested team would be better off no matter who or where it plays. Nick Sirianni and his staff, as we now know, opted to rest the starters.

    It was the right decision, for this reason: Given that Washington is 4-12 and will have third-stringer Josh Johnson at quarterback Sunday, there’s a decent chance that the Eagles will secure the best of all outcomes for themselves.

    They can give their starters a week off, still win the game, and have the Bears lose to the Lions. After a regular season that raised some questions about the Eagles’ ability to repeat, that scenario would be a timely reassertion of strength from the defending champs.

    Too hot for pucks

    The entire premise and most of the appeal of the NHL’s Winter Classic, when it began in 2008, were based around the notion that hockey in its best and purest form was a cold-weather sport.

    A pond or stream or lake froze over. Kids bundled up, grabbed their skates and sticks and a couple of rickety little goal nets, and just played. The sport was a natural and seamless part of life in Canada and in certain regions of the United States.

    But not in Miami. Which is where this year’s Winter Classic, between the Florida Panthers and the New York Rangers, was held Friday. How do you know a gimmick has gotten stale? When you’re playing an outdoor hockey game in early January in a place where it’s 70 degrees in the shade.

    Quarterback Fernando Mendoza (right) and Indiana routed Alabama on the way to the College Football Playoff semifinals.

    Hoosier daddy?

    The benefit of the 12-team College Football Playoff is that it is a great revealer. Most of the sport’s regular season is marred by “expert analysis” that is based on little more than arrogance and presumptuousness: The SEC is obviously a better and more challenging league than the Big Ten, which is better and more challenging than the Big 12, which is way ahead of the ACC, and so on. It’s regional bias and figure-skating-style judging all the way down.

    Then they actually play the games. And we learn that Alabama has no business being on the same field as Indiana, that Texas Tech is a long way from the days of Kliff Kingsbury and Patrick Mahomes, that Ohio State’s lopsided intraconference victories aren’t a true indication of how good the Buckeyes really are.

    Dave Dombrowski apparently provided Bryce Harper with some extra motivation this offseason.

    An elite idea

    Bryce Harper recently posted a video of himself taking batting-cage swings while wearing a T-shirt with “NOT ELITE” across the front, a reference to Phillies president Dave Dombrowski’s description of Harper’s 2025 season.

    You’ve got to love that defiant, near-vindictive energy from Harper, and it was a brilliant idea to take Dombrowski’s words and strip them across a shirt. Imagine an entire apparel line, marketed to individual athletes, made up of critical yet potentially inspiring phrases. The possibilities are endless.

    Jalen Hurts: CAN’T PASS

    A.J. Brown: READS BOOKS

    Joel Embiid: GAME-TIME DECISION

    Aaron Nola: TWO-STRIKE BOMBS

    Alec Bohm: TEMPER TANTRUM

    Ben Simmons: GONE FISHIN’

    Carson Wentz: INTENTIONAL GROUNDING

    LeBron James: U R NO MJ

    From the Eagles’ Super Bowl win to the Phillies’ bitter end, let’s look back at 2025 in Philly sports

    VJ’s biggest jump

    In his 33 games during his only year of college basketball at Baylor, VJ Edgecombe took 4.6 three-pointers a game and made 34% of them. In his 28 games so far with the 76ers, he is taking 5.8 a game and making 38% of them. That improvement might be the most pleasant surprise of his terrific rookie season.

    One last one-liner

    Congratulations to former Eagles great Frank Gore for being a Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist.

  • Jeff McLane’s keys to Eagles vs. Commanders in Week 18: What you need to know and a prediction

    Jeff McLane’s keys to Eagles vs. Commanders in Week 18: What you need to know and a prediction

    The Eagles host the Washington Commanders in a Week 18 matchup at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. Here’s what you need to know about the game:

    When the Eagles have the ball: It’s Tanner McKee time. Well, the Eagles will have more backups on offense than just the No. 2 quarterback, with the Eagles expected to rest their starters in the season finale. But having McKee under center will give a glimpse of how much he’s progressed in the last year and whether he can increase his value if the front office wants to entertain trade offers this offseason.

    He played well a year ago, completing 27 of 41 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns against New York Giants starters in Week 18. McKee will be facing another comparatively poor defense, but will he have enough around him to get the job done?

    Tanner McKee is ready to ‘play fast’ in his next opportunity to start at quarterback with the Eagles

    The Eagles’ offensive line, from left to right, is expected to be: Fred Johnson, Brett Toth, Drew Kendall, Matt Pryor, and Cameron Williams. McKee will have two rookies blocking for him, with Kendall and Williams at center and right tackle, respectively. Williams was activated on Thursday after spending almost the entire season on injured reserve with a shoulder injury.

    Washington isn’t strong at edge rusher. The Eagles allowed just one outside pressure when the teams played in Week 16. But Williams may need help on occasion. While McKee had returning-from-injury Dallas Goedert for about a quarter last January, and targeted the tight end on six of the 13 plays he was on the field, he will have no such luxury this season. Receiver Jahan Dotson will likely be the lone starter to play. Dotson is often the fifth option when on the field with the first offense, but the former Commander caught 7 of 11 targets for 94 yards in last season’s finale.

    I could see Nick Sirianni and Kevin Patullo leaning into their under-center offense on Sunday. The Eagles have done it more with McKee than with Jalen Hurts, although the sample may not be large enough to make any definitive claims. In the final drive of the Las Vegas Raiders blowout three weeks ago and against New York last year, McKee completed 7 of 9 passes for 80 yards and a touchdown when throwing off play-action from under center.

    The second unit offensive line will need to block better on the ground if under-center runs are to be productive. But the Commanders have one of the worst run defenses in the NFL. They rank 29th in expected points added (EPA) per rush. (Of note: Three of the league’s bottom four run defenses are the Eagles’ NFC East rivals.)

    Tank Bigsby fans should see the running back get a high volume of carries. He enters averaging 6.4 yards a carry with the Eagles and has 98 rushing yards over expected, per NextGen Stats, which is 22 more than starter Saquon Barkley, who has 238 more tries. Will Shipley will be featured in the backfield as well, more likely on passing downs. He could be a check-down favorite for McKee.

    Tight end Grant Calcaterra should also get more chances to do what he does best, which is run routes and catch the ball, vs. the run blocking that has contributed to some of the Eagles’ struggles in that regard. But mostly, it’ll be interesting to see McKee operate with Patullo at the controls.

    Washington lacks talent and is on the older side, but veteran linebacker Bobby Wagner is still a run-defending machine. And edge rusher Von Miller should have enough gas in the tank to trouble Williams.

    The Eagles got after Josh Johnson when he relieved an injured Marcus Mariota in Week 16.

    When the Commanders have the ball: Speaking of old guys, 39-year-old Josh Johnson will be making only his 11th career start at quarterback since being drafted by the Bucs in 2008. It’ll be his second straight start after backup Marcus Mariota was knocked out against the Eagles two weeks ago.

    Johnson looked overwhelmed as a mid-game replacement and threw a bad interception to cornerback Cooper DeJean. He fared better with a week of preparation and completed 15 of 23 passes for 198 yards against the Dallas Cowboys. The Commanders struggled to get much going on offense and lost, 30-23, but offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury schemed up explosive plays on the ground and through the air to help Johnson.

    Deebo Samuel was the benefactor of a 41-yard screen pass and a 29-yard end-around. The Eagles have to always be cognizant of where Samuel lines up and how motion misdirects defenders away from him.

    Running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt ran for touchdowns of 72 and 10 yards on more traditional runs against the Cowboys. The Commanders won’t have a mobile quarterback like they normally do with Jayden Daniels or Mariota to help the rushing offense. And they’ll be without three-fifths of their starting offensive line. Left tackle Laremy Tunsil, right guard Sam Cosmi, and center dress are out.

    The Eagles will have a decidedly different look up front. A year ago, defensive tackle Jordan Davis played a bunch of snaps in the finale. He’ll likely be one of a dozen or so starters who dress on Sunday, but the Eagles will do their best to keep him off the field. He’s come a long way in 12 months.

    Byron Young and Ty Robinson will take most of the snaps in the interior. Joshua Uche, who’s been inactive the last five games, will finally get an opportunity to get some repetitions at outside linebacker. Jihaad Campbell was pressed into duty two weeks ago when Nakobe Dean suffered a hamstring injury, but the rookie linebacker is expected to start and play some. Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and Smael Mondon will likely log most of the time at off-ball linebacker.

    The Eagles could be most susceptible in the secondary. Terry McLaurin vs. most any cornerback would favor the Washington receiver. Cornerback Kelee Ringo and whoever lines up opposite him — Jakorian Bennett or rookie Mac McWilliams — may often get help from safeties Sydney Brown and Andre’ Sam against McLaurin.

    Extra point: The line hasn’t moved much, even after it was reported that Sirianni would rest his starters. The Eagles are around 4-point favorites. The news that Johnson was officially starting likely offset any advantage the Commanders might have been expected to gain. Washington coach Dan Quinn doesn’t seem like the tanking type, but it didn’t appear as if he was in any rush to get Mariota back.

    The Commanders can improve their draft standing several slots with a loss, and I have to wonder how much the players are motivated at this stage of the season. But I thought they played hard in their last several games, and they may be looking for payback after a first meeting full of chippiness and altercations.

    Eagles vs. Commanders predictions: Our writers pick a winner for Week 18

    The Eagles can still improve their playoff seeding with a victory coupled with a Chicago Bears loss to the Detroit Lions. I understand Sirianni’s rationale for giving his starters the game off. He can’t control getting the No. 2 seed, but he can decide who plays and who doesn’t. The Eagles aren’t exactly beat up, but it’s been a long season. A week of rest may help. Tackle Jordan Mailata spoke more about the mental benefits than the physical.

    As for the game, I think we may see Patullo use McKee at quarterback as an opportunity to dip into the playbook. That’s no knock against Hurts, but the Eagles have become predictable in certain respects, and I can see more diversity helping their cause. Sirianni has more depth than most teams, but I don’t think his squad is as deep as it was a year ago. I think what’s left of Washington’s first unit has enough to hold on.

    Prediction: Commanders 23, Eagles 20.

  • Stories that could shake Philly sports in 2026, from Lane Johnson and A.J. Brown to Bryce Harper and Shane Steichen

    Stories that could shake Philly sports in 2026, from Lane Johnson and A.J. Brown to Bryce Harper and Shane Steichen

    You never see the biggest stories coming. That’s kind of by definition, isn’t it?

    The year 2025 was relatively quiet one as far as seismic activity goes. The Sixers’ arena switcheroo probably was the biggest pure news story next to the Eagles’ Super Bowl win. Compare that to 2024, in which Saquon Barkley and Paul George signed, Jason Kelce retired, Matvei Michikov arrived, and the Sixers went belly-up. That, in addition to Carter Hart being arrested, Cutter Gauthier forcing a trade, and Haason Reddick being traded.

    It’s impossible to say whether the earth will shake in 2026. But if it does, here is how it could happen:

    The thrill of victory and the exasperation of trying to feel good about it define the 2025 Eagles

    1. Lane Johnson announces his retirement after 13 NFL seasons and leaves the Eagles scrambling.

    At this point, nothing suggests that Johnson will seriously consider retiring after the season. The contract extension he signed last year tacked on $40 million in guarantees in 2025 and 2026. That’s a pretty good reason for Eagles fans to take comfort, especially if Johnson returns to the field for the postseason, as is expected. He’d be walking away from some serious money if he retired this offseason.

    At the same time, we’d be foolish not to at least acknowledge the possibility, given the dramatic implications it would have on the Eagles’ roster. Johnson has been the single biggest reason the Eagles have seamlessly bridged their competitive teams through a rotating cast of quarterbacks and head coaches. There will be no replacing him, at least not immediately.

    Johnson has been open about the punishment that the NFL has inflicted upon his body over the years. That’s worth noting after a regular season in which he missed seven games because of injury for the first time since 2020 and just the second time in his career.

    At 35 years and 239 days, Johnson is the second-oldest offensive lineman to play at least 300 snaps this season. Only Kelvin Beachum has him beat at 36 years, 207 days. Since 2015, only seven offensive linemen have a season of 12-plus starts at age 36 or older.

    Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown shown after making a catch against the Bills on Sunday in Buffalo.

    2. A.J. Brown gets traded for a conditional 2027 second round pick that can become a first; Eagles immediately invest in a replacement.

    Forget about Brown’s public grumbling for a moment. Consider instead this fact: In the 10 games in which Brown has seen eight or more targets, the Eagles are 5-5. In the five games in which he has seen fewer than eight targets, the Eagles are 5-0. Kind of strange, isn’t it?

    Correlation doesn’t equal causation, but Brown’s on-field performance clearly has dipped this season. In his first three years with the Eagles, he looked like a receiver who belonged in the conversation for best in the sport. That hasn’t been the case this season. The explosiveness, the burst, the strength at the point of attack and in the air appear to be diminished. The numbers reflect it. His 8.3 yards-per-target is down nearly 20% from 2022 to 2024 (10.3), as is his yards per reception (12.9, down from 15.4) and his catch percentage (52.1, down from 56.3).

    Brown is at an age at which decline can come fast at the wide receiver position. Cooper Kupp hasn’t broken 850 yards in a season since turning 29. Same goes for Brandin Cooks and Odell Beckham Jr.

    DeAndre Hopkins averaged 1,380 yards per season from 25-28 years old and 644 yards at 29-30 years old. Adam Thielen averaged 6.4 catches and 82.8 yards per game at 27-28 and 4.2 catches and 53.7 yards at 29-30.

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

    Alshon Jeffery, Allen Robinson, Michael Thomas, Tyreek Hill … the list goes on. For Antonio Brown, Julio Jones, Amari Cooper, Stefon Diggs, and Antonio Brown, the drop-off came at 30 or 31.

    There are exceptions: Davante Adams, Keenan Allen, Mike Evans. But they are very much exceptions.

    To justify trading Brown, the Eagles almost certainly would have to have a replacement lined up. Jahan Dotson clearly isn’t a suitable second option. In the four regular-season games Brown has missed over the last two seasons, Dotson has a total of five catches for 25 yards. In those four games, the Eagles’ total wide receiver production outside of DeVonta Smith was 20 catches for 94 yards.

    The Eagles would save about $7 million against the cap if they traded Brown after June 1. They might be able to accommodate a free-agent offer to somebody like Alec Pierce, the Colts deep threat whose all-around game took an intriguing step forward this season. But there are a lot of teams that will be in the free-agent market this season, with the Patriots and dream quarterback Drake Maye at the top of the list.

    Even if Brown isn’t the player at 29 years old that he was at 27, he would still be difficult to replace. Combined with the limited financial upside of moving him, we’ll have to see this story to believe it.

    Sixers center Joel Embiid has scored 27 or more points in his last three games.

    3. Joel Embiid helps to lead the Sixers to a first-round playoff upset and sparks trade interest among teams desperate to catch the Thunder and Spurs.

    Embiid entered the new year having scored 27-plus points in three straight games. That counts as an accomplishment these days. He looked like an empty husk of his former self in his first nine games of the 2025-26 season, averaging just 18.2 points on a woeful .441 effective field goal percentage.

    Question is, what if Embiid’s recent uptick in minutes and production is a signal that he has more left in the tank than we’ve given him credit for? He still needs to show a lot more defensively. And he has yet to play more than 71 minutes in a seven-day span. But he just logged 38 minutes in an overtime win over the Grizzlies, four days after playing a season-high 32 minutes in a loss to the Bulls.

    With three years and $188 million left on his contract after this season, Embiid would probably have to be playing at his prime MVP level to have positive trade value. A more realistic question is whether he can play well enough to change the Sixers’ short-term narrative.

    4. Eagles hire Shane Steichen or Mike McDaniel as offensive coordinator.

    The Colts would be foolish to fire Steichen, who has somehow managed to put together a 25-25 record with the following starting quarterbacks: Gardner Minshew (7-6), Daniel Jones (8-5), Anthony Richardson (8-7), Joe Flacco (2-4), and Philip Rivers (0-3). But here is what owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon told the Athletic recently:

    Tanner McKee is ready to ‘play fast’ in his next opportunity to start at quarterback with the Eagles

    “Most people don’t like change,” said Irsay-Gordon, who has been patrolling the sidelines with a clipboard all season. “I think there’s something wrong with me, but I feel like it is the one thing that is a guarantee. I think it can be exciting.”

    Even if the Colts part ways with Steichen, a team like the Giants could easily snatch him up. I can’t imagine Nick Sirianni would demote himself from head coach in order to restore Steichen as the play-caller. It definitely would be a heck of a story.

    McDaniel might be a more realistic option, although he may be in the process of saving his job by leading the Dolphins to five wins in seven games.

    5. Bryce Harper takes another step backward, as do the Phillies.

    There has been enough passive-aggressive weirdness percolating between Harper and management that we have to at least flag him as the main character in a potential major story. Dave Dombrowski rankled Harper when he mused about Harper’s eliteness, but it is a legitimate question. At 32 years old, Harper is coming off his worst season in a decade. Another step backward would raise some serious concerns. And create some serious headlines.

  • A new ‘Petrushka’ is bringing shape-shifting human puppets to Philadelphia

    A new ‘Petrushka’ is bringing shape-shifting human puppets to Philadelphia

    Stravinsky’s Petrushka is beloved in the orchestral world, a landmark in the dance community, and for all audiences, one of the most peculiarly passionate ballet stories ever told.

    Seedy carnival puppets come to life, fall in love, die bitterly, and haunt adversaries mercilessly. But will that music/theater package thrive when dramatically transformed by BalletX — in its latest collaboration with Philadelphia Chamber Music Society?

    Sight unseen, anticipation runs so high that the Jan. 8 and 9 performances at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater are sold out (but with waitlists). The program, including Mozart’s Piano Quartet in G Minor, promises much to be seen — far from the 1911 Paris premiere by the world-changing Ballets Russes.

    Ashley Simpson, Itzkan Barbosa, Minori Sakita, and Lanie Jackson of BalletX Company rehearse “Petrushka” choreographed by Amy Hall Garner at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre

    For the story full of loneliness and jealousy, with a street-theater puppet show, the setting is Shrovetide Tuesday during what is now called Mardi Gras season. In this new version, the time setting for the traveling troupe is updated to the Great Depression. Petrushka — a role once performed by the legendary dancer Vaslav Nijinsky — becomes Pete.

    “We’ve changed it up quite a bit,” said BalletX resident choreographer Amy Hall Garner, who has also worked with the Joffrey Ballet. “The beauty of Stravinsky’s music is that the ballet can take different routes and still support the story.”

    BalletX Company rehearse “Petrushka”
    choreographed by Amy Hall Garner at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre

    The ballet was never meant to be cute. The primary point of reference for many modern audiences was a production by the sophisticated puppeteer Basil Twist — which has been seen in several venues since 2001, sometimes with two-piano accompaniment. The challenge, outlined at that time in a video interview by Twist, is projecting intense feelings among characters that “are supposed to be puppets, not supposed to be people.”

    In Garner’s version, dancers will be humans at some turns, puppets in others.

    The murderous Moor of the original has his plot functions replaced by, among others, a circus Strong Man and a magician known as the Charlatan. Such extrapolations are relatively respectful in light of how Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring has been turned from a ballet about pagan sacrifice to a modern gangster story by the much-admired choreographer Paul Taylor.

    BalletX members rehearse “Petrushka,” choreographed by Amy Hall Garner.

    The foundation of any Petrushka is the score. In contrast to many dance companies that use prerecorded music, the lavishly orchestrated Stravinsky original has been transcribed for piano quintet (piano and strings) by the ensemble 132, a collective of musicians in their 20s and 30s, formed in 2019, many having graduated from the Curtis Institute, their name drawn from one of Beethoven’s revolutionary opus numbers. They will not only be in the 500-seat Perelman Theater, but will be seen onstage.

    Ensemble 132 is a collective of musicians in their 20s and 30s, formed in 2019, many having graduated from the Curtis Institute.

    “There’s no hiding them,” said Garner. “Dance and music are like brother and sister — with all those heartbeats onstage. It’s a special connection that we don’t get to experience all of the time in the arts. It’s an unseen dialogue with the musicians integrated into the story.”

    The project is part of a continuing collaboration between BalletX and PCMS that included a 2022 event with the Calidore Quartet — brokered in part by a mutual board member of the two organizations, Vince Tseng.

    Mathis Joubert lifts Eli Alford during a rehearsal for “Petrushka.”

    It’s also driven by the companies wanting to expand their respective audiences, both sides of which are open to such artistic cross-pollination when presented to them in their regular concert-going flight patterns.

    For PCMS, much of the attraction comes out of fascination with BalletX. “We don’t usually get involved with a brand new work like this,” said PCMS artistic director Miles Cohen. “It’s impossible not to love what they do.”

    What came first in this case was the Petrushka chamber-size version that was created a few years ago by and for ensemble 132.

    Reducing Petrushka’s many details and colors might seem daunting. But because Stravinsky was a piano-based composer, tracing his thoughts back to their sound source isn’t impossible. “My focus was to present the gesture and the mood,” said ensemble member Sahun Sam Hong, co-artistic director and pianist of ensemble 132. “It’s music about characters but I don’t attempt to make value judgments on those characters.”

    BalletX members rehearse “Petrushka” choreographed by Amy Hall Garner.

    Still, psychological questions can’t help but arise for the musicians. Since the Petrushka character has a history of being a mere puppet, ensemble 132 member Zachary Mowitz speculates, “he’s going through adult matters and isn’t prepared to handle it.”

    “Where does Petrushka belong?” asks Hong. “That’s a story to be told.”

    Such answers fall to Garner, who treats the matter both philosophically and literally: “We put him in an environment where you could see promise. It’s an open field that this traveling show comes to. It’s gritty, it’s haunting, it’s gorgeous.”

    BalletX and ensemble 132 perform “Petrushka,” Jan. 8, 9, 7.30 p.m., Perelman Theater, 300 S. Broad St. Tickets are sold out but there is a waitlist. boxoffice@pcmsconcerts.org, 215-569-8080, pcmsconcerts.org

  • From the Eagles’ Super Bowl win to the Phillies’ bitter end, let’s look back at 2025 in Philly sports

    From the Eagles’ Super Bowl win to the Phillies’ bitter end, let’s look back at 2025 in Philly sports

    Dave Barry, arguably the funniest columnist ever and certainly the funniest Haverford College alumnus ever, has a tradition. Every December, he writes a piece in which he reviews everything that happened over the previous calendar year. Some of the things are true. Some of them are kinda true. All of them are hilarious.

    Barry got his start in journalism at the West Chester Daily Local News, was almost hired by The Inquirer in 1983, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988, and has written more than 40 books, including a terrific memoir, Class Clown, that was published in May. (Dave, when you update the “Acknowledgments” section for the paperback edition, it’s S-I-E-L-S-K-I.) So in honor of a great writer with strong local ties, let’s close out 2025 with a look back at the year in Philadelphia sports.

    January

    The year got off to a rough start when Howard Eskin, the Edward R. Murrow of autograph seekers, lost his very important job of telling everyone how awesome the Eagles are. Tanner McKee started the team’s final regular-season game and played well against the Giants, proving that he is better than Jalen Hurts, Tom Brady, and Joe Montana combined. Nevertheless, coach Nick Sirianni insisted on starting Hurts in the Eagles’ first playoff game, which led to wide receiver A.J. Brown’s decision to sit on the sideline and read a book called Magic in the Air, which was written by some hack from the suburbs. Hurts shook off his two tepid performances against the Packers and the Rams to play brilliantly in the NFC championship game against the Commanders, who aided him by refusing to cover any receivers or tackle Saquon Barkley.

    A.J. Brown plays football and has impeccable taste in literature.

    Meanwhile, the Sixers played 17 games in the month and lost 11 of them, which cut into the listenership for Paul George’s podcast. But on the bright side, Penn State lost a close game to Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff semifinals, inspiring optimism that James Franklin finally would guide the Nittany Lions to a national championship the following season.

    February

    Speculation of a pro-Chiefs conspiracy among NFL officials swirled in the run-up to Super Bowl LIX, but those rumors were put to rest once Patrick Mahomes conspired to throw the ball to Cooper DeJean and Zack Baun throughout the first half. The Eagles thumped Kansas City, 40-22, prompting Brady to provide no discernable analysis on the telecast other than shouting “WOW!” after every significant play. At the Super Bowl parade, Eagles vice president Howie Roseman was struck in the head by a full can of beer. He immediately found the fan who threw the beer and signed him to a three-year, cap-friendly contract. On WIP, Spike Eskin argued that the fan should start ahead of Hurts.

    March meant a pink slip for Flyers coach John Tortorella.

    March

    The Phillies began the 2025 season with three wins in their first four games and the expectation that, if the team did not win the World Series, fans would storm Citizens Bank Park, bind and gag team president Dave Dombrowski, and throw him into the Schuylkill. Villanova’s men’s basketball team lost in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament and fired coach Kyle Neptune, which reminded everyone that Kyle Neptune had been coaching Villanova’s men’s basketball team. The Flyers lost 11 times in a 12-game stretch and fired coach John Tortorella, which reminded everyone that Philadelphia used to have a hockey team.

    Brandon Graham said he was retiring after 15 years with the Eagles. Yep. He said that. There was a news conference and everything.

    Aaron Nola elicited deep concern in April.

    April

    Aaron Nola lost four consecutive starts for the Phillies, which raised the concern that fans would storm Citizens Bank Park, bind and gag him, and throw him into the Schuylkill. Coaches and executives around the NFL began lobbying the league to ban the Tush Push. The Eagles responded by encouraging their offensive linemen to stop blocking altogether — a strategy they carried into the 2025 season. The team then drafted Jihaad Campbell, the first time that the Eagles had selected a linebacker in the first round since 1979 … two years before their head coach was born. Seriously.

    Big Five Hall of Fame induction continues to elude Pope Leo XIV.

    May

    A busy time. The Flyers hired Rick Tocchet as their new head coach, which prompted several 55-year-old South Jersey women to dig their TOCCHET, ZEZEL, and MELLANBY jerseys out of mothballs and start wearing them again.

    The Phillies won nine straight games, but bad news marred their hot streak. Major League Baseball suspended closer José Alvarado for 80 games and ruled him ineligible for the postseason after a drug test revealed he had not told gamblers that he was using a banned substance. Nola gave up 12 hits and nine earned runs over 3⅔ innings against the St. Louis Cardinals, after which the Phillies placed him on the injured list. Then Jesús Luzardo gave up 12 hits and 12 earned runs over 3⅓ innings against the Milwaukee Brewers, which raised the concern that fans would storm Citizens Bank Park and insist that Nola pitch again.

    DeJean and his fellow Eagles defensive back Reed Blankenship launched their podcast, Exciting Whites, which immediately rocketed up the audience rankings in Mayfair, Somerton, and Ridley Township. The College of Cardinals elected Robert Francis Prevost, a Villanova alumnus, as the new Pope. In his first declaration as Pope Leo XIV, Prevost announced that “V for Villanova” would become the official Communion hymn for every Catholic Mass in the United States, replacing “Taste and See,” “Eat This Bread,” and the ever popular “One Bread, One Body.”

    The Sixers drafted VJ Edgecombe and everyone blindly trusted that the franchise made the correct choice.

    June

    The Indiana Pacers’ remarkable run to Game 7 of the NBA Finals — thanks in large part to T.J. McConnell — reminded Sixers fans of those halcyon days when the team tanked for three years to acquire a 5-10 backup point guard who might someday lead them to an almost-championship. Things got better once the Sixers selected VJ Edgecombe with the third overall pick in the draft, allowing them to phase out Joel Embiid and George with a roster made up entirely of guards who were 6-4 or shorter.

    The Flyers used their first-round pick on a promising winger, Porter Mantone, though fans remained disappointed that neither Tocchet, general manager Danny Brière, nor team president Keith Jones would be suiting up for the team himself.

    Jalen Hurts and the Eagles did not win a single game in July.

    July

    The WNBA announced that Philadelphia would get an expansion franchise in 2030, provided that the WNBA still exists in 2030. The NCAA announced that it would keep the March Madness field at 68, quelling any remaining hope that any Big 5 team would ever qualify for the Tournament again. At the MLB trade deadline, the Phillies acquired Harrison Bader, who immediately became their best player, and Jhoan Duran, who immediately increased their in-game pyrotechnic production costs by 250%.

    The Eagles began training camp, and Hurts laid out the team’s message for the season: “We are focused on 2025. We’re acting like we didn’t just win the Super Bowl. We’ve forgotten that we won the Super Bowl. You either win or you learn. We are keeping the main thing the thing that is mainly the thing that we think is, in the main, what we want to be doing. What is the Super Bowl anyway? What is soup? What are bowls? Who am I? Why am I here?”

    Kyle Schwarber (right, with Bryce Harper) heated up the Philadelphia summer.

    August

    Kyle Schwarber became the 21st player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a game, raising questions about whether the Phillies would re-sign him in the offseason — questions that Dombrowski dispelled: “Kyle is an elite power hitter. He’s the most elite hitter we have. He’s the elitist elite hitter around. Got all that, Bryce?”

    Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce announced that they were engaged and that their wedding ceremony would be streamed live on the New Heights podcast. That way, someone would finally have a reason to listen to a full episode of the New Heights podcast.

    Jalen Carter’s one magic loogie earned him an early trip to the locker room.

    September

    Seconds into the Eagles’ season opener, Jalen Carter spat on Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. Carter was ejected from the game and, via referendum, elected mayor of Philadelphia. The Eagles won their first four games, which everyone agreed was awful, just like A.J. Brown said on Twitter/X.

    Before the ninth inning of a Phillies-Nationals game at Citizens Bank Park, Duran set himself on fire and jogged to the pitcher’s mound, where he sacrificed a goat to what he later called “the mighty spider god who gives me strength.” He then gave up two runs for his first blown save.

    After manager Rob Thomson benched him, outfielder Nick Castellanos complained that Thomson didn’t communicate well. When asked to respond to Castellanos’ comments, Thomson shrugged and said, “Welp.”

    Orion Kerkering could have done without all of that.

    October

    A not-so-great month. The Phillies lost in the National League Division Series when a Dodgers batter hit a ground ball back to the mound and reliever Orion Kerkering passed out. The Eagles lost back-to-back games to the Broncos and Giants. To adjust to their team’s limitations, Sirianni and new offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo decided that Hurts would be forbidden from throwing a pass after halftime for the rest of the season. Penn State fired James Franklin after losses to Oregon, UCLA, Northwestern, Archbishop Ryan, and the Lenape Valley 10U Pop Warner team.

    The silver lining? Brandon Graham — surprise! — came out of retirement to rejoin the Eagles.

    Jalen Hurts and Kevin Patullo are pleased to give Eagles fans something to discuss.

    November

    The media who cover the Eagles grappled with a simple question: Does the offense stink because of A) Jalen Hurts, B) Kevin Patullo, or C) Yes? The Eagles then squandered a 21-point lead in losing to the Cowboys and got pushed around in losing to the Bears, leading NFL experts to wonder whether a team coached by Sirianni and quarterbacked by Hurts could ever win anything of consequence.

    Tocchet faced withering criticism from Flyers fans for limiting the ice time of Matvei Michkov, who showed up for training camp weighing 350 pounds and having forgotten how to skate. The Sixers got off to an excellent start as Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey showed they could form the franchise’s best backcourt since Isaiah Canaan and Ish Smith.

    The Flyers are good again and we all saw it coming.

    December

    The Phillies re-signed Schwarber for too many years and too much money for a 32-year-old designated hitter, handing him a contract that will prevent them from breaking down the roster and beginning the 15-year rebuild that any true fan would really want. In response to Dombrowski’s assertion that he was “not elite,” Harper began a new offseason training program similar to Robert De Niro’s in Cape Fear.

    The Flyers finished the month in third place in the Metropolitan Division and on pace to make the playoffs, disappointing those fans who hated the idea of tanking right up until the Flyers stopped tanking. Maxey and Edgecombe kept up their fine play for the Sixers, and Villanova won 10 of its first 12 games, even though no one, not even new coach Kevin Willard, could identify a single player on the Wildcats’ roster.

    In a possible Super Bowl preview, the Eagles beat the Buffalo Bills despite scoring one point and racking up negative-19 yards of total offense. Sirianni then chose to have most of the Eagles’ starters sit out the team’s regular-season finale, because if 2026 turns out to be anything like 2025, everyone is going to need some rest.

  • Temple women hope tough early schedule has prepared them to be American Conference contenders

    Temple women hope tough early schedule has prepared them to be American Conference contenders

    Temple coach Diane Richardson knew she wanted her team to be battle-tested for American Conference play and crafted the Owls’ nonconference schedule to reflect that.

    Richardson lined up five teams coming off NCAA Tournament appearances. The Owls went 1-4 in those games, with their lone win coming at home against George Mason in the season opener on Nov. 3.

    The difficult schedule leaves Temple with a 6-6 record that does not scream conference title contender. However, with a similarly difficult slate at this time last year, the Owls were 6-5 but went on to win 13 conference games and finished fourth in the American.

    Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree is back in the area as a coach, a role he gravitated toward in college

    Now Richardson is hoping to see similar results. Temple has displayed more offensive firepower and improved rebounding numbers, but the key to success for the coach will be defense and starting games strong. The Owls’ quest for an American championship starts Saturday at home against the reigning regular-season champion, UTSA (2:30 p.m., ESPN+).

    “I’m feeling pretty good,” Richardson said. “I know our last outing with Princeton kind of showed us that we have the resiliency that we’ll need. I just wish that we would start out like that. But I’m feeling pretty good. We’ve gotten the tough part behind us, and now we enter into the second season, which is the most important.”

    Coach Diane Richardson’s Temple squad opens American Conference play on Saturday against the reigning regular-season champion, UTSA.

    Showing resilience

    Temple’s four losses against 2025 NCAA Tournament teams came by double digits, with its closest result an 87-77 loss at Princeton on Dec. 22. The Owls also showed flashes of fight and the ability to remain competitive in those games.

    In their 72-57 loss to Atlantic 10 favorite Richmond on Nov. 18, the Owls were down double digits early in the second quarter but battled back and were within striking distance until the final five minutes. Temple trailed by as many as 26 points in the fourth quarter against Princeton but cut the deficit to nine in the final minute.

    “Early on, we weren’t responding really well,” Richardson said. “… But I think as we got into the season, we started understanding that this is tough, and we have to be tougher. Coming toward the end of the nonconference season, I thought we played better, which is a plus for us going into conference play.”

    Before the season, Richardson wanted her team to play faster, but during nonconference play, she felt the Owls were not assertive on offense to begin games or played out of control, which led to an increase in turnovers.

    Evan Simon became a true starting QB in his final year of college, and it’s a year he won’t forget.

    Temple also had to play its final four nonconference games without starting point guard Tristen Taylor, who suffered an ankle injury on the road trip to the Bahamas at the end of November. The Owls were 2-2 without her.

    Taylor was the Owls’ second-leading scorer at the time of her injury, averaging 10.1 points and leading them in assists (4.6). She also was second in the American in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.1. Without its main ballhandler, Temple looked out of sync at times, especially in its 59-52 loss to Drexel in the Big 5 Classic on Dec. 7.

    The Owls leaned on guard Kaylah Turner, who ascended to one of the best players in the conference in Taylor’s absence.

    She averaged 23 points in the four games Taylor missed, including a career-high 36 points against Princeton. Turner, who is averaging 17.8 points this season, took on point guard duties and struggled with turnovers, but she still offered a steady presence at the top of the offense. Richardson expects Taylor back within the first two games of conference play. She believes Taylor and Turner can form the best backcourt in the conference.

    “In the scoring aspect, I do think I did well, but I feel like I could have done way better,” Turner said. “With playmaking and passing, that’s something I’m still working on. So I feel like I definitely could have improved that.”

    Tristen Taylor was averaging 10.1 points and 4.6 assists at the time of her injury.

    By the numbers

    Richardson was keen on her team playing faster on offense and improving its rebounding in the offseason. Nonconference play has shown offensive improvement and major strides on the glass for the Owls.

    Temple is averaging 70.1 points, a 3.4-point increase from its mark last year. Three players — Turner, Taylor and forward Jaleesa Molina — are averaging at least 10 points. Turner leads the American in scoring (17.8) and three-point percentage (.460) and is second in field-goal percentage (.450).

    The most notable improvement for the Owls has been their rebounding. Last season, Temple averaged 38.8 rebounds and had a rebounding margin of 0.8. This season, the Owls are averaging 39.8 rebounds but holding opponents to 33.9. The Owls give up the second-fewest rebounds in the conference and are fourth in rebounding margin.

    Molina and transfer forward Saniyah Craig have spearheaded the Owls’ efforts on the glass. Craig, who was the ninth-leading rebounder in the country last season while at Jacksonville, is averaging 8.9 rebounds, and Molina averages 8.4.

    A former West Chester and Temple basketball coach placed hundreds of bets for more than $175,000

    “We’ve got to be hungry, and we’ve got to get every rebound,” Richardson said. “We’ve concentrated on that this week as well. So that’s going to be something that hopefully we’re good at.”

    Temple has struggled taking care of the ball. The Owls are averaging 19.6 turnovers, four more than last season, and have turned the ball over at least 20 times in five games, including their last three.

    Richardson knows the turnover numbers have to come down, but she believes that the key to a conference banner being raised in the Liacouras Center will come on defense.

    “You can miss shots, but you can always play defense,” Richardson said. “I think that oomph, that extra adrenaline turning people over defensively helps us offensively because it gives them more confidence. We want to compound our defense and make that our No. 1 thing.”

  • The thrill of victory and the exasperation of trying to feel good about it define the 2025 Eagles

    The thrill of victory and the exasperation of trying to feel good about it define the 2025 Eagles

    Quinyon Mitchell isn’t one of those cornerbacks who speaks as if he is paid by the word. That’s a good thing. Brevity is often a sign of a man with more important things on his mind. It also suffices, more often than not.

    For anybody who walked away from the Eagles’ 13-12 victory over the Bills on Sunday with an even greater sense of trepidation regarding the postseason, it might be helpful to consider the three short declarative sentences that Mitchell offered up as his interpretation of the proceedings.

    “We’re battle-tested,” the Eagles’ second-year cornerback said as he stood in the postgame swirl of a cramped visitor’s locker room at Highmark Stadium. “Just look at our schedule. Look at our opponents.”

    The sentiment is equal parts encouraging and maddening. Which is fitting, because the Eagles themselves are both of those things. It is their yin and their yang, their two mystical tadpoles, one of them midnight green, the other kelly green, chasing each other in a circle. The thrill of victory and the exasperation of trying to feel good about it.

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

    On the one hand, the scoreboard is the ultimate judge. On the other hand, why does the scoreboard have to say 13-12? And why does it have to feel so fitting?

    To anybody who possesses both a functioning brain and a reasonable amount of prior exposure to playoff football, the Eagles look like a team whose luck is destined to run out well before Super Bowl Sunday. The quarterback has not been good enough. Not even close. The play-calling has not been good enough to make up for the quarterback’s deficiencies. The defense has been good enough to make up for both of those things. But only barely.

    On Sunday, the result was the second time this season that the Eagles failed to complete a pass in the second half. Yet it was also the second time this season where they failed to complete a pass in the second half and still won the game.

    Yin and yang.

    Sunday was also the third time this season when the Eagles won a game in which they scored fewer than 17 points. They are just the fifth team to accomplish that feat over the last 15 seasons. Of the four teams that did it previously, three went on to lose in the wild card round. Yet the one exception was the 2012 Ravens, who went on to win the Super Bowl.

    Yin and yang.

    Defensive tackle Jalen Carter (98) and running back Saquon Barkley celebrate after the Eagles stopped the Buffalo Bills on a two-point conversion attempt late in the fourth quarter Sunday.

    “I’ve never really been on a playoff team, but I can tell the difference just in the sense of these crunch time moments, being able to bend but don’t break,” said defensive end Jaelan Phillips, who had one of the Eagles’ five sacks against the Bills. “Obviously they had a little bit of a surge toward the end, but we were able to do what we needed to do offensively, defensively, and special teams wise to come out with the win. Gritty games like that are things you need to have to prepare yourself for the long haul.”

    The Eagles may not be the most dynamic team heading into the postseason, but they will be the most prepared.

    They have faced 10 of the top 13 quarterbacks in the NFL in terms of passing yards with a 3-1 record against the top three. They are 4-1 against the top seven QBR leaders. They have won games against five of the six quarterbacks who, along with Jalen Hurts, lead the NFL in wins over the last four seasons.

    Sunday was the 10th time in 16 games that the Eagles faced a team that ranked in the top 10 in the NFL in either offensive or defensive yards per play (as of Sunday).

    Kevin Patullo on struggles of Eagles offense: ’It never comes down to one thing.’

    They have faced four of the NFL’s five highest-scoring offenses. They’ve faced five of the six quarterbacks who entered Sunday with the most passing yards, and three of the four who entered with the highest passer ratings. They have faced five of the seven defenses that entered Sunday with the highest rating, according to Pro Football Reference’s rating system.

    These have been the Eagles’ hallmarks throughout Hurts’ tenure at quarterback and Nick Sirianni’s at head coach. Sunday’s win over the Bills only added to a road record that is the best in the NFL since Sirianni’s arrival.

    “I think that’s a product of really good players and good coaches, and so it’s everything that goes into that, but good mental toughness,” Sirianni said Monday. “I think that really signifies your mental toughness, too.

    “We experienced some highs and some lows [on Sunday], and we were able to continue to be relentless in our approach handling ups and downs. They ended up making a critical mistake in the game and we didn’t, which ended up being the difference in that game. So again, coming down to fundamentals. Just great resilience by the guys in there, and we prepare for that as coaches and players.”

    Resilience is great. But even better is playing well enough to avoid the situations that test your resilience. That tension of opposites will determine the Eagles’ ultimate fate in the playoffs.

  • Five Philly science wins of 2025: Big prizes, biotech moves, and global recognition for Baby KJ.

    Five Philly science wins of 2025: Big prizes, biotech moves, and global recognition for Baby KJ.

    Despite being one of the rockiest years yet for science — marked by millions of dollars in funding cuts and controversial shake-ups to the federal infrastructure — Philadelphia scientists still managed to celebrate many wins in 2025.

    Some institutions expanded their research with new centers dedicated to autoimmunity, HIV, Williams syndrome, and drug development. Others won big grants to develop better drugs for asthma and study the causes of autism.

    Local scientists published exciting research on treatments for type 1 diabetes and ovarian cancer, designed self-heating concrete, and proposed ways to turn toxic fungi, snake venom, and trees into medicine.

    They also won national and international honors for work in physics, cancer research, and drug repurposing. And although no local scientists won a Nobel Prize this year, two at Monell Chemical Senses Center were recognized by its satirical counterpart, the Ig Nobel Prize.

    Here are five notable Philly science wins from 2025:

    1. Baby KJ is successfully treated with personalized gene editing therapy

    Philadelphia-area child KJ Muldoon, now 16 months old, has already been called a “trailblazing baby” by the top scientific journal Nature and recognized by the publication as one of 10 people who helped shape science in 2025.

    This international recognition came after his life-threatening genetic condition was successfully treated with a personalized gene editing therapy earlier this year by doctors at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

    Baby KJ was born in August 2024 with a metabolic disorder that prevented his liver from being able to process protein. Called severe carbamoyl phosphate synthetase 1 (CPS1) deficiency, the disorder puts babies at risk of severe brain damage and is fatal more than half the time.

    With few options to treat him, the CHOP and Penn team — led by doctors Kiran Musunuru and Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas — opted for a gene-editing technology known as CRISPR to create a customized drug for KJ that would fix the genetic mutation that was driving his disease.

    After receiving three doses, KJ was able to return home in June — ending his 307-day-long stay at the hospital. Though not a cure, the medication has dramatically improved his liver function and made the effects of his disease milder, doctors say.

    CHOP and Penn treated an infant with a rare disease by editing his genes

    2. Penn physicists share the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics

    Penn particle physicists (from left) Joseph Kroll, Brig Williams, and Elliot Lipeles, pictured in 2011. They are part of the ATLAS research team that helped discover the Higgs boson, an elementary particle, and were honored with the 2025 Breakthrough Prize for their ongoing Higgs research.

    This year, Penn physicists shared one of science’s biggest honors: the Breakthrough Prize.

    They were among 13,000 scientists across more than 70 countries to be recognized for their involvement in particle physics experiments at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, in Switzerland.

    These decades-long research collaborations have explored the fundamental structure of particles that make up the universe, using CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, a 17-mile-long particle accelerator.

    The Penn team — consisting of more than two dozen scientists, including Joseph Kroll, Evelyn Thomson, Elliot Lipeles, Dylan Rankin, and Brig Williams — was specifically part of the ATLAS Experiment, which played a key role in the discovery of the Higgs boson particle, a critical particle in modern particle physics theory. The Higgs discovery helped confirm how fundamental particles acquire mass.

    Penn physicists share Breakthrough Prize with international team of researchers

    3. David Fajgenbaum honored for drug repurposing research

    David Fajgenbaum was diagnosed with Castleman disease, a rare lymph node disorder with limited treatment options. When chemotherapy didn’t work, the third-year medical student worked with his doctors to discover that a medication approved for preventing organ rejection in transplant patients could help him, too.

    Penn immunologist David Fajgenbaum received one of the nation’s oldest science prizes, the John Scott Award, this year for his pioneering work repurposing existing drugs for new uses.

    He entered this field 15 years ago after a rare and deadly diagnosis of idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease nearly killed him. The disease had no approved treatment nor any treatment guidelines at the time.

    Then a medical student at Penn, Fajgenbaum started collecting samples of his blood to test for abnormalities. The data helped him identify an existing drug called sirolimus — primarily given to organ transplant recipients — which has put him in remission for the last decade.

    Now through his nonprofit Every Cure, Fajgenbaum has made it his mission to use AI technology to match available medications with rare, hard-to-treat diseases.

    He published a case study in the New England Journal of Medicine in February, where his AI tool helped identify an off-label treatment for another patient with Castleman disease who, at the time, was entering hospice care after all available treatments had failed. As of that study’s publication, the patient has been in a yearslong remission.

    Penn immunologist David Fajgenbaum receives prestigious John Scott Award

    4. Lilly Gateway Labs biotech incubator coming to Philly

    Eli Lilly is opening a branch of Lilly Gateway Labs, an incubator for developing biotech companies, in Philadelphia, the Indianapolis company announced Wednesday. The site, in a new life sciences building at 2300 Market St. in Philadelphia, is the fifth in the United States for the pharmaceutical giant.

    Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co announced in November its plans to open a Lilly Gateway Labs site — an incubator for early-stage biotech companies — in Center City.

    It was a positive sign for a biotech scene that otherwise lags behind other cities.

    The incubator, which will be Lilly’s fifth in the United States, will span 44,000 square feet on the first two levels of 2300 Market St. Since the program’s launch in 2019, companies at the other locations (in Boston, South San Francisco, and San Diego) have raised more than $3 billion from investors toward more than 50 therapeutic programs, according to Lilly.

    Lilly plans to house six to eight companies at the Philadelphia location, with the goal of welcoming the first startups in the first quarter of 2026.

    Eli Lilly & Co. is opening a Lilly Gateway Labs biotech incubator in Philadelphia

    5. Carl June wins international honors for CAR-T research

    Carl June won international prizes for his cancer research at the University of Pennsylvania.

    Penn cancer scientist Carl June added two more international prizes to his trophy case in September for his pioneering work engineering the body’s immune system to fight cancer.

    June is known for developing the first FDA-approved CAR-T therapy, an immunotherapy in which regular immune cells are genetically modified to become cancer-killing super soldiers. It has revolutionized treatment for blood cancers, saving tens of thousands of lives since its first use in a 2010 clinical trial he co-led at Penn.

    Though his past work is what won him the inaugural Broermann Medical Innovation Award and the 2025 Balzan Prize for Gene and Gene-Modified Cell Therapy this year, his lab has remained busy, working on ways to apply CAR-T to solid cancers, enhance the therapy for lymphoma, and even re-engineer cells inside the body.

    June has also made moves on the biotech front: A company he co-founded with the purpose of applying CAR-T to autoimmune diseases, Capstan Therapeutics, was bought by AbbVie this summer for $2.1 billion.

    Penn’s CAR-T pioneer Carl June talks about the future of his award-winning work to train the body to fight cancer
  • 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.