Following their third consecutive loss, the Eagles return home to face the Raiders on Sunday in what will be Philadelphia’s first 1 p.m. start since October 26th.
The Birds are looking for a bounceback performance from Jalen Hurts and the offense after Hurts threw four interceptions against the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night. Over the last five games, the Eagles (8-5) have averaged just over 16 points, down from the 26 they averaged during the season’s first eight games. The Raiders (2-11) rank 24th in points allowed per game (25.5 points).
The Birds are a double-digit favorite in Sunday’s game, and will likely not have to face Raiders quarterback Geno Smith, who suffered a shoulder injury last week. If the 35 year old is unable to play, former Eagles backup Kenny Pickett would likely get the start.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts has thrown for over 200 yards in each of his last three games.
Passing yards props
Hurts has thrown for over 200 yards in each of his last three games. The Birds quarterback’s passing line is set just above that number for Sunday’s game.
Pickett, on the other hand, has not yet started a game this season. Pickett’s last start was for the Eagles last year. In that game, the Eagles dominated the Cowboys 41-7, though Pickett only threw for 143 yards.
During the Eagles’ last five games, Hurts has only thrown four total touchdowns. Last season, Pickett threw a touchdown pass in each of the two games in which he played the majority.
Running back Saquon Barkley turned a fake Tush Push into a 52-yard touchdown run against the Chargers.
Rushing yards
Saquon Barkley had one of his strongest games against the Chargers. He rushed for 122 yards, including a 52-yard score to put the Eagles ahead at the start of the fourth quarter. Barkley had averaged just 55 rushing yards in the Birds’ four previous games.
On the other side, Ashton Jeanty has struggled recently. The sixth overall pick in the 2025 draft ran for just 30 yards last week. Jeanty has averaged under 2.5 yards per carry over his last four games, and hasn’t scored a rushing touchdown since Nov. 6.
Only DraftKings has posted rushing props for the Eagles due to the Raiders’ uncertain quarterback status.
A.J. Brown recorded his third straight 100-yard game on Monday. Dallas Goedert also recorded eight catches for 78 yards, his most yards in a game since Oct. 26.
For the Raiders, tight end Brock Bowers has led the way with 619 receiving yards, despite missing three games.
Just like the rushing props, only DraftKings has receiving props listed for Eagles players.
Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers has scored three touchdowns over his last two games.
Touchdown scorers
Barkley was the only Eagle to find the end zone against the Chargers on Monday. In the three weeks prior, Hurts and Brown were the only touchdown scorers.
For the Raiders, Bowers has caught three touchdowns in the last two games.
The Eagles are suffering through a rough patch. They have lost three consecutive games. Their offense hasn’t been able to lead them to more than 21 points in five consecutive games, the longest such streak for any Eagles team since 2005.
Well, happy holidays to the Eagles, because here comes the gift that keeps on giving for NFL teams: the Las Vegas Raiders, who haven’t won since Oct. 12, when they beat Tennessee, one of only two other teams without a third win this season.
The Eagles are double-digit favorites, and their get-right game is here — or so they hope.
Here are some numbers that could play a part in Sunday’s result:
46.3
Since their Week 9 bye, 3¾ of the Eagles’ five games have come without Lane Johnson, who has been out with a Lisfranc injury in his foot. The Eagles have been historically bad without their All-Pro right tackle, and his impact usually shows up in a big way when he’s not on the field more than when he is.
This time around, it’s in the pressure on Jalen Hurts. In two of the last three games, the Eagles have allowed Hurts to be pressured 18 times, the two highest totals of the 2025 season.
He has not been handling it well. Going back to Week 10, the game before Johnson went down with his injury, Hurts has a 46.3 passer rating when under pressure.
Jalen Hurts passes while Los Angeles Chargers outside linebacker Khalil Mack bears down on him in Monday’s game.
Two things are working in his favor for Sunday: the Raiders have the third-worst pressure percentage (27.3%) in the NFL, and Johnson could return to action.
Sure, Maxx Crosby has still been a menace. He has 43 pressures, according to Next Gen Stats, and nine sacks on the season, but only two other Raiders — Malcolm Koonce and Jonah Laulu — have more than 18 pressures.
Hurts should have plenty of time, and his passing numbers should reflect that.
On the flip side, the Eagles’ defense should be able to have a field day rushing old friend Kenny Pickett, if he indeed gets the nod for the injured Geno Smith.
The Eagles generated a 68.3% pressure rate against Justin Herbert Monday night, the highest rate of any team this season. Eight Eagles generated at least three pressures, the most by any team this season. Jaelan Phillips and Nolan Smith each registered seven. Jalyx Hunt, meanwhile, had five pressures and 2½ sacks.
Jalyx Hunt sacks Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert and forces a fumble.
The pass rushers should be raring to go Sunday. They may not generate a 68.3% pressure rate, but the Raiders allow pressure on 36.9% of their drop backs, tied for ninth-most in the NFL. Smith was pressured on 56% of his 25 dropbacks in Sunday’s loss to Denver, according to Next Gen, while Pickett was pressured on 38.5% of his 11 drops.
The Raiders’ passing offense runs through Brock Bowers, the second-year tight end who was a first-team All-Pro after his rookie campaign in 2024. Bowers leads the Raiders in targets (73), yards (574), and touchdowns (six) while playing in just 10 of the team’s 13 games.
Bowers is effectively a receiver out there, and the Raiders use him as such. Against the Broncos, Bowers aligned in the slot or out wide on 22 of his 31 routes (71%), according to Next Gen. Bowers was out wide on just seven of his 51 total snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.
Bowers’ alignment should not pose much of a problem to the Eagles. Cooper DeJean has been among the best nickel players in the league, and if Bowers is being covered by a linebacker on routes from a normal tight end alignment, Nakobe Dean could flex his coverage chops. Dean entered last week allowing a 47.4% completion percentage when targeted this season, according to Next Gen, the lowest among 734 linebackers with at least 15 targets in a season since 2018. He did surrender three catches on three targets Monday, however.
The Eagles defensive backs and linebackers will have their hands full with Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers, who is more of a receiver.
DeJean, meanwhile, pitched a shutout on three targets Monday and was a big part of taking the Chargers’ Ladd McConkey out of the game. Entering Monday, DeJean had a league-high 408 coverage snaps from the slot and had allowed just a 59.0% completion percentage, according to Next Gen, the seventh-lowest number in the NFL on a minimum of 20 targets, and no touchdowns.
The Eagles should have the answers for Bowers, and Quinyon Mitchell will likely see a lot of Tre Tucker.
The Eagles have a big advantage when the Raiders are in obvious pass situations.
91.9%
This isn’t specific to the game, but we’ve been tracking playoff chances here for most of the season, so why not continue doing so?
For all of the panic about the Eagles during their three-game skid — to be fair, there is reason to worry — they are still almost a lock to win the division. Sure, they have to play the games, but the Eagles have a favorable schedule the rest of the way.
According to FTN Fantasy, they have a 91.9% chance of making the playoffs, and a 91.5% chance of winning the NFC East. They are most likely (73.6%) to finish with the No. 3 seed in the NFC and will have a home playoff game.
The magic number to win the NFC East is just three. Any Eagles win or Dallas loss drops it, and the Eagles might be double-digit favorites in three of their remaining four games starting with Sunday. They’re still in the driver’s seat.
Early during Nick Sirianni’s weekly interrogation by Eagles flagship station 94-WIP on Wednesday morning, he was asked about Jalen Hurts by host Joe DeCamara: “Is there a possibility later this season, if he continues to struggle, that you could make a change at the quarterback spot?”
Sirianni replied:
“I think that’s ridiculous.”
You know what’s ridiculous?
Saying you would never replace a quarterback in the middle of a horrible performance — that’s ridiculous. Saying you would never bench a quarterback who’s slumping worse than the economy — that’s ridiculous.
It’s more than ridiculous. It’s malpractice.
It’s not as if Sirianni is averse to benching people.
He benched defensive coordinator Sean Desai late in the 2023 season.
Hell, he benched himself in 2021, when, as a rookie head coach, he found the burden of play-calling too onerous, and ceded it to then-offensive coordinator Shane Steichen.
Don’t be afraid to do unto others, Nick.
There are two reasons a coach has not only the right, but the responsibility, to bench a quarterback who is playing losing football. This is doubly true of a coach whose team has the weapons to make another deep postseason run, which is exactly the sort of team Sirianni has.
First, the coach owes it to the rest of the team to give them the best chance to win. He doesn’t just owe the players. He owes his coaching staff, his support staff, the administrators, the scouts, the janitors — everybody.
Because everybody’s livelihood suffers when the team doesn’t win, and if Hurts continues to play this poorly, the team cannot win.
Second, when you’re in a tailspin like Hurts, you’re very unlikely to dig your way out of it. Defensive coordinators are using a very clear formula to beat Hurts: Load the box to stop the run, force the receivers inside, give up nothing deep, and don’t bother with a spy, since Hurts doesn’t want to run anymore, and he has lost a step, anyway. And blitz, blitz, blitz.
This is the third time since Hurts became the unquestioned starter that he has lost three straight regular-season games. However, it is, by far, his worst performance of any three-game slide, and the first time he has been the biggest reason for the losing. Hurts has a lower passer rating (69.9), more total turnovers (seven), and fewer rushing yards (72) than in previous losing streaks. He’s been bad before, but never this bad.
The Eagles are 8-5. A loss Sunday to the visiting Las Vegas Raiders combined with a Dallas Cowboys win against the Minnesota Vikings would shrink the Eagles’ lead in the NFC East to a half-game and put even a wild-card berth in peril.
This is no time to worry about Jalen Hurts’ feelings.
It might sound heretical to say of the Super Bowl MVP, but if Hurts continues to struggle, he damn well should be benched. He is not sacred.
Also: Do you believe Sirianni?
Liar, Liar
In Liar Liar (1997), Jim Carrey improvised the iconic “Mama!” line in the elevator scene. It wasn’t in the script. This was also one of the moments he had lots of bloopers behind the scenes.
Can you believe Sirianni? He lies all the time to protect players. He admitted this in 2023: “That’s something I’ve always done.”
With that in mind, if, by halftime Sunday, Hurts has thrown two interceptions, fumbled the ball away, and he’s 3-for-11, I think we‘ll see Tanner McKee.
I guess Sirianni needs to say that Hurts is untouchable in order to fortify Hurts’ confidence. Sad.
The Eagles were burned the last time they benched a starter. In 2020, Carson Wentz, who already was angry that the Eagles drafted Hurts in the second round, was benched with 4½ games to play. The benching infuriated Wentz. He first got coach Doug Pederson fired, then forced a trade. The trade hung the Eagles with a then-record $33 million salary-cap hit and left them with Hurts, a talented, raw, flawed quarterback.
Four years later, Hurts has gone to two Pro Bowls, two Super Bowls, and won a Super Bowl, and signed a $255 million contract. Nevertheless, Hurts remains raw and flawed — less so, but still.
It’s rare that franchise quarterbacks get benched on merit, but that’s a phenomenon almost exclusive to NFL QBs. Hurts is on a five-game slump, which is about 30% of his season. If Bryce Harper hit .150 over 54 games and made 10 errors or if Tyrese Maxey shot 20% for 27 consecutive games and averaged seven turnovers, you can bet your britches they’d get a day or two off.
Hurts understands that he’s a big part of the problem. He acknowledged that he’s in a slump, and it’s a granular slump. And when he says he needs to be more “detailed,” it means he needs to get back to the basics in practice so they translate during games.
“How can I have the right technique?” he said. “How am I playing with the fundamentals? To run the way I want to run? To throw the way I want to throw?”
It comes. It goes.
“For whatever reason, that’s a part of the game,” Hurts said. “Success or greatness — those things aren’t linear. You have your ups, you have your downs.”
When athletes in other sports have their downs, they get sat down.
But not quarterbacks.
They’re special.
Whatever.
Tradition!
It’s more than a little ironic that the analytically driven Eagles have, in Sirianni, a pocket-protector spokesman who is essentially telling us that he wouldn’t bench his quarterback because “This is the way it’s always been done.“
Listen: If you want to go for it on fourth-and-4 from your opponent’s 32-yard line with 3 minutes, 30 seconds to play, when a field goal would put you up seven or eight points, then you don’t get to use the “This is the way it’s always been done” defense.
I understand the concerns with going to McKee — concerns independent of how it affects Hurts. There are concerns about offensive timing. You know Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham will show McKee exotic looks on every snap. McKee will be baited by defensive backs.
McKee might fail catastrophically, and then, where are you?
It’s not as if Hurts hasn’t been benched before. He lost his job as Alabama’s starter at halftime of the 2018 College Football Playoff national championship, which his replacement, Tua Tagovailoa, won. Instead of transferring, Hurts returned the next season, served as a backup, and, 11 months later, replaced Tagovailoa in the SEC title game and led a comeback win.
If anybody can handle a benching, it’s Jalen Alexander Hurts.
There’s no debating that there’s a contingent of folks, especially in the Philadelphia area, who would love to see Hurts fail. You can debate their motives, but he’s not nearly as appreciated as he should be.
This has led to a cycle of protectionism inside the NovaCare Complex. That’s not good for anybody.
However, most folks don’t want any scenario to surface in which Hurts gets benched. He has played wonderful football at times.
But to dismiss his benching out of hand isn’t just ridiculous.
The positivity bunny couldn’t save the Eagles offense on Monday night if it tried.
Jalen Hurts threw a career-high four interceptions in the Eagles’ 22-19 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, extending their losing streak to three games. Just as it has for most of the season, the passing game continued to flounder, as Hurts completed just 21 of 40 passes (52.5%) for 240 yards.
The game was somewhat reminiscent of Week 10 against the Green Bay Packers, in which the Eagles defense dominated its way to victory. This time around, though, the Eagles’ stellar play, especially against the pass (Justin Herbert completed a season-low 46.2% of his attempts), wasn’t enough to earn the Eagles the win.
Is a get-well game finally on the way? On Sunday, the Eagles will face the 2-11 Las Vegas Raiders, who haven’t won a game since mid-October (over the 2-11 Tennessee Titans).
Or are the Eagles walking into a 2023 Week 17 Arizona Cardinals-esque trap game? After all, since Week 9, the Eagles have scored only one more touchdown (eight) than the Raiders. Here’s what we know (and what we don’t) about the Eagles heading into Week 15:
How will Jalen Hurts rebound from perhaps the worst outing of his NFL career?
Slopfest continues
After Monday night’s loss, Nick Sirianni described the Eagles’ five turnovers as being “uncharacteristic.”
In the greater context of the season, yes, the Eagles’ turnovers indeed were uncharacteristic. Entering the game, the Eagles had given up the ball 13 times, tied for the fourth-lowest total in the league.
But the turnovers have become characteristic of the Eagles over the last three weeks, a byproduct of their lack of attention to detail. They’ve coughed up the ball nine times, the worst total in a span of three games under Sirianni. Hurts has been responsible for seven of those turnovers, although it’s fair to point out that those mistakes aren’t always exclusively on him (especially his fourth-quarter interception on a pass deflected by A.J. Brown).
For the first time since Week 8 against the New York Giants, the Eagles were not the more penalized team in a game (the Eagles had six penalties and the Chargers had seven). But the offense still found a way to lose the game because of its copious mistakes, even though the defense forced three turnovers and sacked Herbert seven times.
Before the Eagles’ three-game losing streak, Sirianni spoke of the importance of winning the turnover battle. He said, “When you combine good talent with good detail and good fundamentals, that’s where you get some special things happening.” The Eagles have enough talent on offense, but the lack of fundamentals has been holding them back.
If they can’t put it together, regardless of how they fare for the rest of the regular season, their playoff run won’t have much life.
Old pal Kenny Pickett, who relieved Geno Smith last week, could get a shot against one of his former teams on Sunday.
Geno goes down
The blows keep on coming to the Eagles’ upcoming opposing quarterbacks.
After facing Herbert, who played through a surgically repaired nonthrowing hand on Monday, the Eagles may not see Raiders quarterback Geno Smith on Sunday. The 35-year-old quarterback exited their Week 14 loss to the Broncos with an injury to his throwing shoulder after taking a hit in the third quarter. According to the NFL Network, Smith is unlikely to start on Sunday.
With Smith sidelined last week, the Raiders turned to backup Kenny Pickett, who served in the same role with the Eagles in 2024. The Ocean Township, N.J., native fared well in relief of Smith, going 8 of 11 for 97 yards and a touchdown, but his efforts weren’t enough to help the Raiders pull off a comeback.
The game marked Pickett’s first meaningful action with the Raiders, who acquired him from the Cleveland Browns in late August.
Pete Carroll has not found the magic formula in his first season at the helm of the Raiders.
Raiders coach Pete Carroll said postgame that Smith’s shoulder “locked up,” and initial tests indicated that he avoided damage. If Smith can play, Carroll suggested that he would go with his starter. Otherwise, Pickett will be ready for his first start since he was a member of the Eagles in Week 17 against the Dallas Cowboys while Hurts was in concussion protocol.
With Smith at the helm this season, the Raiders offense has been one of the worst in the league, ranking 30th in expected points added per play (-0.22), a statistic that measures the average points an offense generates on a play.
One of the passing game’s bright spots lately, though, has been Jack Bech, the second-round receiver out of TCU. His usage has increased over the last couple of weeks, culminating with a career-high 80.9% of the snaps against the Broncos. He caught all six of his targets for 50 yards.
But the Raiders’ running game, headlined by sixth overall pick Ashton Jeanty, is worse than their passing game. The Raiders rank last in expected points added per rush at -.28. The next closest teams, the New Orleans Saints, the Tennessee Titans, and the Browns, are tied at -0.12. The offense’s dysfunction led to the firing of Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, the former Eagles head coach, in late November after the team started its season 2-9.
If Vic Fangio’s defense can’t stop the Raiders offense, regardless of who starts at quarterback, the Eagles have a major problem on their hands. The group was stellar against the Chargers, despite the result, limiting Los Angeles to 1 of 3 in the red zone and 7 of 19 on third down.
Meanwhile, Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels exited his first game back since Week 9 after reinjuring his left elbow. That’s a topic for next week.
Can Saquon Barkley build on the positive signs of his Monday night performance?
Run defense slide
Despite the teamwide turmoil, the Raiders defense has been solid against the run for most of the season. Through the first 12 weeks, the Raiders had given up 1,137 rushing yards (94.8 per game), the 12th-lowest total in the NFL.
The last two weeks have been a different story. The Raiders have conceded 344 rushing yards (172 per game), which is tied with the Arizona Cardinals for third-worst.
Six ballcarriers contributed to the Broncos’ rushing total of 152 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries. RJ Harvey, the Broncos’ rookie running back, led the way with 75 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries (4.4 yards per carry).
Missed tackles have been an issue for defensive coordinator Patrick Graham’s unit. The Raiders have missed the third-most tackles in the NFL at 106, according to Pro Football Reference. Former Eagles inside linebacker Devin White is tied for second-most in the NFL with 18 missed tackles this season.
But the Raiders still made plays against the run on Sunday. Four-time Pro Bowl defensive end Maxx Crosby set a new career high with 25 tackles for loss. According to Next Gen Stats, Crosby leads all defensive linemen with 52 run stops, 10 of which have come in the last two weeks.
Despite the Eagles’ offensive struggles on Monday night, Saquon Barkley had some positive moments in the running game. He finished with 122 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, good for his second-best output of the season and just the second time he has eclipsed 100 rushing yards.
Barkley was particularly effective when Hurts handed the ball off from under center. His longest gain — a 52-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter — came off a Tush Push fake when Hurts was lined up under center. If Barkley and his blockers can build on their latest performance, and if Lane Johnson returns this Sunday, the Eagles could have continued success on the ground against the Raiders.
Could a big Britain Covey week be coming against the porous Raiders special teams?
Special teams nightmare
Kelly wasn’t the only coordinator who got the ax this season. The Raiders also fired special teams coordinator Tom McMahon in early November.
The Raiders’ special teams unit is one of the weaker groups in the league. They have conceded two touchdowns on punt returns this year, most recently on Sunday when Denver’s Marvin Mims scored on a 48-yard return in the second quarter to break a 7-7 tie. The Raiders joined the Browns as one of two teams that have given up two touchdowns on punt returns this season.
Britain Covey could have an opportunity to take advantage of the Raiders’ shaky punt coverage. The 28-year-old return specialist has proved over the last two weeks why he should have been the Eagles’ punt returner to start the season.
Covey averaged 18 yards per punt return against the Chargers. For reference, Xavier Gipson averaged 11.2 yards return during his stint as the Eagles’ punt returner and Jahan Dotson averaged 9.6. Covey is still seeking his first career touchdown on a punt return.
After three consecutive weeks of the Eagles defense trying to compensate for an ineffective offense, the group seemed to hit its breaking point on Black Friday.
The Eagles conceded 425 yards of offense in their 24-15 loss to the Chicago Bears, bringing their total over the last two weeks to a league-high 898 yards. But Vic Fangio’s defense hasn’t been getting much help from the offense. The Eagles boast the fourth-worst time of possession in the NFL in the last two weeks among 26 teams that have played two games.
Can the Eagles stop the bleeding against the 8-4 Los Angeles Chargers, who are coming off a 31-14 win over the Las Vegas Raiders? That task might be easier if Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert is hindered by his injured nonthrowing hand.
Here is what we know (and what we don’t) about the Eagles heading into their Week 14 matchup:
Nick Sirianni’s mantra has not equaled a win over the last two weeks.
Tough, detailed, together?
Something about the timing of the Bears game just seemed cruel.
The Eagles offense, with all of its talent, had been floundering for weeks entering that contest. The strides taken in wins over the Minnesota Vikings and the New York Giants before the bye week seemingly were blips within the greater context of a shaky season.
There were the Bears, led by a first-year head coach in Ben Johnson who has been getting the most out of his offensive players. They could establish the run and build a play-action passing game off it with a young, inconsistent quarterback in Caleb Williams and had success with the approach in a way that has evaded the Eagles this season.
Everything the Eagles offense could be this season is what the Bears are right now, and the Eagles should be even greater, considering their personnel. The side-by-side disparity was glaring.
“They played a good game; they coached a good game,” Nick Sirianni said Friday night. “They outcoached us; they outplayed us.”
Both admissions were alarming but not surprising. The Eagles, especially on offense, are searching for an identity entering Week 14. Still, Sirianni said in the aftermath of the loss to the Dallas Cowboys that the team always wants to play “tough, detailed, together.”
The Eagles haven’t been living out that mantra lately. Tough? Nakobe Dean pointed to a lack of violence on defense against the Bears’ rushing attack. Detailed? From the Eagles committing the sixth-most pre-snap penalties in the NFL to Jalen Hurts and his receivers not always being on the same page, the offense hasn’t been executing the finer nuances of its responsibilities to the standard of a Super Bowl contender.
Time will tell if the Eagles truly are together as they embark upon the final five games of the regular season, starting Monday night against the Chargers. Otherwise, the Eagles are staring down a 2023-like fate.
A helping hand for Herbert
As of Tuesday, Herbert was expected to play against the Eagles after fracturing his left hand Sunday against the Raiders.
Herbert, the sixth-year starter, underwent surgery Monday. He managed to play through the injury, which happened when Raiders safety Jeremy Chinn tackled him on a scramble late in the first quarter. Herbert even completed a 10-yard touchdown pass on the following play.
Justin Herbert finished the game Sunday despite suffering a fractured non-throwing hand against the Raiders.
He went 15-of-20 for 151 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. A 108.5 quarterback rating isn’t too shabby for a player with a broken nonthrowing hand.
Still, 20 attempts represent Herbert’s second-lowest total of the season and tied for third lowest in his career. He was limited to handing the ball off with his right hand and didn’t take snaps under center for the rest of the game.
With Herbert limited, the Chargers leaned into the running game, led by running backs Kimani Vidal and Jaret Patterson. The duo combined for 180 yards and two touchdowns on 36 attempts. Vidal earned the majority of that share (126 yards on 25 carries) and forced a career-high 12 missed tackles along the way, according to Next Gen Stats.
The Raiders might be 2-10, but their defense has given up just 3.8 yards per carry this season, which ranks third in the NFL.
The Eagles should expect to see a continued effort to run the ball from the Chargers, given Herbert’s injury and the Eagles’ porous run defense (281 yards conceded on 47 attempts) against the Bears.
Plus, Monday night’s game could mark the return of Omarion Hampton, the rookie running back who has been out since Week 5 with an ankle injury. Before going down, Hampton had been averaging 4.8 yards per carry, which would rank in the top 10 in the NFL if it were sustained over 13 weeks. The Eagles ought to fix their running-game woes to avoid D’Andre Swift-Kyle Monangai 2.0.
Offensive line lacking
The Chargers might be extra run-happy, given the state of their pass protection. Herbert has been pressured on 41.8% of his dropbacks this season, which is the third-highest rate in the league. His 38 sacks also rank third.
Herbert hasn’t been getting much help from his offensive line. The Chargers have lost both of their starting tackles, Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt, to injury this year. In August, Slater suffered a torn patellar tendon in his knee in practice, ending his season before it began. Alt had season-ending ankle surgery after getting hurt in early November.
But the tackle spots aren’t the only weaknesses along the Chargers’ offensive line. The interior, namely former Eagles right guard Mekhi Becton, hasn’t fared much better.
Mekhi Becton has not parlayed a strong 2024 season with the Eagles into consistent success with the Chargers.
After signing a two-year, $20 million contract with the Chargers in free agency, Becton has been lackluster in Los Angeles. He has played a career-low 72% of the offensive snaps this season — primarily because of injury — although Becton told ESPN last week that he was pulled from the Week 11 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars without an explanation.
The Raiders pressured Herbert on 26.9% of his dropbacks, his second-lowest rate of the season, according to Next Gen Stats. The Chargers’ decision to lean into the running game kept the Raiders’ pass rush, namely defensive end Maxx Crosby, at bay.
Still, the Eagles’ pass rush could have a prime opportunity whenever Herbert drops back, especially if the Chargers fall behind and are forced to throw.
The Eagles are coming off a season-low 25% pressure rate against the Bears. Nolan Smith led the way with four pressures on Williams, followed by Jalyx Hunt with three.
Barkley beware
The Chargers have statistically one of the best passing defenses in the league, allowing the second-fewest passing yards (2,020) and passing touchdowns (12) in the NFL. However, entering Sunday’s game, the Chargers’ rushing defense was conceding 4.7 yards per carry, which was tied for the sixth-highest average.
Defensive coordinator Jesse Minter’s unit tightened up against the run following the bye week. The Chargers limited Raiders No. 6 overall pick Ashton Jeanty to 31 yards on 15 carries (2.1 yards per carry, the sixth-lowest clip by a running back in a game this season with a minimum of 15 carries).
They achieved this by bringing more bodies closer to the line of scrimmage, whether that was inside linebacker Daiyan Henley lining up on the edge or safeties Elijah Molden and Tony Jefferson rotating into the box before the snap.
The Chargers earned the right to rush the passer by stopping the run. The 34-year-old Khalil Mack led the way with six pressures (tied for the second-best performance by a Chargers defender in a game this season). His 46.2% pressure rate was his highest in a game since at least 2018, according to Next Gen Stats.
Surely, the Chargers will look to limit the Eagles’ rushing attack led by Saquon Barkley, who had just 13 carries (4.3 yards per carry) in the loss to Chicago. Run blocking has been an issue for the team all season long, especially in the last two games in the absence of an injured Lane Johnson.
The biggest risk to the Eagles right now is overcorrection. There’s an alternate history to their 2023 collapse that they should consider before making any drastic changes.
The setup is mostly the same as the one we all know well. A team fresh off a Super Bowl berth arrives in November looking like a good bet to again win its conference. But after a 7-2 start, the hubcaps start to rattle. The team loses four of the next six games, failing to crack 20 points in all four. Questions begin to swirl about its first-year offensive coordinator. The head coach stands by his man. The team finishes the regular season 11-6 and will likely need to win two games on the road in order to get back to the Super Bowl.
In truth, this isn’t an alternate history at all. It’s the actual history of the 2023 Chiefs. The drop-off from the season before was massive on the offensive side of the football. Kansas City scored 125 fewer points in 2023 than it did in 2022, when it beat the Eagles in the Super Bowl. The Chiefs’ average yards per play fell from 6.43 to 5.54. And it really hasn’t rebounded. Since the start of the 2023 regular season, the Chiefs have averaged 23.1 points and 348.7 yards per game, down from 28.7 and 405.2 in 2021-22.
But the Chiefs won the Super Bowl in 2023 despite entering the playoffs having lost four of their last eight to finish 11-6. They beat the Bills and Ravens on the road, thanks in large part to a late missed field goal in Buffalo and two fourth-quarter turnovers inside the Chiefs 25-yard line by Baltimore.
Are there lessons for the Eagles to draw here? I don’t know. Lessons probably isn’t the right word. I’m not going to sit here and argue that people are overreacting to the mess that they’ve seen from Jalen Hurts, Kevin Patullo and Co., most acutely over the last three weeks. But I do think it can be detrimental if we fail to consider the Eagles’ struggles within the appropriate context.
Walking around the locker room after the Eagles’ 24-15 loss to the Bears on Black Friday, I heard several players use the same phrase.
Center Cam Jurgens: “We’re 8-4. The sky’s still above us.”
Running back Saquon Barkley: “The sky’s falling outside the locker room, but I have nothing but the utmost confidence in the men in this locker room, players and coaches included.”
Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo with Jalen Hurts and Jahan Dotson during the loss to the Bears.
The remainder of the season will be determined by whether the Eagles can internalize all of this talk. They are correct when they say that the situation inside the locker room is not nearly as dire as the angst that abounds outside those walls. They still have three games remaining against the Raiders and the Commanders. That should get them to 11 wins, bare minimum. That would leave the Cowboys needing to win out in order to steal the division from them. The Eagles will tell you that they aren’t thinking about these things. Such is the NFL’s this-game-is-the-only-game ethos. But, sometimes, it can be helpful to take a little peek down the road, if only to remind yourself that you aren’t standing on the edge of a cliff.
The Eagles play in an environment that can make it awfully tough to maintain perspective. The Birds are an all-consuming thing here. Questions, headlines, boos, all of them multiply. There comes a point when any human being will stop and wonder whether everybody else is right.
There is a long list of reasons why it makes little sense to compare the Eagles’ current straits to the ones that led to the 2023 collapse. The one similarity is the way the chicken can become the egg and snowball into a big scrambled mess. The prime mover of the Eagles’ dysfunction that season wasn’t Hurts or Brian Johnson or Nick Sirianni or some chemical imbalance within the locker room. It was a defense that couldn’t get a stop, a defense that was of a wildly different makeup than it is right now.
It’s funny to look back to the numbers from that season. The Eagles’ NFL rankings in yards and points in 2023 were exactly what they were in 2024: seventh in points, eighth in yards. They scored 31 points in a loss to the Cardinals down the stretch in 2023.
The worst thing the Eagles can do is hold on to any sort of thought that the foundation of their collapse in 2023 lies within themselves. The dysfunction grew from the on-field struggles, not vice versa. Yes, that dysfunction eventually reached a point when it became self-fulfilling. But the Eagles allowed it to get to that point. The Chiefs of 2023 did not.
The reality of the NFL is that good teams struggle. It is a counterpunchers league, led by a bunch of maniac coaches who won’t rest until they figure out what you are doing and how to beat it. Andy Reid did not suddenly become a worse offensive coach over the last three seasons. Patrick Mahomes is still the same Patrick Mahomes who threw for 5,250 yards in 2022. Nobody in Kansas City or elsewhere is seriously questioning whether one of them is the problem.
The Eagles made it look easy last year. But last year was an anomaly. The competitive environment this season is much closer to the norm. The Eagles are still one of the two teams in the NFC most capable of making the Super Bowl. In the Rams, they have already beaten the one team that looks better than everybody else.
The message that Sirianni and his team have been preaching is the right one. They just need to keep believing it.
The Eagles face the Chicago Bears on Black Friday still in the driver’s seat in the NFC East, but their magic number to clinch the division remains four games following the Dallas Cowboys’ Thanksgiving win against the Chiefs.
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Of course, the Eagles are playing for higher stakes than simply winning the division. Entering Friday’s game, the Birds hold the No. 2 spot in the NFC, with head-to-head wins against most of the conference’s top teams, including the Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers, and Detroit Lions.
The Birds can add the surprising Bears to that list today with a win, while a loss would knock the Eagles down to third place in the NFC with just five more games to go before the playoffs.
The Lions put themselves in a bad position with their loss against the Packers on Thanksgiving. At 7-5, Detroit is suddenly on the outside of the playoffs looking in with a tough schedule that includes games against the Cowboys, Rams, and Bears.
NFC playoff picture
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Week 13: Bears (8-3) at Eagles (8-3)
Where: Lincoln Financial Field
When: 3 p.m., Friday
Streaming: Amazon Prime Video (Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit, Kaylee Hartung)
TV: Fox29
Radio: 94.1 WIP (Merrill Reese, Mike Quick, Devan Kaney)
It shouldn’t be hard to watch or stream Friday’s game. In addition to simulcasting on Fox 29 in and around Philadelphia, Amazon is streaming the game for free globally on its Prime Video platform.
Amazon’s Richard Sherman says Eagles play designs are ‘pretty pedestrian’
Richard Sherman called the Eagles’ offense predictable and “pedestrian.”
“[Eagles offensive coordinator] Kevin Patullo is probably a great dude, a great coach, but there’s an art to play-calling that not everyone has and it’s not showing up this year,” Foles said.
Richard Sherman agrees.
The five-time Pro Bowl defender turned Thursday Night Football analyst said during a conference call earlier this week the design of many Eagles plays are “pretty pedestrian,” allowing defensive backs to “determine route combinations and route concepts” based on how the Birds line up.
The Eagles have the 24th ranked offense in the NFL entering Friday’s game, among a handful of teams averaging less than 200 passing yards per game. Plus, Saquon Barkley isn’t coming close to repeating last year’s dominant 2,000-yard performance.
“Do I think they can repair their offense? No, I don’t,” Sherman said. “I think Kevin Patullo’s the issue, and unless they replace him, nothing’s going to change. They’re going to go home” early in the playoffs.
Ryan Fitzpatrick, Sherman’s colleague at Amazon who spent 17 seasons as an NFL quarterback, played with Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo during his time in Buffalo. Fitzpatrick said it’s up to Patullo and head coach Nick Sirianni to fix “some missteps,” with their receivers, including getting A.J. Brown ”on a few more out cuts” and “in the slot a little bit more.”
“They’ve got to start in the second half of the season here, breaking some of those bad tendencies,” Fitzpatrick said. “Because you do fall in love with certain routes, with certain guys, because they’re such good players.”
The single greatest motivator in professional sports is not pride or love of the game or legacy. It’s money.
The second greatest motivator: winning.
When it comes to the Eagles, most of their offensive players seemed to have satisfied their appetite for both.
They’ve won a Super Bowl. They’ve been paid. And now, faced with a demanding schedule, playing with the residual fatigue of three postseason runs, and with everyone getting a year older, they look like a shadow of what they should be.
The Eagles don’t rank among the top half of the NFL’s teams in rushing offense, passing offense, or scoring. This, despite allotting just under $130 million of their salary cap on offense, more than twice the allotment on defense.
After the Eagles scored zero points for the final 41 minutes and blew a 21-0 lead at Dallas, running back Saquon Barkley said this:
“They wanted it a little more.”
Eagles linebacker Nolan Smith wraps up Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott in the second half of their game last Sunday.
He hit the nail on the head, and he hit it as hard as any hole he’s hit all season.
Something’s missing with the Eagles this season, especially with their offense. They lack desire. They lack motivation.
What they do not lack is money.
They’re 8-3, which isn’t bad, until you drill down and realize why they’re 8-3. They have three losses because they played flat all game against the Giants on Oct. 9 and because they didn’t show up for the second half on the road vs. Dallas (Denver, the other loss, actually is a pretty good team).
That, as the Eagles host an 8-3 Bears team ravenous for relevance on Friday, is troubling.
They’re smelling themselves, and we’ve seen this before.
Just like the 2017 team that won Super Bowl LII with Doug Pederson, the Super Bowl LIX winners and Nick Sirianni are basking in the afterglow of the title. It’s hard to blame them because it’s hard to win it all, and when you’re set for life, and you’re wearing a $50,000 ring, it’s a little bit harder to hold that backside block or finish a decoy route.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni kisses the Lombardi Trophy after defeating the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9.
That’s the difference between dynasties and winners. Dynasties hold their blocks and finish their routes. Dynasties seek greatness for its own sake and are not weighed down by million-dollar pocketbooks.
Barkley, wide receiver A.J. Brown, left tackle Jordan Mailata, left guard Landon Dickerson, right tackle Lane Johnson, and quarterback Jalen Hurts are playing on what likely will be their most lucrative contract. Some got new money after the Super Bowl win. None are playing to their expected level.
The exception: wide receiver DeVonta Smith, who is on track for an excellent season.
Meanwhile, on defense, linebacker Nakobe Dean, defensive tackles Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter, and corners Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean are playing like demons. Not coincidentally, all are playing on rookie deals and are due for big raises. The exception here: sixth-year linebacker Zack Baun, who cashed in on a career season and has been elite again. At any rate, after a rocky start, a midseason infusion of talent via trade, an unretirement, and a return from injury, the defense, which led the team to the title last season, is dominant again.
The offense, meanwhile, has yet to deliver consecutive halves of proficiency against a good team. Former Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins this week suggested to Tim McManus of ESPN.com why the Eagles seem flat: “You just won a Super Bowl. So even though you go back to the starting line, in your mind, you are a Super Bowl-caliber team, and you think you deserve, almost, to get there, even if you don’t talk about it, you might say the right things internally.”
Former Eagles player Malcolm Jenkins feels the afterglow of winning a Super Bowl has contributed to the Birds’ inconsistency this season.
He wasn’t done dealing hard truths.
“A lot of times, you lie to yourself. … Everyone in the sport tells you how good you are and why they expect you to do something. And then the season comes, and you realize that this season has nothing to do with last year,” Jenkins said. “I think the faster teams get to that truth, that they’re starting at zero and [not to] take anything for granted — I think those are the teams that can repeat, that can create dynasties, and that can stand the test of time.”
One of the best barometers of efficiency is penalty count. The Eagles last season committed 103 penalties for 793 yards, which ranked 11th-fewest and fifth-fewest, respectively. Their 37 pre-snap penalties tied for seventh-fewest.
This season, they rank 26th in total penalties against, 27th in total yards against, and 25th in pre-snap penalties against. It’s getting worse: They had 14 penalties at Dallas, the most since Sirianni took over in 2021.
They are an accomplished, veteran team, but they’re playing like a rebuilding bunch of kids.
Jenkins is one of the most qualified people on the planet to say what he said.
He was one of the hardest-working, toughest, most resilient Eagles in history, and for that, he will be inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame on Friday, assuming these comments don’t put him in Jeffrey Lurie’s doghouse. Jenkins played six seasons in Philly, went to three Pro Bowls, was the team’s unquestioned leader, and, most significantly, won Super Bowls with both the Saints and the Eagles. Jenkins knows what a Super Bowl hangover looks like.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, left, asserted that he felt both sides of the ball were working well in his team’s loss to the Cowboys.
Sirianni pushed back on the assertion from Barkley.
“I felt like, when I watched the tape, I saw the effort sky-high on both sides of the ball,” Sirianni said.
Wonder who else was sky-high during that film session … or some of the others this season.
Sirianni and his pithy axioms — great without the greatness of others, tough, detailed, together, flower power — have not been able to overcome this offensive malaise. Maybe there’s just too much, this time.
The Birds have, in Brown, a wide receiver who, considering his words, actions, and social media posts, clearly is more interested in burnishing his Hall of Fame prospects than simply winning.
They have, in Barkley, a running back who has stopped hitting the right holes and has started seeking the sideline — but at least he got a Wawa sandwich named after him. Consider, though, that Reggie Jackson hit 223 more homers after the “Reggie” bar came out. Saquon hasn’t hit a homer yet this year.
Saquon Barkley appears far from the form that aided his breakthrough season for the Eagles last year.
The offensive line, once a pack of stampeding rhinos bent on destroying linebackers on the second level, now can’t keep Barkley clean at the line of scrimmage.
All of these are issues of effort, not execution.
As Jenkins said, the Eagles themselves probably have not realized this. They had given no indication before Barkley’s confession on Sunday.
There’s a chance that the effort is the same. Maybe injuries have more to do with it than they’re letting on.
Barkley missed a chunk of training camp with a groin injury that has flared again recently. Brown missed most of training camp with a hamstring injury that also cost him Week 8. Dickerson has endured three injuries so far, and Johnson was hurt twice before a foot sprain sidelined him indefinitely two weeks ago. Pro Bowl center Cam Jurgens missed two games with various ailments, and, after offseason back surgery, he hasn’t been anywhere close to 100% all year.
Regardless, they’re not moving the ball.
Jalen Hurts could benefit from the ferocity the Eagles’ offensive line delivered to him last season again.
They can not afford to be this kind of team with a quarterback who is limited, as Hurts, whose unremarkable arm strength, slow release, and ponderous processing are only modestly offset by his speed, power, toughness, accuracy, and leadership. The rest of the offense has to operate at an extremely high level — holding those blocks, completing those routes, hitting those holes — to compensate for Hurts’ limitations.
There’s a chance, too, that the culprit is fatigue. Between Super Bowl runs after 2022 and 2024, plus a playoff game after 2023, the Birds have played about two more months of football than every other team except Kansas City.
And the Chiefs look pretty ragged, too.
To the Eagles’ credit, most of the offensive players who got paid last year got paid before they won the Super Bowl. When the monetary incentive disappeared, winning was enough to fuel their fire.
Now, though, they’ve won.
What, if anything, fuels their fire today?
Gameday Central: Bears at Eagles
The Eagles enter Week 13 with an 8-3 record, holding first place in the NFC East and remaining among the conference’s top contenders. They’re looking to rebound after last week’s disappointing loss to the Cowboys. Join The Inquirer’s Olivia Reiner and Jeff McLane on Gameday Central for expert analysis, insider insights & live updates. Listen live.
The Eagles and Bears meet for a Black Friday afternoon game with playoff positioning at stake at Lincoln Financial Field.
Can the Eagles bounce back after blowing a 21-point lead Sunday to the Dallas Cowboys on the road? Or will the upstart Bears pull off their signature win of the season?
Discount deals and Eagles football. Happy Black Friday to all.
Perhaps Sunday’s result and the current trends of this Eagles offense don’t have you feeling festive for football this weekend. But fear not, the Eagles are touchdown favorites for a reason.
Sure, the Bears are 8-3 after winning four consecutive games. But they’re doing the thing that teams do sometimes when they’re turning a corner after some down seasons: taking advantage of an easy schedule. Their win Sunday vs. the Steelers, 31-28, was their first against a team with a winning record.
The offensive numbers with Ben Johnson in charge have been impressive, though. Chicago ranks 11th in expected points added/pass and eighth in EPA/rush, and that running success allows Caleb Williams to throw the third-highest percentage of play-action passes (31.3%) in the NFL. The Eagles have really struggled there, and Dak Prescott made them pay quite a few times.
Why could Friday be different? The Eagles should be able to pressure Williams more than he usually is.
Could this be the week when Saquon Barkley pops off in the running game?
Flipping to the other side of the ball, it’s Chicago’s defense that gives the Eagles an advantage, especially considering the Bears are down multiple defensive starters. If there was a get-right game for the Eagles’ ailing running game, this is it. The Bears allow an average of 138.1 yards on the ground, fifth-worst in the NFL. They allow the second-most rushing yards per before contact per rush (2.01). I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Friday is Saquon Barkley’s second game over 100 yards.
If not, and if the Eagles can’t get the running game going against this team, especially with its injuries, the problems plaguing them are more worrisome than we all thought. The run will open up the pass, and the Eagles won’t spoil your leftovers.
Much like last week, the Eagles shouldn’t underestimate the Bears, especially given the state of their offense right now. The Bears defense ranks near the bottom of the league in average yards against (363; No. 27), but they do certain things pretty well. They have a league-high 24 takeaways. (Former Eagles safety Kevin Byard and cornerback Nahshon Wright are tied for the league lead with five interceptions apiece.)
They’ve also been the NFL’s best defense on third-and-long. The Eagles, meanwhile, have one of the worst third-down conversion rates overall (35%) and have a penchant for committing negative plays and penalties that put them behind the sticks.
But in theory, the Eagles should be able to get the running game going against this Bears defense. Their linebacker corps is banged up. The Bears have given up 470 rushing yards over the last three weeks, the third-highest total in the NFL in that span. They’re conceding 5.3 yards per carry in that same time frame.
If the Eagles can’t run the ball on the Bears, it’s officially time to sound the alarm (if the red flags haven’t already been there). My faith in the Eagles’ rushing attack is dwindling, though, especially in the aftermath of Barkley’s 2.2 yards per carry against the Cowboys on Sunday. Barkley isn’t the only issue — the offensive line has been struggling to run block for him all season long.
I had this game as a win for the Eagles before the season started. But given the state of the Eagles’ offense over the last few games, I’m picking a narrow upset.
Entering the final stretch of the season, the Eagles still haven’t found their footing in the running game. The lack of production from a unit that produced a 2,000 yard rusher and the NFL’s offensive player of the year has been a big part of the offense’s inconsistency this season.
Saquon Barkley is averaging his lowest yards per carry (3.7) since 2021, when he played 13 games for the New York Giants. His 62.2 yards per game are the second-lowest of his career, and his 16.8 carries per game represent his third-lowest full season total. Barkley’s struggles this season came to a head with a 10-carry, 22-yard performance against Dallas.
Barkley was dominant last season, when he had 11 games of 100 or more rushing yards. This year, he has one. What is causing Barkley’s down season — and can it be rectified before the Eagles embark on another playoff run?
Here’s a look at why the Eagles’ running game has suffered this season and how it could get back on track Friday against the Bears:
Shotgun struggles
Last season, Barkley had 1,050 of his 2,005 rushing yards out of shotgun, averaging 5.8 yards per carry out of the gun with a plus-18.8 expected points added per rush, according to Next Gen Stats. This season, 302 of his 684 rushing yards have come from shotgun runs, and Barkley is averaging 3.6 yards per carry with a minus-13.1 rush EPA.
What stands out most comparing Barkley’s film in 2024 vs. 2025 is how much more dominant the offensive line was at the line of scrimmage. Though Barkley saw far fewer stacked boxes last year (20.6%) than this year (32.4%), according to Next Gen, the loss of Mekhi Becton at right guard has been felt particularly in the running game, coupled with Cam Jurgens, Landon Dickerson, and Lane Johnson all being banged up this year.
Last season, Saquon Barkley had 1,050 of his 2,005 rushing yards come from shotgun, and a good portion of his long runs were just inside zone attempts. Offensive line did a better job last year working double teams to the second level and getting displacement. pic.twitter.com/N6W60Rum9L
Barkley is set to outpace his carries against stacked boxes (eight or more defenders) this season compared to 2024. This year, he already has 60 rushing attempts against stacked boxes, averaging 2.4 yards per carry and managing just 142 yards, per Next Gen. Last season, he averaged 4.5 yards per carry against defenses that loaded the box, on 71 attempts (319 yards).
But back to the shotgun runs. There was far more variety in the scheme last year, along with more movement from the offensive linemen, too. Jurgens was a focal point of that movement, utilizing his athleticism to get out in space for Barkley last season, and it helped pop some big runs downfield. The Eagles would also bring Johnson and Jordan Mailata across the formation to run power and pin-and-pull runs to help create some daylight for Barkley.
The #Eagles had Cam Jurgens pulling out in space more frequently last year out of shotgun than this year, along with Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson. pic.twitter.com/V4TP5Nan3X
Teams are matching the uptick in heavy personnel from the Eagles offense on running downs with eight-man boxes and aligning five and even six players at the line of scrimmage. They’re also slanting defensive linemen to disrupt and shut off cutback lanes for Barkley.
The success the Eagles have had in shotgun this year has come in 11 personnel (one back, one tight end), where teams can’t stack the box because of the threat A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith pose for opposing secondaries.
This year, Saquon Barkley has had 302 of his 684 rushing yards come from shotgun runs, and most of his positive runs have come out of 11 personnel. pic.twitter.com/qY7cC1RrSS
Because of the lack of success the Eagles have had running the ball on gap scheme runs out of pistol, which we will explain more in the next section, the offense has attempted to run counter out of shotgun, with varying levels of success since the second Giants game on Oct. 26.
In recent weeks, the #Eagles have been utilizing more gap scheme runs (power/counter) out of shotgun in an attempt to get Saquon Barkley going. pic.twitter.com/5Kkt6BVEkf
When the monster runs began to come for Barkley down the stretch of the 2024 season, they were typically from the pistol formation, when the running back aligned behind Jalen Hurts. The Eagles’ offensive line specifically thrived on the counter run, which pulls two backside offensive linemen or one backside offensive lineman and a tight end across the formation to kick out edge rushers and linebackers.
Out of pistol formations last season, Barkley had 529 yards, four touchdowns, and averaged 5.7 yards per carry, according to Next Gen. This season those numbers are down drastically to 84 yards on 32 carries (2.4 yards per carry).
One of the keys to unlocking the #Eagles running game last year vs. the struggles this year was the effectiveness of the run game out of pistol. Running counter/power for Saquon Barkley worked well last year because of how the O-line controlled the LOS and got up to the second… pic.twitter.com/buKNE18Cgr
The linemen pulling across the line of scrimmage last season typically included Becton, whose size and physicality would naturally knock defenders out of the play, with Johnson, or tight ends Grant Calcaterra and C.J. Uzomah, following the action and wrapping up to block a linebacker or safety filling the run gap.
On those same runs this season out of pistol, the Eagles have been largely unsuccessful. The offensive line has struggled with maintaining blocks and working their double teams up to the second level, the kick out blocks haven’t been as effective, and teams are slanting in an attempt to change the aim points for the Eagles O-line, post-snap.
This season, the blocking hasn't been as clean for Barkley and the O-line hasn't been generating the same type of movement on double teams/kick out blocks. The #Lions game was the only game Barkley was able to get a sizable gain on so far this year out of pistol. pic.twitter.com/siZpvJIn3O
The Eagles have only utilized Barkley out of pistol formations seven times since the bye week, and he’sonly popped two runs of five or more yards, both attempts against the Detroit Lions.
The offense had more success earlier in the season when Barkley ran outside zone out of pistol in Week 1 against Dallas, against Kansas City, and in the first meeting with New York. Giving Barkley natural cutback lanes on such runs seemed to yield more success than trying to recreate what worked last season against far less stacked boxes.
If the #Eagles decide to go back to pistol runs for Barkley, they could opt to run outside zone or duo out of the alignment. They've only attempted 7 runs with Barkley out of pistol since the bye week. pic.twitter.com/ga85iYG6Tp
Under-center runs have come into focus more as the Eagles deploy more heavy personnel, such as 12 personnel (one back, two tight ends) and 13 personnel (one back and three tight ends), along with having a sixth offensive linemen on the field.
In 2024, Barkley had just 72 attempts but averaged 5.9 yards per carry on under-center runs, according to Next Gen, and Barkley is already set to outpace last year’s rushing attempts from under center. He’s up to 70 attempts, averaging 4.3 yards per carry, his highest of any alignment formation this season, on under-center runs, with three of his four rushing touchdowns coming on those types of runs.
#Eagles RB Saquon Barkley's highest YPC (4.3) formationally this year are on under center runs this season and he particularly has found success on duo and outside zone runs, where he can find cutback lanes pic.twitter.com/UFPiaZf7Pn
The same outside zone runs that are working out of pistol seem to be working on under center runs, too, for Barkley.
The lone long touchdown run of the season from Barkley, which came on Oct. 26 against the Giants and went for 65 yards, was on a duo run, which includes two double teams on the front side of the running play and a solo block on the backside. Employing more of those runs, especially with a sixth linemen on the field, can create one-on-one opportunities for Barkley against linebackers and safeties.
Barkley's longest run of the season, his 65-yarder vs. the Giants, came on under-center duo. His longest run since the bye week, against Green Bay a few weeks ago, also came on an UC duo run. pic.twitter.com/I4fOzCsqjq
The effectiveness of the under-center runs from Barkley opened up the play-action passing game against the Vikings on Oct. 19, though it hasn’t had quite the same effectiveness in recent weeks. Still, it’s worth noting the two runs Barkley has had for 10-plus yards were from under center, on pitch plays that went the opposite way of the formation’s strength (against Dallas on Sept. 4 and the Lions on Nov. 16).
Last season, Saquon Barkley had six runs of 10 or more yards against stacked boxes, and this year, he just has two, both of which came on under-center pitches opposite the formation's strength. Can see the #Eagles coming back to this play on Friday and down the stretch of the… pic.twitter.com/aGNGAAL0Qf
The most telling sign of his struggles though are Barkley’s stats while the Eagles are leading, last year vs. this year. In 2024, Barkley rushed for 1,100 yards on 173 attempts, seven touchdowns, and a plus-16 EPA while the Eagles were leading, according to Next Gen. Those stats this year are much different: 327 yards on 110 attempts (3 yards per carry), one touchdown, and a minus-27.8 EPA.
One other stat to store away: the Eagles are calling designed runs for Hurts at the lowest-rate this season since 2022. According to TruMedia, Hurts has a designed run rate of 62.5%, down from his career-high of 74% last season. And according to Pro Football Focus, he has 106 yards on designed rushing attempts this year, on track to be his lowest as a starter. Hurts has just 298 rushing yards this season, which is also on track to be the lowest of his career.
With the offensive line’s struggles and Hurts’ decrease in designed rushing attempts, defenses are keying in on Barkley even more this season. The Bears’ defense offers a potential course-correction game for the Eagles on Friday. We’ll see if they take advantage.
