Travel vacation and a couple medical issues have kept me from pontificating for a few weeks, but what better time to return than the drawing nigh kickoff of the Eagles season, 4:25 PM this Sunday, Lincoln Financial against the Washington Commanders.
Now, if we conjure up one word about the Eagles' 25-26 season, it might well be "disappointment." The residual effect of the 2025 Super Bowl victory and the subsequent failure to not even win one playoff game, combined of course with our relentlessly high expectations.
On paper, the season wasn't that bad. Eagles finished at 11-6, a comfortable four games ahead of their nearest competitors in the NFC East, all of whom to varying degrees we despise, yet you put it all together and it was meh, capped by the 23-19 playoff loss to the 49ers eight months ago.
When we think about last year's Eagles, we tend to envision Jalen Hurts taking too long to find a receiver and running for his life, or Barkley careening into a brick wall at the line of scrimmage. It just never felt right. It never came together. Will this year be different?
Well, let's take a look. On paper, the Eagles are pretty much the same team, minus wide receiver A.J. Brown, who landed in his desired Valhalla, New England. A revered offensive line is more or less intact, minus assorted nagging injuries. Jalen Hurts is still QB1 as they used to call it on Friday Night Lights. Barkley's still RB1. DeVonta Smith and tight end Dallas Goedert are still primary targets.
But there are challenges, two big ones being on the sidelines. Beloved line coach Jeff Stoutland and unbeloved offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo are both gone. The new name to kick around is Sean Mannion, who took over for Patullo. And if there's one thing Eagles fans like to do is pretend they understand what it takes to be a good offensive coordinator.
Not everyone will agree, but I think they'll miss A.J. Brown. Not the locker room opera, but his six foot one, 225 pound size and ability to pick up yards after reception. I have a real affection for big wide receivers, even though the football gods send them to us in troublesome packages. When A.J. left, yes, he took a world of headaches with him, but he also took 1,025 receiving yards. I have an undying respect for DeVonta Smith, who will be Hurts' number one target, but worry about his size, and rookie Makai Lemon, who is supposed to be number two, is also undersized. I can't help envisioning Hurts running around trying to find two dwarf maples in a forest of pines.
The most puzzling aspect of the Eagles for me is Barkley, for many reasons. Most obviously, why did he gain half as many yards last season as he had the year before? Well, it turns out that follows a pattern. Runners who gain 2,000 yards in a season are inclined to tail off dramatically the next season. O.J. Simpson went from 2,000 to 1,125, Eric Dickerson from 2,000 to 1,234. Then, too, there were offensive line problems that led to the departure of the aforementioned Stoutland. But it also seemed that Saquon disappeared from the radar screen entirely, written off almost. In a survey of Philly's best athletes done on WIP, Barkley came in only ninth. I'm sure Barkley noticed this, and I'm looking for the former Whitehall Zephyr to have a big bounce back year.
Defensively, the Birds should be solid, as they were last year when they held teams to 19 points per game. But with a vaunted front four and good coverage guys, I thought the Eagles could have applied more quarterback pressure last season when they were 12th in sacks and 13th in applying pressure.
There are many reasons to be optimistic, not least because Philly has the sixth easiest schedule according to the people who rate such things. The Vegas oddsmakers put their win total at 10.7, which is okay, but that is also the number assigned to the much improved Dallas Cowboys, and not far behind are the Giants under proven new coach John Harbaugh. Fighting civil wars within the division just to get to the playoffs is a tough road to hoe, and I'll repeat what I said last year at this time. I distrust Hurts going down the field even more so this year with small targets.
I still think they're a playoff team, but they're not going all the way.
