Somehow, the New York Giants secondary completely missed on DeVonta Smith in coverage. He was as wide open as you’ll find an NFL receiver, and all Jalen Hurts needed to do was hit a layup pass for an 89-yard touchdown.
Hurts missed him. He threw it too far. It wasn’t even close.
The 2024 Eagles weren’t perfect. They didn’t hit every touchdown that presented itself. But more often than not, they made those plays.
And from September on, they were never embarrassed by a team they should have beat.
Most of the Eagles’ roster returned but so far this season, it’s not the same team. They’re not making those key plays anymore. Hurts and the passing game has been off. Saquon Barkley’s production has been a fraction of what it was last season. The defense has slipped too, and was pushed around on Thursday night by a Giants team that was 1-4 coming in. Thursday night’s 34-17 loss to the Giants put all of the Eagles’ issues this season on full display.
The Eagles skated by the first four games, going 4-0, despite quarters or sometimes full halves of football in which they disappeared. Then over the course of five days they lost to the Broncos and Giants. There are real issues the Eagles have to fix if they’re going to come close to another championship. Those issues have been there all season, they just could ignore them while they were winning.
Last season, the Eagles started slow. They were 2-2 going into the bye. In Week 6 they had a wholly unimpressive win over the Cleveland Browns. Eagles coach Nick Sirianni yelled at home fans. There were questions about Sirianni’s job security.
So it’s not time to panic about the Eagles yet. They won 16 of their final 17 games, including a dominant Super Bowl win, after it seemed like everything was beyond repair last season.
But that doesn’t mean the Eagles should assume it happens again.
It’s hard to know where to start on the Eagles’ issues this season. It probably should begin with the running game, which was the foundation of their success last season. Saquon Barkley ran for 2,000 yards last season. This season he’s not even on pace for 1,000. Maybe the 482 touches from last season have caught up to him. The offensive line struggling this season after a dominant 2024 is a factor too. Injuries have hit that unit.
The playcalling might be an issue. After the 2022 season, in which the Eagles lost in the Super Bowl, they lost offensive coordinator Shane Steichen to a head coaching job. Then 2023 was a big step back with a new coordinator. This past offseason the Eagles had offensive coordinator Kellen Moore hired away by the New Orleans Saints to be their next head coach. Kevin Patullo was promoted, but the offense looks like a bad replica of what it was last season. That’s what happened in 2023, too. The Eagles weren’t a prolific passing team last season either, but it’s undeniably worse to begin this season. Ask AJ Brown.
Despite the drop in production in all areas, a roster this talented they lost some key players in the offseason, but the consensus was that it was still the most talented roster in the NFL coming into this season shouldn’t struggle as much as it has. The Giants aren’t as talented as the Eagles. There’s not much question there. But on Thursday night the Giants were the team that clearly had more energy and desire to win.
That’s alarming.
Zack Baun was an All-Pro last season. His story, becoming one of the NFL’s best players after being mostly a special teamer before that on the Saints, was symbolic of the Eagles’ rise to the top of the NFL. On a key series Thursday night, he got ran over by Giants rookie Cam Skattebo. Twice. Skattebo trucked him in the open field, then later in the drive Skattebo dragged Baun in the end zone for his second touchdown.
Nobody is questioning Baun’s effort. It’s just that everything that was good for the Eagles last season isn’t repeating itself yet.
General manager Howie Roseman might need to get busy at the trade deadline. The Eagles’ biggest issue seems to be cornerback depth, which was exposed further when Quinyon Mitchell left Thursday’s game with a hamstring injury. The offensive line looks like a shell of itself as some players fight through injuries, and it will be hard to fix that in a trade. Defensive tackle Jalen Carter missed Thursday night’s game due to a heel injury, and like in the opener when Carter was ejected before the first play, that’s when they’ve missed Milton Williams, who left to the Patriots in free agency. The Eagles still have plenty of talent, but all of a sudden there are some holes too.
Super Bowl hangovers are real and not just for the losing team. The Eagles played a lot of extra football last season. Barkley, to single out one player, got a lot of extra touches during that Super Bowl run. It’s not easy to reach the pinnacle of the sport, then do it again. No matter how much the Eagles tried to convince everyone they remained focused on nothing but this season Sirianni didn’t let his team watch the championship banner get unfurled on opening night to make that point it’s natural to have a letdown. It’s why so few teams repeat.
Even when the Eagles were 4-0 there were warning signs. In every game they had strange stretches in which they looked bad, either on offense, defense or both. The offense gained only 216 yards in a win over the Chiefs. The Rams dominated them for about two and a half quarters before the Eagles rallied. Philadelphia didn’t complete a pass in the second half of a Week 4 win over the Buccaneers, as Tampa Bay almost rallied to win. In Week 5 the in-game nap finally led to a loss, as the Broncos outscored them 18-0 in the fourth quarter to pull off a comeback win.
Despite all those issues, nobody saw a 17-point loss to the Giants coming. It seems like that will be a wake-up call for the Eagles. But the loss to the Broncos, blowing a fourth-quarter lead at home, was supposed to do that. It clearly didn’t.
Most of the Eagles roster remained intact from last season. Hurts, Barkley, Brown, Smith, Lane Johnson, Baun and many other key players are still in the lineup and in their prime. But somehow, nothing seems the same.