The Eagles head into Week 8 in a bad place, and the numbers make that plain. They’ve dropped five straight, the longest skid in the NFC and the second-longest in the NFL behind the winless Los Angeles Chargers. They’re third in the NFC East, one game ahead of the one-win Washington Commanders, who come to town Sunday night on national TV.
That’s the backdrop for a matchup where Philadelphia is actually a 5.5-point underdog against a Commanders team with just one victory. Even with that record, Washington is being viewed as the side with more upside than the Eagles, who have looked flat and stuck in place.
The offense has been a mess. Philadelphia is 31st in the league in yards per game at 264.9 and 29th in scoring at 18.1 points per game, which is the lowest mark in the NFC. The defense hasn’t carried its weight either, ranking 27th in the NFL while allowing 371.3 yards and 25 points per game.
Monday night was another low point. The Eagles were beaten 38-21 by the Dallas Cowboys after surrendering a season-high 416 total yards and a season-high 38 points.
Washington does have one major difference-maker the Eagles don’t: Jayden Daniels. He comes in with an 0-7-1 mark in his last eight starts, and the Commanders will be without Terry McLaurin, who is out for the season after surgery Friday to repair the torn patellar tendon in his left knee. Still, the source of the matchup says Washington will be the better team even without him.
Up front, the Eagles need far more from Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis. Against Dallas, both defensive tackles were ineffective, finishing without quarterback pressures and getting pushed around all night. The Cowboys ran 65 plays, and Philadelphia’s defense didn’t record a single tackle for loss.
Carter, the highest paid defensive tackle in the NFL, did not speak to the media after the game and has continued to deny that he put out maximum effort against Dallas as the team prepares for Washington.
Vic Fangio, at least, owned his part of it. Asked about effort, the Eagles’ defensive coordinator said he didn’t see a lack of it, but he also took responsibility for the breakdowns.
“I didn’t do a good enough job coaching. We didn’t play the run, obviously, well enough.
When you do that, it kind of affects everything. I didn’t have them ready to do that the way we need to.
We just didn’t play it well.”
For now, there is still belief inside and around the organization that Nick Sirianni and Fangio can steady things. People around the Eagles still trust that the two have the locker room and can guide the team into meaningful November and December games, just as they’ve done before.
But the confidence that once surrounded offensive coordinator Sean Mannion and offensive line coach Chris Kuper is starting to crack. As the losses pile up, doubt is creeping in.
In Other News...
Eagles Send A Clear Saquon Barkley Message Before The Deadline
With the NFL trade deadline set for Nov. 10, the Eagles have made their stance on Saquon Barkley pretty clear. According to ESPN, Philadelphia does not plan to move the running back, and the front office believes it has enough talent in place to stay competitive in the seasons ahead.
The message to other teams has been that Barkley is not currently available, even as his injury situation and contract status add another layer to the conversation around his future. For now, the Eagles are treating him as part of their long-term picture, leaving the market to wait and see whether anything changes before the deadline passes. [Read more 🡒]
Eagles Primetime Collapse Just Sparked A Blame Debate Fans Saw Coming
Philadelphias latest primetime stumble only deepened the sense that this season is slipping further out of reach. A loss to Washington stretched the skid to six games and left the Eagles buried at the bottom of the NFC East, with the offense again looking out of sync and the operation around it looking even worse. When a team keeps arriving unprepared and keeps making the same mistakes, the finger-pointing usually follows fast.
Sean Mannions play-calling has come under fire, Chris Kupers work with the offensive line is drawing scrutiny, and individual errors have only sharpened the frustration around the building. Markel Bells penalties and Tanner McKees struggles are part of the mess, but the larger issue is a group that looks disjointed from top to bottom, with Nick Siriannis team still searching for the discipline and readiness that should have been there long before this point. [Read more 🡒]
Eagles Defense Has An Accountability Problem Before Washington
The Eagles are trying to put the Cowboys loss behind them, but the conversation around the defense has quickly become bigger than one bad afternoon. Nick Sirianni said he did not see an effort problem in the defeat, yet the message from inside the locker room was not nearly as uniform. Jordan Davis and Zack Baun both pointed to poor effort, and that split matters because it goes straight to the heart of how a defense responds when things start to unravel.
There is also a deeper concern here about how the group is carrying itself heading into Washington. Defensive players have raised questions about morale and leadership, and Davis in particular suggested the unit is not enjoying the game the way it should. When a defense starts sounding more like it is going through the motions than feeding off the moment, the issue is no longer just execution. It becomes an accountability test, and the Eagles need a better answer soon. [Read more 🡒]