With the Eagles offense shorthanded, the defense was the unit that had to keep everything standing. Instead, it let a winnable game get away.
Philadelphia scored 21 points against the Cowboys, its first 20-plus point output since the Tennessee game on September 20th, despite being without Jalen Hurts, DeVonta Smith, Dontayvion Wicks, and the recently retired/traded Lane Johnson and Cam Jurgens. That wasn’t a giant offensive explosion, but it should have been enough if Vic Fangio’s defense had done its part.
It didn’t. Dallas put up 38 points and 416 yards, with Javonte Williams averaging 6.2 per carry. The Cowboys also converted 8 of 13 third downs, and the big plays mattered most of all - touchdown throws to George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb that were described as strong plays with coverage that wasn’t bad at all.
Still, the overall performance was ugly. As Sheil Kapadia noted on October 27, 2026:
Eagles deliver the 8th-worst performance by any defense in a game this season (EPA/Drive).
4 TDs and 3 FGs on 9 possessions.
Zero turnovers. Zero sacks. Zero QB hits.
And they were only missing 2 starters: Nolan Smith and Michael Carter.
The frustration goes beyond one bad afternoon. For nearly a full year, the Eagles’ defense has been the group propping up the rest of the team.
Last season, it was the backbone behind wins like Eagles 20, Chiefs 17; Eagles 10, Packers 7; Eagles 16, Lions 9; and Eagles 13, Bills 12. Three of those came on the road, and the defense also did enough to help beat the Chargers and Broncos when the offense couldn’t reach 20 points.
Even in the playoff game against the 49ers, the defense had done enough, though the fourth quarter was a letdown.
This season started the same way. The offense was merely okay against Washington and Tennessee, and the defense held both under 23 points. Then Chicago blew them out on Monday Night Football, and after that the defense turned in strong efforts against the Rams and Jags in games where the offense and special teams failed to finish things off.
That makes the current slide feel especially jarring. It’s like the defense finally hit a wall after spending from October of 2025 to October of 2026 keeping the whole thing upright.
It’s hard to ignore the context. A number of these players got paid after the Super Bowl win.
Jalen Carter got paid. Jordan Davis got paid.
Zack Baun got paid. The team gave Jonathan Greenard four years and $100 million.
Nakobe Dean was allowed to leave because Jihaad Campbell was already there, and Campbell is still trying to get off Cowboy blocks this morning. Cooper DeJean might not even get a second contract if this keeps going.
Outside of Quinyon Mitchell, nobody is playing at the level this defense knows it can reach.
There’s also the Fangio factor. The source material says he is close to retirement and that this could be his final season, but even then, the defense has to adapt.
If the usual approach isn’t working, he needs to change it, bring pressure, and create chaos. That’s not his standard style, but the numbers are getting hard to ignore: the Eagles’ pressure rate of 15.5% is dead last in the NFL, and their three takeaways in seven games are tied for last with the Colts.
The schedule has not exactly made things easy, either. Four of their seven games have come against top 10 offenses - Dallas, Carolina, Chicago, and Jacksonville - and Los Angeles is 11th. But this group has shown for more than a season that it can go toe-to-toe with the league’s best.
Now the next two weeks against the Giants and Commies will tell us a lot. Right now, though, this looks like a defense that may be starting to check out.
The effort might be understandable. It isn’t an excuse.
These are highly paid professionals, and they’re not carrying their weight.
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