Nick Sirianni didn’t sugarcoat it after the Eagles’ 24-20 collapse against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. And at this point, the blunt truth matters more than the spin.
“Obviously, it hasn’t been good enough,” Sirianni understated. “... You’re trying to make sure as you find out who you are that you’re playing with detail and you’re playing together and you’re playing with toughness, and we’ve still got a ways to go there and it’s obvious that we’re still trying to figure [an identity] out.”
That sounds like a coach describing a work in progress. It also sounds a lot like a team four games into a season that’s already slipping away.
The evidence at Lincoln Financial Field was brutal. The Eagles finished with 172 total yards, their lowest output in 12 years, and just 68 net passing yards, their worst showing in a regular-season game in 23 years. They went 0-for-12 on third down, the first time they’ve failed to convert a single third down since at least 2000, and they’ve now come up empty on 17 straight third downs dating back to the second half in Chicago.
Jalen Hurts went 12-of-27 for 93 yards. The two touchdowns to Darius Cooper came courtesy of the defense and special teams.
And the second half? It has become a historic problem.
Philadelphia’s offense ranks last in the league in points, yards, yards per play, and expected points added.
Hurts kept pointing to “poor execution.” It’s the kind of answer quarterbacks lean on when things go sideways. But execution only explains so much when the structure underneath looks shaky from the start.
This offseason’s buzz around Sean Mannion’s offense painted a picture of something modern and dangerous, a Shanahan/McVay-style wide-zone system built on under-center snaps, a run game that would force defenses to respect the whole field, and a pass game that would finally fit together. Four weeks in, the reality looks nothing like the sales pitch.
The Eagles’ under-center snaps have produced negative EPA that ranks near the bottom of the league. Defenses are crowding the box whenever Hurts lines up under center. And once the offense gets into obvious passing situations, it’s getting blitzed like every opponent has suddenly become Brian Flores.
That’s the heart of the issue: the fit.
This roster still screams for an offense built around Hurts’s dual-threat skill set, Saquon Barkley’s gravity, and an offensive line that has been one of the league’s best when healthy. Instead, Mannion hasn’t turned those pieces into something functional, much less something dangerous, in whatever this offense is supposed to be.
Until the Eagles settle on what they actually want to be - a wide-zone team living under center, a Hurts-driven spread attack, or some blend of the two - “poor execution” is going to keep sounding like a convenient excuse for a much bigger problem. Right now, nobody seems sure what this offense is even supposed to look like.
In Other News...
Eagles Suddenly Have A London Availability Problem Fans Need To Watch
The Eagles are heading into their London trip for Week 5 with more uncertainty than anyone in Philadelphia would like this early in the season. Multiple key starters are already on injured reserve, and several more have carried questionable tags as the team gets ready for Jacksonville, leaving the roster picture in flux at a point where the margin for error is already thin.
Landon Dickerson, Zack Baun and DeVonta Smith are among the names the team is monitoring most closely, and their availability could shape how the Eagles handle a game that comes with the added challenge of overseas travel. For a team trying to settle in and keep its season moving forward, the health report may end up mattering as much as the matchup itself. [Read more 🡒]
Rex Ryan Just Poured Fuel On A Brutal Eagles Debate
Rex Ryan added another layer to the conversation around Philadelphias offense after the loss to the Rams, going straight at the Eagles offensive line and calling it abysmal. The criticism landed because it came after a night when the group struggled to protect the quarterback, with pressure showing up repeatedly and injuries thinning out a unit that already had little margin for error without Lane Johnson on the field.
Jordan Mailata, though, isnt sounding the alarm in the same way. The veteran tackle said he believes the group can get better as the season goes on, which is the part of this debate that matters most for the Eagles: whether the lines rough start is just early-season turbulence or the first sign of a longer problem up front. [Read more 🡒]
Nick Foles Just Reopened A Tough Jalen Hurts Debate
Nick Foles critique of Jalen Hurts after the Eagles Week 4 loss to the Rams landed because it went straight to the part of Hurts game that has always invited scrutiny: how quickly he sees it and how decisively he lets it go. Philadelphias offense has been built around Hurts ability to extend plays and create with his legs, but in a game where the passing rhythm never really settled, Foles pointed to timing and pocket poise as the issue, saying Hurts appeared to freeze rather than trust the throw.
Hurts line against Los Angeles was uneven enough to keep the conversation alive, even with two touchdown passes and no interceptions. After the game, he didnt try to swat away the broader concern, instead framing it as part of the teams ongoing work and development. For the Eagles, that leaves the same familiar question hanging in the background: whether Hurts can keep growing into a more complete passer without losing the parts of his game that make the offense go. [Read more 🡒]