The Eagles had a chance to put the Rams away. Instead, they watched a game that had been sitting in their hands slip straight through their fingers.
Philadelphia led 20-10 and was one fourth-and-goal stop away from building a bigger cushion, but Jalen Hurts’ incompletion from the 2-yard line with 7:26 left opened the door. Los Angeles barreled through it. The Rams answered with a 98-yard march in nine plays, used 3:27 of clock, then got the ball back after another Eagles three-and-out and finished the job with a 79-yard, 10-play drive in 1:45 to escape with a 24-20 win.
The loss dropped the Eagles to 2-2 and sent them into a two-game skid before they head to London for Week 5 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
It also gave Sean McVay his first win over Nick Sirianni. McVay is now 1-4 against the Eagles’ head coach.
For a while, Philadelphia looked like a team willing to survive all the damage around it. That damage was everywhere.
Saquon Barkley left in the first quarter with a hamstring injury. Quinyon Mitchell went out with a knee injury in the third quarter.
Jonathan Greenard exited later with an ankle injury. The Eagles were already without DeVonta Smith, Zack Baun, Dallas Goedert and Marcus Epps, and Lane Johnson was unavailable because of a personal matter.
With Fred Johnson also out, the Eagles were forced to piece together their line and start Markel Bell while having only seven linemen active.
They dressed just 47 players for the game. The league allows 48 players to dress, but Philadelphia had called up two tight ends on Saturday before knowing Johnson would not play.
Even with all that, the Eagles had chances to make the night theirs.
They finally grabbed their first two interceptions of the season and turned them into 10 points. Drew Mukuba’s first-quarter pick led to a 56-yard Jake Elliott field goal, giving Philadelphia its first first-quarter points of the year. Then Cooper DeJean intercepted another pass late in the first half, setting up Darius Cooper’s 10-yard touchdown catch that pushed the Eagles ahead 20-10 at the break.
Darius Cooper kept making the most of his moments. His touchdown in the back of the end zone with three seconds left in the first half echoed the 3-yard score he caught with nine seconds left against the Titans in Week 2.
He also came down with an 18-yard touchdown after appearing to rip the ball away from Quentin Lake in the end zone. With three touchdown catches, he now leads the team, moving ahead of the injured Goedert, who has two.
The defense had its flashes, too. Nolan Smith got to the quarterback for one of the Eagles’ four sacks and nearly added another before a holding penalty against Quinyon Mitchell wiped it out. Smith was active off the edge and logged several pressures.
Without Baun, Jeremiah Trotter, Jr. made just the second start of his career in his third season and finished with 15 tackles. Jihaad Campbell also filled in well in Baun’s absence, including a breakup on fourth-and-8 early in the fourth quarter that forced a turnover on downs. Campbell finished with nine tackles, though McVay and the Rams also found ways to target him in the passing game.
Still, the offensive slide that has haunted Philadelphia all season showed up again when it mattered most. The Eagles went 0-for-12 on third down, finished with only 12 first downs and managed just 172 total yards.
Hurts threw for only 93 yards. On the final possession, he was sacked twice and the Eagles never moved the chains.
The third quarter was especially rough. Philadelphia went three-and-out twice and four-and-out once, part of a season trend that now includes nine three-and-outs in 11 third-quarter possessions. The second half produced nothing on the scoreboard.
Bell had his moments in a tough spot, but there were also plays where he simply didn’t get a body on anyone and Hurts paid for it with a sack. The hope is that the third-round pick keeps growing, especially if he gets a full week to prepare as the starter.
The Eagles were supposed to be underdogs in this one - oddsmakers had them as three-point dogs at home - and with the injuries piling up, that part wasn’t shocking. But they played well enough to win. They just didn’t finish.
In Other News...
Lane Johnson Update Leaves Eagles Fans With A Bigger Concern
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Johnsons status also comes with a larger long-term backdrop after he announced plans to retire following the 2026 NFL season. He already dealt with a Lisfranc injury that cost him part of last season, so even a short-term update like this tends to invite bigger questions about what comes next for an aging cornerstone in the middle of another demanding year. [Read more 🡒]
Eagles Just Sent A Troubling Message About Their Backup Quarterback Spot
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McKee, a sixth-round pick in 2023, has already shown enough in limited action to stay in the conversation. He has started two career games and owns a 99.5 passer rating, which gives Philadelphia a different look at a spot that suddenly feels worth watching a lot more closely. [Read more 🡒]
Saquon Barkleys Latest Injury Leaves Eagles Facing A Bigger Concern
Saquon Barkleys latest setback arrived during the game against the Los Angeles Rams, when a hamstring injury forced the Eagles to take him out for the rest of the afternoon. Philadelphia had already been managing his workload after he missed most of Week 2 with a stinger, and the timing only adds to the concern around a backfield that was built to lean on him early and often.
Tank Bigsby stepped in after Barkley exited, with Will Shipley also picking up snaps as the Eagles tried to piece together the running game on the fly. Barkley has still produced 174 rushing yards through the first four weeks, but the bigger worry now is whether this is becoming a pattern rather than a one-off, and how long Philadelphia can keep its ground game on track if he keeps getting dinged up. [Read more 🡒]