It’s Eagles Week, so that means a conversation with Bleeding Green Nation. We asked five questions about the upcoming game and got five answers from our friend Brandon Lee Gowton.
Blogging The Boys: How has the Philadelphia defense become so dominant recently? Who is responsible and are they doing anything different?
Bleeding Green Nation: Multiple reasons why.
* Vic Fangio is a great defensive coordinator. The Eagles’ defense is “physical, disciplined, and incredibly well-coached,” as BGN film guru Jonny Page recently put it.
* The Eagles’ pass rush is in a much better spot than it was entering the Week 9 bye. In Week 8, the Eagles had three active edge rushers against the Giants: Jalyx Hunt, Joshua Uche, and Patrick Johnson. Now Uche isn’t even playing defensive snaps and Johnson isn’t even on the roster (he’s on the practice squad). The Eagles’ edge rusher rotation now looks like this: Jaelan Phillips (acquired in trade), Jalyx Hunt, Nolan Smith (still on a pitch count but back from injured reserve), and Brandon Graham (unretired). It’s a much stronger group with Phillips providing a real boost to that unit.
* Jalen Carter looks more like himself. The bye week seemed to do him good. Carter was previously playing through injury and Fangio mentioned his conditioning wasn’t up to par early in the season. Carter now looks like he’s back to being a game-wrecker.
* Getting Nakobe Dean back has been big. Jihaad Campbell showed plenty of promise (see: the big pass breakup he had against the Cowboys in Week 1) earlier this season but Dean is just the superior player right now. He’s especially great firing downhill against the run or getting after the quarterback (two big sacks in the last two games combined). The Eagles arguably have the NFL’s best off-ball linebacker duo in Dean and Zack Baun.
* The Eagles’ secondary has been strong. Quinyon Mitchell is having an All-Pro caliber season; he’s allowed just a 41.9% completion percentage in coverage this year, the lowest by any player with 50+ targets in a season since 2018 (via NFL Pro). Cooper DeJean is excellent as well. Adoree’ Jackson is the weak point but he’s still only allowing an 89.8 passer rating when targeted, so, it could be a lot worse.
* Not in the Eagles’ control but it might’ve helped that the Eagles have played their last two games in less than perfect weather conditions. It was really cold against the Packers at Lambeau Field in Week 10 and then it was really windy against the Lions in Philly in Week 11. Whereas the offenses may have suffered from the bad weather, the defenses could’ve benefited.
BTB: For a winning team, there seems to be an undercurrent of discontent on offense. Do you think it’s mostly a Jalen Hurts problem, or is there more to it?
BGN: To say the least!
It’s not just one thing.
Hurts needs to play better; he’s missed too many throws over the past two weeks. But it’s not like he’s simply stunk all season long. He carried the offense with his legs in the Week 1 win over the Cowboys. He played arguably the best first half of his career against the Buccaneers in Week 4. He literally had a perfect passer rating against the Vikings in Week 7.
It’s hard to argue the coaching staff has done everything they can to maximize Hurts. The scheme doesn’t seem to be helping him. It’s fair to wonder how much influence Hurts has on what the offense looks like. But it’s hard to believe he wouldn’t want the coaches to help him out more than they seemingly have. Nick Sirianni really leans into a style that emphasizes protecting the football because it’s been a very successful formula for this team. But it feels like there’s room for the offense to be better without increasing the giveaways at a massive rate.
The offensive line isn’t playing as well as it did last year. Run blocking has been a big issue, which is mainly why Saquon Barkley hasn’t been as nearly effective as he was in 2024.
A.J. Brown looks miserable. In some ways, it’s hard to blame him. But then there are moments when he’s caught not fully running out a route as was the case in a missed downfield completion from the Lions game.
The offensive struggles are a group effort. Leading the league in three-and-out percentage — despite having the NFL’s most expensive offense by far (in terms of 2025 cash spending) — isn’t about just one person or player.
BTB: Overall, do you have full confidence in Nick Sirianni and his staff, or are they also part of the issue causing some of the discussion?
BGN: I’m definitely one of Sirianni’s bigger skeptics.
On one hand, I feel insane for saying that since he’s won a Super Bowl, been to two, and owns the fourth-highest winning percentage of any head coach in NFL history. He ranks only behind Guy Chamberlin, John Madden, and Vince Lombardi.
On the other hand, I feel like we have to parse through correlation and causation. Sirianni massively benefits from Howie Roseman being an elite general manager and Vic Fangio (whom he didn’t hire) being a top-notch defensive coordinator. Those guys have driven the Eagles’ success since the start of last season more than Sirianni has.
Though he no longer calls plays (because he was bad at it), Sirianni plays a major role in the Eagles’ offensive struggles. Number one, he hasn’t been able to provide answers to big-picture problems (he might not feel like they have problems since they don’t turn the ball over and win but you can’t tell me leading the league in three-and-outs is a smart thing to do). Number two, Sirianni not calling plays creates a situation where the play-caller is bound to change often (either because 1) the OC is hired away as a head coach or 2) he underachieves and gets fired). Number three, the current offensive coordinator is his right-hand man: Kevin Patullo. They’ve been connected for some time now.
At a very basic level, good coaches do more with less talent. I sometimes feel like the Eagles are doing less with more. Though their 8-2 record looks good on the surface, and they’ve certainly beaten a number of high-quality opponents through a difficult schedule this year, they’re 6-1 in one score games. They’re good, yes, but they’ve also been lucky. They should be better than just good, they should be elite.
And for all the talk about his culture-setting, the vibes in Philly don’t feel so great right now. There are leaks about how players are frustrated with Hurts. Brown clearly looks miserable. Lane Johnson called the offense predictable. And so on.
BTB: What’s your overall confidence level about the Eagles defending their Super Bowl title?
BGN: For as much as they can be frustrating, they really do just win. So, I’m not going to doubt their ceiling. Especially when they’re currently in a strong position to get the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoff picture.
I think it’s possible the defense continues to look awesome and the offense eventually starts to figure things out. Jalen Hurts is a playoff riser; he has played his very best football in the very biggest games of his NFL career.
The biggest obstacle in the Eagles’ way (other than themselves) is the Los Angeles Rams. They had the Birds beat before Jordan Davis blocked that game-winning field goal attempt in Week 3. They also nearly ended the Eagles’ 2024 season in the Divisional Round before Jalen Carter came up extremely clutch and sacked Matthew Stafford.
Sirianni and Fangio have never lost to Sean McVay. But it’ll be a tough challenge to keep the undefeated streak going if they meet again in the playoffs.
BTB: How does Sunday play out and what is your final score prediction?
BGN: I do really trust the Eagles’ defense. But they’ll be tested by a Cowboys offense that can certainly move the ball and put up points. Even if the Eagles get stops, Brandon Aubrey will be out here kicking 80-yard field goals. The Cowboys might not even need a touchdown to outpace this moribund Eagles offense.
I know the Cowboys’ defense has been bad this year. But half of that unit is different now with Quinnen Williams and Logan Wilson newly added to the mix … plus guys returning from injury such as Malik Hooker, DeMarvion Overshown, and Shavon Revel.
The Eagles also don’t commonly sweep the Cowboys. It happened last year, yeah, but that was arguably the Eagles’ best-ever season and Dak Prescott was obviously hurt.
Perhaps I’m underestimating the possibility of the Eagles’ offense coming back to life in a dome environment; Hurts posted a perfect passer rating the last time he played indoors. But Lane Johnson is out this time around and I really just need to see the offense do something before I’m willing to believe more in them.
Cowboys win, 18 to 17.
Thanks for the knowledge, Bleeding Green Nation.
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