Nov 23, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni looks on during the second quarter against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images
I don't often comment on the Eagles. Like you, I watch every game, and I have opinions, but not being down around the team on the regular, it's hard for me to speak with authority on what I'm seeing.
I can listen to all the press conferences and media scrums and get an idea of what guys are saying. I can follow all the social media drama and listen to other reports of discord in the locker room, and formulate an opinion based on experience, if not knowledge.
So, when it comes to the Eagles, I have opinions, just like you, and the lone exception is you're passionate about rooting for your team and I am required to remain objective. Otherwise, we are viewing things through the same lens.
And guess what? I find the Eagles as frustrating and maddening as you do.
Coming off a horrendous 24-21 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, it's easier to criticize than to be supportive. And the Eagles provided plenty to criticize on Sunday.
But before we look at what is frustrating and maddening about the Eagles, it's worth noting that they are still 8-3. Still the No. 2 seed in the NFC, are very likely still going to win the division, and because of their talent, are still going to be considered one of just a few teams who have a legitimate shot at winning the Super Bowl.
That's because the league is pretty mediocre this year. There's a lot more parity in the NFL this season than in most, and so, yes, a flawed team can still win the whole shebang.
So, there's your quick dose of optimism.
The problem, I think, is the Eagles may let their own hubris get in the way.
What do I mean?
They have a SB defense.
They have SB weapons on offense.
They have a bland playbook w no coaching adjustments from Sirianni and Patullo.
Winning is the best deodorant and it covered up a lot of stuff this season but after yesterday.. Nick needs to figure this out now. https://t.co/H3RAQzkJcN
When I look at this Eagles team, on paper, I see the most talented team in the NFL from top to bottom. There's a reason they are the defending Super Bowl Champions. There's a reason you can see a path to them becoming a dynasty.
And despite all the inconsistency and off-field drama that has surrounded this team and despite having the toughest schedule in the NFL coming into the season, there's a reason the team is 8-3 after 11 weeks.
That's because no matter how much turmoil there is with the Eagles, they still have enough talent to win games.
The problem is, they know it.
And if anything, I think that's their tragic flaw. It's not that they never got a second outside cornerback. It's not that their depth at certain positions like safety and the offensive line is not up to snuff.
No, it's the notion that they know they win a lot, and that the formula they employ works far more often than it doesn't, so they are stubborn to using it.
The issue is that stubbornness is likely what creates the internal friction.
Look, it's easy to lead when things are going smoothly. The Eagles made an adjustment at the bye week in 2024, and there was no looking back. Everything they touched turned to gold, so why would they change it?
However, what's not easy is to lead when things are stuck in neutral.
We saw it in 2023, when the team had an epic collapse. The 2025 Eagles are far superior to the 2023 version, so such a collapse isn't really forthcoming (heaven help us if I'm wrong about that) but there are a lot of similar warning signs that have cropped up.
Yet, Nick Sirianni has stayed the course. He's refused to change.
Never mind that he has a Super Bowl MVP quarterback, the equivalent of two No. 1 receivers, a 2,000-yard running back and a Jeff Stoutland-coached offensive line, he's going to play just conservatively enough on offense to win most games because he believes wholeheartedly in that approach.
Now, Saquon Barkley doesn't look anything like himself. The offensive line is banged up enough that it's not playing even close to its standard. And we all know Hurts worries more about not turning the ball over than trying to thread the needle with a pass or throwing up 50/50 balls and letting A.J. Brown or Devonta Smith come down with it. So, it's not all completely on the coach.
But look at the play-calling. Look at how he stands by offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, who seems to be out over his skis in that role.
How do you go from an innovative, exciting, explosive offense in the first quarter against Dallas, and then produce nothing the rest of the game?
From the 11:00 min mark in the second quarter on… the Eagles never crossed the Cowboys 37-yard line.
They made it past midfield twice on their final eight drives.
To me, it reeks of having a great gameplan to come in, but not having a secondary one to counter the adjustments the Cowboys made on defense.
And that seems to happen a lot to this team.
I can't sit here and tell you they are stupid, because they are not. You don't win a Super Bowl as a coaching staff by being dumb. So the only answer is, they are stubborn.
They believe that what they do, week-in and week-out, will work. Even though we all see it differently, they are reluctant to change who they are.
Case in point - the Cowboys shifted to five-man fronts after the first quarter. Rather than attack that with a mid-range passing game, they instead tried to run the ball into the teeth of it.
Unsurprisingly, that didn't work.
After the game, both Sirianni and Hurts tipped their hats to the Cowboys, but this was, after all, the Cowboys defense they were talking about. You know, a unit that ranked at or near the bottom in practically every statistical defensive category.
It's not like what they were doing was all that exotic either.
But from what it sounds like, the Eagles didn't do much considering of it in preparation.
"I think a big thing is ... time on task," Landon Dickerson told reporters after the game. "Obviously you can't run every play to every defense during the week, so I think we really have to [hone] in on having a game plan for every defense that a team has run, and every possible defense that they could run, and make sure that we can execute against all of them."
That falls on leadership and preparedness.
While the Eagles used the bye in 2024 to shift the focus of their offense, there's nothing that has come out of the bye the past three weeks that shows any kind of commitment to a similar shift.
The Eagles went to the Super Bowl in 2022, and were hard-headed about their offensive style under Sirianni in 2023 until it all went south.
That stubbornness continued through four games of 2024 before that change was finally made during the bye and the Eagles, running the ball at will, ran it all the way to a championship.
Apparently, no such change was forthcoming out of this year's bye and the Eagles seem content to sink or swim with their approach, as vanilla as it might be on offense.
And no, changing the play caller isn't going to make it better. Who's going to do it? Sirianni? How'd that go the last time he was calling plays? Someone else on the coaching staff? Don't you see? They're all in lockstep with this ideology.
Kevin Patullo is an easy target, IMO. He isn’t bringing anything to the offense, but…
- Ultimately, it’s Nick’s offense.
- Nick is directing big-picture in-game strategy (ie. give-up plays, etc.)
- Nick hired him.
That’s where frustration should be directed.
They have this overwhelming self-belief that what they do is the best way of doing things, and they're going to stick with it, even if it results in the occasional black eye - like Sunday's loss.
That's what should frustrate you the most. Because if they'd just check their ego at the door and realize that maybe a shift in philosophy would do wonders for this team, the belief of repeating as Super Bowl Champions would feel far more realistic.
They've done it before, but can they do it again before it's too late?
I'm starting to lean more towards no. Eleven weeks of evidence of that unwillingness is a pretty large sample. That's what's maddening.
At least for those of us who only get to watch it from home.
