Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Winning Ain’t Easy

Posted September 29th, 2025 | No Comments »

The good news is that the Eagles are 4-0. The bad news is that the offense is maddeningly inconsistent and the defense is more erratic than you’d like it to be. The team has yet to play a complete game. They make clutch plays and find ways to win. Don’t dismiss how valuable that is.

Dallas has gained more yards than any other team. They have also given up more yards and find themselves 1-2-1. Washington had Super Bowl hopes coming into the season. They loaded up on veteran players, expecting to be one of the best teams in the league. They are 2-2, not the start they wanted.

Yikes.

Green Bay looked great when they were 2-0. They have since lost to Joe Flacco and the Browns and then tied Dallas last night. The Packers could be 4-0 if they closed out games. SF is 3-1 after losing vs JAX. They beat the Saints by five points and Seattle by one. Injuries have hit them hard and it is hard to say they look like a legit contender. The Vikings were thought to be a SB threat. They’re just 2-2 and haven’t been impressive except for the blowout of the Bengals. The Rams are 3-1, but they needed a lot of help from the Colts to win on Sunday. They could easily be 2-2.

The Ravens are 1-3. That’s a shocker. Their schedule has been brutal and injuries are piling up. This could be a lost season. KC is 2-2. They showed promise in their blowout of the Ravens, but we need to see more than one good game from that offense. The Chargers have major OL issues and just lost to the Giants and rookie QB Jaxson Dart. Ouch. Houston was thought to be a contender. They’re just 1-3 and look like a mess. Denver was thought to be a team to watch. They are up on Cincy and should be 2-2 after MNF.

The only teams that look really good are the Lions (3-1) and the Bills (4-0).

Anyone watching the Eagles has to be frustrated by the sloppy play. There is too much talent in place for the team to be this inconsistent. Still, you have to give the Eagles credit for making winning plays. They are number one in the NFL in red zone offense. They are third in red zone defense. They have won the turnover battle in 3 of 4 games. The Eagles have also had impact plays on STs in multiple games.

This kind of football isn’t sustainable for an entire season and that’s okay. The defense has shown tremendous potential. They will get better.

Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean are stud DBs. Zack Baun might be the best LB in the league. The DL has some studs. Blankenship made some key plays in Tampa. When you see him coming on and other young players developing, you know this defense will get better. I don’t know that they’ll end up #1 like last year. Part of that success was due to the offense being able to sustain drives and keep the ball away from the opponent.

What you do see is a defense that is very good in the red zone and makes timely plays. That’s not luck. That is a group of fast, athletic players who can cover and who fly to the ball.

That is really impressive.

The offense has too much talent to stay stuck in their current situation. Out of eight halves of football this year, the offense has looked good in three of them (DAL 1H, LAR 2H, TB 1H). The players and coaches are going to get this fixed. I don’t know if it will be this week or next week or November. It will get fixed. There is too much talent for this not to get turned around.

This isn’t hope. This isn’t blind faith. The Eagles have a strong track record of offensive success in recent years. I know Kevin Patullo wasn’t the OC, but he was a key part of the staff. He’s seen what works. Jeff Stoutland has a strong hand in the run game. Something tells me he will figure out how to get the ground game going.

A huge key is for the OL to play better.

Oof. Not good.

Stoutland will get his guys right. He is a great coach and he’s got good talent to work with. The line didn’t have a normal summer, with Landon Dickerson and Cam Jurgens working their way back from injuries. Lane Johnson got a lot of rest to keep him right for the season. Tyler Steen is the new guy. I figured it would take a couple of games for them to get in sync and play well. It has been a month and they are still very up and down.

The key to all this is for the players to stay focused on the big picture. It is fair to wonder about that with AJ Brown’s postgame Tweet. Nick Sirianni normally does a good job of keeping his locker room together so I think he’ll be able to get this sorted out. Coming off a Super Bowl win, you never know. Events like that can have different effects on different people.

The players said all the right things in the offseason. Now that some challenges have popped up we will find out if those words were real.

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Never A Doubt

Posted September 28th, 2025 | 2 Comments »

Last week the Eagles dug a huge hole and then spent the second half putting together an amazing comeback that won them the game. This week the team got off to a fast start and led 24-6 at the half. So the second half was going to be fun, right? Right?

Wrong.

Jalen Hurts didn’t complete a pass in the second half. The defense gave up a pair of TDs of 70 or more yards. There were some dumb penalties. That half was truly a roller coaster of bad plays and big moments. While the Rams melted down last week, the Eagles made just enough plays to hang on and win the game, making them 4-0.

The offense played great in the first half. Jalen Hurts looked like surgeon, picking apart whatever Todd Bowles and the Bucs defense tried. It was beyond impressive. The second half was surprisingly bad. You knew the Eagles couldn’t stay at the first half level, but to see them struggle so badly was worrisome. The Bucs DL played much better in the second half and their coverage was outstanding.

A lot of people are jumping on Kevin Patullo. He did a great job with play-calls in the first half. He certainly deserves some of the blame for the bad offense in the second half, but that was more than just calls. It is easier to point the finger at one guy than the whole offense. Lane Johnson missed most of the second half. Tyler Steen played on a banged up knee. Landon Dickerson still isn’t 100 percent.

The offense got a short field after a TB fumble and turned that into a TD.

Those proved to be critical points. The offense has had problems for sure, but they have come up big in the red zone, going 11 for 11 to start the season. That’s a huge part of why the team is undefeated so far.

The defense had some issues of their own, but also made some huge plays. There were a couple of stops on fourth down that ended potential scoring drives. Rookie LB Jihad Campbell came up big twice. He forced the fumble mentioned above. He also picked off a Baker Mayfield pass in the end zone. Reed Blankenship tipped the ball and Campbell made the play.

That’s an impressive day for a rookie LB. But young players can make mistakes as well as plays. Rookie Drew Mukuba got lost in coverage and was burned for a 77-yard TD. Vic Fangio has talked about Mukuba having some coverage problems. Young players have to learn on the fly. These things are going to happen.

Campbell was also involved in a long TD. He covered RB Bucky Irving down the field. Mayfield moved around and bought time before launching the pass to Irving. Campbell tried to tackle him, but missed. 70-yard TD. Ugh.

The Eagles have a lot of young talent on defense. There are going to be growing pains as these guys learn about life in the NFL. But the young players are making plays and showing their talent. Let them play. Let them learn. You’ll reap the rewards, now and in the future.

We’ve talked about offense and defense. We also have to cover special teams. They made a huge play to open the game.

Cam Latu has come close on a couple of other punts. He finally got home today and got the Eagles off to a great start. Good job by Sydney Brown to grab the ball and take it in for the TD.

This team can look so good for parts of games and so bad for others. I think you can see the potential. They are working through things and still have a long way to go. Getting off to a 4-0 start is incredibly impressive given how challenging the schedule has been. All four of the opponents played the Eagles at least once last year. These teams put a lot into the games, but still couldn’t beat the good guys.

There will be a lot of talk about this team compared to 2023. That team played a soft schedule to start the season and then got exposed when things got tough later on. This feels different to me. Still, it would be nice to see them play a complete game. It will happen, hopefully soon.

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