Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Hurt Hurts Update

Posted October 19th, 2026 | No Comments »

Every day we seem to get some new insight on the Jalen Hurts situation. We got some bombshell news on Monday morning.

Say what?

It sounds like Hurts will be out for the rest of the year. The good news is that it sounds like he’ll make a full recovery and this won’t affect his future, on or off the field. Football aside, you just want him to be healthy.

Now to the part about playing without sleep. If the Eagles knew that and played him , that is insane. It is possible Hurts didn’t tell them about the lack of sleep until afterward. Players are trained from a young age to do everything humanly possible to get on the field. That menmtality is part of what makes them so good at what they do. It can also be a curse. The organization has to protect players from themselves.

Landon Dickerson has played when he clearly wasn’t right. Now we have this situation. You love the desire to play, to compete, but something has to change in the future. If a guy isn’t right, don’t put him out there. Drew Kendall warmed up on Sunday, but wasn’t good enough to start so he became an emergency backup. I’m fine with that.

This is going to lead to a lot of scrutiny and unpleasant questions for the Eagles. Nick Sirianni might prefer discussing the inept offense.

So what does this mean from a football perspective?

Tanner McKee will have a real chance to show what he can do. Huge opportunity for him. I hope he’s able to take advantage of it. He didn’t get off to a great start on Sunday, but that was just one game. Learn from it and build off it. Cole Payton is now the primary backup. He needs to be ready in case he’s asked to play. Newly signed Joe Milton has to learn the offense.

Apparently the team reached out to Andy Dalton about coming back. He said no thanks and will be signing with the Falcons today. They are going to release Cooper Rush. It will be interesting to see if the Eagles pursue a veteran backup or stick with the young guys. I’m kind of glad Dalton said no. He has been a good backup in the past, but didn’t play well this summer and then threw the terrible INT.

Does anyone have AJ Feeley’s phone number?

If the Eagles stick with the young guys, that could be a sign they are embracing this as a lost season. If they add a veteran, that could signal they still want to try to win the division and make the playoffs. That may sound nuts in the middle of a 4-game losing streak, but the team could get a boost as some hurt players start returning from their injuries. Howie and Nick are the kind of guys who will want to compete as long as possible.

A weird season seems to get weirder every week. If you’re an older fan this might remind you of 1993, 2005, 2012 or 2020. The Eagles expected to be really good in those years and then things went haywire. I might get PTSD if I start thinking too much about them. The biggest common denominator was injuries. That certainly is a huge issue for the current team.

I get where Jimmy Bama and some others say to just punt on the season and focus on the future. There is real logic in that. But then…

SEA 3-3
LAR 2-4
DAL 2-4
PHI 2-4

Those were the NFC teams predicted to make the Super Bowl. The Eagles are in the worst shape because of injuries, but the fact so many “good” teams are struggling won’t escape Howie’s attention. It really will be interesting to see what he does. A loss to Dallas next Monday might be the nail in the coffin that this season needs. But the Eagles could go win the game just to get everyone’s hopes up and make the agonizing season torture us some more.

If Cleveland is the “Factory of Sadness”, The Linc has become the Factory of Weirdness.

I can’t wait to see what happens next.

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Another Bad Day

Posted October 18th, 2026 | No Comments »

The good new is that the Eagles no longer are on a 3-game losing streak. The bad news is that they are now on a 4-game losing streak. We got another poor showing by the Eagles and another frustrating loss. The offense was bad. Special teams were bad. The defense was valiant, but eventually wore down. Other than that things went swimmingly.

Tanner McKee made his first start of the year and struggled. He had some good moments, the highlight being a TD pass to DeVonta Smith. But McKee mad too many bad decisions and bad throws. He also said there were some communication issues.

I was critical of McKee on Twitter and some people got really bent out of shape about it.

“They threw 45 passes. Way too many.”

“Where was the run game?”

“The coaching was terrible.”

“The OL stunk.”

“The defense didn’t make big plays.”

First, no one would say McKee is the reason the Eagles lost. The overall offense was a mess. The play-calling was frustrating. They didn’t run enough. But McKee is an NFL QB in his fourth season. This isn’t some kid in junior high where doing your best is good enough. He would be the first to agree that he didn’t play as well as he wanted to. No one was looking for perfection, but there were too many mistakes from him. If he wants to use the next month to sell himself to teams, he’s got to play better than today.

The offense did get into a rhythm for part of the second half. They went to the shotgun and McKee looked much more comfortable. The under-center offense isn’t working right now. If they want to win this year, they need to move away from it. If they want to build for the future, then fully embrace that offense. The current version is a total mess.

I do feel bad for McKee because he didn’t get the support he needed. The offense got the ball near midfield to start a drive and a bad snap by Jake Majors killed that drive. Johnny Mundt had a bad day as a blocker, with one hold wiping out a nice throw & catch. Blitz protection was once again less than ideal. There were multiple dropped passes. The lack of a run game was confusing. Dameon Pierce started 2-18 and then went 10-17 the rest of the way.

STs had its worst day of the season. Braden Mann shanked a punt and that led to a TD. Another punt only went 9 yards because it was possibly blocked. A good return was wiped out by a penalty. Field position was a problem all game long. Four drives started at the 13-yard line or worse. Two drives started at the 20 and two more at the 22. You don’t want your starting QB having to go a long way that much, let alone the backup QB.

The defense really battled. Carolina had 10 points at the half and only added a FG in the third quarter. The defense finally wore down and allowed a pair of TDs in the fourth quarter. They couldn’t come up with a takeaway, which the offense desperately needed.

The best teams play complementary football. The offense, defense, and STs all help each other. That didn’t happen on Sunday and was part of the reason the Eagles lost the game.

Some fans are now screaming for Nick Sirianni’s head. That’s not going to happen this season, nor should it. Firing him would not make this team better. It would just give angry fans something to be happy about. His future will be decided by his overall performance this season. If the offense continues to be the worst in the league, that could very well cost Sirianni his job. If the team shows some improvement and wins some games, that could change things. We need a full season to make an informed evaluation.

The next three games are DAL, WAS, and the NYG. The Eagles could be atop the division if they can cobble together a winning streak. Or they could end up closer to a Top 5 pick if they keep losing.

Cheer for the outcome you prefer.

*****

The Rams lost to the Cardinals 18-16, dropping them to 2-4. That’s the same record as the disastrous Eagles. Yikes.

If there is a silver lining to the Eagles season it is the fact all this stuff is going wrong at the same time. Imagine if the team started 2-0 with blowout wins and then had all the injuries happen. You’d feel like a promising season was being lost. This year has been problematic from the get go. Our hopes never got too high.

The Rams thought they had put together a special roster with special potential. They are 2-4 and could have easily lost to the Eagles. That is nuts. It is funny that there was a discussion this summer about them possibly going undefeated. They aren’t a lock to even make the playoffs.

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