Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Landon Dickerson Update

Posted September 14th, 2026 | No Comments »

Here is your Landon Dickerson update.

This means Drew Kendall becomes the LG. Willie Lampkin is now the top backup interior OL. Jake Majors or John Ojukwu could be promoted from the practice squad for depth. Ojukwu has more experience. Both guys are good scheme fits. Rookie Micah Morris is talented, but I think he’s more of a long term solution than someone they would play right away.

Howie Roseman talked this summer about how his big concern in the offseason was interior OL depth. The Eagles had several guys step up and perform well. Now comes the real test. I’m happy that Dickerson and the team took decisive action. If you know he’s not healthy, get him out of there. Give Kendall a chance to show what he can do.

Is this the end of Dickerson’s career? It very well could be. Hopefully some time off will help him to heal and he can get back on the field one more time. No one wants to go out on a bad game.

*****

The Eagles now have two open roster spots. I anticipate them adding a TE and an OL. We’ve talked about Zach Ertz being the TE, but no news yet on that front. Howie might be talking to other teams about trades.

They could sign an OL from another team or make a trade for one. I don’t think that is likely because so many teams are desperate for OL help. I think the internal move is more likely.

*****

The Eagles got a W on Sunday, but they sure didn’t get any style points. Thee beat a mediocre Commanders team 24-22. Some people have serious concerns based on what we saw in the opener. It certainly is fair to have questions, but you should never make too much of what you see in the opener, good or bad. Weird things tend to happen in Week 1.

Let’s look around the league to start with. We were all surprised to see the Rams get beat by 20 points. Not many people had them losing, but I sure don’t recall any neutral observer predicting a blowout. The Rams won’t be going 0-17. They also aren’t likely to lose another game by 20 points.

If the Rams were the talk of the offseason, the Cowboys were a close second.

Dallas did not live up to the hype in their opener, losing to the Giants 28-20. The dynamic Dallas offense only put up 244 yards. They had several pass interference penalties that would have added another 80 or so yards. Still, that group wasn’t the juggernaut we saw last year. As for the revamped defense that was going to make the Cowboys a Super Bowl contender…

Yikes.

I never bought into all the hype with that defense suddenly being a Top 15 unit. Christian Parker was a terrific position coach. He could become a great defensive coordinator in time, but he’s never run an NFL defense before. He might know X’s and O’s thoroughly. He’s got to learn how to call a game and how to teach his system so that players can execute it properly. And Parker has a bunch of new faces on the D. The guys have to learn the scheme and how to play with each other. That defense might be really good in 2027, but will be erratic this year.

I was shocked to see the Chargers lose to the Cardinals. That’s a loss you would prefer not to have. We heard all summer how dynamic the Chargers would be with Mike McDaniel calling plays for Justin Herbert. Apparently a genius play-caller and freaky QB don’t matter if the interior OL can’t block and the best WR gets hurt.

We heard a lot of talk this summer about how some defenses were going to be really good. The Texans were being compared to the 2000 Ravens. And then Josh Allen came to town. Houston gave up 36 points and 409 yards. Both figures were higher than anything they allowed last year.

No bueno. I hope Reed bounces back from that.

Some experts thought the Panthers might have a Top 5 defense. They gave up 59 points to the Bears on Sunday. No bueno. Some Colts players thought they could be a Top 10 defense this year. The Ravens lit them up for 506 yards and 41 points. Sunday was a big day for offenses around the league. Defenses struggled to handle them.

The Eagles didn’t play well overall, but they made key plays and won the game. That’s not ideal, but it is good enough for Week 1. The coaches now have game tape to use for teaching the scheme and fixing mistakes. Tape from TC and joint practices has some value, but isn’t the same as game tape. Gameplans make a difference. The pressure of real game situations makes a difference. The wear and tear of a real game makes a difference.

The OL and secondary both have a lot to discuss. Missed blocks and blown coverages were costly vs WAS. Those mistakes need to be identified and corrected.

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Eagles Hold On For The Win

Posted September 13th, 2026 | 1 Comment »

Season openers can be weird. There was the spitting incident last year. 2023 featured a fast start and then the team getting sloppy in an ugly win. The win over Detroit in 2022 was a wild affair. The Eagles led 38-21 at the end of three quarters and and to hold on for dear life to win 38-35.

The 2026 win over Washington will join the list of weird openers. Both offenses were ugly. There was a blocked extra point and a terrible penalty on Stefon Diggs that proved to be crucial. With the game on the line the Commanders called a play to get the ball to…John Bates? Makai Lemon caught 3 passes for -5 yards. Terry McLaurin caught 2 passes for only 14 yards. Cooper DeJean struggled in coverage. Dallas Goedert continued to be a TD machine. Lots of odd things went on in the game.

The difference is that the Eagles made winning plays.

  • Jalen Carter got penetration and time his jump right to block an extra point.
  • Jalen Hurts hit Goedert with a dime on third and goal from the 17-yard line for the first TD of the season.
  • Dontayvion Wicks ran a great route in the red zone and got wide open for a 9-yard TD.
  • Goedert caught a pass over the middle, spun away from defenders and then raced 25 yards for a TD.
  • DeVonta Smith made a great catch down the sideline to set up a FG. Beautiful throw from Hurts.
  • Moro Ojomo came up big on the 2-point attempt at te end of the game.

  • Hurts had key scrambles on two scoring drives. He ran for 14 yards to help a FG drive and then went for 22 on third and 18 to keep a TD drive alive.
  • The Eagles held WAS to one play that went for more than 17 yards. The Eagles offense had 5 plays that went for 22 or more yards.
  • WAS was kept from attempting a 2-point play when Stefon Diggs was called for a celebration penalty after scoring a TD.

Neither team played well. The Eagles just made more winning plays and that proved to be the difference in the game.

The Eagles have plenty of issues to work on. The OL was very up and down. Landon Dickerson really struggled. He allowed a sack, a TFL and was called for at least one penalty. Cam Jurgens drew a couple of flags. Jordan Mailata had one. They struggled to consistently block the WAS front on run plays.

That is a combination of good defense and bad blocking.

The Eagles had a few blown coverages that led to key plays. Jihaad Campbell lost his WR on third and long and that turned into a first down. There was confusion on the final WAS TD. I’m not sure who was at fault on that one. The front did a good job of getting pressure, but struggled to get hits and sacks. They were credited with 2 hits and 1 sack.

Zack Baun might have played his best game. He was spectacular.

Don’t ever take that dude for granted. He is a special player.

Nick Sirianni is now 6-0 in season openers. We might not always like the way he does certain things over the summer, but he wins in Week 1. Hurts has been the QB for all of those wins. The coaches will celebrate the win for about 20 minutes and then will focus on the issues that need to be fixed for this team to do what it wants to. There is plenty to clean up.

It is important to remember that with no preseason action for starters the first few games will feature some sloppy football. Your guys are healthy, but rusty. That’s a trade-off that modern coaches are willing to embrace.

Eagles are 1-0.

*****

Is that petty of me? Why yes it is. And it was fun as well.

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