Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Titans Talk

Posted September 17th, 2026 | No Comments »

Tennessee went 3-14 in 2024 and that earned them the #1 overall pick. They drafted QB Cam Ward and thought they had a cornerstone player to build around. The team went 3-14 again last year and then lost to the Jets in last week’s opener. They are 6-29 in their last 35 games. Not good.

Robert Saleh was hired in the offseason to turn the team around. Losing to the Jets 23-10 and being out-gained 367 to 195 was not the start anyone expected or wanted. Saleh is taking a lot of heat for his team’s poor performance and he’s not had great messaging when talking to the media.

Yikes.

That’s not very inspirational. That’s not what you want your new team or your new fans to hear. Saleh struggled as coach of the Jets, but he’s been a terrific defensive coordinator. Maybe he’ll figure things out over time.

His key task is getting Ward to play well and to have a functional offense. Last year they were 30th in points and 31st in yards. So how did the offense do in the opener?

That makes the Eagles look like the 1999 Rams. Ugh. There is a lot of blame to go around. Ward hasn’t shown signs of becoming the player they hoped for when drafted first overall. The OL has been a mess for a few years. They don’t have a great set of playmakers. And now Ward and his teammates are learning a new scheme. That’s not off to the greatest start, as you’ll see below.

The Titans didn’t have a single play go for more than 14 yards. If you want to know what the Eagles offense would have looked like without the explosives, there you go. And it wasn’t pretty.

So what about the Titans defense? They were dead last on the stat below.

Saleh runs a 1-gap attacking defense that is built on making plays. They didn’t make many plays and gave up 152 yards on the ground. That’s not a winning formula.

This has to be really frustrating since they thought they made some key defensive improvements in the offseason. They had a great player to build around in DT Jeffery Simmons. He’s the best DT in the league. They traded for DE Jermaine Johnson and spent a first round pick on Keldric Faulk so they’d have the edge rushers that scheme requires. They added DL John Franklin-Myers to give them another guy who could get upfield and make plays. Tennessee drafted LB Anthony Hill to upgrade the middle of the defense. They added CB Alontae Taylor to shore up the back end of the unit. On paper this defense should be competitive. They struggled against the Jets.

Hill did have a good game and showed real promise.

This is not a good team right now. They are at the bottom of the league with the Browns and Dolphins. Tennessee has the potential to turn things around if the coaches can get some things straightened out and if the players live up to their potential. There is a lot of work to be done by everyone involved.

*****

There was some question about what the Eagles would do with their OL now that Landon Dickerson is on IR. Based on comments by Jalen Hurts it sure sounds like Cam Jurgens will stay at center and Drew Kendall will be the LG. That makes the most sense to me so I’m glad they’re going with this plan.

As for Dickerson, I found this quote to be interesting. Sometimes we forget about the human element when talking about football.

Hopefully Dickerson gets healthy so he and his bestie can play together later on this season.

*****

The Eagles put Britain Covey on the roster to fill one of the open spots they had. The other spot is still open. That’s curious.

They did add TE Josiah Deguara to the practice squad. He played for GB from 2020 to 2023 so he has familiarity with the scheme. Deguara is 6-2, 240 so he’s more of a FB/TE hybrid. Think of him as a Cam Latu type.

*****

There wasn’t a doubt.

_

Game Review – PHI 24, WAS 22

Posted September 16th, 2026 | No Comments »

The Eagles didn’t play good football in the season opener, but they did play winning football, doing just enough to get by a fired up Commanders football team. The Eagles defense was outstanding for most of the game, but got sloppy late and let Washington make it closer than it probably should have been. The Philly offense delivered big plays, but struggled to sustain drives.

Give the Eagles credit for making a couple of more plays than Washington. That proved to be the difference in the game. Week 1 is more about survival than playing high level football. These starters don’t play in the preseason anymore so the first game involves shaking off rust and getting your initial game action of the year. The Eagles survived and got their W to start 1-0.

COACHING

Nick Sirianni is now 6-0 in season openers. That’s not an accident. He doesn’t have any magical formula, but his teams do a good job of not beating themselves. The Eagles didn’t have any turnovers. They had fewer penalties and were better on third downs. They also won the explosive play battle. It wasn’t great, but it was good enough.

I thought WAS played with more urgency and was the more physical team. The Eagles won because of talent. I think one of the problems last year was the team not being physical enough. I hope this team gets their stuff together in the coming weeks. WAS defenders got by or blew up blockers all game long. This offense requires skill players to block well. That didn’t happen on Sunday. It better get fixed or the playbook will have to change.

It was hard to get a feel for Sean Mannion in this game. The OL play was sloppy and that led the Eagles to a lot of 2nd and 3rd and longs. You aren’t calling what you want in those situations. There weren’t many overly creative plays. WAS blitzed at the second highest rate in the league so that also presented a challenge for Mannion. The Eagles kept extra blockers in on a lot of pass plays. We’ll get a better feel for the new scheme over time. There was at least one notable difference.

Vic Fangio had his guys ready to play and they kept WAS under control for most of the game. There were some coverage breakdowns, especially late. Those need to be fixed. Fangio blitzed more than usual. Some coaches do that vs mobile QBs to keep them from being able to run like they usually do. the red zone defense needs work. WAS was 3 for 3. Can’t let teams convert like that.

OFFENSE

QB – Jalen Hurts had a good game. He went 14-25-203 with 3 TDs and no turnovers. He made some terrific throws and had some critical runs as well. He finished 7-46 on the ground. Hurts hit DG for a pair of TDs. Both featured good throws into traffic. He hit Wicks for a gain of 64 with a good deep ball. His best throw was a pass down the right sideline to DeVonta.

The highlight run was a 22-yard scramble on 3rd & 18. That moved the chains and kept a scoring drive alive. Good things tend to happen when Hurts runs. It was good to see him use his legs when needed. Hurts is a winner because he can make critical plays when needed. He did what was needed to lead a sputtering offense to victory.

Decision-making remains an issue Hurts needs to work on. There was a play where Lemon was wide open for an easy first down. Hurts threw to DeVonta who was well-covered. That was an incompletion. On the first TD to Goedert, Lemon was again wide open. That would have been the easier throw. There were some plays in the second half where Hurts fell into his old habit of drifting right and throwing the ball away. Let’s hope that trend doesn’t continue. Read the rest of this entry »