Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

2025 Game Review – PHI 28, MIN 22

Posted October 23rd, 2025 | 2 Comments »

It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t easy. But boy was it a big win. The Eagles had lost consecutive games and felt like they might be vulnerable. Thankfully they were going up against Carson Wentz and that made playing at Minnesota a bit easier. The Eagles jumped out to a 7-0 lead and led the entire game. They never could create much separation so the game was pretty tight the whole way. That kept pressure on. The Eagles made the key plays needed to win the game.

The Eagles had chances to blow this game open, but they just couldn’t create real separation. 14-0 became 14-9. Then 21-9 became 21-19. Every time the Eagles were close to building a good lead, the Vikings responded with a scoring drive. Or two.

The story of the game was Jalen Hurts. He played one of the best games of his career.

Beyond posting great numbers, some of those were tough plays. There were impressive completions on 3rd & long to both AJ and DeVonta. There were multiple deep balls that were right on the money. Great performance.

COACHING

Nick Sirianni got his team to bounce back from a pair of tough losses. The Eagles got off to a good start and were able to play from ahead. A really slow start might have led to some issues. Sirianni was aggressive and I think his team needed that. He could have gone for a long FG on the first drive, but went for it on fourth down and that turned into a TD. Sirianni had the team throw the ball late in the game instead of just running to work the clock. That enabled the Eagles to run out the game.

Kevin Patullo and the offensive staff did make some changes in the mini-bye. They mixed in some 6 OL looks. The Eagles used more under center plays, both runs and play-action passes. The bomb to DeVonta came on such a play. The vertical passing attack came up big. The Eagles had five plays of 26 or more yards, including 3 TDs.

The only red zone play they ran all game came at the end when they were working on the clock and not trying to score. Very different than most of the year.

The passing explosion was even more impressive when you consider that MIN was #2 in passing yards allowed coming into the game.

Vic Fangio found a way to use his LBs. Nakobe Dean and Zack Baun played ILB a lot, with Jihaad Campbell moving to edge. Campbell also played some ILB. This game was a great example of Fangio’s bend but don’t break style. The Eagles gave up 387 yards, but they held the Vikings to 1 of 6 in the red zone. The defense had a couple of takeaways, including a pick-six.

Michael Clay’s STs unit didn’t have any key plays n the game.

OFFENSE

Hurts was fantastic, as mentioned above. The accuracy on his deep balls was really impressive.

Hurts put that ball out where AJ could catch it and adjust if needed. This came at the end of the game. You see some teams run the ball to work the clock, but that doesn’t always succeed against a stacked box. The Eagles opted for a slant ‘n go and it worked perfectly.

The most impressive play from Hurts came on 3rd & 13, when he was on the move and hit AJ. Hurts had to really move around in the pocket to even get free to the outside.

Don’t be fooled by the slo-mo. That play was really though at full speed. This was one of the stranger running games of Hurts career. He had one Tush Push, one scramble and two late runs to burn the clock. He finished 4 for -10.

Saquon Barkley hoped for a breakout game. Didn’t happen. He finished 18-44. Barkley got off to an okay start, but Sirianni said the Vikings adjusted. Cam Jurgens got hurt and the OL struggled with run blocking. Once again, there just wasn’t room to run.

DeVonta had a huge game, going 9-183-1. He did a good job of working the middle, but his highlight was the long TD. Smitty ran a great route. He got Isaiah Rodgers to buy his step and then went inside at full speed and was wide open. Smitty fought through the tackle attempt to get into the end zone. Great route, great throw.

AJ was 4-121-2. He did have a drop and a penalty, but I think we can forgive him for that with the key plays he made. It was great to see him and Hurts connecting on multiple deep balls. They are a deadly duo when they get going.

Dallas Goedert had a quiet game, going 3-18. His blocking was up and down.

The OL had an odd game. They looked good on the opening drive. Landon Dickerson got off to a good start. Got movement in the run game. You saw some flashes of his power. The run blocking went downhill after that, especially when Jurgens got hurt and Brett Toth took over at center. Toth really struggled on run plays. They had him trying to block Jalen Redmond and that didn’t go well. Fred Johnson was in the game as a sixth OL for 10 plays.

The OL was good in pass protection. Hurts had time to get the ball downfield. He was able to step into his throws, which is critical for success on the deep balls. Tyler Steen got away with a false start on the second TD pass to AJ.

DEFENSE

We have to start by talking about Carson Wentz. His highs were good. Really good. His lows were bad. Really bad. Let’s start with the bad. He threw a pick-six. He then threw the ball backward and out of bounds. He then threw a bad INT downfield. Those were consecutive plays. Yikes. He had a terrible grounding call. He was off-target multiple times in the red zone. It wasn’t pretty.

But Wentz did throw for 313 yards. he was terrific on out routes, especially to Jordan Addison. The Eagles really struggled with those. Wentz had a couple of key scrambles that kept a scoring drive alive. The Eagles got pressure on him, but only 2 sacks.

Jalyx Hunt played the best game of his career. He was only credited with 1 tackle, but had 2 QB hits, multiple pressures and a pick-six. That play was perfect execution of a zone blitz. Fangio had 4 guys rush and Hunt dropped into coverage. Wentz had to rush the throw due to pressure and never saw Hunt.

I thought Hunt played the run well. He set the edge on a run that ended in a TFL. Good game all around.

Josh Uche had 3 tackles, 2 TFLs and a sack. That was impressive. He ran over the RT and got to Wentz in the red zone. Good play. Patrick Johnson had 1 tackle and a QB hit. He had the pressure on the grounding play.

Jalen Carter came back after missing a game and made his presence felt. He had 3 tackles and 2 QB hits. His pressure led to the pick-six. He was regularly disruptive. The Eagles got good pressure and muddied the pocket. There were multiple plays where Wentz couldn’t step into his throws and that led to incompletions.

Jordan Davis played well. He had 3 tackles, a TFL and QB hit. Davis helped control the middle and limit the Vikings run game. Their RBs finished 19-61. Davis used his power to hold his ground and shed blockers. Moro Ojomo had a sack and played well overall. Ty Robinson and Byron Young played, but didn’t do too much.

Zack Baun led the team with 10 tackles. He played the run well. Didn’t make any big plays, but had a good game. Nakobe Dean had 6 tackles and a TFL. He didn’t look rusty at all. It was good to see him out there, especially as a run defender. Jihaad Campbell was solid as ILB/edge. He had 3 tackles. He did miss a tackle on Wentz on a scramble play that moved the chains. Campbell has to make that play.

Reed Blankenship was in on 4 tackles and was solid. Drew Mukuba was very up and down. He picked off a pass down the field. Mukuba had some good moments in coverage. He struggled as a tackler. He missed a tackle on Justin Jefferson and that turned into a 40-yard play. Can’t miss that tackle. He was erratic on some other tackles. Mukuba is a work in progress. You have to play him because experience will be the best teacher. Still, it is frustrating when he makes big mistakes.

Quinyon Mitchell had 4 tackles and did a solid job on Jefferson. Addison is the receiver who gave all the DBs fits. Adoree Jackson was solid until he got hurt trying to tackle a TE and left with a concussion. Kelee Ringo replaced him. Ringo was credited with 5 tackles. He was active and got to the ball. None of the outside CBs broke up a pass.

Cooper DeJean had a good game. He covered well on a deep pass into the end zone. He broke up a pass in the end zone that Jefferson almost held on to. DeJean finished with 6 tackles, a TFL and a PD.

ST

Xavier Gipson was good on KORs. His long went for 37 yards. Will Shipley had one for 33 yards.

The Eagles did give up a long KOR.

Jake Elliott proved he’s human. He missed a FG. He also had a KO come up short of the landing zone. That gave MIN the ball at the 40 and led to their only TD drive of the game.

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2 Comments on “2025 Game Review – PHI 28, MIN 22”

  1. 1 Eagles News: Jermaine Johnson among potential Philadelphia trade targets - SportSourcio said at 3:03 PM on October 23rd, 2025:

    […] 2025 Game Review – PHI 28, MIN 22 – Iggles Blitz […]

  2. 2 Eagles News: Jermaine Johnson among potential Philadelphia trade targets - Philly Fan Radio said at 12:23 AM on October 24th, 2025:

    […] 2025 Game Review – PHI 28, MIN 22 – Iggles BlitzThe OL had an odd game. They looked good on the opening drive. Landon Dickerson got off to a good start. Got movement in the run game. You saw some flashes of his power. The run blocking went downhill after that, especially when Jurgens got hurt and Brett Toth took over at center. Toth really struggled on run plays. They had him trying to block Jalen Redmond and that didn’t go well. Fred Johnson was in the game as a sixth OL for 10 plays. The OL was good in pass protection. Hurts had time to get the ball downfield. He was able to step into his throws, which is critical for success on the deep balls. Tyler Steen got away with a false start on the second TD pass to AJ. […]