Just Win Baby
Posted October 17th, 2025 | No Comments »The Eagles are 4-2. That’s good. They haven’t played at a consistently high level, though. That’s not so good. For this team to go where they want to they need to solve that and starting playing more consistently. Since the team is coming off two straight losses the focus this week is a bit different. Just win baby.
Win a defensive battle? Fine. Win a shootout? Fine. Win ugly? Fine. Just find a way to win. In a fantasy world the Eagles would win the next two weeks and go into the bye at 6-2. That’s easier said than done with a team that struggles to play complete games. The Eagles can look good for a quarter, a half or sometimes even three quarters. But they haven’t played a complete game so far.
Sunday would be a great time for that to change. The players got a bit of extra rest. The coaches had extra time to self-scout and come up with changes. Maybe we’ll see a different team on Sunday afternoon.
We’ve been waiting for the light to go on all season long. After the first week you blamed things on Jalen Carter’s ejection and the weather delay. Week 2 was a tough game in KC, a Super Bowl rematch. Week 3 was a playoff rematch with the Rams, a team desperate to beat the Eagles. The next game was brutally hot in Tampa. Then there was the game against Denver, coming off the week of AJ Brown drama. Last Thursday the Eagles were missing their top DE, top DT and top CB.
This has been a weird season.
But at some point the team has to overcome things and play well. Last year’s team had some things to deal with, but overcame them. They won and played well. There are plenty of new faces on this team, many of them young. Maybe these guys are learning the hard way. The players need to grow up in a hurry and the coaches need to figure out how to help them. I still think this team has really good potential.
Fans and the media will talk a lot about making trades. Go get this pass rusher or that corner. Find some help for this team. I think the real key are the guys already at the NovaCare. Will any difference-makers be available? The Eagles traded for John Metchie and Tank Bigsby already this year. They’ve made very little difference. They signed Za’Darius Smith and he was okay before his surprise retirement. I just don’t know that any outside player is going to come in and make a significant difference.
It will be interesting to see if the return of Nakobe Dean makes a difference. Vic Fangio could figure out a couple of ways to use him. He could play Dean and Zack Baun as LBs and let Jihad Campbell get edge rusher snaps. Or Fangio could use more three LB sets. Put Dean in the middle and then have Baun and Campbell outside. You could then walk them down on the line and do creative things.
Eagles DC Vic Fangio is utilizing off-ball LBs as pass rushers more this season.
Here are the average pass rush snaps per game for Philadelphia’s off-ball LBs:
2024: 9.3
2025: 12.2Guess who was one of the best pass rushing off-ball LBs in the NFL in 2024? Nakobe Dean! pic.twitter.com/7mMvijoqps
— Anthony DiBona (@DiBonaNFL) October 8, 2025
Fangio was asked if Campbell is ready to play edge and said no. That was last week, but I doubt much has changed since then. Campbell could play edge in some passing situations and that might work. He’s athletic and can make plays.
It will be interesting to see what Fangio does and if any changes work as he hoped. He’s been coaching for a long time. There are no magic bullets, but some changes can make a difference and lead to improved play.
Carson Wentz will be starting for the Vikings on Sunday. We know he doesn’t handle pressure very well. Fangio needs to come up with a plan that will attack Wentz and get him off schedule. Having Jalen Carter back will certainly help.
Let’s hope old Uncle Vic has a great gameplan this week.
A third straight loss would lead to a lot of questions and could cause all kinds of problems. You don’t want to go down that road. Just win baby.
*****
Boy, there’s a chunk of national media dancing on what it hopes is the Eagles’ grave these days. I guess we’ll see.
— Les Bowen (@LesBowen) October 17, 2025
The media built up the Eagles last year. Howie was the best GM. Saquon was the best RB. Fangio was a defensive genius. Zack Baun was an amazing story. And on and on.
The only thing the media loves more than building up a team is tearing it down. Go back to the Pats dynasty. There were multiple times when the media wrote their obituary. The Pats kept winning until Tom Brady left. The media wrote off the Chiefs a few times. That team keeps on winning.
Part of winning a Super Bowl means extra attention and scrutiny. The Eagles are dealing with that now. If you want that to go away, keep winning.
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