Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Game Review – PHI 31, LVR 0

Posted December 18th, 2025 | 3 Comments »

Re-watching the Eagles 31-0 victory over the Raiders was an interesting experience. It was fun to see the Eagles have success. It was sad to see how bad the Raiders looked. That is a legendary NFL franchise. They’ve had countless great players, memorable characters and a lot of team success. They were awful on Sunday. Just awful.

The Eagles didn’t physically dominate them. This wasn’t like the time Troy Aikman got sacked 11 times back in 1991. The Eagles defense rushed well, covered well, got off blocks and tackled well. It was textbook defense. Lots of teaching tape material. The defense took good angles to the ball. They gang-tackled. Coverage was disciplined and sticky. That was smart, sound defense.

The Raiders finished with 75 yards. That is nuts. They averaged 1.8 yards per play. This is the lowest yardage total allowed by the Eagles since 1955. The previous low this season was holding GB to 261 yards. Crazy good defense.

Jalen Hurts and the offense played pretty well. The big thing they did was sustaining drives. The Eagles won the time of possession battle, 39:25 to 20:35. That limited how much the defense had to play. No defender played more than 39 snaps.

I have mixed feelings coming off this game. Part of me is excited that the Eagles played well and were in complete control of the game. That’s encouraging as we head into the final weeks of the season. There is another part of me that is worried the Eagles only looked good because they played such a bad opponent. Keep in mind that the Raiders are poorly coached, lack talent, had a backup QB and this was also a dome team playing a cold weather game. That’s a game the Eagles needed to win and win big. They did, but it is hard to know what to make of the result.

I loved the shutout. That was an early Christmas present. I thought about it a little in the third quarter, but figured there would be some play that would get the Raiders into FG territory and they would kick. When the Eagles got the ball at 13:17 in the fourth quarter, I was hoping for a long, time-consuming drive. The backup offense ate up 11:17 and took the ball all the way down to the 1. I admit to hoping the offense wouldn’t score. I wanted the Raiders pinned deep. That would give them further to go. It would also make it more likely they would run the ball, which is exactly what they did.

I feel a bit guilty about wanting Tank Bigsby to be stopped, but I’ve seen the Eagles blow shutouts before. Back in 2011 Dallas scored a TD with seven seconds left in the game and lost 20-7 on Christmas Eve. That was torture, but not as bad as 2009 when the Falcons scored on the final play and lost 34-7. Thankfully Pete Carroll had the dignity to run the ball and keep the goose egg. He’s caused me enough misery over the years that he owed me that finish. Thanks Pete.

COACHING

Nick Sirianni had the team focused. I was curious if the Eagles would overlook the Raiders at all, but that didnt happen. There weren’t many strategic decisions since the Eagles had control from the opening drive. Some people got on him for not being aggressive at the end of the first half. His team was up 17-0 and clearly in control. I can understand him thinking it wasn’t worth the risk with just 24 seconds left.

Kevin Patullo and the offensive coaches did a good job. They mixed in more under-center looks. They used play-action effectively. The coaches had a terrific plan in the red zone. The team went 3 for 5, but one of those was a dropped pass and the other was a stop at the goal line with the backup offense in  the game.

Vic Fangio didn’t have to get too creative. The Raiders lacked talent and didn’t do anything overly creative. Still, give Vic credit for being aggressive enough that his unit was able to pitch the shutout and never give Vegas a sense of hope.

Michael Clay’s unit had a solid game.

OFFENSE

Jalen Hurts had the kind of game he probably loves. He was 12-15-175 with 3 TDs. He was 7-39 as a runner. Hurts didn’t have to do a ton, but was able to make key throws and timely plays. Against the Chargers Hurts seemed hesitant to dump the ball off. He was better with checkdowns against the Raiders. He hit DeVonta for a big gain down the field and had a nice TD throw to AJ. Hurts ran for 13 yards on 3rd & 12. That was a great play by him.

Tanner McKee came in late and was 3-3-33. He also ran once for 9 yards. It was good to see him shake off some rust and show that he’s still ready to go.

Saquon Barkley finished 22-78-1. He had to work hard for those yards. The Raiders loaded the box and played the run aggressively. Barkley was also 2-14 as a receiver. Tank Bigsby was 17-57. Most of that came behind the backup OL. Bigsby ran well and got the most out of the space he had.

DeVonta Smith was 2-50, including a 44-yard catch. That was a good deep ball. His other catch came on third down and moved the chains. He did some good things as a blocker. AJ Brown was 2-41-1, including a 27-yard TD. His other catch came on third down and moved the chains. Darius Cooper was 2-29, catching a couple of passes on the final drive. Both Brown and Cooper drew PI calls.

Dallas Goedert was terrific as a receiving, going 6-70-2. The red zone TDs came on a shovel pass and short flip that he ran in. DG should have had another TD, but dropped the ball at the goal line. Hurts did a good job of also getting him the ball on play-action passes. DG was inconsistent as a blocker. He is frustrating because he used to be so good at it. Grant Calcaterra was 1-4 as a receiver. Cam Latu played 19 snaps and did a good job as a blocker, whether in-line or blocking on the move. I think the coaches were smart to use him more.

The Eagles ran for 183 yards. Hurts was sacked once and hit once. You would think that was a dominant performance by the OL. Unfortunately they were inconsistent. I will say that I was encouraged by some of what I saw. There were a few plays where Jordan Mailata looked like a bully as a run blocker. Landon Dickerson had some good moments. If he can stay somewhat healthy, that is a game-changer. I thought Cam Jurgens played one of his best games. He looked quick from snap to block. There were still some plays where those guys struggled. Fred Johnson continues to be erratic. His pad level isn’t good and tends to be a waist-bender. Johnson gave up the sack. In his defense, it was Maxx Crosby and Hurts held the ball longer than he should have. Tyler Steen had some good blocks, but also some struggles. He drew a holding call.

We got to see Drew Kendall play center late in the game. He showed promise. He needs to be quicker into his blocks. Love his effort. He works hard to sustain. His leverage was good at times, but he would also be too upright on some plays. It was good to see him in action. Brett Toth played LG and Matt Pryor was LT. They were okay.

DEFENSE

Did I mention the Eagles pitched a shutout? It is crazy to think that they did that without Jalen Carter, their best defensive player. Jordan Davis had 4 tackles and played the run well. Moro Ojomo had a sack and 2 QB hits. He was disruptive. Byron Young had 3 tackles and helped control the middle. Brandon Graham played 7 snaps and had 2 sacks. That’s impressive as heck.

The pass rush was good. Jaelan Phillips had a couple of QB hits and 2 pass deflections. Nolan Smith had a sack. He got chipped and the momentum of that block helped him run over the RT and get to Pickett. Jalyx Hunt had 2 QB hits and a TFL. He was disruptive on other plays. He ran over the LG and drove him back into Pickett on a late pass play. Hunt is regularly disruptive.

The star of the game was probably Nakobe Dean. He led the team with 8 tackles and added 2 TFLs. Dean played really well. The Raiders tried to throw outside a couple of times and Dean was there to blow those plays up. Zack Baun only had 4 tackles, but he did have an INT.

Jihaad Campbell played some ILB and some edge. He didn’t have any tackles. He did a good job on a bootleg play by Pickett.

Reed Blankenship and Marcus Epps combined for 4 tackles. They just didn’t have much action come their way. Both were good in coverage.

Quinyon Mitchell had 1 tackle and 1 PD. The Raiders just didn’t go his way very much.

Cooper DeJean had 4 tackles. He played the run well and was excellent in coverage. He gave up one third down conversion when he slipped on the play. Adoree Jackson played well. He had 3 tackles and a PD.

ST

Jake Elliott hit his only FG and made all his extra points. He had missed kicks in three straight games so it was good for that streak to end.

LS Charley Hughlett returned from IR and did a good job.

Will Shipley had a 31-yd KOR.

Smael Mondon and Kelee Ringo each had a couple of tackles in coverage.

_

3 Comments on “Game Review – PHI 31, LVR 0”

  1. 1 Eagles News: Don’t assume Kevin Patullo is gone after this season - SportSourcio said at 12:01 PM on December 19th, 2025:

    […] Game Review – PHI 31, LVR 0 – Iggles Blitz […]

  2. 2 Eagles News: Don’t assume Kevin Patullo is gone after this season – Over View – Your Daily News Source said at 4:32 PM on December 19th, 2025:

    […] Game Review – PHI 31, LVR 0 – Iggles BlitzI have mixed feelings coming off this game. Part of me is excited that the Eagles played well and were in complete control of the game. That’s encouraging as we head into the final weeks of the season. There is another part of me that is worried the Eagles only looked good because they played such a bad opponent. Keep in mind that the Raiders are poorly coached, lack talent, had a backup QB and this was also a dome team playing a cold weather game. That’s a game the Eagles needed to win and win big. They did, but it is hard to know what to make of the result. […]

  3. 3 Eagles News: Don’t assume Kevin Patullo is gone after this season - Philly Fan Radio said at 8:46 PM on December 19th, 2025:

    […] Game Review – PHI 31, LVR 0 – Iggles BlitzI have mixed feelings coming off this game. Part of me is excited that the Eagles played well and were in complete control of the game. That’s encouraging as we head into the final weeks of the season. There is another part of me that is worried the Eagles only looked good because they played such a bad opponent. Keep in mind that the Raiders are poorly coached, lack talent, had a backup QB and this was also a dome team playing a cold weather game. That’s a game the Eagles needed to win and win big. They did, but it is hard to know what to make of the result. […]