Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Game Review – PHI 24, TEN 20

Posted September 23rd, 2026 | No Comments »

Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts are winners. The Eagles had never won in Nashville, losing in 2002, 2010, and 2018. Hurts had never won a game where Robert Saleh was the head coach or DC. Both streaks came to an end on Sunday with the Eagles 24-20 victory over Tennessee. It isn’t always pretty. But these guys both know how to win.

The expectation was that a healthy OL would help the Birds running attack get going and they would control the game. That would wear down the Titans and let the Eagles win comfortably. So much for the best laid plans of mice and men. The revamped OL had Drew Kendall at center with Cam Jurgens moving to LG. The OL struggled again and Saquon Barkley got hurt on the first play of the game. The Eagles finished the game 32-89 on the ground.

Hurts was able to keep the chains moving in the first half, but the Eagles only led 14-10 at the break. The offense was less effective in the second half, not really coming alive until the final drive. The Eagles never got much separation. Give the Titans some credit for keeping it close and then putting themselves in position to win. The Eagles had a significant talent advantage in each of the first two games. But I think the opponents played with more physicality and more urgency. That’s not ideal.

The temperature was a factor. The field was 133 degrees at kickoff. It was up to 157 degrees at halftime. Players mentioned their cleats started to melt. There is hot and then there is whatever insanity that is.

The game winning drive was well executed. There weren’t any miracle plays or crazy flukes. Brett Favre used to say that the key on end-of-game drives is to focus on first downs. Don’t worry about scoring a TD. Just keep the chains moving and you’ll get down to the red zone. Then you can think about scoring. It felt like that was Hurts mindset as he marched the team down the field. The players didn’t seem rushed or panicked. They just kept moving the chains and got out of bounds when possible. It was great to see them so calm and composed instead of being frantic.

This wasn’t a good overall showing from the Birds. But we do need some context. They were on the road on a brutally hot day. Tennessee was the more desperate team after getting embarrassed by the Jets in Week 1. They played with an edge that the Eagles just didn’t have. Give the Eagles credit for finding a way to win, even if it wasn’t pretty.

COACHING

Nick Sirianni should be somewhat concerned with the way his team has played the first two weeks. They have won because of talent, not effort, detail and execution. There was a play where Tennessee was able to stop an outside run by the goal line because their CB out-battled a TE who tried to block him. Later in the game the Titans did score on an outside run when their TE blocked an Eagles corner. Same play, two very different results. One team was tougher and more physical, and it wasn’t the Birds.

The Eagles went for it once on 4th down.  I liked the decision (and it worked). I thought Sirianni used his timeouts wisely at the end of the game.

Sean Mannion started with a conservative plan that focused on running the ball. That led to mixed results. The offense was more of an aerial attack in the second half. There were some really good signs overall. The passing game showed great promise. It would be good to see them embrace that and lean more on Hurts and his receivers.

The short passing game (mainly screens) is not working well at all. Defenses seem to know the plays are coming and blow them up. They must stop throwing the ball to Lemon behind the LOS. The blocking is awful and defenses aren’t surprised. Lemon has no chance on those. The run game wasn’t good, but they did mix in some creative plays and looks. I loved Hollywood Brown getting two chances on an end around.

Vic Fangio didn’t do anything special that I could see. Badd tackling was probably the biggest issue the defense had. They also must get better at red zone defense. Teams are scoring TDs way too often. It would also be great to come up with a takeaway.

The Eagles did have a key strategic advantage late in the game.

***

OFFENSE

QB – Jalen Hurts had a good game, going 26-37-264. He threw 2 TDs and 2 INTs. He was able to win from the pocket and thrived in some areas where he’s gotten criticism in the past. He worked the middle of the field. He was good vs the blitz. He was good vs zones. He spread the ball around, completing passes to 9 different receivers. He hadn’t done that since 2022. Hurts was 5-16 on the ground, with two of those being tush push plays.

Hurts wasn’t perfect. He was off target with a couple of throws. The INTs were complicated. The first one featured a good play by the safety, but I also think Hurts forced the ball to DeVonta, who wasn’t open. DeVonta was being mugged by the CB (no call), but Hurts should have seen that before throwing the pass. The other INT was a deep ball to DeVonta. Jurgens didn’t get a good block on Jeffery Simmons and the DT hit Hurts as he released the ball. That affected the play, with the pass being underthrown. I still felt like Hurts should have been able to get more on the throw, but it was a complicated play to be sure.

Jalen was great on the game-winning drive.

I can’t stress enough how impressed I was with his overall performance. Hurts was missing Barkley and Goedert for most of the game. The OL was shaky. The defense was erratic. Hurts came up big when his team needed him and led them to victory.

RB – Saquon Barkley ran into the back of a blocker on the first play and missed the rest of the first half due to a stinger. He came back in the third quarter and got a few touches. He finished 4-9 on the ground and 1-11 as a receiver. Tank Bigsby was 13-33 on the ground, making the most of the limited room he had to run. He did rush for a TD. He also caught 2 passes. Will Shipley was 7-24 as a runner and caught 2 passes.

Tank Bigsby was 1-3 as a runner. Will Shipley was 2-4. The offense only ran 53 plays so there weren’t chances for a lot of reps.

WR – DeVonta Smith had a great game. He finished 10-117-1 and made some terrific catches. His body control is next level and he’s got great hands.

All the WRs contributed in this game. Dontayvion Wicks went 5-74, with several catches coming on 3rd or 4th down. He did a good job of getting open and catching the ball when it came his way. He had a drop on the final drive, but it was only going to be for a couple of yards so the team was better off that he didn’t catch that. Darius Cooper was 2-26 and caught the game-winning TD. He had a chance for another good gain, but the pass was just a bit too far out front. Hollywood Brown had 2 runs for 12 yards. Makai Lemon caught 1 pass for 14 yards. He also had 1 run for -5 yards, a pass behind the LOS. Really good game from the WR corps.

TE – Dallas Goedert only played 19 snaps before hurting his knee. He was 1-4 as a receiver. His blocking was okay. Johnny Mundt became the workhorse TE and played 49 snaps. He was 2-8 as a receiver. His blocking was bad early on. He had a poor block on a Hurts run in the RZ. A better block from him and that’s likely a TD. He had a poor block on a pass to Bigsby in the flat. Mundt was also called for holding on a run play. I thought his blocking improved as the game went along. Mundt’s effort was good. Mundt and EJ Jenkins had good blocks on Bigsby’s TD run.

OL – Not a good showing overall. Penalties. Sloppy blocks. Missed assignments. Too much confusion. Other than that…

All five blockers had bad plays at some point. All five got beaten by Simmons at least once. That dude is so disruptive. I thought pass protection was very good a times. The OL was good on the winning drive.

Drew Kendall got the start at center and I thought he had a good game. No bad snaps. Quick from snap to block. Really battled. Really promising start for him.

Can Jurgens got the start at LG, a spot he had never played in the NFL. Jurgens wasn’t awful, but didn’t play well. He was sloppy with his hands on too many plays. He looked lost at times and didn’t have good chemistry with the LT or C. I thought he looked fine physically so he can improve as he gets more comfortable at LG. If he doesn’t improve, then you talk about giving Willie Lampkin a shot. One game is just one game.

Jordan Mailata was good as a run blocker, but up and down in pass pro. He’s been too erratic the past two seasons. Not sure why. Tyler Steen was up and down as well. Lane Johnson was mostly good, but had sloppy moments of his own.

There were some good double team blocks. This group has potential if they stay healthy and get some time together, as well as having time to keep adjusting to the new scheme.

***

DEFENSE

DL – The Eagles didn’t win the battle up front nearly as much as we expected. Jalyx Hunt started off well, but slowed down in the second half. He had a TFL on the first play of the game. Just missed a sack in the red zone. Got pressure on another pass play. Used penetration to disrupt a run. Just missed a sack late in the half. He seemed to wear down in the second half and wasn’t nearly as disruptive. He finished with 5 tackles, a TFL and a QB hit.

Nolan Smith played the run well. He still does a good job of setting the edge. He had 3 tackles, a sack and a TFL. Neither AJ Epenesa nor Arnold Ebiketie played much. Epenesa was stout vs the run. Ebiketie finished with 2 tackles.

Jordan Davis had some good moments up front. He was only credited with 1 tackle, but was able to clog the middle at times. Jalen Carter was quiet in the first half. He was more disruptive in the second half and had a crucial sack late in the game. I don’t know what he’s done to make enemies, but I see him get held every single game and it rarely gets called. Weird. Moro Ojomo seemed to get stronger as the game went along. He had 4 tackles and a TFL.

Ojomo made the stop on a run play in the red zone at the end of the game. He got pressure on the final play of the game and caused the pass to bounce to the receiver.

Byron Young was solid when he played. Ty Robinson got in for a few snaps. He showed burst off the ball and a good motor.

LB – Zack Baun had a major drop-off from the opener. Went from dominant to inconsistent. Struggled vs the run. Seemed to get lost at times. Missed multiple tackles. Had 4 tackles and a TFL. Not disruptive or special on Sunday. Jihaad Campbell led the team with 10 tackles and was credited with a FF. I thought he was mostly good vs the run. He made multiple hustle plays. He was up and down in coverage. This isn’t a talent issue. He’s a young LB still figuring out the passing game.

SAF – Not great. Marcus Epps struggled against the run. Didn’t consistently take good angles to the ball. That kept him from making tackles on a few plays. Only got in on 2 tackles. Drew Mukuba was credited with 6 tackles. He was better than Epps. Mukuba’s highlight play was a good run stop by the goal line. That played showed good strength and physicality. Had a good hit on a WR on the opening drive.

CB – Quinyon Mitchell should have given up a couple of early catches, but WRs dropped the passes (one a TD). Mitchell had 6 tackles. Riq Woolen didn’t have many passes come his way. He did break up one pass and had 3 tackles. Cooper DeJean played better than the opener. He didn’t give up many catches, He finished with 5 tackles and was mostly good vs the run.

***

ST

Braden Mann averaged 55 yards on his two punts. He is currently second in the league in yards per punt.

Jake Elliott nailed a 58-yard FG. It was great to see him hit from that distance.

Britain Covey had a 23-yard PR. He was also used on KORs, but all three were touchbacks.

Jeremiah Trotter Jr had 2 tackles in KO coverage and has been very good there this season.

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