Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Howie Strikes Again

Posted November 3rd, 2025 | 3 Comments »

The trade deadline is Tuesday afternoon. Howie Roseman has been active with moves all summer and fall so you know he had to get one more deal done. This time he made a popular rumor come to life.

The Eagles had been linked to Phillips for a couple of weeks. He played for Vic Fangio in Miami and some reports say that Vic is a big fan of his. Phillips is in the final year of his contract and Miami is having an awful year. Trading him makes total sense from the Dolphins perspective.

Phillips is an interesting addition. He is 6-5, 260. That’s a bigger, longer build than the Eagles other edge rushers. You like to have guys with different builds. Phillips is a good athlete so he’ll be a good fit in Fangio’s scheme. Vic likes to be creative with his edge rushers. He likes guys that can drop into coverage and actually cover.

The downside with Phillips is health. He has had injury issues going back to college. He only played in 12 games in 2023 and 2024 combined. This season Phillips has played in all nine games, but his performance has been up and down. He’s got 3 sacks and 7 QB hits this season.

Phillips reminds me a bit of Josh Sweat with his size and skill set. Sweat played well in this scheme last year as you probably remember. Phillips gives Fangio a bigger edge to add to the mix.

Nolan Smith
Jalyx Hunt
Jaelan Phillips
Josh Uche
Brandon Graham

Jihaad Campbell can now focus on ILB. Patrick Johnson will likely be cut. His primary value is now on STs. I’m not sure that worth a spot with the current make up of the roster. It will be interesting to see how Fangio uses his rushers. Will they all be active? Will they rotate a lot? Will BG and/or Phillips line up inside more often?

It is important to remember that Fangio strongly prefers a 4-man rush. He wants to have seven in coverage, which is what the Eagles did for most of last year. Remember how the Eagles dominated the Chiefs in the Super Bowl without using a single blitz (more than 4 rushers). The pass rush hasn’t been good enough this season so Fangio has had to blitz more. That has been effective at times, but changes the coverages.

Phillips is not coming to Philly as some kind of savior. But adding him, Smith and BG could help the pass rush in a noticeable way. That’s critical because the Eagles weren’t able to find an impact CB on the market. If you can’t improve coverage that much, focus on the pass rush, which will help the coverage. They won’t have to cover as long and Fangio will have more options for how to use his DBs/LBs.

You might wonder about midseason trades. Golden Tate led to a wild card win. Robert Quinn didn’t do squat with the Eagles. There is a big difference. Quinn was 32 when he got to Philly. Tate was 30. Phillips is only 26. He is in the prime of his career.

The downside to the trade is giving up a third round pick. Miami is picking up most of his salary so that made him even more valuable to the Eagles. Still, you hate to give up a Day 2 pick for a rental. Phillips will be a free agent in March. This is worth talking about. If Phillips comes in and plays great and helps the Eagles on a good playoff run, you might lose him in free agency. But you would get a comp pick. If Phillips is okay, then maybe you can afford to re-sign him and keep him around. If he struggles, you lost a Top 100 pick. There is risk, but also a potentially good reward.

Forget about the game tape…how could you not want this guy on your team?

Phillips and BG could be a deadly trash-talking duo.

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Top Dog

Posted November 2nd, 2025 | 3 Comments »

We are only around midseason so this doesn’t mean a whole lot, but the Eagles are atop the NFC as of today. For a team that didn’t play, the Eagles had a good Sunday.

The Vikings beat the Lions 27-24.

The Panthers beat the Packers 16-13.

Those losses give the Eagles the best record in the NFC at 6-2. They’re tied with the Rams and Bucs, but have the head-to-head tiebreaker over them. Seattle is blowing out Washington and will be 6-2. The Eagles have the better conference record so that puts them in the top spot. The Eagles will play the Packers and Lions over the next two weeks so they can add some separation to the race for the top spot. They don’t play Seattle this season so we’ll have to see how that works out.

The Eagles didn’t have the top seed last year (Detroit did) so it doesn’t guarantee anything. Still, you’d rather have the bye than not. Getting an extra week of rest and having time to prepare is never a bad thing after a long season of NFL battles.

Buffalo beat KC 28-21. That didn’t affect the Eagles, but it makes life hard for the Chiefs. They are now just 5-4. They’ve got two games with Denver left. They also have one with the Chargers, Colts and Texans. The Chiefs could go 9-8 or 10-7. Maybe they get hot and win out. But this season isn’t going to be about the top seed for them. They are going to have to battle their way into the postseason.

Washington is about to drop to 3-6. What a disaster after last season’s playoff run. Who could have seen this coming?

Oh yeah, lots of people. The Commanders went into “win now” mode based on some questionable logic. They are now one game ahead of the 2-7 Giants. I don’t think this is what Dan Quinn had in mind when they traded for Deebo Samuel and Laremy Tunsil. Seattle and Green Bay both focused on young talent. Both are having strong seasons. The Eagles have a young roster and are doing well. Washington went old and have to be regretting that strategy in a big way.

UPDATE – Jayden Daniels was in the game with Washington down 38-7.

Unbelievable. From bad to worse. Truly a disastrous season for Washington.

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There is no great team based on what we’ve seen so far. It will be interesting to see if any team starts to play at a high level consistently. Maybe the Eagles…

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This is 100 percent true.

I spent the day watching various games and saw several teams running the Tush Push. People talked about the success of the play, but that’s it. No commentary about safety or officiating. Nothing. Just whether the play worked or not.

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Football is a constantly evolving game of chess.

This is an interesting discussion. The Eagles won it all last year by running the ball, but that was a historically good running game. When you don’t have that, the passing game really is the key.

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