Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Keep Tweaking

Posted December 16th, 2025 | 3 Comments »

I am not encouraging people to do more meth. I am hoping that Kevin Patullo and the Eagles offensive coaches will continue to make changes to the offense to try and get the most out of the unit. With a flawed OL this season, doing things the old way isn’t going to work. You can’t just own the line of scrimmage and go from there.

The Eagles were under center a lot on Sunday and it worked well for them.

This isn’t some magic cure. It is one thing that can be mixed in to help the run game and the play-action game. It did well against the Raiders mediocre defense. It will be interesting to see how it does against better opponents down the road.

There has been a lot of talk about the use and over-use of hitches. That’s a perfectly good route to use on a regular basis. However, it should not be the foundation of your passing game. The coaches mixed things up a bit more last Sunday.

Again, this isn’t anything groundbreaking. The coaches just needed to mix things up and use some different routes and route combinations. It is frustrating that it took this long to get things adjusted, but it is a good sign that they are making changes. These tweaks will give the defense more to look at and think about. It will give Jalen Hurts different looks and options. The goal is to be able to get the ball to the playmakers more easily. Let AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert make plays for you. Get them the ball.

The run game was still a mess for part of the Raiders game, but did get going late. Maybe that was the Vegas defense wearing down. Maybe the Eagles offense finally got into a good rhythm with the running game. We’ll see how things go on Saturday in Washington.

The increased running by Hurts certainly helped. If teams have to account for him, it opens up things for Saquon and the other backs.

One other thing the coaches did was using their personnel better.

Latu is a good blocker. You want him on the field more than Grant Calcaterra on some run plays. Latu isn’t a huge threat as a receiver so I know you need to mix things up, but it was smart to use him, especially in that situation. The Eagles were playing with a good lead and they were trying to run the ball. Put Latu in and let him open things up for Barkley and Tank Grigsby.

Washington has a bad defense so the Eagles offense will have another chance to work on some things on Saturday.

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This has been a challenging season in a few ways.

The Eagles are 2-2 in the short week games so far. The schedule has featured a lot of tough opponents, but also some time/rest challenges. That’s the kind of stuff we have to keep in mind when judging this season. Nothing has been easy.

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A Winning Formula

Posted December 15th, 2025 | 2 Comments »

The Eagles offense has gotten a ton of attention this season. We have discussed Kevin Patullo, Jalen Hurts, AJ Brown, Saquon Barkley, the offensive line and just about every aspect of the offense possible. What will it take for the offense to get fixed? Can this group turn things around and help the team to have success this postseason?

We just might be focused on the wrong thing.

Think back to last season. The Eagles defense allowed the fewest yards in the league and were second in points allowed. Look at the playoff scores.

PHI 22, GB 10
PHI 28, LAR 22
PHI 55, WAS 23
PHI 40, KC 22

No one scored more than 23 points in a game. And that is an impressive collection of QBs and offenses. The Rams scored 7 of their points at the end of the game. The Chiefs scored all of their points when the game was a blowout.

As good as Barkley, Hurts and the offense were last year, the defense was the real star. And that appears to be the case once again this season.

The defense was erratic early on this season. The unit has come together over time and is playing at a really high level. This isn’t about one player or one part of the unit. The whole defense has improved, and for a variety of reasons.

The pass rush got better when Nolan Smith came off IR, the team traded for Jaelan Phillips and they got Brandon Graham out of retirement. Smith is a tone setter against the run and has 2 sacks in the last three games. Phillips has been regularly disruptive since arriving. BG is playing inside and outside and just had a pair of sacks on Sunday.

Don’t forget about Jalyx Hunt. He’s played the best football of his young career over the past month. Hunt leads the team in TFLs, FFs and QB hits. He is second in sacks. And don’t forget the INT he had against the Bears. Hunt is developing into a good edge rusher.

Nakobe Dean came off IR and proved to be an instant impact player. He’s started seven games this season. He is tied for the team lead in TFLs and FF. Dean is third in sacks. He’s added a physical presence in the middle of the defense. You see that in how he plays the run and also with his blitzing. Dean punishes RBs who try to block him.

Drew Mukuba struggled at times early in the season. He got better as he got experience. Then he was injured in the Dallas game and that really hurt. The coaches gave Sydney Brown a shot to start, but he struggled. They brought Marcus Epps back from IR and he’s started the last two games. Epps has played well. He understands Fangio’s system, which makes life hard on safeties.

Remember when CB2 was a major problem? Adoree Jackson struggled early in the season. He’s gotten better as he’s adjusted to the system. He’s now playing with more confidence. It probably also helps that the pass rush has improved.

Making this stretch of defense all the more impressive is the fact Jalen Carter has missed the last two games and wasn’t healthy for the Bears game. He is still the best player on the defense. If he gets right and comes back in a week or two, it will make the defense even better.

I’m not saying the defense is as good as last year and will lead the team back to the Super Bowl. They are coming together in a big way and have the potential to help the Eagles on a postseason run. The defense will need help from the offense. One of the keys last year is that the offense sustained drives and kept the defense off the field. The defense faced the fewest plays in the league last year with only 999. This year’s defense has already been on the field for 893 plays and there are three games left.

The offense has shown some flashes in the past two games. If they can just sustain drives and give the defense some rest, it will make a world of difference. The offense doesn’t have to be great. If they can take a big step forward, this team could be dangerous in January. With the way this defense is playing, I think we can finally put to bed any comparisons to 2023. Over the final seven games of that regular season, teams averaged 31 points against the Eagles. Only one team all year has scored more than 26 points against Vic Fangio’s defense. Shockingly, that was the Giants on TNF. Crazy.

I don’t know how this season will turn out. I do know that as long as the Eagles have Fangio and that defense, they have a shot.

That is pretty damned impressive.

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