Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Selling

Posted October 28th, 2026 | 1 Comment »

The Eagles lost their fifth game in a row to drop the team to 2-5. The previous discussion of whether they should sell or not seems like a moot point now. They should sell. But that doesn’t mean giving up on the season.

I’m an Orioles fan. when they sell at the trade deadline anyone and everyone is available. You might not recognize half the team in the first week of August. Baseball is very different because you can replace guys with minor leaguers. These are young players the team has been developing and can now get a chance to see in action. If a football team traded a handful of key starters, there wouldn’t be the right kind of replacements available. Football also has lucrative TV contracts. Teams can’t put out a bunch of scrubs and expect to keep people paying attention. You can get away with that due to injuries, but not by choice.

Selling in the NFL means trading a player or two. Three would be a lot. If the Eagles sell, they would be looking to move players who aren’t part of the future, due to talent, fit, cost or age. This isn’t about trading off a bunch of talent. You would trade Moro Ojomo, who is likely to leave in free agency. You might trade Hollywood Brown, who hasn’t gotten much playing time this year. You could talk to teams about Riq Woolen, who will be a free agent in March. His poor showing vs Dallas might kill that idea.

Howie Roseman is constantly working the phones. He’s talking to teams to see who is available and if other teams have needs. Howie won’t be looking to give players away. The return has to be right.

You don’t throw in the towel on a football season unless you are in complete rebuilding mode. The Eagles still have a talented roster. They still are alive in the division race. They can make a trade or two and still compete. If they deal Ojomo, Ty Robinson gets more playing time. Brown has already lost snaps to Darius Cooper. Woolen would be replaced by Jonathan Jones, Mac McWilliams, or Kelee Ringo. You aren’t talking about guys off the street or from the practice squad.

I’m mentioning Ojomo, Brown, and Woolen, but there are several other guys who could be available. It will depend on who teams are interested in based on need and cost. The point in trading players is to add resources for the 2027 or 2028 draft. The more picks you have, the more options you have. You can add players. You can trade up. You could also trade for veteran players in the offseason. Maximizing resources is smart business. The Colts started doing that on Tuesday.

The trade deadline isn’t until November 10th so it is interesting that the Colts made these moves so early. They set the market. That should lead to more calls between teams. The Niners and Seahawks just got better. That could cause the Bears, Lions, Rams, or other NFC contenders to feel forced to make a move. Buffalo needs help for their defense. The Chiefs need a WR. There should be plenty of activity.

Nick Sirianni talked about the Eagles going 6-2 down the stretch in 2021 and how that helped the 2022 and 2024 teams make the Super Bowl. That’s why the Eagles will keep competing and doing everything they can to win. NFL players also have short careers. You don’t want to throw away a season. You don’t want apathy to set in. You don’t want to ruin good culture. We can debate if that has already started to go. I still think the Eagles have the right kind of guys in the building. We’ll find out more about that over the final 10 games.

I mentioned players playing for their jobs. Sirianni will be coaching for his. We’ll find out just how much the players think of him with the way they play for the rest of the season.

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Howie is getting plenty of criticism for the past couple of drafts and some of the offseason decisions from last spring. The criticism is fair. But also needs context. All GMs are going to make mistakes. I think Jeffrey Lurie will trust him to get this fixed. Howie built two championship rosters. You learn from your mistakes and keep making moves.

Here is a good piece on the Eagles future.

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Defense???

Posted October 27th, 2026 | No Comments »

The Eagles lost to the Cowboys on Monday night. The offense showed signs of life and gave us a 21-20 lead in the third quarter. All things considered, that was pretty good. Unfortunately Dallas scored the next 18 points and won 38-21.

Ugh.

Losing the game isn’t so bad. Dallas was the better team. They deserved the W. But the Eagles defense was awful. That was an embarrassing performance. I think we use that word way too much in regard to sports, but that was truly embarrassing. Dak Prescott wasn’t sacked. The Eagles weren’t credited with any QB hits. They didn’t have a TFL. And they gave up 204 rushing yards. The Cowboys scored on 7 of 9 possessions.

I am shocked at how bad the defense was. They had no answers. None. There were missed tackles. Blown coverages. Dak had all day to throw. Guys couldn’t get off blocks to save their lives. This is the most points allowed in the Fangio era.

Bad effort. And energy. And emotion. And execution. But great aside from that. Give Dallas credit for playing well. Dak threw 3 TDs and all of them were legitimately great throws.

The Eagles offense scored TDs on their first two drives of the game. Saquon Barkley looked great, running for 29 yards on one play and then finishing the drive with an impressive TD run. Unfortunately he aggravated his hamstring and finished 7-62-1. It was fun to see him running and making plays. He brings so much juice to the offense. Dameon Pierce was 14-47-1 and had some good moments as well. He left the game with an injury of his own.

Tanner McKee took a big step forward. He was more confident and poised. He was more accurate and made some good throws. McKee finished 23-35-211 with a TD and an INT. That was the kind of game you can build on. And remember that he did that without DeVonta Smith or Dontayvion Wicks. Makai Lemon had the best game of his young career, going 7-67 and scoring his first TD. He showed good hands and good RAC ability.

The OL might have played their best game of the season. You always need to watch the tape to really know, but there were holes for the RBs and McKee had time to throw. It was encouraging to see the guys play better. Drew Kendall was the center and Landon Dickerson played LG. If the OL can stay healthy and get into a groove, that could be a big help for the rest of the season.

The loss dropped the Eagles to 2-5. The play the Commanders and Giants over the next two weeks. Both teams will be coming off byes so that will make things as challenging as possible, especially this week with the Eagles coming off a Monday night game. It will be tough to get Saquon ready for Sunday night. The season isn’t over because the NFC East is such a mess, but it is perilously close. And the defense disappearing the way they did is really discouraging. Is there any part of this team to believe in right now?

The players aren’t going to quit.

But we are getting closer to the trade deadline and it sure feels like Howie Roseman will need to be a seller this year. Monday night’s loss puts the Eagles in a really tough position.

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