Eagles’ season falling from the sky
When December began, the Philadelphia Eagles very much resembled a team that was headed back to the Super Bowl.
They had an NFL-best record of 10-1. They had just beaten the Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills in consecutive games. They had the San Francisco 49ers coming to Philadelphia for the rematch of last season’s NFC championship game, giving the Eagles a chance to reaffirm their conference supremacy and take another step toward the Super Bowl title that barely eluded them in February. No other NFL team had fewer than three losses at that point.
That seems like such a long time ago.
It is only a little over a month later, but these Eagles most decidedly are not those Eagles. Their season has unraveled. The Eagles were overrun by the 49ers in that Dec. 3 game at Lincoln Financial Field. They lost the game decisively, and they lost their composure when their chief security officer, Dom DiSandro, was involved in a sideline confrontation with Niners linebacker Dre Greenlaw, leading the NFL to ban DiSandro from the Eagles’ sideline for the rest of the regular season.
And the Eagles have kept losing. The defeat to the 49ers began a 1-4 stretch that has dropped Philadelphia not only out of the NFC’s No. 1 seed but out of first place in the NFC East. The Cowboys have taken over the division lead and can clinch the title with a victory over the Washington Commanders on Sunday at FedEx Field. The Eagles, to overtake the Cowboys, must beat the New York Giants on the road and root for a Commanders triumph.
Coach Nick Sirianni turned over the defense last month to Matt Patricia, making the former Detroit Lions head coach the defensive play-caller and de facto coordinator over Sean Desai, who still has the coordinator title but not the accompanying authority. It has not helped. If anything, the defensive results have been worse. The Eagles squandered a 21-6 lead and lost, 35-31, at home Sunday to the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals amassed 221 rushing yards and picked up only their fourth victory of the season for their first-year head coach, former Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon.
The Eagles continue to express the belief that things can be fixed.
“I think it’s as simple as taking ownership for the things that you can control,” quarterback Jalen Hurts said at a midweek news conference, “and committing to giving your best self and being your best self.”
Sirianni has acknowledged he must do a better job projecting calm to his players than he did during a Christmas Day victory over the Giants in Philadelphia, saying he was “too tense” that day. Wideout A.J. Brown — who has topped 100 receiving yards only once in the past eight games after six straight with more than 125 — told reporters this week that he had no issues with Sirianni or the offensive play-calling. The comments came after Brown’s on-field displays of frustration became a topic of public scrutiny and conversation.
They are attempting to become only the fourth team to win the Super Bowl a season after losing the Super Bowl. Even with their downward spiral, the Eagles insist that still could happen.
“I’ve got the same hunger,” Hurts said. “Maybe a different hunger to achieve what’s in front of us.”