By 
The Eagles certainly put up a performance for the ages on Sunday Night Football.
This was a game where the Eagles needed a win to salvage a season that was on the verge of cratering, and they certainly imploded.
Philadelphia’s offense barely mustered 10 points against the Washington Commanders in a 27-10 loss, while the defense allowed 27 unanswered points after the Eagles took a 10-0 lead late in the first quarter. The Eagles weren’t even competitive against a Commanders team that had just 1 win heading into November.
That’s how bad this Eagles team is.
While the season isn’t at the halfway point yet, this Eagles season is essentially over. There’s little confidence this team is going to make a run in the lowly NFC East, not with how poor they have played during this six-game losing streak (which is the longest by this franchise since 2012).
The Eagles have started 2-6 for the first time since 1999, and there are a lot of aspects from this horrendous performance that need to be dissected.
Buckle up. There are some hard truths coming regarding this football team.
1) This offensive line has gotten significantly worse under Chris Kuper.
Jeff Stoutland might be the best assistant coach in franchise history. The Eagles were never going to replace him.
Unfortunately, the Eagles found an offensive line coach that doesn’t improve his players — at all. Under Kuper, two of the five starting offensive linemen (Landon Dickerson and Tyler Steen) from last season have gotten worse and the two young players (Markel Bell and Drew Kendall) are struggling to improve week in and week out.
Bell was abysmal against the Commanders, allowing a 7.0% pressure rate and two sacks while getting dominated by K’Lavon Chaisson all night. Replacing Lane Johnson in a rookie season is a tough task, but Bell is not ready to be a starting right tackle in the NFL. That’s on Kuper and how he’s developing a rookie who is learning how to play right tackle for the first time in his football life.
Dickerson allowed a sack and a 4.7% pressure rate, and his pressure rate is 7.8% in the three games he played this seaosn. This was a Pro Bowl player under Stoutland and now he’s a replacement level guard. Jordan Mailata’s performance is even diminishing, as he allowed a 7.0% pressure rate against the Commanders in what wa shis worst game of the season.
If the Eagles do decide to move on from a coach this month, Kuper should be the first candidate.
2) The Eagles were right about Tanner McKee this summer.
McKee lost out to Andy Dalton in the battle for the QB2 job for a reason.
There is enough tape in the three games to demonstrate McKee isn’t good enough to be a starting quarterback in the league. Even with the offensive line decimated by injuries and a poor offensive line, McKee is slow in his progressions and has no mobility to get out of trouble.
McKee was abysmal against the Commanders, finishing 23-of-34 for 212 yards with 0 TD, 1 INT and a 72.2 passer rating. He also had a lost fumble in the second half, giving McKee two giveaways on the night. The numbers should have been worse, but 46 passing yards where in garbage time in the final minute to Eli Stowers.
Since McKee made his first start in Week 6, he’s completed 63.2% of his passes for 638 yards with 2 TD, 2 INT, and a 76.6 passer rating. McKee is 31st out of 32 quarterbacks in yards per attempt (5.6) and 26th in passer rating.
The Eagles offense are 32nd in yards per play (4.2) in the three games with McKee as the starting quarterback, 31st in yards per attempt (5.6), and 29th in offensive points per game (15.0). McKee isn’t the answer as a starting quarterback. He may not even be a QB2 at this rate.
The Eagles could try Joe Milton, but the offense won’t move the ball with him either.
3) The second half offense still stinks.
Another week the Eagles offense struggled in the second half. Before the Eagles hit the garbage time portion of the game (27-10), the offense ran 32 plays for 91 yards with two giveaways, a missed field goal, and zero points — an abysmal 2.8 yards per play.
Whether Jalen Hurts or Tanner McKee is the quarterback, this offense doesn’t move the ball. The Eagles average just 4.6 points per game in the second half, which is last in the nFL.
The Eagles are also last in yards per play (3.9), yards per game (116.3), and yards per attempt (5.5). They are 29th in yards per carry (3.4), 30th in passer rating (70.4), and 29th in sack rate allowed (10.4%).
McKee was 10-of-14 for 58 yards with 0 TD, 1 INT and a 49.1 passer rating in the second half prior to the garbage time possession at the end of the game — 4.1 yards per attempt. He led the Eagles with 16 rushing yards in the second half at that point, as Saquon Barkley and Elijah Mitchell had 11 carries for 29 yards.
Simply put, the Eagles aren’t making adjustments.
4) The second half defense is slightly better.
This unit is bad too. They just aren’t at the very bottom of the league like the offense is.
The Eagles are 30th in the NFL in points per game allowed (14.1) and 31st in yards per game allowed (198.1). They are 29th in yards per play allowed (5.9) and 32nd in rush yards per game allowed (78.1).
The pass rush in the second half isn’t good either, as they are 27th in pressure rate (29.9%) and 27th in sack rate (4.6%). The pass defense is 29th in yards per attempt allowed (8.0).
Again, they aren’t at the very bottom of the league. The second half defense is just near the bottom.
This is a huge reason why the 2026 Eagles lose football games.
5) In conclusion…
The Eagles are arguably the worst second half team in all of football, being outscored 113 to 37 in the second half of games this season. That -76 point differential isn’t even the worst in the NFL, as the Baltimore Ravens sit at -87 following their blowout loss to the Buffalo Bills this week (and the Ravens are on their third-string quarterback too).
The yardage differential in the second half of games is -655, worst in the league. The next closest team are the Ravens at -629. The time of possession margin is -2.55 (29th), while the points per drive is 0.84 (32nd), and the three-and-out percentage is 50.0% (32nd). The explosive plays aren’t even there, as the 2.9% 20+ yard play percentage is 32nd in the league.
Somehow the Eagles get worse in the second half of games. The personnel isn’t there (at least on one side of the ball), but the struggles go much deeper than that.
6) The run defense is making history.
Another week the Eagles defense has allowed 100+ rushing yards to an opponent, as the Commanders had 135 rushing yards against a run defense that was supposed to be a strength of this team entering the year.
Instead, the run defense is historically bad — and on the wrong side of history. The Eagles have allowed 100+ rushing yards in each of the first eight games of a season for the first time since 1968, and only the second time in the Super Bowl era.
That 1968 team was one of the worst in franchise history, as the Eagles started 0-11 and finished 2-12. They weren’t even bad enough to get the No. 1 pick that year, and the fanbase booed Santa Claus that December as a result.
The Eagles have allowed 1,055 rushing yards through eight games, third most in the NFL. The 131.9 rushing yards per game is also 30th, and the most by an Eagles team through eight games since 1998 (146.3). That 1998 Eagles team finished 3-13.
This Eagles team is staring at a record that bad based on how poor the run defense is.
7) It’s time to protect Saquon Barkley from himself.
Barkley deserves plenty of credit for fighting through his hamstring and back injuries and gutting out performances for an offense that needs him to even have a chance to move the ball. Without Barkley, the Eagles are down to Jaydon Blue and Elijah Mitchell — their RB6 and RB7 (proof how thin theiy are at running back).
Clearly limited and nowhere near 100%, Barkley had 14 touches this week after having nine the week prior. He wasn’t as efficient, having 13 carries for 30 yards and one catch for 24 yards. Barkley averaged just 2.3 yards per carry and 3.9 yards per touch, splitting snaps with Mitchell because he was limited due to the back injury.
If Barkley wasn’t walking around, he was getting stretched by the trainer. Barkley couldn’t sit down because he would stiffen up, giving everything he can to save the sinking ship from its inevitable fate.
Barkley didn’t practice all week and gave it a go on Friday to prepare to play Sunday night. The Eagles need to preserve Barkley and protect him from himself at this rate, as this team isn’t worth risking a major injury for over the next few days.
Give Barkley a week off, which gives him two weeks to heal up with the bye week. Then bring him back to help out this anemic offense.
8) Makai Lemon is finally caught up to the NFL.
The hamstring injury that kept Lemon rehabbing throughout minicamp and most of training camp put him behind the 8-ball in contributing to this offense. Lemon was going to have a slow start to the year, even if this Eagles offense needed him.
These last two weeks have demonstrated Lemon has caught up to speed, as he’s been the Eagles best pass catcher. After having seven catches for 67 yards and a touchdown against the Cowboys, Lemon followed that up with six catches for 57 yards this week — which led the offense for the second straight week.
Lemon has 13 catches for 124 yards for a touchdown over the last two games, the only wide receiver Tanner McKee seems to trust. He’s doing all this as the WR1 in the absence of DeVonta Smith and Dontayvion Wicks.
Imagine what Lemon will do once those two come back.
In what is a lost season for the Eagles — and a poor draft class to boot — Lemon has shown he can play. Now the Eagles need to get Eli Stowers going, which his garbage time catches could be massive for his confidence going forward.
9) This team quit for the second straight week.
Nick Sirianni protected his players last week by saying he didn’t see an effort issue against the Cowboys. Even if Sirianni fudged the truth to the media, that was the right thing to do as he likely spoke to his players about the lack of effort when evaluating the film.
The Eagles demonstrated a lack of effort again with 1:52 left in the game, when the Commanders went for two in a 25-10 game that was all but decided. The decision was wise by the Commanders, as a conversion gets them up three scores with barely any time left — an outcome that would make it basically impossible for the Eagles to tie the game (yet alone win).
The defensive line didn’t even try to stop Austin Ekeler from going into the end zone. They checked out, much like the team did on several plays throughout last week’s game.
This is a culture problem for the Eagles, and a bad look for a head coach that prides himself on culture. The film doesn’t lie regarding the Eagles’ effort over the last two weeks.
10) Markel Bell saved Nick Sirianni from himself.
Sirianni was set to make another questionable decision in the fourth quarter of a close game. With the Eagles trailing 16-10 and 9:01 remaining in the game, the offense faced a 4th-and-4 at the Commanders’ 13-yard line.
The offense had a 15 play drive and struggled to move the ball. The Eagles would still be in the game by kicking a 31-yard field goal and had plenty of time to make a stop. Sirianni was going to go for it with an opportunity to extend the drive and take the lead.
The decision wasn’t wise given how the Eagles moved the ball in the second half and how bad the offensive line played. Perhaps Sirianni was going by the analytics, but analytics doesn’t measure personnel.
Bell had a false start which pushed the Eagles back five yards to make it 4th-and-9, which made Sirianni decide to kick a field goal. Elliott made the 36-yard field goal, but Jordan Mailata had an illegal formation to push the kick back to 41 yards — which Elliott proceeded to miss.
This was a fitting sequence for the 2026 Eagles, but Sirianni made the right decision to kick on 4th-and-9. Based on how bad this offense — especially in the second half — he should have kicked on 4th-and-4 too.
Thank Bell for struggling at right tackle. The false start may have been his best move of the night.
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/10-eagles-things-think-think-072142507.html
