Not long ago, the Philadelphia Eagles were chasing the NFC's No. 1 seed and looking to set up a rematch with the San Francisco 49ers in the conference championship game. Now, they are careening toward a wild-card matchup that they could easily lose even though their opponent is the 9-8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers led by quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Few teams have entered the playoffs in recent years in such an acute state of crisis as the Eagles.
Week 18 largely summed up where things are for Philadelphia. With the division still on the line, the Eagles were getting whacked by the then-five-win Giants and had already suffered injuries to star wideout A.J. Brown and quarterback Jalen Hurts before they decided to bail on the game, pull several critical starters and effectively capitulate — before halftime.
Last year’s two Super Bowl squads haven’t looked like the teams we saw in Arizona back in February, but the Eagles have been actively getting worse over the season, whereas the Kansas City Chiefs have simply been unable to improve.
The Eagles' defense has been a mess all season — and already prompted a coaching change that gave Matt Patricia control rather than Sean Desai — but now the offense has joined in.
The defense always made sense as the side of the ball that may struggle more because the unit entered the season with significantly more turnover from last year’s group. The offense was largely returning intact, but the defense was intentionally transitioning at multiple starting positions and so always had the potential for greater variance. From that starting point, they have also lost important, reliable pieces.
Nakobe Dean, a rookie last season who was slated to step into a starting position and anchor the middle of the defense, has suffered multiple injuries, missing all but five games and tallying fewer than 200 snaps for the season. None of last year’s top three linebackers, nor the principal backups, have featured this season, causing the Eagles to have to roll the dice on veteran players like Zach Cunningham and Shaquille Leonard to try and pull things together. It hasn’t worked.
The cornerback duo of Darius Slay and James Bradberry was a key reason that the group was so good a season ago, and the Eagles improbably found a way to retain them both this season at a much greater cost for Bradberry. Neither player is coming close to matching their previous production.
Last year, targeting either cornerback resulted in 50% of those passes falling incomplete for a 64.7 passer rating. This year, teams are completing 60.8% of their passes against them for a 96.9 passer rating.
The defensive front has also suffered a decline in production. Last season’s Eagles defense placed second in the league in pressure rate, trailing only Dallas. This year, they rank 14th, just above average.
There are personnel problems on this defense, and any shift in scheme with Patricia taking control has failed to stop the bleeding. They haven’t held an opponent to fewer than 20 points since Week 11, and that run of games included two contests against the Giants and one against the Cardinals.
The Eagles' offense has felt a little disjointed all season but has been by far the better-performing side of the ball, and it always seemed closer to coming good. That may have all changed with the injury to Hurts’ finger against the Giants last week.
Hurts went to the sideline visibly frustrated by a dislocated middle finger that was clearly pointed in an unnatural direction. Even though they were able to pop it back into place and he returned to the game, that’s an injury that’s unlikely to feel 100% the following week.
The last thing the Eagles need is their quarterback dealing with an injured finger on his throwing hand. Both A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith are also nursing injuries, and while the team is confident each will feature against Tampa Bay, that’s three of the most critical weapons on this offense coming into the game managing significant ailments.
A season ago, the Eagles came into the playoffs with momentum and the feeling that they were the best team in the NFC. They were good on both sides of the ball and knew if each side fired on all cylinders, they were going to be very difficult to beat.
This time, they are stumbling into the postseason in full crisis, with cries ringing out for head coach Nick Sirianni’s job if the team embarrasses itself against the Buccaneers. The fact that is even a discussion point — however outlandish — this year says all you need to know about the state of opinion on this team.
The Eagles have a week to figure out how to pull themselves out of this tailspin, and there’s no clear sign it will happen.
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