Eagles are ‘not intimidating anybody,’ have no ‘offensive identity,’ and what else they’re saying after first loss

After a few near-misses, the Eagles lost their first game of the season on Sunday, blowing a two-score lead to the Denver Broncos at Lincoln Financial Field.

So, is 2025 starting to resemble 2023? Or can Nick Sirianni use the early loss to turn the Eagles’ season around — not unlike the team did last year when it started 2-2?

Here’s what the national media is saying …

Five games into the 2025 season, have the Eagles already lost their post-Super Bowl luster? Stephen A. Smith thinks they have.

“They don’t resemble the team that won the Super Bowl,” Smith said on First Take. “... They’re not intimidating anybody, they’re not striking fear in anybody. People believe they can score on the Philadelphia Eagles. They believe they can wear them down.”

Much of the talk this season has been around the Eagles’ struggles on offense — both passing and running the ball. That’s not going to change after Sunday’s loss to the Broncos that saw Saquon Barkley post his lowest output in an Eagles uniform.

“No offensive coordinator is going to be on the hot seat after a 4-1 start, but there are understandable questions about whether Patullo is finding the answers the Eagles need on the offensive side of the ball,” ESPN’s Bill Barnwell wrote. “This is the most expensive offense in NFL history in terms of cash spending, returning 10 of 11 starters from a devastating 2024 attack.”

» READ MORE: Eagles muzzle Saquon Barkley and the run game. It speaks volumes about Jalen Hurts.

Part of the Eagles’ problem — and one of the big differences from last season — is that the team doesn’t appear to have an identity on offense through the first five weeks. ESPN’s Damien Woody is one of those who think the Birds still need to figure out what kind of team they want to be.

“The Philadelphia Eagles never had an identity this season,” Woody said. “They can’t run the ball well, they can’t sustain blocks up front, we heard the constant chattering from the wide receivers about the passing game, lack of targets. Quite honestly, they’re not doing anything well offensively.”

Woody isn’t alone, as Barnwell agrees with the team’s lack of identity.

Barkley had just six carries on Sunday, finishing with just 30 yards on the ground and bringing his weekly rushing average down to 53.4 yards. With nothing working on offense right now, Barnwell believes the lack of identity could be a contributing factor to the number of grievances around the passing game, specifically from A.J. Brown — although DeVonta Smith added his name to the mix on Sunday.

“This team doesn’t have a successful offensive identity right now, which is why so many of its star players are griping about not getting the ball frequently enough,” Barnwell wrote. “It’s one thing for a wide receiver like Brown to complain about not getting it enough when Barkley is coming close to the single-season rushing record. It’s another when the run game isn’t creating explosive plays or even keeping the offense on schedule. This offense is 17th in EPA per play, down from sixth in 2024.”

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But any talk of A.J. Brown getting traded is an overreaction, despite the offensive struggles, Dan Graziano said.

“The Eagles aren’t trading Brown, and from what I understand he doesn’t want them to trade him,” Graziano wrote. “This is a team that won the Super Bowl eight months ago and knows how to weather early-season issues and come out on top. It might feel a little rough right now, but any time there has been a flicker of discontent around Brown, he has taken ownership of his frustrations and made it clear, internally and externally, that he’s all about whatever it takes to help the team win.”

On Sunday, NFL Network reported that the Eagles don’t have any plans to trade Brown this season.

The Eagles are still at 4-1, leading the NFC East with one of the NFL’s best records. But each of the Birds’ four wins came by one score.

Former Eagle Chris Long said on his Green Light show that he believes the loss can be a wake-up call for the Eagles, who uncharacteristically were unable to close out a game with a two-score lead.

“If it were about the result, we’d all be really excited, but it’s not about the result, it’s about the way the team looks,” Long said. “... It’s hot right now, and it should be! You don’t want to do this after a win, and this is reflective of how sometimes teams can improve after a loss. I can only drag my team down so much after a win, sometimes you need a loss to wake the [expletive] up.”

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Former Eagles running back LeSean McCoy also thought the Eagles’ struggles on offense caught up with the team on Sunday, but thinks this is just a minor speed bump, not a long-term problem.

“When you’re on top of the mountain, everyone can’t wait for you to slip,” McCoy said. “We got close to slipping, we got close to falling, now we finally lost … The issues we were having in the past caught up to us today, and that’s OK. That’s why you play the game … The goal isn’t to go undefeated. It’s to go back to the Bowl. This is a bump in the road.”