The Eagles defense has turned a corner. Nick Sirianni and the offense are wasting it.
Between injury, scheme, bad clock management, and strategy gaffes, the offense has utterly failed what has become a proficient defense.
By the time they’d lost their seventh straight game Sunday evening, the average number of points winning NFL teams had scored this season was just over 27.
During their losing streak, the Eagles have allowed more than 27 points just once.
The Eagles’ defense hasn’t been dominant like it was when it won them the Super Bowl two seasons ago, and it hasn’t been elite like it was last season, but it’s been good enough to win most games. In fact, it won them the two games they’ve won as they enter the bye week at 2-7.
Marcus Hayes alerts
If 2026 is remembered for nothing else, it will be remembered as a year of wasted defensive efficiency. There have been injury issues (the edge rushers) and effort issues (Jalen Carter) and adjustment issues (Cooper DeJean), but, midway through the season, Vic Fangio and his boys are, for the most part, holding up their end of the bargain.
Head coach Nick Sirianni? Offensive coordinator Sean Mannion? Not so much.
“We’ve got to figure out an offense,” Sirianni said Sunday. “I mean, I think our defense is playing solid. Like, I think they’re doing some really good things.”
It’s true.
Five different Eagles sacked Giants quarterbacks J.J. McCarthy and Jamies Winston six times. Linebacker Zack Baun got him twice, and Baun left the game early with a back injury. The Giants converted six of 17 third downs, which is respectable for a defense, and gained 243 yards, which is very good for a defense.
Yes, the defense could have won the Eagles another game Sunday, but general manager Howie Roseman failed to roster a viable backup quarterback. The live but wild arm of Joe Milton was not nearly enough to handle the Giants’ formidable defense. Don’t blame “Bazooka” Joe. He essentially is a fifth-string option. Jalen Hurts has blood clots, Andy Dalton stunk, Tanner McKee was winless in the last three games, and the Eagles won’t touch fifth-round rookie Cole Payton.
Milton went 18-for-34 for 169 yards, got sacked seven times, several of them of his own doing. He made some thrilling throws and led the team with 64 rushing yards on nine carries, and the Eagles led, weirdly, 8-6, at halftime, but they netted zero yards in the third quarter and they lost, 19-11.
It’s the second time this season the defense has held an opponent to fewer than 20 points. Both teams, the Giants and the Jaguars, have top-11 offenses. Astonishingly, the Eagles lost both times.
Sirianni was asked, “Nick, why do you think, halfway through the season, the offense has been so difficult to kind of figure out?”
Sirianni deflected for a bit, and he was far from honest, but he knows the truth as well as we do.
First, right tackle Lane Johnson abruptly retired after Game 3. Second, franchise back Saquon Barkley and franchise receiver DeVonta Smith have battled hamstring injuries. Third, Mannion, a first-time coordinator who has been coaching for just three years, is installing a new system and is in way over his head, and Sirianni can’t help him because Sirianni hasn’t mastered the scheme, either. Fourth, 60% of the offensive line is a long-term project.
All of which puts an undue burden on the defense, which, granted, has been far from perfect.
They have allowed 31 “explosive plays,” or plays of 20 yards or more, which is second-worst in the league and far below their standard: They were 18th-worst last season and No. 1 in 2024. They’re in the bottom-10 against the pass and the run and their three interceptions are tied for third-worst.
Still, they generally give the Birds a chance to win. And, generally, they’re playing better.
Since he was shamed for his effort against the Cowboys three weeks ago, Carter has played to the level of his $152 million contract extension. His sack Sunday gave him five for the season and retained a share of the team lead, and his pancake of right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor left the Giant stunned on the turf.
DeJean, the best nickel corner in the game the previous two seasons, had difficulty adjusting to double duty: He plays safety against two-receiver sets. He’s been much better lately, with four big solo tackles Sunday.
Jonathan Greenard, who landed via trade and signed a $98 million extension this spring, has been hurt, but he logged his first sack Sunday. Nolan Smith Jr. collected No. 5, which is tied with Carter for the team lead.
Baun has been brilliant for a month. Jeremiah Trotter Jr., sometimes Baun’s wingman and sometimes his understudy, had 10 tackles Sunday, his second start of the season, and 15 a month ago against the Rams in his first start of the season.
Yeah, maybe Trot should start.
The defense has been inconsistent, and even when it’s been good it’s been inconsistent — they allowed three explosive plays Sunday — but lately it has played much closer to expectations.
“I feel like this is something we can build off,” said defensive tackle Jordan Davis, who signed a $78 million extension in March and collected his first full sack Sunday. “We’ve got to make sure we continue that.”
With the Eagles’ season gradually going up in flames, there’s been plenty of external fingerpointing. The offense, specifically the line, has drawn considerable ire, especially in light of the Eagles parting ways with longtime, beloved assistant coach Jeff Stoutland. Stoutland’s track record on the offensive line is Hall of Fame-worthy. This year, with Chris Kuper as Stoutland’s replacement, the line has regressed.
Should Kuper shoulder most of the blame? What really happened between Stoutland and the Eagles that caused their relationship to fall apart? The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane dives deeper into one of the biggest “what ifs” from a frustrating season, framing Stoutland’s exit around four key questions. Listen here.
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