The Eagles ‘play like they don’t care’ and ‘no one is safe.’ Here’s what former players are saying about the Birds.
After their sixth straight loss, one former Eagle is wondering if the current team has any “pride,” while others think it’s time to look ahead to 2027.
The Eagles have extended their losing streak to six following a 27-10 loss to the Washington Commanders on Sunday Night Football — making it the second consecutive week they suffered a loss on prime-time television. The six-game skid is the team’s longest losing streak since 2012, which was Andy Reid’s final year as head coach.
Following the loss, most of the talk surrounds the Birds’ future and a possible rebuild. Here’s a look at what the national media and former players are saying about the 2-6 Birds.
‘No shot at beating anybody else’
After winning their first two games of the season, the team was hit with a wave of bad luck — including the retirement of Lane Johnson, and an injury bug that wiped out key players, including Jalen Hurts for the remainder of the season with blood clots in his lungs.
They’ve been struggling ever since. Sunday night’s game offered a chance for the team to turn the tide against the 1-4-1 Commanders under the lights. But instead of securing a win on the road, the Birds added another tally to the loss column — leaving former Eagles linebacker Seth Joyner concerned about the team’s future.
“If the players don’t care and the coaches don’t care, why should the fan base care?” Joyner said on his postgame show. “... This is just unconscionable. Player after player after player, they take turns making mistakes. They take turns doing dumb things. And whatever you see happening on the field is either being coached or is being allowed.”
Joyner went on to say it looks like the team is “walking through” the games and playing without any intensity or a sense of urgency on both sides of the ball.
» READ MORE: The big, bad Eagles are gone. They know it, and the rest of the NFL plans to rub their faces in it. | Mike Sielski
“If you couldn’t beat the 1-4-1 Washington Commanders, you have no shot at beating anybody else for the rest of the year,” Joyner continued. “This team is going to lose every single game the rest of the way. And I’m not going to pick them to win another game because this is who they are.
“They play like they don’t care, they play like they’re uninterested. There’s no sense of urgency. There’s no pride in wearing that uniform and representing this city. And that’s something I thought I would never ever see after this 11-, 12-year run they’ve been on. It is the most disappointing thing. … Man, if I could shut this thing down the rest of the way, I would shut it down.”
‘Everyone is going to tap out’
Former Eagles running back LeSean McCoy believes it may be time for some of the players, including Saquon Barkley, to start focusing on the 2027 season.
“We’ve been carrying [the NFC East] for these last couple of years,” McCoy said on The Speakeasy podcast. “It’s bad though. It’s the time of year where everyone is going to tap out. Saquon is going to say, ‘You know what, I’ve got bigger fish to fry. I need to save myself for next year.’ He’s going to tap out. The defense, eventually, they’ll lose another game or two, they’re going to tap out. I don’t know if [DeVonta Smith] comes back, for what? Obviously, Jalen Hurts is hurt.
“It’s ugly, man. It’s tough. It’s tough to be an Eagles fan. But I will say this: I finally know what it feels like to be a Cowboys fan for the last 30-something years.”
Despite McCoy’s belief that Barkley will pack it in, the Eagles running back has said after each of the last two losses that he isn’t giving up — and that he believes he will still be in Philly after the upcoming trade deadline.
‘Pack this season in’
Former NFL quarterback and CBS Sports broadcaster Ben DiNucci thinks it’s time for Eagles fans to turn their focus to a different Philadelphia sports team.
“Fans of Philadelphia should probably pack this season in,” DiNucci said. “Go watch LeBron James, go watch Joel Embiid. … Save your money. Don’t purchase Eagles tickets anymore. Go figure out how to see LeBron James in his final season. I don’t know how, if you’re an Eagles fan, it gets any better. They’re banged up everywhere.
“They don’t have explosiveness on offense. Andy Dalton was part of that locker room. He’s now in Atlanta after you cut him. And Tanner McKee, it’s a tough ask for anybody in that situation when you just don’t have playmaking ability around them. And I think that’s the unfortunate part about it for the Eagles. The rest of this season, I think you can almost pack this one in and try to figure out how do we want to attack the 2027 season. As [commentator and former Steelers defensive back Bryant McFadden] likes to say, the Jeremiah Smith sweepstakes are well underway.”
» READ MORE: Memo to Howie: Trade Saquon, Landon Dickerson, Zack Baun, and maybe Jalen Carter ASAP | Marcus Hayes
‘No one is safe’
Meanwhile, former NFL tight end Shannon Sharpe is already focusing on a rebuild for the Birds.
“If I’m Howie Roseman, there is no one that is safe,” Sharpe said on the Nightcap podcast. “If you’re healthy, you’re a trade asset. … There is no one — I think right now Jordan Mailata, he might be the only guy that I would save."
When Jalen Carter is at his game-wrecking best, he’s as unstoppable a force as there is in the NFL. Such was the case during the Eagles’ Super Bowl run two years ago. But since then, between injuries and uneven play, the defensive tackle’s contributions have been inconsistent. On the heels of general manager Howie Roseman signing Carter to a historic contract, The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane looks at the costs of the extension — both in terms of dollars and cents, as well as roster construction. Plus, Jeff advances storylines for the Nov. 10th NFL trade deadline, and, in his weekly mailbag, addresses some reporting about the Eagles’ salary cap situation. Listen here.
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