Eagles news: Lane Johnson could be headed to injured reserve; Cris Collinsworth rips refs; NFC playoff picture

Six days after the analytics overwhelmingly supported the Eagles punting on fourth down at the end of the Packers game — to the tune of a 5% increase in win percentage had they punted — Nick Sirianni again made an aggressive fourth-down decision that didn’t go the Eagles’ way.

The Eagles, ahead by 10 points, tried to Tush Push their way to a first down on a fourth-and-1 from their own 29-yard line with three minutes to play. The Eagles, down two starters on the offensive line, got stuffed, and the Lions took over in scoring range. They cut the lead to one score and almost got the ball back again to try for a game-tying drive.

Sirianni took the blame for the decision not working after the game, and on Monday was asked again about the topic. The fifth-year Eagles coach said the decision starts with his confidence in his players and the play.

After securing a 16-9 win at home over the Lions, the Eagles are gearing up to travel to AT&T Stadium to face the Dallas Cowboys. The teams last met in the season opener at the Linc, a game that saw the Eagles pull out a 24-20 win at home despite a big ejection, a lightning delay, and some shaky early defense.

Now, the Eagles defense looks the best they have all season. Meanwhile, the Cowboys are preparing to play the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday Night Football after losing their last two games.

Ahead of their Week 12 matchup, sportsbooks are favoring Philadelphia, who opens as a 4.5-point favorite at both FanDuel and DraftKings.

Fred Johnson, you’re up.

The 28-year-old swing tackle is likely to start in place of Lane Johnson at right tackle after he sustained a Lisfranc injury in the Eagles’ 16-9 win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday night. The injured Johnson, 35, is likely headed to injured reserve and is expected to miss at least the next four to six weeks.

The younger Johnson will likely play a critical role at right tackle on the Eagles offensive line for the next month and a half. But just a few months ago, he wasn’t even on the team.

Eagles star right tackle Lane Johnson is dealing with a Lisfranc sprain in his foot likely to sideline him for multiple weeks, league sources confirmed to The Inquirer.

NFL Network was first to report the update on Johnson, who left Sunday’s 16-9 Eagles win over the Detroit Lions after playing just 14 snaps.

Johnson will undergo further testing, and while the injury is not expected to end his season, he is likely to miss four to six weeks. A placement on injured reserve, which is likely, would force him to miss at least the next four games.

Jordan Davis, who batted three of Jared Goff’s passes, said it started with film study earlier in the week.

The Eagles noticed Goff had an arm angle that would give them a chance to deflect balls up front, so they spent extra time this week practicing deflections. The Eagles coach their players along the defensive front to get their hands in the air when they’re being double-teamed or if their pass rush is failing on a given play.

This week, the Eagles worked more on the tip drill. Sometimes it was Nick Sirianni at quarterback. Other times it was defensive line coach Clint Hurtt or player development assistant Matt Leo.

The narrative that the Eagles win in spite of Nick Sirianni still exists despite his continued success.

His detractors were given more ammunition on Sunday with another lackluster offensive performance and another aggressive fourth-down gamble from the coach that failed. They’ll point to contradictory decision-making that leaned conservative early on, but was almost reckless in the latter stages at Lincoln Financial Field.

Sirianni’s critics will credit Vic Fangio and his defense for the Eagles’ 16-9 victory over the Detroit Lions. They’ll say any coach can win with the roster general manager Howie Roseman has assembled. And some will spend the next week digging through stats and film to support their claim.

The Eagles' magic number to win the NFC East is four.

The Birds improved to 8-2 Sunday night, and are currently four-and-a-half games up on the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East, which the Eagles could clinch before December.

If the Cowboys lose tonight against the Las Vegas Raiders and the Birds defeat them next week in Dallas, the Eagles will be five-and-a-half games up with just six to play. The Washington Commanders, currently five games back, have their bye next week.

The Eagles are a very good team. Winning football games is important. But so is progress. Right now, the Eagles are a long way off from being the best team they can be.

Nothing that we saw from them on Sunday night suggests their fundamental problem has been solved. It isn’t just that the Eagles aren’t scoring enough points. It’s that they don’t appear to be getting any better.

They have scored 17 or fewer in four of their last six games, including a combined 26 in their last two. Are they capable of winning a Super Bowl in their current form? Absolutely. But you can’t ignore how different their current form is from the one that saw them win the Super Bowl last season.

Thankfully the worst pass interference call so far this season worked in the Eagles' favor.

With just under two minutes left, Jalen Hurts failed to connect with A.J. Brown, which would have given the Lions one final chance to tie the game.

Instead, the officials called pass interference on Lions defender Rock Ya-Sin, a call so bad even NBC's Cris Collinsworth ripped the refs.

The Eagles remain at the top of the NFC for another week thanks to their win against the Detroit Lions Sunday night.

It's the fourth straight season the Eagles have started 8-2 or better, and Nick Sirianni is a perfect 11-0 as a coach against the NFC North, including playoff games.

Speaking of the playoffs, the Birds now have the head-to-head tiebreaker against four of the top six teams, with a chance to add the Chicago Bears on Black Friday.

The Eagles will need another dominating performance by their defense next week against the Dallas Cowboys.

The Cowboys, who play tonight against the Las Vegas Raiders, are averaging 29.2 points per game, fourth-best in the NFL. Dallas has the No. 3 offense in the league and leads the NFL in passing yards, averaging 257.8 points per game.

It's not like the Eagles' defense isn't capable. The Birds held the high-powered Detroit Lions offense to just nine points and 317 total yards, and the Eagles defense hasn't allowed more than 10 points for two straight weeks.