Oct. 27, 2026
Given the decrepit state of the Eagles right now, I am too frustrated to construct a cohesive narrative about that game on Monday night, so I’m going to do what I did countless times in my days at WIP. I’m going to give you 10 very solid reasons to bitch.
- The Cowboys, with the worst defense in the NFL and an offense that is only mediocre, demolished the Eagles, 38-21, at Lincoln Financial Field. It’s one thing to lose to our most hated rival when the two teams are respectable, but to do so to that mess of an opponent is unfathomable.
- Vic Fangio is widely regarded as the brains of a slow-minded coaching staff, but on Monday night he was the one wearing the dunce cap.
It was hard to decide what was worse, the pass defense (212 yards) or the run defense (204). Making the poor performance even more bewildering is that it was against a Cowboys running game that was averaging 76 yards a game, 30th in the NFL.
Javonte Williams, who will never be mistaken for Emmitt Smith, managed 155 yards on 25 carries. There were lanes the width of I-95 to run in all night. And there were no effective adjustments by Fangio. The Boys had 101 yards in the first half, and 103 in the second. Awful.
- The big fellows in the middle of the defensive line, Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis, performed a magic trick on Monday night. These two physical specimens, a combined 650 pounds, managed to disappear for most of the game. Poof!
It was obviously a big risk when the Eagles signed the two massive tackles to contracts totaling $230 million in the off-season. Neither has been models of self-motivation during their college and pro careers. After this no-show in the biggest game of the season, is it a good time yet to question why GM Howie Roseman so generously feathered their nests?
- The embattled Eagles medical staff had a very bad night, too. No one likes to question doctors (present company excluded), but come on. At some point, there isn’t much choice, is there?
Let’s start with the Jalen Hurts mess. (See below.) It’s only natural to wonder if Hurts would be back playing by now had he not been cleared to fly to London two weeks ago, turning a superficial blood clot in his calf into far more dangerous clots in his lungs.
And then there was Monday night. Even before the game, there were valid questions about the rehab of WR DeVonte Smith, who missed two games with a hamstring injury, returned for the loss to the Panthers, and was back on the sideline with the same injury against Dallas.
Did the medical staff clear Smith before he was fully healed?
Duh.
Finally, we got to see these medical geniuses bungle another health issue with Saquon Barkley, who clearly reinjured his hamstring on a long run in the first quarter and then added a back issue later in the game.
Hey, I’m no doctor, but I can say with conviction that Barkley never should have played against the Cowboys. Running and absorbing hits on an injured hamstring can lead only to one outcome – further injury.
When the NFLPA is investigating the Hurts nightmare, it should broaden the probe to find out who on the Eagles is making these critical calls on when players should be cleared to play. Whoever it is has been whiffing a lot lately.
- The second half of Eagles games this year have been torturous. Either a lack of depth or bad conditioning is turning the final 30 minutes of every game into a desperate struggle for survival.
Remember, the Birds managed a 17-play drive to start the third quarter that led to a go-ahead touchdown, 21-20. Then the Cowboys scored 18 unanswered points to salt away their third win in seven games.
How bad have the Eagles been in the second half this season? Well, the seven points they managed on Monday night was two points better than their average in the final 30 minutes. This is an indictment of coaching. There are few effective adjustments, and the players are gasping for breath by the time they reach the finish line.
- Nick Sirianni is an annoyance like few coaches and managers who have ever worked in Philadelphia. He continues to make an ass of himself on the sidelines, posturing with the refs, celebrating like he’s auditioning for the cheerleader squad and conveying the precise opposite of smart leadership.
There is much speculation these days about Sirianni’s future here beyond this season, all while the networks continue to promote his supposed Hall of Fame credentials. ESPN actually put up a graphic during the broadcast showing Sirianni fourth in win percentage behind Guy Chamberlin, John Madden and Vince Lombardi.
Hey, I watch the games. The families of Chamberlin, Madden and Lombardi should sue for defamation. I watched Madden and Lombardi on the sidelines. Sirianni is no Madden or Lombardi.
Now, if they compared Sirianni to Rich Kotite, that would make a lot more sense. Like I said, I watch the games.
- I’m more tired now than ever of the Jalen Hurts critics who have harassed him from his first day here. The guy has had a different coordinator, and different offense, to learn every season, and he’s made it to two Super Bowls in his first six years.
Well, be careful what you wish for. The critics got to see someone else run an offense with a novice play-caller, a hobbled top running back, a fickle line and the top two receivers missing. How did it look to you? At what point on Monday night did you start missing Hurts?
If we learned anything on Monday night, it’s that Hurts is not the problem on offense. It’s pretty much everybody else.
- Because of my background in journalism, I always believe we should get the whole story. We never do with Jerry Jones. With a few exceptions, the networks show the Cowboys owner in his luxury box only when something positive happens. This week we got to see Michael Irvin celebrating between Jones and his son Stephen. I found that moment vomitous.
By the way, I know Jerry Jones is old (84), but is he aware at all that something has crawled onto his head and died?
- I would have to be lying to say I didn’t have a chuckle at the anti-climactic Hall of Fame induction ceremony for owner Jeff Lurie at halftime. Look, he’s a good owner; I have never denied that. But his pomposity and evasiveness are a constant source of annoyance to me.
Yes, there was a board that voted Lurie into his own Hall of Fame. No, he didn’t rubber-stamp himself into the honor. But it you don’t believe there was some brazen ass-kissing involved in this vote, well, congratulations. You’re dumb enough to qualify as the next Eagles offensive coordinator.
In the end, Lurie didn’t get booed – despite the five-game losing streak and his unwillingness to discuss the Hurts controversy. Basically, he was ignored. That may actually be worse.
- The saddest part of this horrific season, at least to me, is what losing like this does to the fans, who live for each game, each play, each moment that gives them a reprieve from the drudgery of their everyday lives. For this dreadful season to happen now is especially disappointing because none of us expected it.
Oh, there were lots of predictions of 9-8 or 10-7, but this is looking more like 5-12 or 6-11.
The fans deserve a lot better than that.
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If you missed the column by Marcus Hayes in The Inquirer over the weekend, you need to read it before you consider any more of the ramifications of the Jalen Hurts blood-clot controversy.
Marcus does something rare in the piece. He performs actual journalism, a lost art in this era of brazen deception and brand protection. He delves into how the NFL really feels about the way the Eagles handled the medical crisis Hurts is still enduring right now.
The problem, according to Hayes, is not the decision-making during Hurts’ trip to a London hospital, nor the sleep deprivation required by his doctors, and not even the 14 hours of air travel to and from Great Britain. No, what the NFL is “furious” about is the way the team handled the information surrounding the health of the franchise quarterback.
By most accounts, the Birds have acted with “arrogance, condescension, opacity and general disregard for the desire of the public for clarity,” as Hayes puts it.
No surprise there. For the past six years in which Bob Lange has served as Eagles director of communications, the goal has always been to say as little as possible, to program every word that emanates from the organization and to offer the truth only when it is convenient and positive.
Lange won’t hesitate to phone a boss if he hears something he doesn’t like on the radio. How do I know this? He did it when I was at WIP, to me. My response then, as it would be now, was to, well, you know. Any enemy of the truth is also an enemy of me. I didn’t back off, and I never would.
The shame for me is that I have seen the job of PR head done right, by a man who was once Lange’s boss here, Derek Boyko, a sports executive who served with a refreshing and rare commitment to openness and honesty during his 17 years running the Eagles PR department.
In their years working together, Lange learned . . . . absolutely nothing.
If Boyko were still here instead of serving in a similar capacity with the Buffalo Bills, I can assure you that by now we would have heard from a top member of the team’s medical staff and at least one person in the front office (maybe GM Howie Roseman?) who could answer the many questions piling up while the Birds continue to stonewall the public.
Lange wouldn’t allow such a free exchange of information because, in his mind why should he? The Eagles are the kings of Philadelphia sports. They can call their own shots. Why invite further scrutiny – potentially damaging scrutiny – when it’s safer to roll out coach Nick Sirianni to read from a Lange-approved statement and otherwise profess ignorance.
I hope the NFL is indeed furious at how the Eagles have disrespected the fans. I hope the fans are getting fed up with news conferences designed to provide no news. And I hope the people who run the organization finally understand that the fans deserve more than they have been getting – more respect and more information.
Here’s hoping Sirianni gets another coaching job soon after he leaves this one – the sooner, the better – and that he takes with him a PR guy who has never understood or appreciated the fans in this remarkable sports city.
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Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. . . .
- OK, I’ll admit it. I quit on the Sixers in the home opener against Cleveland on Oct. 22 when they fell behind by 29 points. (Actually, I bailed after the lead grew past 20.) I jumped back in the fourth quarter during their incredible comeback. Let the record show that in Game 2, I felt a twinge of excitement about this season. Is it possible we really do have something special here? (I still doubt it.)
- I would also be remiss if I didn’t say one more time how proud I am to live in a city that holds its sports figures accountable. Those boos coming from the stands throughout the first half of the Sixers’ home opener are what make us special. If we pay good money and you disappoint us, we let you know about it. I doubt the comeback would have happened in front of a more forgiving crowd.
- I don’t really care about college sports — especially now that the players are getting paid — but what Villanova coach Kevin Willard did last week was unconscionable. No, I’m not talking about leaving the Big 5. I understand that. What I don’t understand is Willard publicly trashing anInquirer reporter, Jeff Neiberg, even though the journalist’s report of Nova’s departure was accurate. At one point, Willard even called Neiberg “a bad writer.” Why do so many coaches consider themselves savvy media critics? Here’s some unsolicited advice for Willard: Shut up and coach. You’re embarrassing yourself.
- If Dave Dombrowski doesn’t pay whatever it takes to sign Luis Arraez as a free agent deal, then the GM learned nothing from another year suffocated by strikeouts. Arraez is the best contact hitter in baseball, and he is not a bad second baseman, either. If Dombrowski lets Arraez sign elsewhere, it will just prove that the Phillies still have their priorities all screwed up.
- Nick Sirianni got fined $250,000 last week for his behavior toward the officials this season. No specific incidents were cited, but the quarter-mill punishment will be rescinded if he acts with dignity and class the rest of this season. In other words, he may as well pay the fine now. I just wish the fans could fine him for all the bonehead decisions he has made. It would be a lot more than $250,000.