Dec. 22, 2025
Congratulations to the 2025 Philadelphia Eagles for winning their second consecutive NFC East title, the first team to do so in 21 years.
This pretty much ends the positive portion of today’s blog post for reasons that will soon become obvious.
The Eagles,10-5, are an extremely talented team coached by a collection of lottery winners, lucky souls who have benefitted from a roster so strong, so smart, that it can cover up a multitude of their dumbass decisions.
I will spare you the usual chapter-and-verse of this week’s glaring botches by coach Nick Sirianni. You watched the game. You saw what I saw.
And that’s why I’m sure I wasn’t the only fan who gasped when the head coach sent out his two-point conversion unit after the Eagles had increased their lead to 27-10 with 4:26 left to play.
At that point, the Commanders were just looking for a soft place to land, especially since they had turned to the worst QB in football, third-stringer Josh Johnson, with starter Jayden Daniels and backup Marcus Mariota both shivering on the sideline.
My first thought was, how stupid is this?
My second thought was, this is really stupid, even for Sirianni.
What happened next was entirely predictable, by everyone but the coach and his trusty analytics chart. After adding the two extra points, the Eagles squared off with a suddenly roused Washington team for a brawl that was not just another sports skirmish. No, this was a full-fledged donnybrook.
As usual, fortune was smiling down on Sirianni, who lost only one player to ejection, Tyler Steen, and no one else to injury. After a suddenly revived Commanders team managed to drive the field for a meaningless touchdown, the Eagles had their 29-18 win and the NFC East title.
All that was left was an explanation by the coach for his reckless and mindless decision.
“We were up 17,” he began. “To go up 18, we did the math and said, “Hey, we wanted to make sure we were up 19.’ We thought it was a little bit better. That way they could only tie you with a field goal and . . . two touchdowns and two two-point conversions.”
In other words, the chart said to go for two – ignoring the time left in the game and the utter impossibility of Johnson Congratulations, a journeyman hack who had thrown five passes in the past four seasons, presiding over the miracle.
You see, a logical mind would have reasoned that the Commanders are already a corpse, so dancing on their coffin was totally unnecessary and undeniably poor sportsmanship.
Of course, that kind of thinking hasn’t existed on the Eagles sideline since Doug Pederson left. In the five intervening seasons, Birds fans have been treated to the frat-boy antics of Sirianni and, this year, his clueless pal, offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo.
I can only speak for myself, but those high fives that end in the crook of their arms, followed by the playful shoves by Patullo launched at his BFF, bring on the same wave of nausea as swallowing a bad oyster.
This is the Eagles coaching brain trust?
All I can do is cringe.
To the surprise of no one – except maybe those two bozos – the reaction on the Washington sideline to the two-pointer fell far short of a celebration. Injuries have decimated the Commanders from a playoff team on the upswing last season to a 4-11 demolition site.
The problem is, Washington has a coach who is capable of a coherent thought on the sideline. His name is Dan Quinn, as old-school and in-your-face as any coach in the NFL.
He measured his words carefully when asked about the two-pointer that led to the brawl – but his feelings were never in doubt.
“If that’s how they want to get down, it’s all good,” he said. “We play them again in two weeks.”
I found it both ironic and amusing that it took veteran Washington linebacker Bobby Wagner to talk Eagles RB Saquon Barkley into staying out of the fray.
According to Barkley, Wagner held the reigning NFL MVP back during the fracas and pointed out that “you get two or three punches to the helmet. . . . Don’t break your hand just to say you’re a tough guy. Like, it’s not really worth it, and you lose a lot of money, too.”
Something tells me if Barkley was still waiting for his head coach or coordinator to offer similar advice, he would still be waiting.
Nevertheless, congratulations are in order one more time for Sirianni. He managed to turn a meaningless final game of the season on Dec. 28 into an opportunity for some Washington revenge just before the Eagles move on to the playoffs.
Sirianni also managed to show yet again how lost he is without a chart telling him what to do, even when the advice doesn’t come close to fitting the actual situation.
If you’re enjoying the way the Eagles are conducting business this season, congratulations to you, too.
Maybe you can join Nick Sirianni’s staff next season.
Bring a keg.
A few more thoughts after another ugly win . . . .
- Has Greg Olsen stopped talking yet? The Fox analyst for Eagles-Commanders never shut up for three-plus hours, belting out speeches between every play. By the end, I was pining for Cris Collinsworth. When Olsen lost the No. job to Tom Brady, he whined about how much his replacement was making. Well, I have a solution. Olsen can collect at least $38 mill a year like Brady if he convinces Fox to pay him by the word.
- Is there an Eagle in this era more maddening than Nakobe Dean? He is a remarkable linebacker, fast to the ball, secure in his tackling and brilliant in reading opposition offenses. But he cannot stay on the field. Again, he limped off about midway through the 29-18 win with a hamstring injury. He has missed 17 games already in his first three seasons. At this point maybe they should name the blue tent after him.
- Jordan Davis has been so good in the middle of the Eagles defensive line the past few weeks, I almost forgot his partner, Jalen Carter, has been missing for a month with injuries to both his shoulders. Whoever convinced Davis to get into better shape this season deserves a raise. (I’m betting it wasn’t Sirianni.)
- My favorite Eagle this season is the same one as last year – Brandon Graham. He has managed three sacks in the last two weeks, after coming out of retirement more than halfway through the year. The more I watch him, the more I admire him. You want a hero for your kids? Brandon Graham is it.
- It appears the NFL has a bit of a problem with officiating this season. That debacle last Thursday night, when the refs awarded two points to the Seahawks while Seattle and the Rams were lining up for the ensuing kickoff, was a humiliating twist to a season filled with indecision. Even worse was the final play of the Steelers-Lions game on Sunday. Basically, the crowd waited five minutes for the officials to decide which team had won. Even after a convoluted announcement, I wasn’t sure. The final score was Pittsburgh 29, Lions 24. (I think.)