By Alex Carder, Staff Reporter
Quarterback Jalen Hurts loses the ball, and the Philadelphia Eagles lose their third straight game. The Eagles needed a bounce-back game after losing to the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys, but they could not beat the Seattle Seahawks in Week 15.
The Eagles’ season’s poor end undermined its good start. It does not matter if you start the season well, because if you have no momentum going into the playoffs, you will not win a single game.
The Eagles started strong, going undefeated through the first five games before dropping an embarrassing 20-14 loss to the New York Jets in Week 6. After the loss, the Eagles won their next five games, defeating four future playoff teams: the Miami Dolphins, Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills.
The 49ers then obliterated the Eagles 42-19 in Week 13, which marked the beginning of their three-game skid that included subsequent losses to both the Cowboys and Seahawks. Despite the losing streak, the Eagles were still in control of their playoff seeding. The Eagles went out the next week with the offense leading the way and scored 33 points in a win over the New York Giants.
All the Eagles had to do was beat the 3-12 Arizona Cardinals in order to win the division. They lost 35-31, which meant that the only way for the Eagles to win the division was if the Cowboys lost. The Cowboys did not lose, but it would not have made a difference, as the Giants blew out the Eagles in Week 17. By the end of the season, the Eagles looked tired and could have lost to any team in the league.
Fans had high expectations going into the season because the Birds made it to the Super Bowl last year. The Eagles responded to the hype well at the beginning, but once the team started to lose momentum, they completely crashed. The rough end to the season led to fans questioning the job security of the team’s head coach Nick Sirianni next season.
With the pressure on the Eagles as they faced the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of playoffs, the team did not live up to expectations. The team seemed exhausted from the start of the game, and it showed in the players’ tackling and offensive production.
They could not handle the Buccaneers’ offense because they missed so many tackles. The offense during the game consisted of one player, DeVonta Smith, and the defense was nonexistent in the second half. Tight end Dallas Goedert and running back D’Andre Swift had practically no effect on the game. Due to the lack of tackling and offense after the first half, the Eagles lost the game 32-9.
The Eagles are in desperate need of new coaches on the sideline. Their defense needs to take a course on how to tackle before next season. While the defense is doing that, the offense must take a bonding trip to get back on the same page.
They should also go back and look at their film from this season compared to the 2022-23 season to reflect on what went wrong. Fans are hoping for a better result next season after the Eagles have had time to rest and hopefully restore the broken armor that covered them in the last season.
Alex Carder can be reached at [email protected].
