January 01, 2026
Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images
Vic Fangio is an elite defensive mind, and he has a lot of good players to work with.
The Philadelphia Eagles are the reigning NFL champs, and they have won 11 games this season, bringing home another NFC East title along the way. And yet they have been objectively disappointing in 2025, largely because the offense has wildly underperformed under the stewardship of Nick Sirianni and Kevin Patullo.
There are three NFC teams — the Seahawks, Rams, and 49ers — that currently have better odds to win the Super Bowl than the Eagles, at least at most sportsbooks. There's even a good chance that the Eagles will be underdogs in their first playoff game at home, and then also in every subsequent game thereafter. We'll see. But the point here is that the Birds aren't expected to repeat.
Because it's the new year, let's start out with some positivity and just make the case for the Eagles to earn their third franchise Lombardi Trophy, even if the odds are against it.
The Eagles' two worst defensive performances of the season were against the Giants Week 6, and the Bears Week 13. They got bulldozed by the run in both of those games. In their last three games, the Eagles' run defense has tightened up:
| Opponent | Rush | Yards | YPC | TD |
| Raiders | 13 | 46 | 3.5 | 0 |
| Commanders | 26 | 90 | 3.5 | 2 |
| Bills | 33 | 120 | 3.6 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 72 | 256 | 3.6 | 4 |
Their performance on Sunday against the Bills was particularly noteworthy. Heading into Week 17, the Bills had the No. 1 rushing attack in the NFL.
| Bills rushing offense | Stat | NFL rank |
| Rushing yards per game | 158.9 | 1 |
| Rushing first downs per game | 8.4 | 2 |
| Rushing TDs | 27 | 1 |
| Rush yards per attempt | 5.1 | 2 |
| Run:pass ratio | 50.3% run | 1 |
| % of runs resulting in 1st down | 38.9% | 5 |
| Runs of 20+ yards | 15 | 2 |
| Runs of 40+ yards | 6 | 2 |
James Cook led the NFL with 1,532 rushing yards, and Josh Allen led all quarterbacks with 552 rushing yards. They also used WR Khalil Shakir as an extension of the run game by throwing him quick passes and allowing him to get yards after the catch.
The Eagles held both Cook and Allen to under four yards per carry, and they held the Bills as a team to 1.5 fewer yards per carry than their season average. Meanwhile, Shakir caught six passes but for only 35 yards.
They're winning at the line of scrimmage and they're tackling well.
Many of the teams in the playoffs in the NFC — notably the Seahawks, Packers, and Bears — hang their hat on the run game. It's a good sign that the Eagles are playing the run well heading into the coldest month of the year.
The Eagles have 18 sacks in their last four games. They're getting stops in the run game on first and second downs, leading to long downs/distances, and they're getting after opposing quarterbacks.
But they're also a challenging group to defend because they're all contributing, as 10 different players have sacks during the last four games:
• The Eagles don't have a Myles Garrett or Micah Parsons-level edge defender, but the quartet of Hunt, Phillips, Smith, and Graham is very good. They can shuttle in and out of games, stay fresh, and eventually wear out opposing offensive tackles.
• At linebacker, Baun and Dean (Dean especially) are two of the best blitzing off-ball linebackers in the NFL.
• On then on the interior, Davis has raised his game, Ojomo has arguably been better than Milton Williams was last season, and Young has been a surprise contributor.
But the guy who really has to worry opposing offenses heading into the playoffs is Carter, who has had a down season, but who got a three-game break while recovering from a shoulder procedure. Upon his return, he tore up the Bills' good offensive line, and he'll be rewarded with another rest week before the playoffs. If he can play anywhere close to the way he played in the playoffs last season, watch out.
If you double Carter, the Eagles are going to get favorable matchups across the board otherwise. And if you don't, good luck.
Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean should be All-Pros this year. Because Mitchell can travel with alpha receivers and DeJean plays in the slot, it's hard to scheme up ways for great receivers to escape them.
• The Seahawks' passing attack goes through Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who has 1709 receiving yards this season. The next-closest Seahawk has 564. If Smith-Njigba lines up outside, he'll have Mitchell on him. If he lines up in the slot, DeJean is waiting for him. It'll be more difficult for the Seahawks to get favorable matchups against the Eagles like they can against other teams.
• The Niners' passing attack goes through RB Christian McCaffrey and TE George Kittle. The Eagles' trio of Baun, Dean, and Jihaad Campbell are all good in coverage. The Eagles have actually given up the fewest passing yards in the NFL to opposing tight ends.
• We've seen an ample sample size of Vic Fangio frustrating Jordan Love and the Packers' offense.
• The Rams have a pair of great receivers in Puka Nacua and Davante Adams, but Adams is currently dealing with a nagging hamstring injury that doesn't feel likely to go away.
The one team that is a bit of a wild card is the Bears, because they spread the ball around, they have a great play designer, and Caleb Williams can be a pain in the ass as a scrambler.
But overall, from a 60,000-foot view, the NFC team that opposing quarterbacks and receivers don't want to play is probably the Eagles. (The Seahawks are in that conversation, too.)
Fred Johnson has done a nice job filling in for Lane Johnson during Johnson's six-game (about to to be seven-game) absence. Lane Johnson was playing at an elite level before suffering a Lisfranc (foot) injury, and he has had more than enough time to recover.
There is no comparison between Fred Johnson and Lane Johnson. Lane Johnson is one of the best offensive linemen to ever play the game, and the Eagles are about to get him back. In my opinion, that's kind of a huge deal that perhaps isn't getting as much attention as it should.
And then beyond Lane Johnson's return, it's been pretty clear that Landon Dickerson and Cam Jurgens are not close to 100 percent healthy. Maybe the rest week will help rejuvenate the run game to some degree?
In 8 playoff games since the 2022 season, Hurts is 148 of 213 (69.5%) with 1555 yards, 9 TDs and 1 INT, with 70 rushes for 342 yards and 10 rushing TDs. He was arguably the best player on the field during the Super Bowl the Eagles lost following the 2022 season and he is the reigning Super Bowl MVP. He has twice gotten hot during playoff runs.
Hurts is only 27 years old, and he has more playoff wins than any of the starting quarterbacks on teams that have already either clinched a playoff berth in the NFC, or that are still in playoff contention.
• Jalen Hurts: 6
• Matthew Stafford: 5
• Brock Purdy: 4
• Baker Mayfield: 2
• Jordan Love: 1
• Sam Darnold, Caleb Williams, Bryce Young: 0
Is he the best quarterback in the NFC playoffs? In my opinion, no. But we have seen him do big things in the playoffs... twice... in the last three seasons.
On a side note, as we have noted throughout the season, my understanding is that Hurts does not love when there are a lot of designed quarterback runs in the game plan, despite their effectiveness. In the playoffs, he should be more willing to run it, and the Eagles' staff more willing to call QB runs.
Brown was not getting separation earlier this season, but he has consistently gotten open more recently. Meanwhile, Smith has been a big game player his entire professional and college career, and Goedert has 11 TD receptions this season. Just as a reminder, those guys can play.
I mean, again, we're talking about the reigning champs here. They know they can win, because, well, they have. A whole bunch of them had major success in college as well.
The Seahawks haven't won a playoff game since the 2019 season. The Bears haven't won one since 2010. And they might be the top two seeds in the NFC.
Assuming nothing weird happens in the Eagles' Week 18 game against the Commanders, they should have all 11 starters on offense for the playoffs. On defense, they should have 9 of 11 starters, at a minimum, plus all of their most important role players. The only starters in question are Dean, who seems to have avoided a serious injury when he went down against the Commanders, and Andrew Mukuba, who has been capably replaced by Marcus Epps.
After Dean went down in the Wild Card Round against the Packers last year, Oren Burks filled in and played well. I have confidence that the Eagles have good depth with capable reserves at quarterback, running back, offensive tackle, guard, center, on the edge, on the interior D-line, and at linebacker. That probably can't be said for most of the other teams in the playoffs.
The Seahawks' quarterback is Sam Darnold. The Rams have lost two straight, including a bad loss to the Kirk Cousins-led Falcons, and their special teams are an abomination. The Bears rank 22nd in points per game allowed. The Niners are without Fred Warner, Nick Bosa, and first-round pick Mykel Williams.
The Eagles have holes, but so does every other NFC playoff team. The same is true in the AFC. It's wide open.
Follow Jimmy & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @JimmyKempski | thePhillyVoice
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
Add Jimmy's RSS feed to your feed reader
