Are power rankings completely dumb and meaningless? Yes. Yes, they are. However, personally speaking, whenever I see them, I click. And now that I've sucked you in with promises of many power rankings, you'll read it and like it.
Here's where people around the country have the Eagles ranked heading into Week 7 of the 2021 regular season. Oh, and here's our version of these sellout rankings, too.
ESPN: 24th
Week 1 confidence rating: 6.3
How it's going now: 3.9
A 32-6 thrashing of the Falcons in the opener shot the confidence meter to places unexpected, but the Eagles have since crashed back to reality. Shaky playcalling, injuries along the offensive front and inconsistent play from quarterback Jalen Hurts have limited the offense, while the defense has had wild fluctuations in its performance. The good news for Philadelphia is that it is past the most difficult part of its schedule. There are wins to be had against the likes of the Giants, Jets, Lions and Washington. The confidence meter should tick up, even if it never reaches its Week 1 post again.
#JimmySays: The way that the Eagles' schedule was constructed was kind of a bummer for Eagles fans. We learned that the Eagles can't hang with the big boys early on, and then they'll have a bunch of winnable games down the stretch that they would arguably be better served to lose.
NFL.com: 24th
Jalen Hurts continues to fill up the fantasy stat sheet, but the jury remains very much out on whether the second-year QB should be a permanent fixture for the Eagles under center. Perfunctory cosmetic scores aside, Hurts struggled to lead the offense for much of Thursday night’s 27-22 loss to the Bucs. The Eagles' attack -- which abandoned the running game against Tampa Bay’s top-ranked rushing D -- put the team in a deep hole in a first-half performance that featured four three-and-outs and one interception. The problem -- and this is more on rookie coach Nick Sirianni than on his young QB -- is that Philadelphia is far too dependent on Hurts on a weekly basis. It’s time to find some balance.
#JimmySays: As we noted in our "10 awards" column, Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles' No. 1 priority heading into any matchup is to stop the run, first and foremost. The Eagles allowed Bowles to achieve that objective just by showing up, as they ran the ball with a running back once in the first half.
MORE: Eagles looking like future 'sellers,' but should have incredible draft capital | WTS: The Eagles should bench Jalen Hurts and blow it all up
SportsIllustrated: 27th
It’s understandable that the Bucs wanted to specifically and repeatedly attack the boundary corners against Tampa—it’s a glaring weakness in a defense that is dominant up the middle. But at some point they have to put more on Jalen Hurts’ plate and give him a chance he can do it before they pull the plug and chase a new quarterback next offseason.
#JimmySays: None of what is written there makes any sense, and I won't try to make sense of it, but I will note that (a) Hurts has too much on his plate, not the other way around, and (b) the Eagles aren't a bottom six team behind teams like the friggin' Giants (24th here). Curious about what they wrote about the Giants?
An optimist could argue that the Giants feel a little bit like the 2020 Chargers—their young quarterback is emerging (even if the ceiling is not Justin Herbert’s) and yet they still can’t win games with a veteran supporting cast.
Lol what? Their young quarterback is emerging? Over his last two games, Daniel Jones is 34 of 64 (53.1%) for 340 yards (5.3 YPA), 0 TDs, 3 INTs, 2 fumbles, 4 sacks, and a QB rating of 49.0. I'm not sure that Dave Spadaro could sell that optimism.
The Ringer: 22nd
No analysis given specifically for the Eagles here, but they remain in "the muddled middle."
USA Today: 24th
Since a strong performance on opening day in Atlanta, QB Jalen Hurts has completed fewer than 60% of his passes and is averaging just north of 240 yards through the air. His ability to make plays with his legs is nice, but the arm better do more if he wants to keep this job into 2022.
#JimmySays: It's probably also noteworthy that he's averaging just north of 240 passing yards in an offense that doesn't run the ball.
MORE: NFC Hierarchy/Obituary: Week 7 | NFL odds: Point spread and total for every Week 7 game, including Eagles at Raiders
b/r: 24th
The Philadelphia Eagles are a hot mess offensively.
After showing some signs of improvement over the first month of the 2021 season, second-year quarterback Jalen Hurts was terrible against the Buccaneers on Thursday night, completing just 12 of 26 passes for 115 yards. He had one interception and easily could have had three.
The Eagles had 213 total yards and didn't surpass 100 yards of offense until the fourth quarter; Philly's two longest plays of the game were pass interference calls against the Buccaneers. In the first half, the Eagles ran one play in Tampa territory.
Still, for as badly as Hurts played Thursday, the Eagles may have an even bigger problem.
Nick Sirianni is making a very compelling case for the title of the NFL's worst head coach. The offensive play-calling is just horrendous. Sirianni completely forgot Miles Sanders was on the team until the final quarter, and all he seems to want to run are RPOs and bubble screens. I've seen more offensive creativity from the staff at Pickerington Central—and that's a high school in suburban Columbus. Ohio.
#JimmySays: It is indeed an offense that has completely lacked creativity from Weeks 2-6.
Yahoo: 24th
The Eagles' remaining schedule is surprisingly soft. They have games left against the Lions, Broncos, Giants (twice), Jets and Washington (twice). If the Eagles can just handle business against beatable teams they could be in the wild-card race. It's hard to have much confidence they can do that, however.
#JimmySays: If they "handle business" in the seven games listed above and lose the others, they'll be 9-8, which may or may not be good enough to make the playoffs anyway. Also, I'm not sure I'd include the Broncos in that mix.
But, as noted, it's hard to have much confidence that they'll sweep the "beatable" teams.
CBS: 23rd
They made it close against Tampa Bay, but it really wasn't that kind of game. At some point, they have to run the ball better.
#JimmySays: As always, CBS bringing the 🔥 #analysis.
Average power ranking of the eight media outlets above
- Week 1: 26.8
- Week 2: 20.6
- Week 3: 21.9
- Week 4: 23.0
- Week 5: 25.5
- Week 6: 22.0
- Week 7: 24.0
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