December 31, 2023
Bill Streicher/USA Today Sports
Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray scrambles against an uninspiring Eagles defense.
Don’t worry about basing your 2024 PTO around a potential Eagles Super Bowl. With the Eagles’ most embarrassing loss of the season yet, they fell to Jonathan Gannon’s Arizona Cardinals.
A division win is still attainable, but limping into this postseason will do nothing to change the vibes around this team.
Let’s be straight up. The defense stinks.
Sean Desai was not going to carry the Eagles’ through their defensive woes. He was not the solution nor is Matt Patricia. Desai was not the lone problem. Scheme vs. personnel is eternally a “chicken or the egg” scenario, but this defensive line employs Haason Reddick, Josh Sweat, Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis and Milton Williams. Even if your dad out there with the defensive headset on, this unit should be racking up more sacks and forcing more tackles for loss on talent and talent alone.
The Eagles’ offense has been good in 2023, albeit not quite at their 2022 level. With such a steep drop-off defensively, however, so much more pressure is being put on the O to overcome every obstacle to secure wins. If Hurts isn’t an MVP player on every drive, they’re jammed up and praying for victories against laughable opponents.
As I do, here are the highs, lows and whoas in my observations from the worst regular season loss of the Nick Sirianni era...
• The Eagles' pass rush has been unacceptable in 2023. They did get a boost early from Milton Williams though.
With Arizona facing a first and goal at the Eagles' three-yard line, the third-year defensive tackle blew by Arizona offensive lineman Elijah Wilkinson and sacked Kyler Murray for a nine-yard loss, forcing a fumble in the process. To be fair, Williams did get a little too hype too early, celebrating the great play while the ball was live and a turnover opportunity presented itself, but it was ultimately a four-point swing. Arizona was moving the ball swiftly against the Eagles and a touchdown felt inevitable. That loss coupled with a tackle for loss on third down and an incompletion on fourth down kept the Cardinals to just a field goal.
• Julio Jones: two first half catches, two first half touchdowns. Three of Jones' nine catches as an Eagle have been for touchdowns. He can't do much in between the 40s in his age-34 season, but he's being utilized correctly in the red zone. It became a talking point during Jones' Hall of Fame years in Atlanta that he put up monster receiving yard numbers, but didn't find the end zone relative to a player of his caliber. In Jones' Pro Bowl 2017 season where he racked up 1,444 yards, he scored just three TDs.
Jones' first touchdown catch came on a touch pass from Jalen Hurts right at the spot of Jones' 2017 Divisional Round playoff game misfire:
A 12-yard strike to get us on the board 🎯@JalenHurts x @juliojones_11 pic.twitter.com/qJAJhqvwSH
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 31, 2023
Time's a flat circle.
• Sydney Brown's 99-yard pick-6, in the moment, changed the trajectory of this game:
99 YARDS TO THE CRIB @Sydbrown___ !! pic.twitter.com/qMP0nvrSZ5
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 31, 2023
Brown displayed legit juice weaving through would-be tacklers and following his blockers. Brown did have two pick-6s in his career at Illinois. Kyler Murray threw a pick to a Sydney after wearing a Sidney Crosby Penguins jersey to the game as a troll move. Brutality.
With the Eagles up 14-3, Lincoln Financial Field was rocking. The atmosphere resembled a blowout in the makings. Would this flip the switch of not just this afternoon, but the last month of Eagles football?
No, the answer was no, but that's great playmaking from Brown regardless.
• A.J. Brown is such a beast on those slant routes. Much like the "Tush Push," the Eagles' two most unstoppable plays aren't run enough. Use the "Tush Push" on third and three and shorter. Spam the slant to Brown like you're playing your little cousin in "Madden."
• Speaking of the "Tush Push," here's a new trick play wrinkle out of that formation: a Kenny Gainwell halfback pass to DeVonta Smith for a 17-yard gain:
You thought you knew what was coming 😉@KENNETHGAINWEL x @DeVontaSmith_6 pic.twitter.com/WpNZkpi6IZ
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 31, 2023
He's a lefty!
One play later, Hurts fired his second touchdown strike of the game to Jones.
• Hurts waited and waited and waited, but a third down goal-to-go TD pass to Dallas Goedert re-established the Eagles' lead in the fourth quarter:
Hurts to Goedert puts the @Eagles ahead!
— NFL (@NFL) December 31, 2023
📺: #AZvsPHI on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/sFjqko01pD pic.twitter.com/cqkF33qfVX
Again, everything is on the offense this season. This entire team goes as Hurts goes.
• Backup Arizona running back Michael Carter broke undrafted rookie free agent Eli Ricks' ankles (metaphorically speaking) on the opening drive of the second half. The run resulted in a 16-yard pickup. Another misdirection handoff to Carter had the Eagles' defense on skates once more, ripping off a 21-yard gain to put the Cardinals in goal-to-go territory. He broke a tackle, naturally, on a six-yard touchdown reception to end the drive. He was a one-man machine to cut things to a one-score game with a shade under nine minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Sent the defender flying 😱
— NFL (@NFL) December 31, 2023
📺: #AZvsPHI on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/sFjqko01pD pic.twitter.com/sn6DYwCe2W
That's all on top of James Conner ripping off run after run, too. The Eagles' once seemingly unstoppable run defense has faded. They entered Week 17 just 16th in yards per carry allowed. Much like the pass rushing woes, that cannot happen with the resources poured into the interior defensive line.
Over 200 rushing yards allowed? That's an indictment of everyone involved with this defense.
• Perhaps it's anecdotal, but do the Eagles ever stop scrambling quarterbacks? Ask the average Philadelphian and the answer is a resounding no. A would-be sack from Sweat at the tail end of the third quarter could've halted a game-tying drive for the Cardinals. Nevertheless, Murray slithered through his grasp, pulled off some video game moves and threw a TD to Conner that came with a highlight reel grab.
Deflating.
It all comes back to my original points in this story. The defensive line is not where it needs to be. The Eagles, for essentially the entire 21st century, have built through the trenches. When all of those picks and all of those big contracts don't lead to an elite pass rush nor great run D, it's disastrous. You're watching it unfold weekly! This is Billy Davis-era stuff.
• Baffling play-calling from the Eagles on their late fourth quarter drive. Boos poured in from the stands. Rightfully so. Power runs? Playing for a field goal? This is cookie-cutter behavior. Third and 20? Screen to Gainwell. What? At least Jake Elliott has ice in his veins, booting a 42-yard go-ahead FG.
• Philadelphia's 2023 ended on the worst of notes. With Arizona on offense on their own 43 and under two minutes remaining, Murray and Conner sliced and diced this pitiful Eagles defense for a win. Yuck.
"Whoas" are supposed to be light-hearted fun. There's nothing to be cheery about.
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