October 04, 2026
Bill Streicher/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The Eagles' offense has no identity so far under Nick Sirianni and Sean Mannion.
The Los Angeles Rams are widely regarded as strong Super Bowl contenders, and the Philadelphia Eagles had them on the ropes... aaannnnd then they couldn't finish the job, losing 24-20. As always, win or lose, we hand out 10 awards.
The Eagles were an atrocious 0-for-12 on 3rd downs in this game.
The Eagles went 0-12 on 3rd down today.
— NFL Researcher (@NFL_Researcher) October 4, 2026
It is the most 3rd down attempts without a conversion by any team since the 2020 season.
They were 2-for-9 last week against the Bears. Add it up, and they are 2-for-21 on 3rd downs the last two games. #Math.
Is it execution? Play calling? Scheme?
"Everybody contributed to that," Nick Sirianni said. "Everybody. There's execution errors. There's coaching errors. Everybody contributes to that."
It feels like "Everybody contributed to that" is a common answer too often, from the back half of the 2025 season, carrying through into 2026.
What made the third-down ineptitude so egregious was that they weren't even in a lot of third-and-long situations. Their 3rd downs, in chronological order:
They were in 3rd and 5 or less on seven of those 3rd-down opportunities. Other than the Tush Push (which also failed today), the Eagles just don't seem to have anything they can go to to sustain drives.
By the end of this game, the Eagles were without the following starters, some of whom were ruled out before the game, and some of whom got knocked out during it:
• RB Saquon Barkley: Hamstring injury, left in the first quarter, did not return.
• WR DeVonta Smith: Hamstring injury, ruled out on Friday.
• TE Dallas Goedert: MCL sprain, missed the last two games.
• LG Landon Dickerson: I dunno, whole body? Missed the last three games.
• RT Lane Johnson: Personal reasons, appeared on the inactive list an hour and a half before kickoff.
• EDGE Jonathan Greenard: Ankle injury, left in the second half, did not return.
• LB Zack Baun: Concussion, ruled out on Friday.
• CB Quinyon Mitchell: Knee injury, left in the second half, did not return.
• S Marcus Epps: Groin injury, ruled out on Friday.
Injuries are a poor excuse for this loss to the Rams, who were also missing their share of important players, most notably Myles Garrett and Aaron Donald.
To be determined how serious each new injury is.
Postgame, Sirianni was asked what the identity of the offense is.
"Obviously, right now, it hasn't been good enough," Sirianni said. "You're trying to make sure as you find out who you are that you're playing with detail and you're playing together, and you're playing with toughness, and we still have a ways to go there. It's obvious that we're still trying to figure that out."
Obvious indeed.
The sequence that Eagles fans are going to remember from this game was the failed 4th and Goal try from the Rams' 2-yard line in the fourth quarter.
After a Rams turnover on downs, the Eagles had their best offensive drive of the game, which was all runs. The first nine plays of that drive:
That brought up a 3rd and Goal from the 2. A bad snap exchange ruined that play, but Hurts was able to get back to the line of scrimmage.
On 4th down, Sirianni decided to go for it. And well, Sean Mannion ran a play that didn't come close to scoring.
Normally, I'd be all for going for it in that moment to deliver a knockout punch. However, having seen the Eagles fail repeatedly on 3rd down all day, I thought they should have kicked the field goal.
Maybe it wouldn't have mattered either way, since the Rams scored two touchdowns anyway. I dunno 🤷♂️.
But I'm not sure how Sirianni could have had any reasonable confidence in his offense after the way they had repeatedly failed all day in short-yardage situations.
The first two weeks of the season, Hurts made a bunch of plays on his own and was the reason the Eagles won those two games. In the next two games, he did not play well.
Against the Rams, Hurts was 12 of 27 for just 93 yards, 2 TDs, and 0 INTs.
If you include the four sacks Hurts took, the Eagles' offense had 68 net passing yards on 31 dropbacks.
To be fair, he played this game without DeVonta Smith, Lane Johnson, and for the most part, Saquon Barkley. The Eagles kind of needed him to put the Superman cape on today, but he was unable to be a hero.
The Birds' O-line had a great, historic run. It's looking like their dominant days are over (if they weren't already).
Through the first three games, the Eagles' defense produced zero takeaways.
Finally, in Week 4, they got two. In the first half, they did a nice job pressuring Matthew Stafford, which turned into a couple of poor throws that the Eagles picked off. Andrew Mukuba got the first INT, which led to a field goal, and Cooper DeJean had a huge INT before the end of the first half that led to a touchdown.
The defense nearly won this game on their own against an offensive powerhouse.
Of course, the Eagles' defense ultimately did not win this game on their own. They gave up two 10-play TD drives. One was 98 yards, and one was 79 yards.
The Rams only had to convert two third downs on those two long game-winning drives. The defense was really little more than a speed bump in the game's biggest moments.
All Darius Cooper does is catch touchdowns. I kid, I kid. But he did make one hell of a play on his touchdown grab over Quentin Lake.
We had to mention at least one nice thing, right?
In Week 5, the Eagles will travel across the pond to London, where they have a top-5 type of team in the Jacksonville Jaguars waiting for them. Spoiler: The Eagles will be underdogs.
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