It takes a truly ugly loss to warrant a set of bonus obs. But that's what we've come to.
Ten just wasn't enough.
So here we go with a rare Roob’s 10 Random Bonus Eagles Observations presented free of charge!
1. One of the most concerning things for me is the number of recent games in which the Eagles were simply non-competitive. It’s one thing to lose on a last-second field goal or a big play in the closing minutes or by a point or two after a tight battle. No loss is a good loss. But it’s these games where the Eagles are simply not ready to play and get clobbered early and are never even in it that are becoming more and more common. They’ve now lost five games by 17 or more points in their last 11 games – 49ers, Cowboys, Giants and Bucs late last year and the Bucs again on Sunday. Those are all games they just haven’t been ready at kickoff. Games where it was more about not being ready mentally than physically. They haven’t scored a 1st-quarter touchdown in their last six games, getting outscored 36-0. They’ve led only four of their last 13 games at halftime (and lost three of them). They’ve now gone 15 straight games without winning a game by two possessions – the first time that’s happened under the same head coach since 1969 and 1970 under Jerry Williams. Every team is going to have a dud here and there, a game they’re just never in it. But five blowouts in an 11-game span? Last time that happened to the Eagles was 1998, a season where they went 3-13 and were the laughing stock of the NFL. Everybody in the organization plays a role in that, but ultimately it’s a reflection of the head coach and his inability to have his team prepared to play football on a consistent basis.
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2. The frustrating thing about Jalen Carter is how dominating he can look one game and how invisible he is the next. Vic Fangio said something revealing last week. When asked to explain Carter’s monster performance against the Saints after two quiet games, he said, "He played with better technique and better fundamentals, which came through a better focus,” adding, “I just think he was playing with a better mindset.” Focus and mindset are two words that have nothing to do with a player’s ability. Those are mental traits that an NFL player needs to have every game. But Carter hasn’t done it consistently since early last year. Carter could be the next Jerome Brown or Fletcher Cox. He could be that good. The tools are there. But until he has the "focus" and "mindset" to go out and dominate every week, he’s just going to keep frustrating his coaches. And everybody else.
3. In three-plus seasons since Nick Sirianni became Eagles head coach – and under four different defensive coordinators – Eagles defensive backs have three sacks in 60 games. One by Chauncey Gardner-Johnson against the Steelers in 2022, one by Avonte Maddox in Dallas in 2022 and one by Kelee Ringo against the Giants on the last day of last season. The last Eagle defensive back with 3.0 sacks in a season was Dawk in 2008.
4. It’s too early to declare Jayden Daniels the next Sonny Jurgensen, but it sure feels like the balance of power in the NFC East has shifted a bit, and the Commanders look like a legit contender considering the way the rookie from LSU is playing. The first 106 passes of his NFL career included 87 completions and just 19 incompletions. His 82.1 percent completion percentage isn’t just the highest ever by a rookie after four games, it’s the highest by any quarterback in NFL history, topping the 79.2 percent by Tom Brady in 2007. This is the first time since 2011 Washington has been 3-1 after four games. The Eagles have been lucky to be in the same division for them during this stretch where they haven’t won a playoff game since 2005 and have won just two since 1993. But having a real owner replace Daniel Snyder was a big step back toward respectability, and drafting Daniels seems like another one after a month of football. The Eagles are 29-16 vs. the Commanders since 2001, but Washington may no longer be the pushover they’ve been as they’ve drifted from quarterback to quarterback – from Patrick Ramsey to Jason Campbell to RG3 to Kirk Cousins to Alex Smith to Case Keenum to Taylor Heinicke to Carson Wentz to Sam Howell. If the 23-year-old Daniels is really this good, the Commanders are going to be legit for awhile.
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5. I look at these next four games as a stretch that will go a long way toward determining Nick Sirianni’s future. The Eagles face the 1-3 Browns at the Linc, the 1-3 Giants at MetLife, the 1-3 Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium and the 0-4 Jaguars at the Linc. Four teams that are a combined 3-13. And they should be back at full strength by then. On paper a stretch where the Eagles probably should go 4-0 and find their way to 6-2. It's a real opportunity to bounce back from an uneven first four games. Even 3-1 gets them to 5-3 just before the midway point of the season. But anything worse – with the Cowboys in Dallas and Commanders next - and it’s hard to imagine this team is going anywhere this year. And if this team goes nowhere, Sirianni won't be back in 2025.
6. That was a bad drop Dallas Goedert had in the first quarter Sunday, but overall he’s having a terrific season. His 301 yards leads all NFL tight ends – only Brock Bowers of the Raiders is within 130 yards – and he’s caught 24 of 28 targets for the 2nd-highest catch percentage in the league (behind Bears tight end Cole Kmet, who’s caught 18 of 20 targets). Goedert’s 10.8 yards per target is highest among NFL tight ends and obviously a 61-yarder doesn’t hurt, but he also has catches of 16, 18, 21, 22, 30 and 43 yards. Only seven wide receivers have more 15-yard catches than Goedert. Stathead has been tracking catch percentage – catches per target – since 1992, and Goedert’s 73.2 percent career percentage is highest on record among all tight ends with at least 150 receptions. And his 8.6 career yards-per-target figure is 4th-highest since 1992 (behind George Kittle, Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kelce). The one thing Goedert has never had is a big volume of catches. He’s never had 60 receptions in a season, a benchmark 27 tight ends have hit a total of 54 times since Goedert entered the league in 2018. But he’s already got 24 this year and while his production will decline somewhat when A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith come back, Kellen Moore and Jalen Hurts need to make sure Goedert stays involved. Goedert has 301 yards and a 12.5 average and only five wide receivers have those numbers this year. He’s too good to be an afterthought.
7. I like how Nakobe Dean played throughout training camp and the preseason and I thought making him the starter ahead of Devin White was the right move. In Year 3, Dean was healthy and finally looked like the guy I expected when the Eagles drafted him in the third round back in 2022. And I actually thought he played well against the Saints after two disappointing games to open the season. But after Sunday I’m starting to wonder if this is going to work. His tackling has been so bad – he actually had five missed tackles in Tampa ... who has five tackles in a game? I just don’t know if you can keep running him out there. He’s supposed to be a playmaker, but he hasn’t made a play yet and honestly he hasn’t been close. You always take Pro Football Focus grades with a grain of salt, but PFF has Dean with a 41.9 overall grade, which ranks 64th of 68 linebackers who’ve played at least 100 snaps and is worst on the team among all defenders. Dean certainly isn’t the only Eagles defensive player who’s struggling, but he’s not a 1st-round pick and he doesn’t have a huge contract, which makes it a lot easier to bench him. What options do the Eagles have? White is still here but didn’t make the trip to Tampa for the proverbial "personal reasons" and nobody is really sure he still wants to be here, and honestly he did not have a good summer anyway. There’s Jeremiah Trotter Jr., but I’m not sure he’s ready. And there’s Ben VanSumeren, and all I know is he’d run around 100 miles an hour and give maximum effort. And he’s physical and can tackle. Is it too early to go VanSumeren for Dean? If you watched the game Sunday you’re going to say nope.
8. I don’t think Darius Slay has been awful, but I also don’t think at 33 years old and in Year 13 he’s looked like the Pro Bowler we’re used to. According to Stathead, opposing quarterbacks have a 121.5 passer rating when targeting Slay so far, which ranks 67th of 74 corners who’ve been targeted at least eight times. It’s only four games, but 121.5 is a little ominous. From 2021 through 2023, Slay had a 79.4 opposing passer rating, 10th-best in the league during that span. Slay also hasn’t been picking off passes. Two interceptions in his last 31 games. He’s the first Eagles cornerback with two or fewer INTs in a span of 31 starts since Mark McMillian over the 1993 and 1995 seasons. Not ideal for one of your few playmakers.
9. Jahan Dotson is averaging 6.3 receiving yards per game. The last Eagles wide receiver to start at least three games in a season and have an average that low was Don Zimmerman in 1975. Ol’ Zimmy started three games for a 4-10 team and didn’t catch a pass. That works out to ... 0.0 receiving yards per game.
10. A reminder that as bad as things seem right now, there are worse places to be than 2-2. The last eight times the Eagles opened a season 2-2, they not only finished with a winning record, they reached the playoffs. Three of those eight times, they got to the NFC Championship Game – 2001, 2003 and 2008. The other years were 1989, 2000, 2010, 2018 and 2019. Last time they were 2-2 and didn’t reach the playoffs was 1983, when they actually opened 4-2 in Marion Campbell’s first year as head coach before losing seven in a row and eventually finishing 5-11. Could be worse.
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