Eagles News: “They need to find a way to play 60 minutes and they haven’t come close to doing that yet”

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles news and links …

Roob’s Instant Observations after nail-biting Eagles win in Tampa – NBCSP
We need to talk about the second half. Sorry. We just do. Because yikes. It almost cost the Eagles. First half: Outscored the Bucs 201-99 and outscored them 24-6. Jalen Hurts was 15-for-16 for 130 yards and two TDs and the Eagles averaged 7.2 yards per play and had three first downs. Second half? First of all, I’m not going to include the negative-34 rushing yards credited to punter Braden Mann on the game-ending safety. But even without that play, they were outscored 19-7 and outgained 277-33 after halftime. Hurts was 0-for-8 in the second half, Barkley was 12-for-25 and the Eagles averaged 1.1 yard per play. And that’s without the negative-34 yard intentional safety. I really liked the way Kevin Patullo called plays before halftime, but all the positives we saw before halftime disappeared. The o-line struggled to protect. Play calling was predictable and mundane, Hurts made some bad reads and throws and the running game was even worse than before halftime. They had eight drives and that’s six punts, an intentional safety by the punter and a touchdown after a Bucs turnover at the Eagles’ 25. Five 3-and-outs in a half? Look, this is a very good football team they just played in a building where they never win with a terrific defense. So you’re thrilled to get outta there with a win. But they need to find a way to play 60 minutes and they haven’t come close to doing that yet.

Seriously, what is going on with this Eagles offense? – BGN
It would make more sense if it was one or the other. You could envision a scenario this year where, under a first time play-caller in Kevin Patullo, the offense struggled to find its identity in the early part of the season, struggling to move the football and put up some low-scoring efforts. You could also envision a scenario where an offense that returned 10 of 11 starters, most of them Pro Bowlers who have played with each other for the last three seasons, led by a franchise QB who is beginning his fifth season as a starter with more talent around him than any team in the league, would hit the ground running, even with a first time play-caller. Over the last two weeks, we’ve seen both scenarios play out, segmented into two separate halves in each game. The differences between the two version of the offense have been jarring to watch, and confounding. What is going on here?

Eagles-Bucs Takeaways With BLG! – The Ringer’s Philly Special
The Eagles defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-25 on Sunday and are now 4-0 heading into October. Sheil is joined by Brandon Lee Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation to discuss another bizarre victory. What were the biggest takeaways from the game (3:01)? How crucial was the defense in this game (6:32)? This matchup was another tale of two halves. Why was the offense so good in the first half, and why did it struggle in the second half (13:03)? What was the turning point of the game, according to BLG (25:18)? Why was the second half such a disaster after such a great first half (27:59)? The guys react to AJ Brown’s cryptic tweet following another lackluster performance (31:22). Why have Saquon and the run game been relatively unsuccessful thus far this season (39:55)? What and who stood out on the defensive side of the ball (46:59)?

Handing out 10 awards from the Eagles-Buccaneers gameHanding out 10 awards from the Eagles-Buccaneers game – PhillyVoice
4) The ‘Milk Carton’ Award: The Eagles’ rushing attack. The Eagles’ run game was beyond elite in 2024, what with Saquon Barkley breaking the single-season rushing record and all. So far in 2025, opposing defenses have shut Barkley down. Barkley carried 19 times for 43 yards (2.3 YPC) and a TD against the Bucs. On the season, he has 77 carries for 237 yards, an average of 3.1 yards per carry. This time last year, he had carried 73 times for 435 yards, or 6.0 yards per carry. He’s averaging nearly three fewer yards per carry (!) through four weeks than he had at this point last season. Yes, opposing defenses are game planning to stop Barkley first and foremost, but I don’t think anyone would have imagined he would be averaging 3.1 yards per carry after four games. That’s arguably a bigger issue than the passing game.

Never A Doubt – Iggles Blitz
The offense played great in the first half. Jalen Hurts looked like surgeon, picking apart whatever Todd Bowles and the Bucs defense tried. It was beyond impressive. The second half was surprisingly bad. You knew the Eagles couldn’t stay at the first half level, but to see them struggle so badly was worrisome. The Bucs DL played much better in the second half and their coverage was outstanding. A lot of people are jumping on Kevin Patullo. He did a great job with play-calls in the first half. He certainly deserves some of the blame for the bad offense in the second half, but that was more than just calls. It is easier to point the finger at one guy than the whole offense. Lane Johnson missed most of the second half. Tyler Steen played on a banged up knee. Landon Dickerson still isn’t 100 percent.

The Early Bird | Eagles win vs. Buccaneers shows they are good, will the offense become great in due time? – PHLY
Saquon Barkley stood in front of a white board in the far corner of the room to discuss the Eagles‘ 31-25 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, exactly where he stood a year ago to discuss a Week-4 loss that sparked an offensive overhaul in the days that followed. The juxtaposition offered a stark reminder of just how much a team can grow from Week 4 onward, although Sunday’s offensive output might necessitate a similar sea change in the coming weeks. “We played good, but we’re trying to be a great team,” Barkley said. “We’ve got a lot to improve on.” For a second week in a row, it was a tale of two halves for the Eagles offense. Jalen Hurts went 15-for-16 in the first half for one of the most efficient showings of his career, only to go 0-for-8 in the second half as the offense stalled out on all but one of its seven drives with the game hanging in the balance. The run game struggled just as much. Barkley finished with 43 yards on 19 carries; his 2.3 yards per carry is the worst average he’s had with the Eagles and ranked 85th of his 94 career regular-season games. Such is the 2025 Eagles, an imperfect team that has still been able to maintain a perfect record. “To be 4-0, that’s good,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “What we talked about is, don’t let good get in the way of great. We’ve got a lot to clean up. We’ll enjoy this tonight … and then tomorrow is going to be tough for all of us.”

Eagles offense has been great and putrid in recent wins — which one is real? – The Athletic
Offensive Kevin Patullo’s play-calling prompted few questions in the first half. Hurts scrambled with efficiency. Six players caught passes. They converted 3 of 5 third downs and remained perfect in the red zone. Hurts had every answer for Todd Bowles’ blitz, completing 7 of 8 pass attempts and both touchdowns when extra rushers charged toward him. It looked like the Eagles had figured out Tampa Bay. They show they can be great — not just good, which is why they must determine the spells of stalled production that awaited them in the second half.
Start with the running game. Hurts’ completion-less second half will get attention, but it was also another week of waiting for more from Barkley. He finished with 19 carries for 43 yards. It was the fewest yards he ever totaled in a game with 19 carries. Barkley said his problem is, “I’m not doing a great enough job on first downs.” Barkley had 11 carries for 17 yards on first down against the Bucs — 1.5 yards per carry. When breaking it down, the numbers were most problematic in the second half, when the offense stalled. Barkley had six first-down rushes for -1 yards. Three went for negative yards. That keeps the Eagles from getting into a manageable second down. There’s a cliche that to improve third down, you must play better on first down. This was an example. “When the running game is going bad, I’ve got to own it,” Barkley said. “The beauty of it is we’re not running the ball too great and we’re 4-0.”

Eagles put ‘exciting’ twist on tush push for two touchdowns – ESPN
The Philadelphia Eagles scored on a pair of quarterback sneak fakes in Sunday’s 31-25 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, showing there’s more to the tush push than a yard and a cloud of dust. “It’s an exciting play. Makes it pretty exciting, right?” said coach Nick Sirianni, using the moment to support a play that has its fair share of detractors across the league. The initial variation came midway through the first quarter. Quarterback Jalen Hurts got in an athletic stance under center on first-and-goal as if he was about to sneak it but instead passed it underhand to tight end Dallas Goedert, who followed a caravan of blockers into the end zone. “I was really happy we got it called,” Goedert said. “I think we put it in about four years ago, maybe five, when the staff first got here, and it worked to perfection.”

NFL Week 4 takeaways: What We Learned from Sunday’s 13 games – NFL.com
NFL Research: Jalen Hurts had zero passing yards in the second half, becoming the first QB to win a game with eight or more passing attempts and zero passing yards in a second half since Panthers QB Jake Delhomme in Week 10 of the 2008 season at Oakland (0 for 9, 0 yards). They’re the only two QBs in league history to have wins in such games since at least 1991.

Jalen Hurts mum on the second half; A.J. Brown only tweeted. What’s going on with the Eagles’ Jekyll and Hyde offense? – Inquirer
But Jesus’ instruction to his disciples on how to respond to rejection as metaphor for how Brown felt after he caught just two passes for 7 yards on Sunday? That was pointed at someone or someones internally with the Eagles, two sources close to the receiver said. Brown saw the ball come his way nine times — more than double any other of Hurts’ targets. But few were catchable. Hurts couldn’t hit the side of a bus in the second half as all eight of his attempts fell incomplete.

Jalen Hurts didn’t have much to say about sluggish second half – PFT
And it’s not just the passing game. Running back Saquon Barkley is averaging under 60 rushing yards per game, and he’s gaining 3.1 yards per carry. A year after rushing for 2,000 yards, Barkley is barely on pace to get half of that. Still, the champs are unbeaten. The question is whether the wins are sustainable.

Week 4 Quick Reads: Puka Nacua, Daniel Jones Lead Top Players So Far – FTN Fantasy
Worst Wide Receiver or Tight End by DYAR: A.J. Brown was targeted on four incompete passes just in the fourth quarter, including three straight plays when the Eagles had the ball on their own 23 with 12:11 left.

Week 4 Game Recap: Eagles eke out win in Tampa Bay – Bucs Nation
Tampa Bay entered Sunday’s final quarter trailing by just eight points. Down 31-23, The Bucs put the ball in the hands of their captain. Mayfield led them near but not to the promise land, tossing a his first interception of the season inside of the Eagles’ endzone. Tampa Bay’s defense remained up to the challenge. Todd Bowles’ unit calmly rose up, and forced the Eagles into another punt, giving Mayfield his second opportunity at a miracle. Mayfield has been able to pull out the miraculous in 2025, however, not in week 4. Buccaneers fall to 3-1 Eagles 31-25, Eagles.

Commanders Vs. Falcons – Studs and Duds – Hogs Haven
Bobby Wagner: Despite leading the defense with 10 total tackles, Wagner also missed a few and was HORRIBLE in coverage allowing easy receptions to whoever he was ‘attempting” to cover. It’s VERY CLEAR that he needs to become a part-time player at this point of his career. […] Marshon Lattimore: Lattimore was picked on all afternoon, and he allowed Michael Penix and the Falcons receivers, mainly Drake London, to go off. Not only is he allowing separation, but he continues to commit penalties – and STILL allow receptions. I have been a defender of the trade, but I’m quickly starting to doubt the move.

10 thoughts on the Cowboys thrilling 40-40 Sunday night tie against the Packers – Blogging The Boys
The defense just can’t make stops. It’s hard to describe the frustration felt by how this Cowboys’ defense plays. They were not terrible all the time, but in a game where their offense did everything in its power to win, the defense couldn’t come through with a single stop in crunch time. Five times the Packers possessed the ball in the second half or overtime, and five times they scored. Even when the defense made plays on early downs, they’d falter on the money down. The Packers were 10/14 on third down and converted their only fourth-down attempt on a crucial play in overtime. In total, the defense surrendered 489 yards. It was terrible. Just one second-half stand would have been enough to give the Cowboys the victory. And that is because…

Cowboys vs. Packers was the best tie you’ll ever see – SB Nation
Move over Brioni, there is a new best tie in town. OK, now that the stupid dad joke is out of the way, let’s talk about Sunday night’s matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers — the best tie you will ever see in the NFL. Billed as Micah Parson’s return to the team that traded him just a month prior, the primetime matchup lived up to its hype, and then some. Parsons played a part in it, he registered a sack and two additional quarterback hits, but the drama that unfolded at Arlington’s AT&T Stadium went beyond the now-Packers edge trying to get revenge. Just look at some of the final numbers. Including overtime, Green Bay and Dallas gained 489 and 436 yards averaging a respective 6.2 and 6.5 yards per play. There were 10 touchdowns, a successful defensive two-point attempt after a blocked extra point, and, when all was said and done, Scorigami: no game had ever ended 40-40, making this the 1093rd unique final score in NFL history.

The Micah Parsons Revenge Game Wasn’t Really About Jerry Jones – The Ringer
Packers-Cowboys was billed as the final reckoning of the preseason trade that sent Parsons to Green Bay. Instead, the tie was much more about former teammates—and missed opportunities.

Giants-Chargers ‘Kudos & Wet Willies’: A lot to celebrate … with one big blemish – Big Blue View
Jaxson Dart — Head coach Brian Daboll said Dart’s performance wasn’t perfect. Dart agreed. It was, though, something the Giants had only experienced once in their previous 15 games a victory. The Giants did not ask Dart to carry too much of a load in the passing game. He went 13 of 20 for just 111 yards and took five sacks, at least a couple of them his own fault for not getting rid of the ball. He ran for 54 yards and a touchdown, though. He did not turn the ball over. None of his passes, in fact, were thrown into real danger. Dart played with toughness that has to be infectious. He worked through a left hamstring injury that mostly took the designed quarterback run out of the Giants’ playbook. He worked through the loss of star wide receiver Malik Nabers. He took hits and kept getting up, saying only that “it was just a football game.” Dart made winning plays. None were bigger than a third-and-5 completion for 13 yards and a first down to Theo Johnson that put the Giants in position to run out the clock with 2:38 remaining against a Chargers team that had no timeouts remaining. It was a play that Dart and Johnson had basically drawn up in the dirt, modifying the way it is designed in Daboll’s playbook.

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