On Sunday night, the Philadelphia Eagles dropped their second straight game, losing to the hated Dallas Cowboys. This game was not pretty. It was one of the worst losses so far during this season. The Eagles coughed up the ball three times, each time in Dallas territory. Their offense was made out to be the best in the league, but they failed to do anything worth mentioning. The Eagles’ defense outscored their offense, even though their defense was debatably worse.
Now when you are reading this and starting to see me tear apart this team, you might question how I can bash a 10-3 team that is still the NFC East division leader. As an Eagles fan and an avid NFL junkie, however, I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that there is something amiss. The NFC Champions of last year are gone; this team is not the same. The way the Eagles tore through their schedule last year is a complete afterthought this season. The Eagles are admittedly facing a more difficult schedule in 2023 compared to 2022, but this is no excuse. The 2023 version of the Philadelphia Eagles is considerably worse than the 2022 Eagles despite their record. There are multiple reasons to back up that point.
First, you have to start with the defense. They have been the biggest issue this season in my opinion. To understand how bad the drop-off is in 2023 in comparison to last season, you need to revisit how incredible their defense was in 2022.
Last year, the Eagles had 70 sacks. This landed them in the number three spot all-time for most sacks by a team in a single season, breaking their franchise record as well. They were averaging a little under four sacks a game. This year, they have 37. While 70 is an impressive number, the Eagles are only 12th in the league for sacks. The Eagles’ defensive success starts at the line of scrimmage, and they have not achieved success. In the last two losses for the Eagles, they have only managed 3 sacks. That is simply not good enough, especially when you consider the two quarterbacks they have played: Brock Purdy and Dak Prescott. They are not exactly running threats. Hassan Reddick is the only Eagle showing up on the line, tallying 11 sacks on the season.
Another issue with this defense is the incompetence of the secondary. The Eagles brought back Darius Slay and James Bradberry this past offseason, signing them to large extensions. Slay is being paid $50 million over three years. He was also given a $14 million signing bonus as well. Bradberry is on the books for $38 million over three years. Unbelievably, he is guaranteed $20 million this season based on how he has played. Slay and Bradberry are both paid to be elite corners in this league, and that is not the case whatsoever. They have been the guys trusted to cover some of the best wide receivers in football for the Eagles this year. How have they done? They have not done well. Instead, the Eagles’ passing defense has been the worst in the NFL so far this season.
The 2022 Eagles’ defense allowed 3,057 passing yards in the regular season. We are only 13 games into the 2023 season, and incredibly, Philadelphia has surpassed that total, giving up 3,379 yards. They are on pace to allow over 4,418 yards in the air by the end of the regular season. That is yet another insane stat that tells the tale of how bad their passing defense has been. They have allowed 29 touchdowns this year, and at this rate, they will give up 37 touchdowns. This would be the seventh-most allowed touchdowns in a single season all time.
The Eagles rush defense is another issue. The Eagles have been known to have a good rushing defense in the past several years, but they have not this year. They have a great frontline with the likes of Jordan Davis, Fletcher Cox, Jalen Carter, Brandon Graham and Hassan Reddick, but this is not enough to consistently stymie their opponent’s run game.
This season saw the Eagles start strong defensively against the run, only allowing an NFL-best 63 rushing yards a game through Week 7. In the following six games, though, the Eagles are 27th in rushing yards allowed per game with 130. In each of the past four games, they have allowed over 135 yards. This is the first time since 2006, and only the third time since 1985, that the Eagles have done this. In 2022, the Eagles only gave up 135+ rushing yards once after Week 7.
Another common theme here is the inability of the Eagles to get stops. The Eagles have the talent on defense to get off of the field at a decent clip this year. They just haven’t gotten stops on third down. This results in the offense continuing to sit on the bench and collect rust while the defense gets more and more tired with every snap. In 2022, the Eagles placed 12th in the league with a 38.49% third down conversion percentage defensively. This year, however, the Eagles are the worst in football on third down, allowing their opponents to convert at a 48% clip. In the past few weeks, the Eagles have allowed the Bills, 49ers and Cowboys to convert at a 61% rate. That is the highest conversion percentage against the Eagles in a three-game span since 1991. When you cannot get off the field, this leads to points being accumulated very quickly on the scoreboard. In the past three games, the Eagles have allowed a whopping 109 points. For comparison, the 2022 Eagles’ worst three-game stretch in terms of points allowed was between Week 14-16, when they allowed 76 points.
Despite the awful defensive performance this year, they are not the only group to be blamed for this 2023 letdown. The offense has not been up to par either, and it starts with the man under center, QB Jalen Hurts. Hurts transformed into a superstar last year, accumulating 4,461 all-purpose yards and 35 touchdowns. He did all this while only turning the ball over six times. All six turnovers were interceptions. A year later, though, Hurts has been careless with the ball and has impacted games by giving the ball up too much. Now, I am well aware that people will argue against this and point out his 19 passing touchdowns so far this season, but I don’t see how you can overlook the sore thumb that is the turnover issue for Hurts. In 2023, he has taken a step backward in that facet of the game. He has turned the ball over 15 times this year. 10 of these have been interceptions with the remaining five being fumbles. He is on pace to end 2023 with 19 turnovers. This would be triple his total in 2022. He did miss two games in 2022, but even with that accounted for, he would still average out to around seven on the season with the extra games.
Last year, it almost felt as if the Eagles would score at will to begin games. They came right out the gate and took it to their opposition. This year is a bit different, however, as the Eagles have not flexed their muscles as much as they did last year offensively on first drives. The Eagles have come away with a touchdown four times through 13 games this year on their first drive. Some might say that isn’t bad, but they are not looking at the 2022 Eagles, who scored a touchdown on their first drive eight times through 13 games, doubling their total this year.
The final glaring issue is their red zone efficiency. This is something that has become increasingly more apparent and problematic in the past three games. The Eagles scored touchdowns in red zone opportunities 68% of the time in 2022. In 2023, it is down 8%. This is not too bad, but the issue is how they have looked in the past two games in those situations. Against arguably the two fiercest threats to the Eagles in the NFC, the 49ers and Cowboys, the Eagles were 2-for-5, operating at a 40% rate. Against teams like that, you need to take advantage when you get inside their 25-yard line. You cannot miss out on opportunities at the beginning of the 49ers game. Each of the first two drives was killed in the red zone, and the Eagles settled for three each time. This gave momentum to the 49ers, who went on to outscore the Eagles 42-13 after those drives. When you leave points on the board in games against good teams, it will come back to haunt you. The Eagles learned that the hard way against the 49ers, and then against the Cowboys.
Jack Morgan 
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