The Birds appeared well on their way to a 2-0 start before an ugly collapse late against the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football. After a Saquon Barkley drop kept Atlanta’s hopes alive, Kirk Cousins and Co. marched down the field with ease for a game-winning touchdown inside the final minute.

Now, Nick Sirianni’s team will enter a tough road environment to face the NFL‘s hottest offense through two weeks in the New Orleans Saints. Following a 47-10 Week 1 rout of the Carolina Panthers, Derek Carr and the Saints went into Jerry World and hung a 40-burger on the Dallas Cowboys in a stunning 44-19 blowout.

Carr has played like an MVP candidate so far, boasting a 142.4 quarterback rating with five touchdowns, one pick and a 76.9 completion percentage. And star running back Alvin Kamara already has five total touchdowns while gaining 5.7 yards per carry.

So can the Eagles’ defense contain Carr, Kamara and the Saints’ offense enough to leave the Big Easy with a win? Or will the Birds fly back to Philly below .500?

Here’s how to watch Eagles-Saints in Week 3:

When do the Eagles play next?

The Eagles will battle the Saints on Sunday, Sept. 22.

What time does the Eagles vs. Saints game start?

Kickoff from Caesars Superdome in New Orleans is set for 1 p.m. ET.

What TV channel is the Eagles vs. Saints game on?

Eagles-Saints will air on Fox.

How to stream the Eagles vs. Saints game live

The game will also be available to stream on FoxSports.com, the Fox Sports app, NFL.com and the NFL app.

How to watch pregame, postgame coverage on NBC Sports Philadelphia, NBC10

Eagles-Saints coverage will begin on NBC10 at 9:30 a.m. ET with Eagles Game Day Kickoff. Then head over to NBC Sports Philadelphia at 11:30 a.m. for Birds Huddle: Game Day followed by Eagles Pregame Live.

After Eagles-Saints ends, switch back over to NBC Sports Philadelphia for Eagles Postgame Live.

Because the Eagles held a walkthrough on Wednesday, their injury report was an estimation. But Brown was listed as a non-participant with a hamstring injury he suffered last week. Brown missed the loss to the Falcons on Monday Night Football.

And now Brown’s status for Week 3 against the Saints is definitely in doubt.

ESPN sideline reporter Lisa Salters said during Monday night’s broadcast that she talked to Brown and he expected to “miss a couple weeks.” After the Eagles play the Saints in Week 3, they play the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay in Week 4 before an early Week 5 bye.

There’s no doubt that the Eagles missed Brown in their 22-21 loss to the Falcons at the Linc on Monday.

“Any time you lose a player like A.J. Brown, it’s going to affect you,” head coach Nick Sirianni said. “But again, I thought the efficiency of the offense wasn’t as good as we needed it to be in the red zone, but the guys that had to step up and make plays in the absence of A.J. did a good job.”

During his first two seasons with the Eagles, Brown has been a two-time Pro Bowler and has had over 1,400 yards receiving in each season. He’s one of the best receivers in the NFL; of course they missed him.

Without Brown, the Eagles’ top receivers in terms of snaps were DeVonta Smith and Jahan Dotson. After that, Britain Covey, Johnny Wilson and Parris Campbell filled in. Smith had 7 catches for 76 yards and a touchdown. The others had 7 catches for 29 yards (Covey had 6 for 23 and Dotson had 1 for 6).

Wilson was able to play on Monday night after entering Monday listed as questionable with a hamstring injury of his own. Wilson was the only other player listed as DNP on Wednesday afternoon.

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Inc. (PIAA) announced on Wednesday, Sept. 18 that the high school level of girl’s flag football is now a sanctioned sport.

“We’re thrilled that we can offer another opportunity for girls to participate in interscholastic athletics,” PIAA President Frank Majikes said. “This is the second girls’ sport in two years to be approved.”

The PIAA explained that a sport can be considered for sanctioning once it has adopted “a set of operational and safety standards set forward by a governing body.” Those standards must be used by members of the program.

For girls flag football, PIAA required that there be at least 100 teams throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. That number was reached in April with 65 schools participating on the eastern side of the state thanks to the Eagles and 35 schools on the western side thanks to the Steelers.

The Eagles and the Steelers worked together over the last three seasons to grow the flag football program in Pa.

“When we launched our girls’ flag football league in 2022, we set an ambitious five-year goal to get the sport sanctioned in our state. Now, here we are three seasons later and two years ahead of schedule,” Eagles chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie said. “The sport’s organic growth is a credit to the participants, administrators, coaches, officials, and parents who helped raise the profile of girls’ flag football. We thank the PIAA for their leadership in recognizing a sport that has the power to unlock new pathways and opportunities for girls of all ages in every community.”

When the Eagles launched their flag football program, it started with just 16 schools in the spring of 2022 from the Philadelphia Public and Catholic Leagues. In 2023, it grew to 38 before reached 65 this year. There are currently over 1,600 girls playing on the eastern side of Pennsylvania.

The Eagles have helped with learn-to-play support as well as coaching and officiating clinics and much more.

The Birds also partnered with Operation Warm to design a new sports bra line called FLY:FWD specifically for young girls and women in flag football.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are credited with starting their girls flag football in 2022 with just six schools before eventually growing to 36 schools this year.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

True to form, she won’t be playing favorites between her sons, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and recently retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce. “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story” revolves around a “fan of the year” contest for the team, while “Christmas on Call” features a die-hard Eagles fan who helps his love interest get to know Philadelphia, according to a release from the Hallmark Channel this week.

While Mama Kelce is no stranger to the camera, having appeared in Jason Kelce’s documentary and many a gameday photo, the two movies mark her acting debut. In “Holiday Touchdown,” she plays the manager of a barbecue restaurant. And while it’s unclear whether she’s playing a character or herself in “Christmas on Call,” her role is to ensure one of the leads “orders her Cheesesteak the authentic way – ‘whiz wit.’”

The cameo announcements follow Travis Kelce’s own forays into Hollywood — having hosted “Saturday Night Live” in early 2023, before his relationship with Taylor Swift sent his profile stratospheric, he’s now set to act in Ryan Murphy’s “Grotesquerie” and host “Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?” He also earned his first producer credit this year.

Jason Kelce, meanwhile, has joined ESPN as an analyst. He’ll also have a song in one of his mom’s movies: “Christmas on Call” will feature “Santa Drives an Astrovan,” by The Philly Specials — also known as Jason Kelce and Eagles players Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson — featuring Mt. Joy, the release said. It’s from an upcoming album from which proceeds will go to the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

The Kelce brothers also recently inked a blockbuster deal with Amazon’s Wondery for their popular “New Heights” podcast.

Reagor, the 21^st pick in the 2020 draft, had just 15 catches in parts of three seasons with the Vikings and Patriots since the Eagles jettisoned him after just two seasons. 

Of 160 wide receivers drafted in the first round since 1960 who’ve played in at least 50 career games, Reagor’s 937 career receiving yards are 6^th-fewest and fewest among WRs drafted in the last 40 years.

The Eagles drafted Reagor instead of Justin Jefferson, whose 5,899 yards are most in NFL history by a receiver in his first four seasons.

While Jefferson was setting out on a likely Hall of Fame career, Reagor never made an impact with the Eagles and seemed unable to escape Jefferson’s enormous shadow lurking over him.

Reagor had a 55-yard catch from Carson Wentz in his first NFL game in Washington on opening day 2020, but his first career reception remains his longest career reception. And after catching 16 passes for 211 yards in his first five NFL games, he had just 15 catches for 185 yards the rest of his rookie season. He dropped to 33-for-299 in Year 2. 

Reagor and Nelson Agholor are the only 1^st-round receivers in the last 10 years with two separate seasons where they started at least 10 games and had fewer than 400 receiving yards.

The Eagles unloaded Reagor after just two seasons and soon after he turned 23, trading him to the Vikings for a couple late-round picks. He caught eight passes for 104 yards and a touchdown on a pass from Kirk Cousins in his one year with the Vikings, who released him after 2023 training camp.

The Patriots signed him and he had seven catches for 138 yards and no TDs last year, although he did have a 98-yard kick return for a touchdown in a loss to the Bills on New Year’s Eve. 

New England released Reagor last month at the end of training camp and then re-signed him to the practice squad. He wasn’t a game-day call-up for either of the Patriots’ games this year.

Reagor has 79 career catches for 937 yards and four touchdowns to show for his first four-plus seasons. His career mark of 16.7 yards per game ranks 197^th out of 226 modern-day receivers drafted since 1970. Among those 160 who’ve played at least 50 games, he ranks 152^nd.

Reagor, still only 25, has earned about $14.6 million in his career, according to Spotrac, with the Eagles responsible for about $9 million of that.

Reagor ranks 90^th in Eagles history with 695 career receiving yards, just behind Mark Bavaro and just ahead of Trey Burton.

What’s next for Reagor? He’s an unrestricted free agent and possibly a team in desperate need of a receiver could snap him up for minimum wage.

The Eagles? They are missing A.J. Brown for an undetermined amount of time, and Reagor did play with Jalen Hurts for two years. And we know Howie Roseman loves bringing back players for a second stint.

But not this time. It’s impossible to imagine Roseman revisiting one of the worst decisions of his career.

But the show must go on, and I promise we’ll squeeze some positive numbers and trends in there at the end. At least, we’ll try.

1. The Eagles have allowed 6.4 yards per rushing attempt through two games, the worst in franchise history (and 14^th-worst in NFL history). And if not for two Kirk Cousins kneel downs at the end of that game Monday night, which officially count as rushing attempts, that number would be 6.7, which would be 9^th-worst all-time. They’ve allowed 315 rushing yards against the Packers and Falcons, the most through two games since the 1986 team allowed 403. They’ve already allowed 11 runs of at least 10 yards. They had allowed one at this point last year. And their next opponent, the Saints, are averaging 185 rushing yards per game so far. 

2. Let’s stick with the defense. Eagles edge rushers have now gone six straight games without a sack going back to Week 14 at Dallas last year, when Haason Reddick sacked Dak Prescott in Sean Desai’s final game as defensive coordinator. That was three defensive coordinators ago. This is the first time since sacks became an official stat in 1982 that the Eagles have gone six straight games without a sack from an edge rusher (or defensive end, as they were once known). The Eagles have gone six straight games with two or fewer sacks, one game shy of their longest streak since 1993. The Eagles are the fourth team in history to allow at least 6.4 yards per carry and record three or fewer sacks through two games. Josh Sweat has now gone 10 straight games without a sack. He had 13 in the previous 13 games.

3. For the 25^th consecutive game, the Eagles had one or fewer interceptions. That’s the 9^th-longest streak in NFL history and the longest current one. The last time the Eagles had multiple interceptions in a game was the Packers in Week 12 of 2022, when Josiah Scott and Reed Blankenship both picked off Aaron Rodgers in the Eagles 40-33 win over the Packers. The longest streak in NFL history of games without two INTs is 40 by the Raiders from 2003 through 2006. That streak ended when Nnamdi Asomugha picked off Browns QB Charlie Frye twice at Oakland Coliseum in a game the Browns won 24-21.

4. Kirk Cousins’ game-winning touchdown pass to Drake London with 38 seconds left was the sixth game-winning touchdown pass in the final minute against the Eagles in the last 30 years – and Cousins’ second. The most recent was Drew Lock’s 29-yarder to Jaxon Smith-Njigba in Seattle last December and before that Cam Newton’s 1-yarder to Greg Olsen at the Linc in 2018. Before that? Cousins had a 4-yarder to Pierre Garcon in Washington’s 23-20 win over the Eagles at FedEx Field in 2015.

5. With Bijan Robinson (14-for-97, 6.9) and Tyler Allgeier (9-for-53, 5.9), this was the first time in 15 years that two opposing running backs each had at least nine carries and averaged at least 5 ½ yards per carry against the Eagles. Last time it happened was the last day of the 2009 season, when Marion Barber III (14-91) and future Eagle Felix Jones (15-91) did it in a 24-0 Cowboys win at AT&T Stadium. It’s only happened one other time since 1980. In 2005, Mike Anderson of the Broncos (21-126, 6.0) and Tatum Bell (14-107, 7.6) did it in a 49-21 win in Denver. That was also T.O.’s final game as an Eagle.

6. The Eagles’ current streak of nine straight games without being plus one or better in turnover margin is their longest since a 12-game streak in 2012 and their 2^nd-longest since 1985. Their minus-17 mark over the last 15 games is their worst in a 15-game stretch since a minus-19 over the 2012 and 2013 seasons. After finishing last year at minus-10 in turnover margin, the Eagles are minus-3 two games into the 2024 season. That’s their 3^rd-worst turnover mark after two games since 1996. They’ve been minus-1 or worse in 11 of their last 14 games. They’ve only been plus-one or better twice in their last 17 games – plus-1 in back-to-back wins over the Cowboys and Chiefs last November. 

7. OK, we promised you some positive stats and here we go: Saquon Barkley’s 204 rushing yards so far are most by an Eagles running back through two weeks since LeSean McCoy had 237 two games into the 2013 season, and his 248 scrimmage yards are the most since McCoy had 356 the same year. With 95 rushing yards on Monday night, he fell five yards short of becoming the first Eagle with 100 yards in each of his first two games in a season since Charlie Garner in 1994. His 46 carries are the most by an Eagle through two weeks since Herschel Walker had 54 the first two weeks of 1992.

8. DeVonta Smith is only the sixth player in Eagles history – and third in the last 50 years – with seven or more catches in each of the first two games of a season. Smith had seven vs. both the Packers and Falcons. Others to do this were Don Looney in 1940, Timmy Brown in 1965, Harold Jackson in 1972, DeSean Jackson in 2013 and Nelson Agholor in 2018. Only Jackson in 1972 opened a season with seven catches in the first three games. Those were his only games in 1972 with seven receptions.

9. Jalen Hurts’ 76.3 completion percentage against the Falcons was 3^rd-highest of his career, behind an 83.9 against the Vikings in 2022 and a 77.1 vs. the Falcons in Atlanta in 2021. It’s 10^th-highest in Eagles history (minimum 30 attempts), and he’s the first Eagles quarterback to complete at least 76 percent of his passes in three different games. Carson Wentz and Nick Foles each did it twice. Hurts is only the second player ever with two games at 75 percent or higher vs. the Falcons. Drew Brees had six.

10. Hurts increased his career total to 42 rushing touchdowns, 5^th-most in NFL history and just one behind Steve Young and two behind Otto Graham. The top two are Cam Newton (75) and Josh Allen (55). He’s fourth in Eagles history with those 42 rushing TDs, just two behind LeSean McCoy and three behind Wilbert Montgomery. With three more, he’ll trail only Steve Van Buren (69).

They definitely missed A.J. Brown.

The Eagles’ Pro Bowl receiver didn’t play in this game because of a hamstring injury suffered during the week and his status for Week 3 in New Orleans is now very much up in the air.

So how did the Eagles divvy up Brown’s snaps? Here’s a look at how much the other receivers played and their production:

DeVonta Smith: 71/71 — 10 targets, 7 catches, 76 yards, 1 TD
Jahan Dotson: 56/71 — 1 target, 1 catch, 6 yards
Britain Covey: 23/71 — 6 targets, 6 catches, 23 yards
Johnny Wilson: 19/71 — 1 target
Parris Campbell: 15/71 — 0 targets

Obviously, Smith became the top receiving option in this game and had a good showing. He made some tough grabs and his touchdown catch in the back of the end zone showed off next-level body control.

But without Brown, the Eagles didn’t play Smith inside as much in Week 2. In Week 1, Smith played 53.9% of his snaps in the slot. In Week 2, that was down to 33.3%.

Of course, the Eagles need more out of Dotson. He got his first catch as an Eagle but it wasn’t even on a route. His one catch came on an orbit motion swing pass and went for just 6 yards. Dotson didn’t arrive until Aug. 22 so he’s still catching up but the Eagles had to give up a third-round pick in the trade to acquire him.

Covey’s usage was surprising. He had just six targets in his NFL career before Monday night and then doubled his career total in one game for just 3.8 yards per reception. Wilson’s one target came on an off-schedule play; he was also flagged for a hold. Campbell spent a lot of the summer as the favorite to be the No. 3 wideout but was cut and landed on the practice squad; he didn’t see a single pass go his way.

Other offensive notes

• The Eagles bumped up their 12 personnel (two tight end) usage in this game a bit without Brown in the lineup. They had 24 plays (33.8%) in 12 personnel after using it just 25% of the time in the first game of the season. There are definite trickle-downs to Brown missing time. 

But it’s not like the tight ends were super productive either. Goedert had 3 catches for 38 yards and Grant Calcaterra had 2 for 19. Goedert was targeted just four times in a game without Brown — that doesn’t seem like enough.

• Jalen Hurts and his entire offensive line played all 71 snaps. A lot went wrong on Monday night but the offensive line looked solid again.

• Saquon Barkley got 64 snaps and Kenny Gainwell got just 7. Will Shipley didn’t touch the field. Aside from his drop on a 3rd-and-3 (obviously a big mistake), Barkley had a productive night. 

Barkley had 26 touches for the second straight week. He’s the first Eagles running back to have 26+ touches in the first two weeks of the season since LeSean McCoy in 2012. The only other player in Eagles history to do that was Herschel Walker in 1992.

Defensive notes

• The Eagles for the second straight week kept rookie Quinyon Mitchell on the field for every snap as an outside cornerback, along with Darius Slay. Both played 61. The Eagles ended up using a lot of nickel in this game, which means Avonte Maddox played 55 snaps.

It seemed very strategic on the Falcons’ part to run as much 11 personnel as they did. That forced the Eagles into nickel for much of the game and then the Falcons gashed the Birds in the run.

• Reed Blankenship and C.J. Gardner-Johnson played all 61 snaps, while Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean played 60 each.

• At defensive tackle, Jalen Carter led the way with 46 snaps but was held out from the first series for disciplinary reasons, according to Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer. After Carter, Jordan Davis played 29 snaps, followed by Milton Williams (25), Moro Ojomo (17) and Thomas Booker (9). Booker played just nine snaps but had 3 tackles and 2 TFLs.

• On the edge, Josh Sweat led the way with 40, followed by Bryce Huff (32), Brandon Graham (28) and Nolan Smith (23). Huff wasn’t dead last like he was in Week 1 but he definitely struggled in this game.

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

It keeps happening and there doesn’t seem to be anything Nick Sirianni can do to stop it.

The players have changed. A bunch of ‘em. Twenty-two guys who started a game last year are gone.

The coaches have changed. Both coordinators and half a dozen position coaches are new this year.

The one thing that hasn’t changed, the biggest common denominator, is Sirianni, and when we start to assign blame for yet another preposterous nightmare Eagles loss, that’s where we have to start.

Because his job right now is setting the culture, preparing the football team, making the big decisions that set the tone for what we see on the field.

And what we’ve seen on the field way too often lately is disastrous.

They lost to the Jets after leading with 46 seconds left. They lost to the Seahawks after leading with 28 seconds left. They lost to the Cards after leading with 32 seconds left. And now they’ve lost to the Falcons after leading with 38 seconds left.

Sometimes you just get beat. Like the 49ers and Cowboys blowouts late last year. Those are almost easier to take than these. Because few things are worse than giving a game away in the final seconds, and the Eagles have now done that four times in less than a year.

These type of losses cut your heart out. 

In four of their last seven losses the Eagles have led with under two minutes left.

Their previous 144 games, it didn’t happen once.

So when it keeps happening, you have to look straight at the head coach and wonder why.

He’s still got that gaudy won-loss record, one of the best in NFL history, and he’s done some really good things since he’s been here. This team played in a Super Bowl just 19 months ago, and there’s still a chance he can become that NFL rarity – a head coach who takes his first four teams to the postseason. Still early and all that.

But the Eagles are also 2-7 in their last nine games and every one has either been a 4^th-quarter meltdown or a lop-sided embarrassment.

It’s easy to blame Saquon Barkley for the dropped pass on the late third down that could have put the game away or Darius Slay for the blown coverage on the Falcons’ game-winning touchdown. But in the bigger picture, this loss raises some difficult questions about the coach and his ability to maintain a winning culture, instill confidence in his team and make the pivotal calls late in games that give the Eagles a chance.

Because what we saw Monday night looked so similar to what we saw late last season, and the Eagles were supposed to have gotten that out of their system because of all the changes to the roster and the staff, but the last two minutes of that game were right out of the 2023 Eagles Highlight Film.

Who’s to blame?

I don’t know where else to look.

As soon as Barkley dropped that pass and before the Falcons even got the ball back, I told the other guys on the NBC Sports Philadelphia postgame set – Ron Jaworski, Barrett Brooks and Michael Barkann – that the Eagles were going to lose. I was convinced of it. Didn’t matter that the Falcons had to go 70 yards in a minute and a half with a barely ambulatory 36-year-old quarterback. 

When you’ve already seen the same movie a bunch of times, you know it’s going to have the same ending.

Yeah, it’s only one game and, yeah, at 1-1 they still have a chance to achieve all their preseason goals. And it looks like the rest of the division might not be any good. But for all of Sirianni’s talk about core values and connecting and fundamentals and competing, the one thing this team is best at lately is giving games away.

For me, it’s really not even about the questionable decisions — when to go for it, when to kick a field goal, when to throw, when to run. Those are fair questions, but this goes so far beyond that.

Really, it’s about whether Sirianni still has what it takes to get this team mentally and physically prepared to play football.

Not for 58 or 59 minutes but for 60 minutes.

And it seems crazy to ask this question about a coach who’s had so much success, but there’s a growing body of evidence that he doesn’t.

It’ll start with Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets back on primetime when they host the New England Patriots on Thursday Night Football.

The early window on Sunday will have seven games, led by the Philadelphia Eagles at the high-flying New Orleans Saints in what will be a good test for Derek Carr. C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans will take on the Minnesota Vikings, with Sam Darnold in the middle of a strong start.

Five games will form the late window, with the Baltimore Ravens hoping to bounce back at the Dallas Cowboys, who will have the same goal. The San Francisco 49ers will engage in a divisional battle against the Los Angeles Rams, as both teams are also coming off disappointing losses on the road.

Sunday Night Football will see Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs on the road looking to improve to 3-0 as they visit Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons.

Monday Night Football will conclude the week with a doubleheader, led by Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars on the hunt for their first win of the year at the 2-0 Buffalo Bills.

Here’s a look at the full Week 3 schedule:

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

It certainly looked like the Eagles were going to walk away with an ugly win but ended up losing 22-21 and will now have to go on the road on a short week to face the red-hot New Orleans Saints.

Let’s take a look at the grades:

Quarterback

Jalen Hurts: 23/30, 183 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT; 85 rushing yards, 1 TD

The Eagles’ quarterback made some poor decisions in Week 1 but had a better game in Week 2. Sure, he threw an interception late in the game but it’s hard to fault him too much for trying to make a play as the clock ticked away. Still can’t get picked there but Hurts wasn’t the biggest problem in this game. Hurts threw for just 183 yards but looked really good running the football. He was decisive and fast and had more rushing yards than he did in any single game last season.

Grade: B–

Running back

Saquon Barkley: 22 carries, 95 yards; 4 catches, 21 yards

For the second straight week, Barkley had 26 touches in the game. He was the best player on the field for much of the night. Even though he didn’t hit 100+ on the ground, he looked good toting the rock and was picking up yards that didn’t appear to be there. Sure, Barkley dropped the ball on 3rd-and-3 late in the game on a play that would have iced it. He’d love to have that one back. But you can certainly argue he shouldn’t have been in that position.

Grade: B+

Receiver

DeVonta Smith: 7 catches on 10 targets for 76 yards, 1 TD

There’s no doubt the Eagles missed A.J. Brown in this game. The offense is just very different without the Eagles’ best skill player. But Smith had a nice evening with one touchdown and he would have had another but Jessie Bates made a great play on the ball in the end zone. But after Smith, the other receivers combined for 7 catches for 29 yards. Britain Covey had 6 for 23 and Jahan Dotson had 1 for 6. Johnny Wilson had one target without a catch (and was called for a hold) and Parris Campbell wasn’t even targeted. Dotson was the No. 2 wideout in this game and he barely made an impact. The Eagles traded to get Dotson for situations like this and he had a quiet night.

Grade: B-

Tight end

Dallas Goedert: 3 catches on 4 targets for 38 yards

Without Brown in this game, it would have made sense for the Eagles to go to Goedert a lot and that didn’t happen. He just didn’t have a huge output. Grant Calcaterra had 2 catches for 19 yards but also got blown up on a few blocks.

Grade: C

Offensive line

The offensive line was solid in this game. Hurts seemed to have a clean pocket for most of the evening and he was sacked just one time for a loss of 4 yards. The offensive line also blocked well for Barkley to pick up some big yardage. The only thing to clean up here are the ineligible man downfield penalties. Those are tough but the Eagles had three of them and that’s not a new problem.

Grade: A-

Defensive line

Thomas Booker IV: 3 solo tackles, 2 TFLs

The biggest concern about the Eagles right now is probably the play of the defensive line. They were absolutely gashed in the run game by Bijan Robinson (14 for 97) and Tyler Allgeier (9 for 53). The line also failed to get much pressure on Kirk Cousins, who was sacked just one time for 8 yards. That sack came from Milton Williams but it was one of a few pressures all game. Cousins was way too comfortable. Booker made some plays in this game but the edge rushers still don’t have a sack through two games.

Grade: D

Linebacker

Zack Baun: 9 combined tackles

Baun had 9 tackles in this game and Nakobe Dean had 7. Both made a few plays but gave up a few in this game. Dean was called for an illegal contact that wiped out a Brandon Graham sack in the second quarter. For how bad the pass rush has been, it’s a killer to take a sack off the board.

Grade: B-

Secondary

Quinyon Mitchell: 3 tackles, 1 PBU

Definitely a mixed bag from the secondary. The C.J. Gardner-Johnson hit stick on 4th down should have been the play everyone is still talking about but the Eagles ended up blowing the lead. The PBU from Quinyon Mitchell in the first half was a great play too. But the secondary missed tackles and Darius Slay gave up the final touchdown after he was beaten badly by Drake London.

Grade: C+

Special teams

Braden Mann: 2 punts, 93 yards, 1 inside 20

Mann had a good day punting the ball and also got down a high snap for a Jake Elliott field goal. Elliott made both of his field goals and an extra point. Will Shipley had a nice 27-yard kickoff return and Covey’s only punt return went for 9 yards. They also didn’t give up any big plays. Special teams was fine.

Grade: B+

Coaching

Record: 1-1

This is a game the Eagles should have won. They were the more talented team. But there were plenty of questionable decisions in this game, especially in the fourth quarter. Nick Sirianni deserves to be questioned for his decisions to throw the ball on third down and then to kick a field goal on fourth down with under 2 minutes remaining. Those are decisions that could have cost the Eagles this game. On top of that, the Eagles were penalized nine times in this game.

Grade: F

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons pulled off a stunner on Monday Night Football, coming back late to beat the Eagles 22-21 to avoid an 0-2 start.

Philadelphia had been in prime position to see out the clock late in the fourth, but opted for a pass play that may have been punished by the football gods for being too greedy. Cousins, with Atlanta down 21-15, led a drive that took just under a minute to end in a Drake London touchdown.

With 26 seconds to go, Hurts’ attempted deep ball went off target and into the hands of star safety Jessie Bates III that left Lincoln Financial Field in silence.

Let’s analyze the game further with winners and losers:

WINNER: Kirk Cousins, Falcons

Cousins seemed destined to fall into the loser category, but he turned it around all within one drive. After a lackluster three and three-fourths of the fourth quarters, Cousins ended the game with 241 passing yards, two touchdowns and no picks on 20 of 29 completions.

The 36-year-old looked rusty all game after a shaky Week 1 off the back of zero preseason action, but all that rust seemed to dissipate when he needed to lock in.

Darnell Mooney, who caught a 41-yard catch and score earlier in the game, proved decisive in the final drive alongside London.

Atlanta will need this version of Cousins in Week 3 when it hosts Patrick Mahomes the Kansas City Chiefs.

LOSER: Jalen Hurts, Eagles

How quickly one can go from the hero to zero. Hurts was destined to be a winner following a solid dual-threat outing, but now he drops into the opposite category. That’s just how the nature of the game works sometimes.

Hurts was far from the issue. He threw for 183 yards, one touchdown and one pick on 23 of 30 completions, while looking like the 2022 version of himself on the ground, rushing for 85 yards on 13 carries with a tush-push touchdown.

But all that matters is the end result, and two plays late in the contest did not go Hurts’ way. Nick Sirianni should be just at fault for not keeping things simple prior to Cousins’ game-winning drive.

WINNER: Bijan Robinson, Falcons

Robinson, unlike the previous two sections, was going to be a winner regardless. The second-year running back got whatever he wanted on the night, even if it didn’t result in any touchdowns. He ran for 97 yards on 14 carries, good for a nice average of 6.9. He also caught four passes for 25 yards. His burst and agility just couldn’t be contained by Philadelphia.

Tyler Allgeier also put in a strong shift, rushing for 53 yards on nine attempts for an average of 5.9. Philadelphia will need to fix its run defense as soon as possible.

LOSER: Saquon Barkley, Eagles

Barkley was on the path to two straight robust performances as Philadelphia moved to 2-0. That all changed with one play. Late in the fourth quarter on a third and short, Hurts threw to Barkley on a wide-open flat route that would’ve resulted in a first down to ice the game. But Barkley astonishingly dropped it, leading to Cousins’ ensuing drive.

The drop marked Barkley’s 16th since 2021, the most among running backs in that span. He had 21 receiving yards on four catches and rushed for 95 yards on 22 attempts (4.3 average). However, the NFL world will primarily remember the drop that eventually cost Philly the game.

WINNER: Jessie Bates III, Falcons

Bates III had a monstrous outing in Atlanta’s secondary. He led all players with 12 total tackles, with seven solo. That included one tackle for loss. He also recorded two passes defended, one of them being a touchdown saver when DeVonta Smith nearly hauled in Hurts’ pass late in the third.

Smith should’ve held on, but it was just superior defending by the 27-year-old to knock out the ball cleanly without pass-interference contact.

Bates III then later had the aforementioned interception on Hurts to seal the result.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

They might have to play the Saints next week without him too.

During the ESPN broadcast, sideline reporter Lisa Salters said she spoke pre-game with Brown, who expects to miss a couple of weeks with the injury.

Here’s what Salters said in her report:

“I talked to A.J. Brown just before kickoff. He said what happened in practice on Friday was really just a freak thing. He said he was running a route, his hamstring tightened up on him. He said he does not think it’s too serious but he does expect to miss a couple of weeks.”

Brown suffered his hamstring injury during Friday’s practice and was held out of Saturday’s practice. He was initially listed as questionable but got downgraded on Sunday to out.

Brown, 27, is at the game, watching from the Eagles’ sideline.

Without Brown on Monday night, the Eagles elevated Parris Campbell from the practice squad but have been going with DeVonta Smith, Jahan Dotson, Britain Covey and Johnny Wilson too.

The Eagles traded for Dotson on Aug. 22 for an instance like this. While they obviously wanted to have a better third receiver for their 11 personnel package, they also wanted an option if one of their top two receivers ever had to miss time. Dotson was a first-round pick but the Commanders were willing to let him go after just two seasons in the NFL. In two years with the Commanders, Dotson had 84 catches for 1,041 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Even though the Eagles have other options, missing Brown is a big blow. He’s a Pro Bowler and one of the top receivers in the NFL. He has gone over 1,400 yards in each of the last two seasons, which are the two best receiving seasons in franchise history.

The Eagles will play the Saints (2-0) on Sunday in New Orleans in Week 3.

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

You don’t have to run into a pillar to figure out how to get to the game for cheap.

The Eagles take on the Atlanta Falcons at Lincoln Financial Field for the home opener on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. Here’s your guide to getting down to the stadium complex for the nationally-televised game.

SEPTA adds extra service for Philadelphia Eagles home games

“SEPTA is ready for the start of the 2024 Eagles season with extra Broad Street Line [B] and Regional Rail service set for Monday’s home opener against the Atlanta Falcons,” the transit agency said.

Basically, SEPTA will be running its regularly scheduled trains — every 8 minutes or less — on the Broad Street Line leading up to the 8:15 p.m. kickoff.

SEPTA will run 10 extra express trains departing Fern Rock Station every 10 minutes from 6:05 p.m. to 7:35 p.m.

Lincoln Financial Field has a handy guide on its website laying out how to take the Broad Street Line to the game, regardless of whether fans are in Philly, the suburbs or New Jersey, but SEPTA broke it down this way:

“Eagles fans can connect with the Broad Street Line from dozens of bus routes, and there is a free transfer from the Market-Frankford Line [L] and City Trolley [T] routes at 15th Street/City Hall. The Broad Street Line is also just a short walk from Regional Rail stations in Center City and easily accessible from the PATCO High Speed Line for fans from south Jersey.”

to increase the access to the subway to and from the game, SEPTA is adding additional trains on the Warminster and Paoli/Thorndale lines (Click here for that schedule).

However, as you celebrate the Birds’ win, be sure not to hang out too long before you head to the subway.

“SEPTA strongly urges riders to go directly to NRG Station after the game so they can catch the Broad Street Line and connecting services,” SEPTA said.

A subway line ride costs $2 each way with SEPTA Key, Key Tix via SEPTA App and contactless payment, and $2.50 for a Quick Trip card or cash.

How much does it cost to park at Eagles games at Lincoln Financial Field?

Parking in lots at the Linc during the 2024 NFL season costs $45 for cars and $90 for oversized vehicles like RVs and buses, according to the stadium’s website.

You can always check SpotHero to see if you can find a place to park in the area around the stadium complex.

All odds provided by Fanatics Sportsbook.

Eagles vs. Falcons, 8:15pm

Point spread/ML – Falcons +5.5/+200    Eagles -5.5/-250

Total Points (O/U) – 45.5 points

Analysis: Brown’s hamstring will almost certainly put a dent in the Eagles’ passing game. The Falcons managed just ten points against the Steelers at home in Week 1. The Eagles’ defense isn’t a finished product yet; they were gashed in the running game, and the Packers only punted twice. The Eagles just have more talent across the board, but I don’t think they will dominate.

Picks: Eagles ML; Under 45.5 points

Passing Props (O/U)

Kirk Cousins – 225.5 passing yards; 33.5 attempts; 21.5 completions; 1.5 passing TD (+145/-190)

Jalen Hurts – 230.5 passing yards; 30.5 attempts; 20.5 completions; 1.5 passing TD (+125/-185)

Analysis: Cousins threw for just 16/26 for 155 yards in Week 1. Those numbers will tick up, but he doesn’t have a wealth of talent to throw to. I feel like the loss of Brown will lead the Eagles to keep the ball on the ground more.

Picks: Cousins UNDER 225.5 yards; Hurts UNDER 230.5 yards

Rushing Props (O/U)

• Bijan Robinson – 85.5 yards
• Saquon Barkley – 80.5 yards
• Jalen Hurts – 35.5 yards
• Tyler Allgeier – 20.5 yards
• Kenny Gainwell – 10.5 yards

Analysis: As mentioned, the Eagles will aim to keep the ball on the ground, which means a heavier workload for Barkley, Hurts and Gainwell. Barkley had 24 carries vs GB, he could have even more. Steelers QB Justin Fields ran for 14/57 against Atlanta’s D, so look for Hurts to bust a couple tonight. The Eagles run defense didn’t fare well in Week 1, yielding 7.8 yards/carry.

Picks: Robinson OVER 85.5 yards, Barkley OVER 80.5 yards, Hurts OVER 35.5 yards

Receiving props (O/U)

• DeVonta Smith – 70.5 yards; 5.5 receptions
• Drake London – 55.5 yards; 5.5 receptions
• Dallas Goedert – 45.5 yards; 4.5 receptions
• Kyle Pitts – 40.5 yards; 3.5 receptions
• Darnell Mooney – 35.5 yards; 3.5 receptions
• Bojan Robinson – 30.5 yards; 4.5 receptions
• Jahan Dotson – 25.5 yards; 2.5 receptions
• Saquon Barkley – 20.5 yards

Analysis: With Brown out of the mix, Smith should see much more targets tonight, as will Jahan Dotson and TE Dallas Goedert. Robinson was 5/43 on five targets in Week 1, as Cousins threw 12 of his 26 passes to RBs. That doesn’t leave much love for the rest of his skill position players.

Picks: Smith OVER 70.5 yards, OVER 5.5 receptions; Goedert OVER 45.5 yards; Dotson OVER 25.5 yards, OVER 2.5 receptions

Anytime Touchdowns

Barkley – -180

Robinson – -110

Hurts – +105

Smith – +125

Goedert +190

London – +190

Pitts – +240

Dotson – +270

Allgeier – +290

Analysis: Barkley is a near-lock; I would sprinkle some on 2 scores (+310) for tonight. Same with Robinson, for even more value (+475). Dotson and Goedert could see some red zone targets in this one as well.

Picks: Barkley, Robinson, Goedert

It came in 2017, when Foles returned to the Eagles after a few years away and after a rocky second chapter of his NFL career. Foles told Graham about how he contemplated retirement prior to the 2016 season before ultimately deciding to sign with Andy Reid in Kanas City, a move that rejuvenated his career.

The next offseason, the Eagles were looking for a backup quarterback and gave Foles a call.

You know how the rest of the story goes.

“If he would have retired,” Graham said, “then who knows what would have happened. We’re probably not even talking about Super Bowl.”

There’s some other timeline in an alternate reality where Foles retires before 2016. He never comes back to Philly. He never becomes the folk hero who stepped in for Carson Wentz to deliver a Lombardi Trophy. Graham never becomes a hero himself for his strip sack on Tom Brady. Heck, there’s no Philly Special!

In that other world, the Eagles are still yearning for that elusive first Super Bowl championship.

“I’m happy that he didn’t (retire),” Graham said.

So is the rest of Philadelphia. Finally on Monday night, years after he first contemplated it, Foles will officially retire from the NFL. He’ll do it as a member of the Eagles and will be honored in front of a sellout crowd at the Linc.

As everyone gets ready to honor Foles on Monday night, we caught up with the dwindling list of current Eagles who were his teammates in Philadelphia. There are just eight players and one position coach left: Brandon Graham, Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata, Dallas Goedert, Jake Elliott, Rick Lovato, Avonte Maddox, Josh Sweat and OL coach Jeff Stoutland.

DE Brandon Graham

Graham is the longest-tenured Eagles player and the only guy on the current team who was in Philly when Foles was drafted in the third round in 2012.

The thing he remembers most about rookie Nick Foles?

“Well, he had hair,” Graham said.

Graham also remembers Foles’ ability on the basketball court. He said Foles was smooth on the hardwood.

As Graham’s career winds down, he’s been able to be more reflective this season. He knows he’ll always be tied to Foles and the rest of the 2017 Super Bowl champs.

“Somebody that I’ll always remember because he got us that (Super) Bowl, man,” Graham said. “He came up big in a moment where he wasn’t even the guy for the year. That’s you making sure you’re staying ready for your moment and he stayed ready for his moment. The coaches adjusted to what we had, we adjusted to what the game plan was and we executed. I’ll always be indebted to him for that.”

OT Lane Johnson 

When Lane Johnson was drafted in the first round in 2013, he became teammates with Foles for the first time. But he still remembers watching Foles lead Westlake against Southlake Carroll in the 2006 Class 5A Division II high school title game in Texas.

Johnson always admired Foles as a football player but then he got to know Foles as a person.

“Football was a big part of his life but it wasn’t his identity, which a lot of people can’t say that,” Johnson said. “I felt like he kept it light for us. He was just a good teammate. He would always go out of his way to talk to you and just be a good guy.”

Over the course of their time together, Johnson spent a lot of time blocking for Foles but what stands out most to Johnson about his former teammate didn’t happen on the field.

It was Foles’ influence in the NovaCare Complex that Johnson remembers most.

“He was really adamant about Bulletproof Coffee,” Johnson said. “He tried to get everybody in this motherf—er to drink some Bulletproof Coffee. That’s what I remember about Nick. He was a big Dave Asprey, Bulletproof Coffee man.”

Did he get Johnson?

“Hell yeah, he got me,” Johnson said. “I still drink Bulletproof Coffee to this day. So thank you, Nick.”

OL coach Jeff Stoutland

Legendary offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland arrives at the NovaCare Complex every morning at 5:30 and as he enters the building, he passes a large image of Foles hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.

“I sometimes stop, I take my phone and I take a picture of that,” Stoutland said. “And I send it to Nick Foles and I say, ‘I love you.’ And he loves that.”

Stoutland is unsure how to find an old photo in his phone so every time he decides to text one to Foles, he takes a new shot. He probably has a bunch of the same photo clogging up his storage but at least it’s a cool image.

Foles is revered by Eagles fans but his coaches have a ton of respect for him too. Stoutland on Saturday was asked why he thinks Foles had so much success in Philly but not at his other stops.

“I think that, for whatever reason, Nick was meant to be here,” Stoutland said. “You could feel it when he was in the game. Like, you felt him. When he went in, you could feel him. Like, ‘We’re going to be all right. Nick’s in the game.’”

TE Dallas Goedert

The Eagles traded out of the first round in 2018 so their top pick ended up being Dallas Goedert in the second round. He was the top pick on a team that was coming off a Super Bowl win. After Wentz got hurt again in 2018, it was Foles who took over.

And the Super Bowl MVP put him at ease.

“Anytime I was in the huddle with Nick, he would just say, basically, I’m going to give you guys shots to make plays and I expect you to make plays,” Goedert said. “So I feel like he just did a good job instilling confidence with everybody in the huddle. That’s what he did. I feel like that’s when Alshon Jeffery was playing his best. He didn’t need to create a lot of separation but he could go up and get the ball all the time.

“It was just that he had trust, he would tell us he had trust before he even gave the play call. I feel like that just instilled confidence in me to be able to go out there and make a play.”

Goedert was a second-round pick but he wasn’t the top tight end as a rookie. The Eagles still had Zach Ertz, who was a Super Bowl hero himself.

As Goedert found his way in the NFL, Foles was one of the encouraging voices in his ear.

“It was really important. It was really cool,” Goedert said. “I think I played with him six games or something like that, he threw me my first playoff touchdown so that was really cool. I got to experience that with him. But just the confidence that he put in me was really big as a rookie.”

OT Jordan Mailata

While Foles helped instill confidence in Goedert, at least the second-round pick had played football before. Back in 2018, Jordan Mailata was still new to the game and he was getting beaten quite frequently on the scout team.

Foles was always there to encourage him. That’s what Mailata remembers most.

“He was very supportive,” Mailata said. “Every time I’d mess up or I gave up a sack or messed up a run block, he was always there to pick me up. He was always encouraging. He would always say, ‘It’s going to come, it’s going to come. You just gotta keep on going every day.’ He would just give me nuggets every day.

“It went a long way because I was a young boy who didn’t know anything. As much as our vets help us, the vets weren’t out there with me on scout team when Foles was. Foles was very supportive.”

Back then, it seemed like a long shot that Mailata would ever really work out. But a couple years later he got some starts at left tackle and now in Year 7, Mailata is one of the better left tackles in the NFL.

“I think him being encouraging helped a lot with my mindset,” Mailata said. “If Nick is telling you it’s OK, then just play the next play. I kept doing that every day.”

K Jake Elliott

If you remember, Jake Elliott wasn’t even on the Eagles’ roster to start in 2017. But after a Caleb Sturgis injury, the Eagles signed Elliott off the Bengals’ practice squad and Elliott has turned into one of the best kickers in the NFL. 

The specialists’ lockers are right next to the quarterbacks in the Eagles’ locker room.

“I just remember him sitting right here and just having an honest, good time in the locker room,” Elliott said. “He was a guy you could always go to and rely on him for life advice and just having a good time and being a good person. Most of the memories for me came right here.”

The night before Elliott spoke about Foles, he actually saw the clip of that Foles pass that bounced off Keanu Neal’s knee and into Torrey Smith’s hands in the 2017 playoffs. That was a fun memory.

But Elliott mostly remembers his chats with Foles in the locker room and the advice he’d get from him about staying even keel.

“He has obviously gone through a lot of ups and downs throughout his career,” Elliott said, ‘so just no matter what has happened, just weather the storm and stay even keel and just keep pushing.”

LS Rick Lovato

Rick Lovato remembers a couple of weeks before the Super Bowl, when the Eagles practiced the Philly Special and Foles dropped the pass.

“Oh my gosh, I don’t know if this is going to work,” Lovato thought to himself.

Spoiler Alert: It did.

But just like Elliott, Lovato’s favorite memories of Foles have nothing to do with football. Lovato became close friends with Foles and their wives are still close to this day. Lovato remembers going to the Foles’ house for barbecues and pizza nights.

At the time, Lovato was still just in his second year in the NFL and a friendship like the one he shared with Foles went a long way.

“Having Nick come back onto the roster, it was just so easy to talk to him about anything,” Lovato said. “I was a young player just trying to get a feel of everything around me. But he made that very, very easy. That’s a part of the reason we won the Super Bowl. We had so many veteran guys who made sure this team came together in every aspect, no matter how young or old you were.”

DB Avonte Maddox

Avonte Maddox was a fourth-round pick in 2018 just as the Eagles were coming off the Super Bowl win. He was on the defensive side of the ball, which meant he was across the line of scrimmage from Foles and also across the locker room from him.

“He’s a great person. Nick was funny. We always talked,” Maddox said. “He was over there (points to where his locker was), so that was a plus. He used to talk to me all the time. Other than that, I just know that out there on the field, he used to always throw the no-look pass. That was pretty cool. He’d do that and he’d laugh and say, ‘We got you.’ So it was definitely cool.”

DE Josh Sweat

Like Maddox, Josh Sweat was a fourth-round pick in 2018. Because he was just trying to survive as a rookie, Sweat didn’t get to know Foles all that well.

“It was different for me because my mind was just always in a different place,” Sweat said. “I knew who he was and I knew what he had done, so I knew he was big-time but I never got to feel that, ‘Oh this is Nick Foles’ because I was trying to survive on my own.”

While Sweat didn’t get to know Foles as well as some of his other teammates. But he did face him in practice.

“I did play against him on scout team,” Sweat said, “but obviously I can’t sack him or anything.”

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

Brown, who suffered a hamstring injury in practice on Friday, sat out practice on Saturday and was initially listed as questionable. But the Eagles downgraded him on Sunday, which means he’ll miss a regular-season game for the first time since he joined the Eagles in 2022.

Brown, who had five catches for 119 yards in the opener vs. the Packers, has the 3^rd-most receiving yards in the NFL since opening day 2022 with 3,071, trailing only Tyreek Hill (3,663) and CeeDee Lamb (3,169). 

With Brown out, the Eagles plan to start recent acquisition Jahan Dotson, the 16^thpick in the 2022 draft. Dotson had 84 catches for 1,041 yards and 11 touchdowns in two seasons with the Commanders. The Eagles acquired Dotson and a 5^th-round pick on Aug. 22 in exchange for a 3^rd-round pick and two 7^th-round picks.

There’s a good chance practice squad receiver Parris Campbell, the Colts’ 2^nd-round pick in 2019, will be a game-day activation. Campbell spent training camp with the Eagles.

Brown missed the Eagles’ wild-card loss to the Bucs in January with a knee injury, but he’s played in 37 consecutive regular-season games since December 2021 with the Titans. With Brown out for Tampa, DeVonta Smith had eight catches for a franchise-postseason-record 148 yards but not other wide receiver had more than 22 yards.

In his career, Brown has played in 78 of a possible 84 games. On Friday in São Paulo, he increased his career receiving yards total to 6,066 yards and became the 14^th-fastest player in NFL history to 6,000 career yards.

Rookie receiver Johnny Wilson, who played 10 snaps in his NFL debut vs. the Packers, is still listed as questionable for Monday night. The Eagles’ only active wide receivers who are not on the injury report are Smith, Dotson and Britain Covey.

Along with Campbell, Danny Gray, Kyle Phillips and Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint are also on the practice squad. Gray was a 3^rd-round pick of the 49ers in 2022 and has one career catch. Phillips, a 5^th-round pick of the Titans in 2022, has 23 catches for 259 yards. Jacksaint, who was in camp with the Commanders along with Dotson, is an undrafted free agent and hasn’t played in the NFL.

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

The Eagles would take that.

Dotson, who played 30 snaps without a catch in his Eagles debut Friday night in São Paulo, will have to take on an expanded role Monday night when the Eagles face the Falcons at the Linc.

Superstar wide receiver A.J. Brown, who has the 3rd-most yards in the NFL since he joined the Eagles in 2022, has been ruled out for the Falcons after suffering a hamstring injury at practice on Friday.

“I’m extremely comfortable,” Dotson said after practice Saturday. “We’re preparing right now as if A.J. is playing. That’s the goal. But if my opportunities do come, I’m going to take full advantage of them. That’s what I was pretty much brought here to do. Take advantage of every single opportunity that’s given to me.”

The Eagles have gone through a number of third receivers over the past few years with limited success – Quez Watkins, Zach Pascal, Olamide Zaccheaus, Julio Jones. When John Ross and Parris Campbell failed to take ownership of the third outside spot in training the Eagles acquired Dotson from the Commanders on Aug. 22 along with a 5th-round pick in exchange for a 3rd-round pick and two 7th-rounders.

Dotson, a star at Penn State, was a disappointment in Washington as the 16th pick in the 2022 draft. He had 84 catches for 1,041 yards with 11 touchdowns in 29 games for the Commanders. He surpassed 60 yards in only five of his 26 starts.

But the Eagles are hopeful that in this offense, with Jalen Hurts at quarterback and a bunch of other weapons alongside him, Dotson can come in and make enough plays to keep defenses honest.

“A lot more comfortable within the playbook, within my role in this team,” he said. “Working on it day by day, but getting more comfortable each and every day. So it’s been good.”

Dotson played 30 snaps against the Packers without a catch. He was targeted once on a Hurts pass that was nearly intercepted.

“Everyone in the league pretty much runs the same things,” Dotson said. “I feel like the biggest difference is when you come from an offense that calls something one thing and you come to this offense and it’s the same exact thing, but you call it something completely different.

“I always tell people when they ask me, it’s kind of like learning a different language. Things mean hello, but people say it in different ways and different languages. So that’s the best way I can put it. I’ve been getting it down pretty good. I have a lot of confidence going into Monday night.”

Dotson is another fairly local guy. He attended Nazareth Area High School in Upper Nazareth and also spent a year at Peddie School in Hightstown, Mercer County before playing at Penn State, where he had a huge senior year in 2021 – 91 catches, 1,182 yards, 12 touchdowns.

Assuming Dotson starts, this will be the first time two Penn State players have started in the same game for the Eagles since Michael Timpson and Mike Zordich – also against the Falcons – on Dec. 14, 1997.

“Played here a couple times on the opposing side, but I feel like playing here with the home team is going to be pretty cool, pretty awesome,” Dotson said. “It’s going to be electric Monday night.

“Me, personally, I love night games, so I’m really excited for it.”

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

And lots of other stuff that will answer questions you never knew you had. 

1. I may be in the minority on this one, but I’m not concerned with Jalen Hurts and interceptions. Yeah, I know he threw 15 of ‘em last year and two bad ones Friday night against the Packers. But last year was such a mess I automatically toss a lot of the negatives out the window just because by December this became an impossible place to excel. It seemed like as things were falling apart around him, Hurts started trying to do too much to overcome all the dysfunction on offense, especially with the uninspired play calling and clumsy coaching communication. This was not an atmosphere for quarterbacks to be at their best. And even with that, Hurts had a seven-game stretch from Miami through the second Dallas game where he threw three INTs (and 12 touchdowns) in the span of 232 passes. During that stretch – from Week 7 through Week 14, so nearly half the season – he had the 4^th-best interception ratio in the league. Going into last year, Hurts had the 8^th-best interception ratio in NFL history (minimum 1,000 attempts) with one INT every 55 attempts. He’s now down to 26^thon that list with one every 45. If he keeps throwing them, at some point it’ll become a cause for concern. I just think he’s better than that. He reverted into some old habits in the opener, trying to do too much, and they were too really ugly INTs. But I don’t think that’s ultimately who he’ll be as a quarterback. 

2. Over the last 30 years, the Eagles have won their season opener 17 times and reached the playoffs 13 of those seasons. The only exceptions are 2011 and 2012 – Andy Reid’s last two seasons – 2014, when they went 10-6 under Chip Kelly but missed the postseason, and 2016, Doug Pederson’s first season. The 13 times they’ve lost their opener over the last 30 years they’ve reached the playoffs five times – 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2010. So when they win their opener they reach the playoffs 76 percent of the time and when they lose it they reach the playoffs 38 percent of the time. Exactly half as often.

3. As terrific as Saquon Barkley looked Friday night in São Paulo, and he looked really, really good, the real test comes Monday night against the Falcons. Barkley had 132 scrimmage yards against the Packers, but he hasn’t had consecutive games with 132 scrimmage yards in five years. The last five times he’s netted 132 scrimmage yards, he’s averaged 47 scrimmage yards the next game. Some of that is just being on the Giants. He wasn’t getting much help. Now he’s in an offense loaded with talent with a play caller that seems to have a terrific sense of how to get the most out of him. But it will be interesting to see if Barkley can string together a number of big games here because if there are any lingering questions about where he is that would sure answer them convincingly. Barkley had 132 scrimmage yards eight times in his first 18 career games and then eight in his next 56 games. Last time he did it in back-to-back games was Week 15 and 16 of 2019, with 143 vs. the Dolphins and a career-high 279 in Washington. From what I saw vs. the Packers? Barkley looks as good as ever. Fast, physical, powerful, sharp. If he can stay healthy and play consistently at this level, he’s going to look like one heck of a bargain at $12.6 million per year.

4. The Eagles have gone 28 consecutive games without intercepting more than one pass, the longest streak in franchise history. The previous high was 22 straight games from September 1983 through October 1984. They’ve only had three other streaks half as long. Last time they picked off two passes in a game was Nov. 27, 2022, in a 40-33 win over the Packers at the Linc, when Reed Blankenship and Josiah Scott each intercepted Aaron Rodgers. It was the first career interception for both of them. The next-longest current streak belongs to the Rams, with 19 straight, then the Eagles’ opponent Monday night, the Falcons, with 17 straight. The Eagles’ streak of 28 games without two or more INTs is 5^th-longest in NFL history. The Raiders have the longest streak ever with 40 straight games over the 2003 through 2006 seasons with one or fewer INTs. That streak ended when Nnamdi Asomugha picked off Browns quarterback Charlie Frye twice at Oakland Coliseum. The Browns won 24-21.

5. You know who does a fantastic job? Jemel Singleton. He’s now in his fourth year as Eagles running backs coach, one of five assistants who’ve been with Nick Sirianni since the start. His first year, Miles Sanders averaged 5.5 yards per carry, 2^nd-best among running backs (behind Rashaad Penny). His second year, Sanders was fifth in the NFL with 1,269 rushing yards with 11 touchdowns and made his only Pro Bowl. Last year D’Andre Swift was fifth in the NFL with 1,049 yards and made his only Pro Bowl. And this year, he’s got Saquon Barkley looking like it’s 2018 again. It’s not all Singleton. You could probably put Lorenzo Booker behind this offensive line and he’d look good. But he’s got a chance of coaching a different Pro Bowl running back three straight seasons, and that speaks volumes.

6. Kirk Cousins has lost his last two starts against the Eagles – Week 2 of 2022 and Week 2 of 2023, both times with the Vikings – but he’s generally played very well against the Eagles, with 26 touchdowns, nine interceptions and a 101.3 passer rating – 8^th-highest all-time vs. the Eagles (minimum 100 attempts), behind Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning, Patrick Mahomes, Milt Plum (from Woodbury High School), Andy Dalton and Kyler Murray. Cousins is one of only four QBs with three career four-TD games against the Eagles (along with Eli Manning, Sonny Jurgensen and Boomer Esiason), and his 67 percent completion percentage is 9^th-highest against the Eagles. He’s had seven games vs. the Eagles with a passer rating over 100, and only Tony Romo has had more (Billy Kilmer, Jim Hart, Eli Manning and Dak Prescott have also had seven). Cousins is now 36 and coming off an Achilles injury and doesn’t look 100 percent healthy, and the Eagles should be able to get some pressure on him and hound him into some turnovers and mistakes. But if they don’t – and it’s been a while since they pressured anybody – he can light ‘em up.

7A. Dave Zangaro and I were wondering on a recent Eagle Eye podcast whether the Eagles knew exactly what they had in Zack Baun when they signed him in March on the first day of free agency. Did they sign him expecting him to do what he did with the Saints and play edge? Or did they somehow have an idea he could successfully convert to off-ball linebacker? Vic Fangio cleared that up Wednesday, when he said that based on a very limited number of linebacker snaps with the Saints, he projected that Baun could be a full-time off-ball backer. “When I watched his play in New Orleans, on occasion he would end up as an inside linebacker. Not very often. And from those few plays, I thought he could do it. Was I going to bet my life savings on it? No, but I had a good feeling that he could do it. And he can. And I think he’ll just keep getting better and better.” This is really incredible and speaks volumes about Fangio’s ability to look at a player and understand his strengths and weaknesses and how they would fit into a position change as well as how he would fit in his scheme. And the fact that the Eagles signed him in the opening hours of free agency tells you how bad Fangio wanted Baun and how convincing he was getting Howie Roseman to sign him. A few more weeks of Baun playing the way he did Friday and it’s time to start thinking long-term contract.

7B. Baun has as many sacks over the Eagles’ last seven games as all Eagles edge rushers combined.

8. Josh Sweat doesn’t have a sack in his last nine games. He had 15 in his previous 17 games.

9. Saquon Barkley’s 132 scrimmage yards in the Eagles’ opener are 6^th-most by a player in his first game as an Eagle and 3^rd-most by a running back. We started wondering who had the most scrimmage yards by a player in his first two games as an Eagle. The answer is Charlie Garner, who had 111 rushing yards on just 16 carries and two touchdowns plus a 28-yard catch for 139 scrimmage yards in his first NFL game, the Eagles’ 40-8 upset win over the nine-point favorite 49ers at Candlestick in Week 5 of the 1994 season. A week later, Garner ran 28 times for 122 yards and caught two passes for 13 yards for 135 scrimmage yards and a two-game total of 274 yards. The closest anybody has come since is Darren Sproles with 263 – 85 vs. the Jaguars (71 rushing, 14 receiving) and 178 in Indy (26 rushing, 152 receiving). So Barkley needs 142 yards Monday night against the Falcons to tie and 143 to break Garner’s 30-year-old record. The NFL record for scrimmage yards by a player in his first two games with a team is an otherworldly 445 yards by the Lions’ Billy Sims as a rookie in 1980 (217 vs. Rams in NFL debut, 228 vs. Packers a week later).

10. In the win over the Packers, the Eagles became only the eighth team in NFL history to allow 7.5 yards per rushing attempt and finish minus-two in turnover margin and win a game. Teams that allow 7 ½ yards per run and are minus-2 are 8-65 overall.

The Eagles’ PR interns do a great job filling out these little oddities in the media guide and they serve as a good way to meet the players behind the helmets.

This week, we chatted with defensive tackle Thomas Booker, whose first sports was tennis.

Me: Your first sport was tennis?

Thomas Booker: Indeed it was.

Me: Tell me about that. When did you start playing?

Booker: So I started playing tennis, I want to say, when I was probably 5 or 6. It was actually my dad’s first sport as well. He also played football at the University of Wisconsin so he kind of went that same route of tennis to other things. For me, I think it’s kind of influenced a lot of my movement style.

Me: Yeah?

Booker: Yeah, in terms of my lateral agility and quickness because that’s basically all tennis is. Anticipation and being able to move laterally and be agile. It also taught me a lot of mental fortitude, I feel like. Because, at the end of the day, it’s not a team sport.

Me: Yeah, you’re by yourself.

Booker: If you’re losing, it’s all on you. You see a lot of guys crack their rackets and things like that. Because it’s hard to deal with the fact that if you’re losing, there’s nobody else you can look to. It’s also hot, a lot of conditioning goes into it too. Yeah, so that was my first sport.

Me: How long did you play?

Booker: I really played until I was like, probably, 12 or 13 and then I switched over. All throughout that time, I was playing basketball and baseball as well. But I think I switched off of tennis when I was about 12.

Me: How would you describe your play style?

Booker: I would just say, I’m versatile. I can play a lot of different spots. I can play from 0 technique to 5 but when it comes to my actual movement style, I think I’m very quick in terms of being able to change direction and also being able to mirror people because tennis gave me that background. My dad used to say, ‘There’s nothing on a football field that will move faster than a tennis ball.’

Me: I like that.

Booker: Because people are serving the ball at 110 miles per hour, all the rest of it. I think my ability to see something and be able to react to it has improved with that as well. If I had to diagnose my game, I would say quick, change of direction and powerful and sudden.

Me: Did you ever play for fun a lot after that?

Booker: It’s been a minute, just because I’m usually recovering. But I honestly need to get back out there. I might do it on an offseason vacation or something.

Me: I think Jake Elliott used to play tennis.

Booker: I believe it. Jake has probably played everything.

Me: Yeah, that’s probably true. If you had to go out there right now, how do you think you’d do?

Booker: I think I’d actually be straight. I have kind of gotten a diet version of it with the ping pong we have here. But obviously ping pong and tennis are very different sports. I think I’d be good. It would take me a little while to get the serve back and a little bit of the forehand but I think I’d be straight.

Me: What’s your take on the pickle ball invasion of tennis?

Booker: OK, so I have an unpopular take on pickle ball. I think pickle ball is like a lower effort version of tennis. You don’t have to move around as much. I am a fan of people getting outside and getting active, so I’m not going to hate too much. But … as someone who played tennis, I feel like it is a watered down version of it.

Me: Fair enough. Thanks, man. I appreciate it.

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

He always wanted to make it to Year 15 and now he has.

But Graham isn’t collecting a paycheck for hanging around. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio plans to play him a lot.

“Yeah, Brandon is still a good player and I’ve told him several times, he’s not on any ceremonial last-year retirement parade,” Fangio said. “He’s going to play. He’s still playing good.”

In Week 1, the 36-year-old Graham played 32 snaps against the Packers. That was the second-highest amount among the Eagles’ edge rushers behind just Josh Sweat. That put him at 48% of the Eagles’ defensive snaps in Week 1 after he played just 34% in the 2023 season.

Graham played more snaps in Week 1 this year than he did in all but two games last year. But his usage wasn’t a complete surprise.

“Vic had said that and now I believe him,” Graham said with a laugh.

As he has gotten older, Graham has learned to take better care of his body. And now that he knows he’s going to be playing a lot in 2024, that will continue.

“Just making sure that I’m staying in the weight room, staying strong, doing my regimen,” Graham said. “When you’re playing a lot, you can’t cheat it. You have to go out and do your process.”

Can’t make ‘unwise’ decisions 

Nick Sirianni this week pointed out that the Eagles are the only team of 11 to lose the turnover battle and win their game in Week 1. He brought that up to the Eagles and told his team that it’s not sustainable:

Broncos: -1 (L)
Colts: -1 (L)
Jaguars: -1 (L)
Panthers: -2 (L)
Bengals: -2 (L)
Browns: -2 (L)
Jets: -2 (L)
Titans: -2 (L)
Eagles: -2 (W)
Falcons: -3 (L)
Raiders: -3 (L)

Jalen Hurts was responsible for two interceptions in that game. After throwing 15 in 2023, that’s not a good sign. But Hurts didn’t put the ball in harm’s way much in training camp and has showed accountability for his mistakes in the opener.

“I think I just made two unwise decisions,” Hurts said on Thursday. “Those are things that I own. Those are things that I’ve got to be better with and manage those situations. Just taking what they give me.”

Slipping and sliding

The Eagles tried to not make excuses after a sloppy Week 1 win and that’s a good thing. You don’t want a team full of guys who just complain about field conditions when both teams had to play on it.

But it’s impossible to ignore that field conditions in the opener in Brazil were tough. A lot of players were slipping and sliding around that field. Beyond excuses, the Eagles have to use that game tape in their evaluations and it won’t be easy.

“I’ll say it this way, and it’s not this extreme, but I remember when we first got to Indy,” Sirianni said. “Indy had played a game at Buffalo, and there was four feet of snow. It was insane. In 2017. Whatever the score was, but we were watching that game, and we were like, ‘Maybe we should watch another game to evaluate the players, maybe take this one out.’ I see a picture of — I always watch that one of Shady (McCoy), the game that he had here against Detroit. What an unbelievable — some unbelievable runs that he had in that snow-covered field.

“Again, we are not in the business of blaming anything. We are about accountability — that’s the only way you get better. Let’s talk about missed tackles. Did some of the missed tackles happen? Did some of them happen because a guy slipped? Yeah, the result of the guy slipping, that happened, but there’s also a way that you approach the running back. That’s what needs to be fixed, you can’t do anything about the field. It’s the same thing as a wide receiver. When a wide receiver slips in a break, well, you know that the field is a little bit sloppy, so you have to play with better fundamentals to go through that way.

“Yeah, you still can evaluate it, and I gave you two sides. I gave you one where we didn’t do it at all, I gave you one where Shady was making all these unbelievable plays. But we have to evaluate the approach to it, like the approach to the ball carrier. That’s why we might have missed a tackle or slipped in a route or whatever it might be. We still use that. We’re evaluating hard off that tape.”

Breaking tendencies

Back in the summer, Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore said something that really explained his view on coaching offensive football. He said that it’s important to create tendencies in order to break them in crucial moments.

Makes sense.

Being unpredictable is important for any offense. And after the Eagles’ offense got so stale toward the end of 2023, hearing this perspective from a new offensive coordinator was very refreshing. That explanation from Moore had been rattling around in my head for a few weeks so I finally followed up toward the end of his press conference on Thursday.

When you decide to break those tendencies, is it data-driven or based on feel?

“No, there’s a huge data aspect of this thing, just understanding who you are,” Moore answered. “We study the film aspect of it, but there’s a numbers aspect of it, as well, because play callers are going to call things based on the numbers. Those are usually high indicators that you’ve got to trust the numbers in some circumstances, so we’ve got to be aware of those numbers.

“If you’re really good at something, there are going to be tendencies that happen, so you’ve just got to have awareness of it and understand that at some point you’re going to have to make adjustments according to that.”

We’re just one game into the 2024 season but the early returns on Moore’s offense are very positive.

Lost in the Woods

When the Eagles signed defensive back A.J. Woods to their practice squad earlier this week, I had to do a double take. Wasn’t he already on the practice squad?

Nope.

That’s actually defensive back JT Woods. So now the Eagles have A.J. Woods and JT Woods, both defensive backs, on their 17-man practice squad. Not only that, but the Eagles have put their lockers next to each other at the NovaCare Complex.

Confusing, right? But here’s a handy guide to help you (and me) remember who is who:

Manning the position

The Eagles took the field for the first kickoff of their 2024 season at Corinthians Arena in São Paulo last Friday night and … surprise!

It was Braden Mann out there kicking off instead of Jake Elliott.

With the new kickoff rules, the Eagles had been tryout out both during training camp practices but when the season began, it was Mann.

“Yeah, I think having two guys that have the ability to do kickoffs, it just helps out, keeps the other team guessing who they’re going to put out there,” Eagles special teams coordinator Michael Clay said. “They both have two unique skill sets, but I thought Braden did a great job of neutralizing a great returner in Keisean Nixon. We were playing a little bit higher elevation, so that ball was traveling, and things could change, depending on what we were talking about throughout the week. But, we decided to go with Braden that week, and it may change this week as we move forward and keep looking at Atlanta. 

“But, I thought Braden did an excellent job being a kickoff guy, neutralizing them. I thought the kickoff team never took the foot off the gas because you never know when he’s going to return it, and you saw it — 27 seconds left, eight deep, he catches it and he wants to return it, we’ve got to make sure we give our defense that long field, and they did a really good job of corralling a really dangerous returner.”

What did Week 1 tell us about the new dynamic kickoff?

While teams had to show their hand a little bit in Week 1, Clay thinks most teams are still holding some of their cards close as it pertains to strategy. So the Eagles still have to be ready for almost anything in 2024.

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

Brown was a surprise addition to the team’s injury report on Friday afternoon when he was listed as limited with a hamstring injury.

What happened?

“Just got a little tight in practice yesterday,” head coach Nick Sirianni said on Saturday morning. “We’ll see how that goes.”

On Saturday morning, Sirianni intimated that backing off Brown’s workload on Friday was a precautionary measure.

“It’ll probably be the same thing today,” Sirianni said before practice.

But now Brown’s status for Monday’s game is up in the air. In addition to Brown, rookie wideout Johnny Wilson (hamstring) also missed practice on Saturday and is listed as questionable for the game. Every other member of the 53-man roster is ready to go.

While the Eagles have other dynamic offensive weapons aside from Brown, he’s one of the focal points of the offense and he’s coming off a fantastic Week 1. Against the Packers in São Paulo, Brown had 5 catches for 119 yards and scored on a 67-yard catch-and-run.

In his first two years with the Eagles, Brown has the top two receiving seasons in franchise history with 1,496 yards in 2022 and 1,456 in 2023. He has been named a Pro Bowler in each of those seasons.

If Brown can’t play or if he’s somewhat limited on Monday night, the Eagles would have DeVonta Smith and Jahan Dotson as their top two receivers. Smith came through in the clutch in the Week 1 win and has gone over 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons.

Dotson is still a newcomer in Philly after the Eagles traded for him on Aug. 22. The former Commanders’ first-round pick played just 32 snaps in the opener and was targeted one time without a catch. But Dotson has been working hard to catch up on the playbook and Sirianni said Dotson will be ready if he needs to play a bigger role.

“Yeah, he’s worked his butt off,” Sirianni said. “He’s obviously a very talented player and we’ll see how that goes. I know the guys are ready when called upon.”

If the Eagles need to elevate a receiver from the practice squad for this game, veteran Parris Campbell would make the most sense. The Eagles have just three healthy receivers on their 53-man roster: Smith, Dotson and Britain Covey.

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

The Eagles are coming off a 34-29 win over the Packers in Brazil, while the Falcons are coming off an 18-10 home loss to the Steelers.

Here are some key matchups to watch:

Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata vs. Matt Judon

The Eagles got an extended look at Matt Judon at their joint practice against the Patriots in August. He gave them fits. And then a couple days later, he was traded to the Falcons, who desperately needed some pass rush.

Judon, 32, played in just four games in 2023 but made four consecutive Pro Bowls before that and had 12 1/2 and 15 1/2 sacks in his two full seasons with the Patriots. He still looked that disruptive in the joint practice in August and Judon got off to a nice start in Week 1 with the Falcons, picking up half a sack and five combined tackles.

Judon will play on both sides of the line so both Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata will have to be ready for him in this game but Mailata will probably see more of him. The good news is that the Eagles have one of the best tackle duos in the NFL. Both Johnson and Mailata played extremely well in the season opener against a good Packers offensive line. Maybe the Packers had some trouble getting traction on the field in São Paulo, but the Eagles’ tackles did their job. After one week, Johnson ranks fifth and Mailata ranks 10th on the PFF top offensive tackles.

Jalen Hurts vs. Jessie Bates and Justin Simmons

After throwing just one interception all summer, Jalen Hurts made some bad decisions in Week 1 and threw a couple of interceptions against the Packers. The Eagles were lucky to win the game after turning the football over three times. Hurts knows he has to be better.

“Those are things that I control and I have to be better at and I take accountability for that,” Hurts said after the win.

One of those picks last week from Hurts was taken by safety Xavier McKinney. Hurts has to deal with a couple of tough safeties in Week 2 in Jessie Bates and Justin Simmons.

Bates, 27, is one of the best safeties in the NFL. The Falcons gave Bates a four-year, $64 million contract before last season and he lived up to it. In his first year with Atlanta, Bates had a career-high 132 tackles and 6 interceptions. Over the last two seasons, Bates has 10 interceptions, which ranks second in the NFL behind just DaRon Bland (14).

Also in the top five in interceptions? Bates’ new teammate Justin Simmons, who has 9 over the last two years. Simmons joined the Falcons in mid-August but learned the defense quickly. The two veterans safeties didn’t leave the field in Week 1.

Bates is so good that the Steelers really altered their game plan in Week 1.

A.J. Brown vs. A.J. Terrell

There’s no doubt that Brown is one of the best receivers in the NFL and he showed that again in the Eagles’ season opener. He had 5 catches for 119 yards and a touchdown against the Packers and did a lot of that damage against Pro Bowl cornerback Jaire Alexander.

Brown popped up on the injury report Friday with a hamstring injury so we’ll have to wait and see about his condition. But if he’s able to go, Brown will have another tough draw in Terrell but it shouldn’t be anything he can’t handle. Terrell isn’t considered to be one of the best corners in the NFL but he’s still well above average and is the best corner the Falcons have. He also plays on both sides of the line so it would make sense if he follows Brown in this game.

But even if Terrell is able to slow down Brown, the Falcons don’t have great corners beyond him. That means DeVonta Smith will be facing Mike Hughes outside and Dee Alford in the slot.

Eagles iOL vs. Grady Jarrett

One of the biggest questions coming into Week 1 was about the Eagles’ new-look interior offensive line with Cam Jurgens at center and Mekhi Becton at right guard. Both played very well down in Brazil, even against Pro Bowler Kenny Clark, who has the ability to wreck games.

Grady Jarrett is 31 now and might be well past his prime but he got off to a good start in Week 1 with 1 1/2 sacks, 3 QB hits and 2 TFLs. He had just 1 1/2 sacks in eight games last season so that’s an impressive first game in 2024.

Eagles linebackers vs. Kyle Pitts and Bijan Robinson

One of the biggest stories from Week 1 was the play of linebacker Zack Baun, who had 15 tackles and was all over the field. And the other starting linebacker, Nakobe Dean, also had some really good moments when he was running downhill. We’ll see what happens with Devin White (ankle), who missed Week 1. But no matter who is out there, this Falcons offense can definitely put some stress on linebackers with a good tight end and running back who are good pass catchers.

Bijan Robinson is entering Year 2 is expected by many to have a huge breakout season. He had 1,463 scrimmage yards as a rookie and had 111 in Week 1. In his career, Robinson has 530 receiving yards in 18 games and he has caught 63 passes. The Falcons are going to work to get him the ball in the passing game.

But the Eagles also need to tackle better in this game. Their tackling struggled in the opener and 50 of his 68 rushing yards against the Steelers came after contact.

As for Kyle Pitts, he has never lived up to his draft status as a first-round pick since his Pro Bowl rookie season, he still has the ability to make some plays. He had just 3 for 26 and a touchdown in the opener. 

Quinyon Mitchell vs. Drake London

Quinyon Mitchell, the rookie from Toledo, has an incredibly encouraging first NFL game against the Packers. Going against a really good offense in a crazy environment, Mitchell made plenty of plays and didn’t back down. It’ll be fun watching him go against a big receiver like Drake London. The 6-4, 213-pound London is in Year 3 and has had a pretty solid career so far. Can this be a breakout season for him?

The Falcons’ other top receivers are Darnell Mooney and Ray-Ray McLoud. McLoud had 4 for 52 in the opener and gets most of the snaps inside. After the Packers seemed to target Avonte Maddox in the first game, it’ll be interesting to see what combination the Eagles put out there in Week 2.

Eagles vs. Kirk Cousins in primetime 

In his career, Kirk Cousins has started 11 games agains the Eagles and has a 6-5 record with 26 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. But in his four primetime games against the Eagles, Cousins is 1-3 with three straight losses.

In Week 1, Cousins didn’t have a very good performance. He completed 16 of 26 passes for 155 yards with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. His passer rating was 59.0. Cousins is coming off an Achilles injury that ended his 2023 season early and he didn’t look like himself in Week 1. Maybe he’s not fully healthy or maybe he’s just not trusting his surgically repaired ankle but everything was in shotgun or pistol and it certainly wasn’t fun to watch.

Eagles pass rushers vs. Falcons OL

Cousins was getting rid of the ball extremely quickly in Week 1 with an average time to throw of 2.51 seconds, according to ProFootballFocus. That was the fifth-fastest time to throw in the NFL last week. So it might not be easy to get to Cousins in this game but that’s where Vic Fangio’s disguises on the back end might matter. If Fangio can confuse Cousins enough to make him hold the ball a tick longer, it could really matter.

The Eagles had 2 sacks in the opener and both came from off-ball linebacker Zack Baun. That’s not ideal. Of course, the field conditions at Corinthians Arena in São Paulo were not ideal and that led to some slipping for the pass rushers. There were still some good individual plays from Josh Sweat and Jalen Carter but the Eagles need a better group rush starting with Week 2. 

Even though Cousins was getting rid of the ball quickly in Week 1, he was still sacked a couple of times and the Falcons surrendered 12 total pressures in this game. The Steelers were all over them. Here’s where those pressures came from, according to PFF:

C Drew Dalman: 3
LG Matthew Bergeron: 3
RG Chris Lindstrom: 3
RT Kaleb McGary: 2
LT Jake Matthews: 1

The Falcons were considered to have a very good offensive line. PFF ranked the Falcons as the No. 6 OL in the NFL entering 2024.

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

Because Slay got benched in his first NFL game as a rookie 2^nd-round pick of the Lions back in 2013.

“I got benched,” Slay said with a laugh before practice Friday. 

“He didn’t get benched.”

Slay made his NFL debut with the Lions in 2013 at Ford Field. On Friday night, he played in his 171^st career game while Mitchell made his NFL debut across from him.

“I been a rook before,” Slay said. “I played Minnesota my rookie year and, shoot, I got thrown at about like 10 times. They want to see what you got here. They want to see why he got drafted this high.

“Q, he stood up and made the plays that he made and the year keeps going, they’re just going to die down with trying it like that.”

Mitchell was the first Eagles defensive rookie to start on opening day since linebacker Mychal Kendricks and slot corner Brandon Boykin in 2012 and the first outside corner since Eric Allen in 1989.

The Packers went after him early and often but Mitchell was up for the challenge.

“Slay and my coach told me they’re going to come after me the first drive and pretty much the whole game,” Mitchell said. “Just be ready and be alert for any situation. Just compete.”

None of his teammates were surprised. They’ve seen it all summer.

“Q played really good,” Avonte Maddox said. “He was balling. He kept making plays, and I’m surprised they kept going his way, but he was making them. He definitely did good out there. 

“It wasn’t anything new to us. We’ve been seeing it all camp. And we already knew what he was about. Probably new to them but it was old to us. We knew he was going to be ready since he stepped in here. We already knew he was a great player.” 

Among 33 NFL cornerbacks who were targeted at least five times in Week 1, Mitchell’s 66.9 defensive passer rating was 8^th-best, and he allowed just six yards after the catch, 7^th-best of those 33 corners.

“I felt like I had a solid game,” Mitchell said. “Just got to clean up some mistakes. It’s just a learning experience for me.”

The big challenge Monday night in the Eagles’ home opener will be Drake London, the former top-10 pick out of USC. At 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, London is a big, strong, physical specimen who had nearly 1,800 yards in 2022 and 2023, his first two NFL seasons.

Another week, another challenge for the 23-year-old from Toledo.

Slay has no doubt Mitchell is up for any challenge he faces as he sets out on his NFL career.

“He’s going to continue prospering and getting better each and every day,” the six-time Pro Bowl corner said. “For sure, my goal is to make sure I keep teaching him everything I know, give him pointers about everything and make sure he reaches that potential.

“He’s going to continue to keep working. That’s one thing about Q is that he’s a hard working guy that’s willing to listen and that’s willing to perform at a high level.”

By any measure, it was an impressive debut for Mitchell in São Paulo. 

According to analytics available on Stathead, Mitchell was targeted nine times and allowed four completions for 60 yards, or 6.7 yards per target, with a defensive passer rating of 66.9. That 66.9 figure is 4^th-lowest on record (since 2018) of 28 rookie corners in their first career game.

Mitchell’s 44.4 percent completion percentage – four completions on nine attempts – is 4^th-best on record by a rookie.

We don’t have analytics for Slay’s NFL debut more than a decade ago – they hadn’t been invented yet – but he said Friday he remembers every play from the 2013 season, including the one that got him benched by Lions head coach Jim Schwartz, who four years later helped the Eagles win a Super Bowl ring as defensive coordinator.

“I had Swartz as my head coach at the time and I gave up a dig-and-go and he got mad, like, ‘Slay, you should have been on top,’ and he benched me. Which is cool. And I had a great game, honestly, too. I had a PBU, a forced fumble. It was a clutch moment.”

Slay said he was covering Jerome Simpson on the play that got him benched, a seven-yard completion from Christian Ponder to Jerome Simpson on a 3^rd-and-6 late in the third quarter. Slay said he remembers every play from his rookie year. And the way it’s going, Mitchell is going to make a lot of people remember the plays he makes his rookie year as well.

He knew it was coming.

“It’s the business that we chose, however you want to say it,” Sirianni said on Wednesday afternoon. “And so I’ll gladly take the criticisms because I know they’re coming.”

But on Wednesday, Sirianni doubled down on those decisions.

As a reminder, the Eagles were driving down the field up 3 points late in the fourth quarter on Monday night. At the Falcons’ 10-yard line, they threw a pass to Saquon Barkley that fell incomplete on 3rd-and-3 with just 1:46 left instead of keeping the ball on the ground and running out more clock against a Falcons team that didn’t have any timeouts.

And then on 4th down, the Eagles elected to kick a field goal to put them up 21-15 instead of going for it to ice the game. That backfired when the Falcons quickly drove 70 yards to score a touchdown and escape the Linc with an improbable win.

“I was completely convicted that kicking the field goal there was the right decision based off all my studies,” Sirianni said. “Now, I come back and I reevaluate it and I’m even more convicted, to be quite honest with you, because just everything that goes into that.”

While it’s tough to separate the two decisions, because they clearly go together, both have been panned over the last couple of days.

Most of the public analytics models suggest the Eagles should have gone for it on 4th-and-3 from the Atlanta 10 yard line.

“Analytics is a piece of the puzzle,” Sirianni said. “There’s all those other things that go along with it.”

A big part of the premise from the public analytics models is that there’s an indication it’s better to be up 3 points instead of 6, once you factor in the probability of converting. The thought behind it is that being up 6 invites the possibility of the Falcons going for a touchdown and potentially winning the game — an outcome that’s perhaps less likely if they’re only down 3 and playing for a field goal.

“Yeah, I don’t believe that,” Sirianni said. “And if you look at the history of that call … Initially you go through it and I’m gonna try to drag myself through the mud as much as I possibly can. Because, quite frankly, that’s the only way you get better, is to really look at your decisions, look at every decision you make and say, ‘Hey, did I make the right decision?’ And sometimes the play fails for whatever reason, but you got to still look at each decision.”

Sirianni said that after the loss, he asked the Eagles’ analytics department to do a study of teams in a similar situation as they were against Atlanta and went for it on fourth down.

Here were the parameters of that study:

• Last five years (2020-24)

• Under 4 minutes left in the fourth quarter

• Inside the opponent’s 34-yard line (in FG range)

• Team is up 1-5 points

This search, which we recreated with Stathead, yielded 15 results. One of them was a 4th-and-13 with just 6 seconds left, but that was the last play of the game and designed to run out the clock. Throw that one away.

Twelve of the 15 were 4th-and-1s. Obviously, the Eagles might have been faced with that situation had they run the ball on third down, but they weren’t. So throw that one out as well.

That left two examples: 

1. The 2022 Texans were up 3, went for a 4th-and-3 against the Cowboys from the Dallas 3 with 3:25 left, and failed. The Cowboys then drove down the field to score a touchdown and win the game. 

2. The 2022 Jets were up 4, went for it on 4th-and-2 against the Bucs from the Tampa 2 with 2:17 left, and failed. The Bucs then drove down the field to score a touchdown and win the game.

Those were the two instances Sirianni cited on Wednesday as a reason why he felt vindicated in his decision to kick a field goal on Monday night. Of course, it’s probably fair to point out that the Texans had Jeff Driskel at quarterback and the Jets had Zach Wilson. The Eagles have Jalen Hurts.

Aside from feeling vindicated by the study from Tuesday morning, Sirianni explained a little more of his decision to kick the field goal on 4th down and put his defense back on the field needing a stop.

“I think there’s something else that is very noticeable,” Sirianni said. “As an offensive coach … there’s a stress to have to score a touchdown when you’re giving the ball back to a team. There’s a stress in that. And I get it, they get an extra down to do so, I understand all that, but there’s a different stress being down six as opposed to three. So that’s also my experience as an offensive coach.

“And you know what our defense had done, it really … Where we were getting hurt was in the run game, not necessarily them dropping back and passing. Obviously, we didn’t do a good enough job on that drive, but to that point we had only given up with 15 points and we were really salty in the red zone up to that point.”

As for the 3rd down play call (the pass), Sirianni pointed out that on 2nd down, the Falcons were “bringing junk” inside and loading the box. That’s why the 3rd-and-3 was a play call to the outside. He also mentioned that the Eagles have passed to win games in those situations before.

Because Kellen Moore is the offensive play-caller, they need to be in constant communication on game day too.

“If Kellen and I are just having that conversation right then, we’ve done a s–y job getting ready all week,” Sirianni said. “That conversation happens throughout. That conversation happened today of what we would be thinking in those scenarios. And it’s just, ‘Hey, remember we said in this scenario,’ boom.

“So that’s something that we prep for all week. And it’s just little reminders within that. And because, you’re right, calling the game is one thing, managing the game’s another thing, but they have aspects of meshing together.”

Sirianni, in his fourth season as Eagles head coach, is more of a CEO-type head coach in 2024. Vic Fangio is running the defense and Moore is running the offense.

That frees up Sirianni to do his weekly studies of situational football and to focus on game management on Sundays (and Mondays). So if you think Sirianni screwed up the game management on Monday night, then it’s probably even more infuriating because that’s such a major part of his role this season.

During the week, Sirianni said he spends a ton of time going over situations and talking to his coaches about them. During games, he has some voices in his ear with the analytical analysis, but ultimately it’s his call.

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

No word how serious it is or how it will affect his availability for the Monday night game against the Falcons at the Linc.

Brown missed the playoff game in Tampa last year but hasn’t missed a regular-season game since he was with the Titans in 2021.

Brown was on the field during the start of practice Friday, so he presumably suffered the injury during practice. The Eagles are scheduled to practice Saturday afternoon.

The Eagles moved to bolster their wide receiver depth late in the preseason when they acquired Jahan Dotson and a 5^th-round draft pick in 2025 from the Commanders in exchange for a 3^rd-round and two 7^th-round picks in 2025.

Dotson played 32 snaps in Brazil and was targeted once without a catch. The other depth receivers – rookie 6^th-round pick Johnny Wilson and punt returner Britain Covey – got 10 and nine offensive reps. Wilson had one target without a catch.

Dotson, the 16^th pick in the 2022 draft, caught 84 passes for 1,041 yards with 11 touchdowns in 29 games with Washington in 2022 and 2023.

Brown recorded his 13^th 100-yard game in 35 games with the Eagles against the Packers Friday in São Paulo. His 3,071 yards since joining the Eagles are 4^th-most in NFL history by a player in his first 35 games with a specific team, behind only Tyreek Hill, Odell Beckham Jr. and Justin Jefferson.

Brown’s 87.7 yards per game since joining the Eagles are 2^nd-most in franchise history behind Terrell Owens’ 93.5, and nobody else is over 70. Including his three years with the Titans, Brown’s career mark of 77.8 yards per game is 7^th-highest in NFL history (minimum 50 games).

The only game Brown has missed since joining the Eagles was the 32-9 loss to the Bucs in Tampa in the wild-card round last year with a knee injury. Without Brown, DeVonta Smith had 148 yards but no other wide receiver had more than 22.

The Eagles also listed offensive tackle Fred Johnson (thumb) and defensive tackle Milton Williams (foot) as limited. Cornerback Isaiah Rodgers (hand) and linebacker Devin White (ankle) were both full participants.

The Philadelphia Eagles star got engaged to his longtime girlfriend Bryonna Burrows, according to Essence magazine.

Just a week ago, rumors swirled that the couple were engaged after Burrows was spotted wearing a massive rock on her ring finger during the Eagles-Packers season opener in Brazil.

In the exclusive interview with Essence, Hurts said he’d known for quite some time that she was something special.

The duo met while studying at the University of Alabama. They dated on and off since then but didn’t go public with their relationship until 2023.

Since the couple has been seen together on the field and occasionally during events.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

There were a lot of moving pieces in the secondary Friday night in the Eagles’ opener in São Paulo. With Isaiah Rodgers inactive with a hand injury, rookie 1^st-round pick Quinyon Mitchell played virtually the entire game at outside corner – 63 of 67 snaps – and Avonte Maddox, who has been mainly a backup safety in training camp, was back in the slot, where he played 60 of 67 snaps.

DeJean, the Eagles’ other rookie corner and the heir apparent to Maddox in the slot, got his first taste of the NFL with six snaps on defense and 23 on special teams. 

Rodgers returned to practice Thursday, so now you have Rodgers, Mitchell, Maddox and DeJean and three cornerback positions.

What happens next?

We’ll start with Maddox, who had a rough day in what was only his 14^th game over the last three years. 

Among 48 defensive backs league-wide who were targeted at least five times in Week 1, his 104.2 defensive passer rating ranked 36^th. He committed a 13-yard pass interference on Dontayvion Wicks at the Eagles’ 2-yard-line a play before Jordan Love’s touchdown pass to Christian Watson with Maddox slipping in coverage.

The field was clearly an issue for everybody, but it seemed to affect Maddox in particular. 

But he refused to use it as an excuse.

“I could be better in certain areas, but I’m not going to blame the field,” he said. … “The field was a little bit terrible but that’s not an excuse. I’m always critical of myself. I watch film and see what I could have done better, what I could have done more effectively and see what things I could fix.

“I never really blame (anything) on a field, but you know, it was slick. It was a hard surface to play on. But it’s football. It’s never going to be perfect when you’re out there.” 

Maddox, now in his seventh year with the Eagles, practiced almost exclusively at safety during the preseason. He got one series in the slot in the first two preseason games, but Rodgers’ injury did force him to move to a position he hadn’t been practicing at very much.

“It’s not necessarily like an adjustment, but it’s kind of just more like you’ve just got to get the reps there so you can see it and get back used to it,” he said. 

“Just like anything, the more reps you get in certain spots, you get more comfortable you (are) in that area. Even though I’ve been playing it for a while and I know the position, I know what to do and where to be, everything’s moving fast and you’ve got to see it.”

The Eagles seem to prefer Maddox in that role backing up slot and safety – he can play outside corner as well in an emergency – but Vic Fangio felt like DeJean wasn’t ready for full-time slot duty after missing three weeks of training camp with a hamstring injury, and he felt Mitchell needed to stay outside the entire game.

“With Isaiah out, our next best combination,” Fangio said.

DeJean got six snaps in dime and also played 23 snaps on special teams. Will there be a time where Fangio’s strongest secondary is Mitchell and Darius Slay outside and DeJean inside?

“Possibly,” he said. “We’ve just got to keep practicing him a bunch, get him comfortable. He basically missed all of training camp except the Minnesota week, so he’s behind. But we’re trying to catch him up.”

DeJean wasn’t targeted on any of his six reps Friday night and while Fangio didn’t say it, it seems likely he’ll increase DeJean’s workload each week until he feels he’s ready to play the 50 or 60 snaps that a slot has to be ready for.

“I’ve been feeling better and better each week,” DeJean said. “That’s probably the best I’ve felt since the injury. So we’ll see what happens. I’ve just got to be ready to go. 

“It was good to be back out there. I got a couple of reps under my belt. I know what to expect now.”

DeJean missed the end of last season at Iowa with a broken fibula he suffered during a practice. So the Packers game was his first live action since an Iowa win over Rutgers in Iowa City last Nov. 11.

“The biggest challenge was just really sitting there and watching, not being able to be out there,” he said. “Having this injury come into camp, it was a little frustrating, but I had to do what I could. I think anybody sitting out would be frustrated if they didn’t get those reps. So I just had to stay positive and continue to learn coming into a new defensive system.”

Is he ready for more?

“I feel good physically after obviously missing all those reps while I was out,” he said. “I’m still getting back closer to where I was toward the end of OTAs. So I feel like I’m feeling pretty good on the field. I just have to continue to learn.”

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

The Eagles’ veteran defensive coordinator might have gotten some funny looks when he first suggested playing Zack Baun at off-ball linebacker — especially after it looked like Baun’s best position in New Orleans was on the edge — but Fangio saw a glimpse on tape that planted a seed in his mind.

“On occasion he would end up as an inside linebacker, not very often, and from those few plays, I thought he could do it,” Fangio said on Wednesday. “Was I going to bet my life savings on it? No, but I had a good feeling that he could do it. And he can.”

Baun showed that a week ago in Brazil.

The 27-year-old was all over the field and filled up the stat sheet with 15 tackles (11 solo) to go along with 2 sacks, 2 QB hits and a tackle for loss in the Eagles’ 34-29 win. 

What exactly did Fangio see in Baun to make him think he could play inside linebacker?

“I don’t know what he saw or how he came to terms with putting me here but I’m glad he did,” Baun said.

The Eagles should be pretty happy about it too. Because linebacker is an important position in Fangio’s defense but the Eagles haven’t put a ton of resources into the position. This offseason they signed Devin White to a somewhat significant one-year contract but he was beaten out by Nakobe Dean for the starting middle linebacker gig.

The duo of Dean and Baun did some really good things in the opener. But it was Baun who really shined.

Baun and his good friend and former Eagle T.J. Edwards were tied for the NFL lead in tackles after Week 1 with 15.

“I was surprised,” Baun said. “I haven’t had a game like that. But I can’t help but think about the ones I missed. You have a good game and you look at where there’s room to grow. You have a bad game and it’s kind of the same mentality as the next one.”

The Saints drafted Baun out of Wisconsin in the third round back in 2020 and he carved out a role as a limited defensive player and a special teams ace. But he never solidified himself as a starter. The Saints tried him at off-ball linebacker but it wasn’t until late in the 2023 season when they finally played him on the edge. That position really seemed to suit Baun and when the Eagles signed him, most thought that was the role he’d take in Philly — as a situational pass rusher.

But when OTAs began, Baun was on the field as a starting off-ball linebacker and he simply hasn’t given up that position since. Baun said he really began to get comfortable in his position during the spring and that built confidence.

And because Baun has such a versatile set of skills, his ability to rush the passer is still going to be used by Fangio. Baun had two sacks in his Eagles debut after having 2 sacks in 62 games over 4 years with the Saints.

“I don’t think you can put me in one box,” Baun said. “My versatility, I’m an athlete. I’m like an athlete on the defensive side. I can do a lot of different things.”

Baun admitted that earlier in his career, he was kind of confused about what he was and was going to be in the NFL. Was he an off-ball linebacker? Was he an edge rusher? Was he destined to be a career special teamer?

It’s only one game, but it seems like the Eagles have given Baun his answer.

And it seems like Fangio has a pretty good idea of how to use him.

“Yeah, he’s a smart friggin guy,” Baun said about Fangio with a smile. “He knows what he’s doing.”

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

Down in São Paulo, the Eagles’ $17 million-per-season edge rusher played just 30 defensive snaps and had just one assist on a tackle.

Huff knows some Eagles fans are already worried but that doesn’t bother him.

“Not really,” Huff said. “I kind of knew what to expect after the game. I really don’t pay it any mind. I know who I am as a player.”

It was notable that Huff played the fourth-most snaps of the edge group in the season-opening win. Josh Sweat played 41 snaps, followed by Brandon Graham (32), Nolan Smith (31) and Huff at just 30.

While that might seem nit-picky to point out the fact that Huff played fewer snaps than those other guys, the Eagles gave Huff a top-20 edge rusher contract this offseason. Expectations are high.

The Eagles signed Huff to a three-year, $51 million deal as free agency opened in March. Eventually, they traded Haason Reddick to the Jets and the Eagles moved on with Huff in that starting spot. It was a bit of a projection at the time because Huff was a part-time player with the Jets, but he was expected to play a full-time role with the Eagles.

In his first game with the Eagles … Huff was still a part-time player.

When asked how Huff could earn more playing time, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio responded: “You know, just separate himself from the other guys.”

What does Huff think he needs to do to earn more snaps?

“I’m just going to keep getting better and consistently look for ways to improve my game,” Huff said. “If they deem in necessary to get more snaps, then that’s what happens.”

In the 2023 season, Huff had a career-high 10 sacks as a part-time player. But he certainly didn’t fill up the stat sheet in his first game with the Eagles.

But Huff’s not worried either.

“I wasn’t getting blocked,” Huff said. “When I go back and watch film, it’s a combination of quick passes and screens and stuff like that. When you look at the stat sheet, things don’t look how they look on film. At the end of the day, I’m just trying to leave it in the past. On to next week.”

For Huff, it was a shame that the Eagles’ first game of the season came on a field that wasn’t quite ready for an NFL game. While Huff was excited to show out in his first game as an Eagle, the field conditions at Corinthians Arena in Brazil made that tough.

“Yeah. It could have been better,” Huff said. “I’m just trying to move on from it. It was unfortunate how that kind of played out for the rush. But it is what it is.”

Huff barely showed up in the stat sheet but he isn’t worried.

He agreed that the surface in Brazil made things tough, comparing it to running on sand.

There are plenty of questions about the Eagles’ edger rusher group in general. Huff, Sweat, Smith and Graham are expected to be the core rotation in 2024.

“I think we have the potential to really put people’s expectations on another level as far as what they can expect from our rush,” Huff said. “I know we work hard every day and we’re going to put that result on the field one day,”

Huff has been waiting for months to make his home debut at Lincoln Financial Field and he thinks it’ll make a difference.

“It can make a huge difference” Huff said, “just having that silent count and knowing that you’re on a fair playing field with the offensive linemen as far as getting off on the ball and then getting a lead as well. That will make it so they have to pass on a consistent basis. You can get that pass rush really going.”

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

00:36 – Scott Van Pelt

1:00 – Monday Night Football in Philadelphia for the Eagles’ home opener

2:19 – An epic return to the Linc for Jason Kelce

5:09 – Eagles fans are nuts

8:05 – The NFC East is full of rivalries

12:57 – What you see is what you get with Jason Kelce

20:21 – Saquon Barkley’s big debut and Eagles vs. Packers

22:39 – Can Saquon be an All-Pro running back?

25:48 – Jalen Hurts stepping up as a leader

28:12 – Reflecting on the Carson Wentz era

30:02 – Where does SVP rank Hurts among QB’s?

33:28 – …and what to make of Brock Purdy

34:50 – Why are teams so bad at drafting QB’s?

After missing the entire 2023 season, Rodgers’ long wait became a little longer when he was ruled out of Week 1 with a hand injury. 

But Rodgers took it in stride.

“It wasn’t really that mentally draining for me,” Rodgers said. “I’ve been through worse things in my life. It was definitely hard, of course, to take a break like that. I’m still grateful and great to see the guys win.”

After missing the Eagles’ season opener in Brazil, Rodgers on Thursday afternoon revealed that he suffered a broken right hand on the last day at training camp and needed surgery to repair it.

Rodgers said the injury happened when he was inadvertently punched on his hand during practice.

“It wasn’t a moment where you can see from the sideline, ‘Oh Isaiah got hurt,’” Rodgers said. “I didn’t even know it was broken until a few plays later.”

Last week, the Eagles actually brought Rodgers with them to Brazil and he was a limited participant in practice before being ruled out the day before the game.

How close was Rodgers to playing?

“I was definitely close,” he said. “I think it was more of my decision. It was a business decision. You’d rather go out there and be 100 percent than go out there and just go through the motions and put the team at risk. I’d rather go out there and actually make plays and be confident in myself.”

Rodgers, 26, said he’s trending toward playing on Monday night in the Eagles’ home opener. Rodgers practiced again on Thursday but the team wants to see how he handles the week of practice. The goal is for him to make his 2024 debut against the Falcons.

If Rodgers does play on Monday night, he’ll need to wear a protective cast on his right hand. He’s not too worried about playing with it.

“Nah, not really,” he said. “I did it before in college. Got two interceptions in a game where I did wear a club so I’m not really thinking about that.”

Without Rodgers in the opener, the Eagles started rookie Quinyon Mitchell at outside cornerback opposite Darius Slay and played Avonte Maddox in the slot. Based on how well Mitchell performed, there’s a chance he just simply won’t leave the field again.

But Rodgers isn’t worried about that.

“Hell no. I’m just grateful,” said Rodgers, who missed the entire 2023 season while suspended for violating the NFL’s gambling policy. “I was home so I’m appreciative of the moment. I don’t care if I’m here on the bench. I’m happy to be here. It’s better than being on the couch. That’s my main thing.”

During the summer, Rodgers was primarily running as the top outside cornerback opposite Slay, while Mitchell played the slot. Late in camp, Mitchell pulled double duty as the outside corner in base and the slot corner on nickel downs, which gave Rodgers a chance to get on the field.

Even if Rodgers isn’t a starter going forward, he’ll still be active on game days. He’ll be a backup and special teams contributor.

He’ll also be cheering loudly for the rookie Mitchell.

“He played good,” Rodgers said. “Everyone was telling him, ‘You’re career starts today.’ I was telling him it’s not about your career, it’s about your legacy. Your career ends when you’re done playing. Your legacy goes on forever. I told him to focus on his legacy and he did that.”

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

He seemed like a starter because he was a starter.

“Yeah, you could truly say that,” White said at his locker Thursday. “The way the snap count went, the things I did on the field, preseason wise?”

We were wrong. 

He was wrong.

White, who won a Super Bowl and made a Pro Bowl with the Buccaneers, signed a one-year, $7.5 million contract with the Eagles to revive his career after getting benched last year in Tampa. 

That process hit a roadblock with the news from Vic Fangio Wednesday that Nakobe Dean and Zack Baun will be the Eagles’ starting linebackers moving forward.

White said all the right things Thursday, but it was definitely a blow to the 26-year-old White.

“At the end of the day, it’s not my call,” he said. “I’ll just do what’s asked of me and just stay ready. Whether I go out there the last two minutes of the game or the first play of the game, I’ve just got to be ready and just be able to give this team all I have.

“Because that’s what I came here to do. Just rewrite my story for my  career. However that plays out, I don’t control that. I just leave that in God’s hand and I stay ready. I don’t cry, don’t mope around. I just come to work and be a pro about everything.”

White said during the summer that getting benched in Tampa was humbling. 

He was asked if this was also humbling but he said it’s different because he said he was selfish the way he handled things in Tampa but feels like he did everything he could at training camp this summer and through the offseason to show what kind of player he is.

“I put my best foot forward, so nothing about what’s going on now is humbling, it’s just just how the cards were dealt, you know?” he said. “I feel like you go back and watch the film and everything, I did some great things and I know I got better this offseason with (linebackers) coach Bobby King and I can look back and look at it and be proud of myself.” 

White was inactive in Week 1 with an ankle injury and didn’t make the trip to São Paulo, but he did participate during the early portion of practice that was open to the media on Thursday, when the Eagles returned to work to prepare for their Monday night game against the Falcons at the Linc.

What’s next? 

White isn’t going anywhere. There are cap reasons not to cut him and football reasons, too. He’s a backup with a pretty good resume, and the Eagles do not have a great track record keeping linebackers healthy.

Over the last 10 years, the only off-ball linebackers to start 15 games in a season for the Eagles are Jordan Hicks, Nigel Bradham and T.J. Edwards.

“He’s been a great teammate and done everything that’s been required of him,” Nick Sirianni said Thursday. “And I’ve really, really got a lot of respect for him and we’re gonna need him. We’re gonna need him this year. It’s a long football season.

“Obviously, Zack and Nakobe are our linebackers, but Devin’s gonna have to contribute this year if we want to go where we want to go.”

White said he still wants to be an Eagle and has no interest in going anywhere else. 

Which isn’t going to happen anyway.

“Right now I’m locked in with this team,” he said. “I came here to do a job. I know everything is in front of me, so I’ve just got to do what I’ve got to do. 

“I’ve made a good bond with these guys and we’re in here every day getting better. …. I’m just trying to get better. Whether it’s in the classroom, on the field, individual drills, even in there playing ping pong or something together. And right now, that’s all that matters to me. 

“I’m extremely blessed. I know what’s for me is for me. And if I stay true to myself, to the game, it’s going to come. … I just have to keep doing what I’ve been doing all my life and to get myself here to the NFL.

“A lot of things can happen and I don’t ever pray on anybody else going down for my success. I wish everybody to do well, that’s what we’re here to do. ‘Each one teach one.’ 

“But if my number is called, however it is, I’ve just got to be prepared to go do what I know how to do, what I’ve been doing. Be ready.”

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

He did play more Friday. But 45 percent of the snaps is not what anybody expected.

It’s only one game and it was played on a slippery field that made life tough for edge rushers, but Huff played only 30 of 66 defensive snaps in his Eagles debut Friday against the Packers.

Huff’s stat line showed only one assisted tackle – on a nine-yard Josh Jacobs run in the third quarter – in a game the Eagles won 34-29 in São Paulo.

Asked how close Huff is to becoming the every-down player the Eagles envisioned – and paid for – Vic Fangio didn’t exactly give Huff a ringing endorsement.

“He’s improving,” defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said Wednesday. “Obviously we all had a play or two (that could have been better), I had a call or two that could have been better. But he’s improving in that area.”

According to Pro Football Focus, Huff had a 0.0 pass-rush productivity rate, which means he had no sacks, hits or hurries on his 16 pass-rush snaps.

There were 90 edge rushers who played at least 10 pass-rush snaps in Week 1, and Huff was one of five with a 0.0 pass rush rating.

Sweat – a Pro Bowler in 2021 – played 41 snaps Friday, the 36-year-old Graham played 32, Smith played 31 and Huff just 30.

Asked what Huff has to do to play more, Fangio said, “You know, just separate himself from the other guys.”

All of this might not be so concerning if it wasn’t for the way last year ended. In 2022, Eagles edge rushers had 38 sacks in 17 games. Last year, they had 16 in the first nine games, then 4.0 in the last eight.

That means Eagles edges have four sacks in the last nine games – three by Reddick, who’s long gone. Graham had the other.

On Friday, Josh Sweat was the Eagles’ highest-rated edge rusher – 33^rd of 90 with an 8.0 rating. But he’s still gone nine straight games without a sack. Graham and Nolan Smith were a bit lower. 

Those four combined for no sacks and two hurries, by Sweat and Graham.

And while the slippery field is a built-in excuse, Fangio only partially used it.

“We didn’t pass rush good enough overall in the game,” he said. “Did the field have something to do with that? Yeah, it obviously did. But overall we could get better there.”

As for Graham, he and 38-year-old Calais Campbell of the Dolphins are the only defensive players in the NFL 36 or older to play more than 15 snaps in Week 1. And B.G. is the oldest Eagle to get on the field on defense since Kimo von Oelhoffen, who played briefly for the Eagles in 2007 and was a few months older than B.G. is now.

Why would a 36-year-old in his 15^th year who’s planning to retire at the end of the season get more snaps than the $51 million free agent?

“Brandon is still a good player, and I’ve told him several times, he’s not on any ceremonial last-year retirement parade,” Fangio said. “He’s going to play. He’s still playing good.”

B.G. only played 32 snaps twice last year. Fangio said don’t make too much about the snap counts because all four rotational guys were between 30 and 41.

“I think most of our guys, if you look at it, we had five guys up and they all played about similar rep counts,” he said. “We’re just rolling those guys.”

But it is surprising and disappointing that a guy the Eagles paid $37.5 million guaranteed played less than all the others. The good news? They all played more than Reddick, whose 2024 snap count total is zero and counting.

Barkley ran for 109 yards, caught two passes for 23 yards and scored three touchdowns in his first game as an Eagle, a 34-29 win over the Packers Friday in São Paulo.

He became the first player with three touchdowns in is first game as an Eagle in 20 years, since Terrell Owens did it against the Giants at the Linc on opening day 2004. He also became only the seventh player in NFL history to do it.

Barkley also became the first player with 100 rushing yards in his Eagles debut since Charlie Garner had 111 vs. the 49ers in Week 5 of the 1994 season and the first with double-digit touchdowns both rushing and receiving in the same game since DeSean Jackson in a 31-17 win over the Falcons at the Linc in 2010.  

During his six years with the Giants, Barkley was named Player of the Week in Week 11 of 2018 (142 scrimmage yards in a win over the Eagles, Week 16 of 2019 (189 rushing yards, 90 receiving yards, two TDs in a win in Washington) and Week 1 of 2022 (194 scrimmage yards in a win at Tennessee).

Other Eagles running backs named Offensive Player of the Week since the award’s inception in 1984 are Herschel Walker (Cowboys in 1992), Charlie Garner (49ers in 1994), Ricky Watters (Lions in 1996, Washington in 1997), Duce Staley (Cowboys in 2000), Brian Westbrook (Lions in 2007, Cards in 2008), LeSean McCoy (Cowboys in 2011, Bears in 2013), Darren Sproles (Colts in 2014), Boston Scott (Giants in 2019) and D’Andre Swift (Vikings in 2023).

Howie Roseman went against his usual philosophy of not signing running backs to multi-year deals when the Eagles signed Barkley to a three-year, $37.75 contract at the start of free agency.

After one game, the move looks brilliant. He looked fast, powerful and healthy with 26 touches Friday night.

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

Nakobe Dean started at middle linebacker in the Eagles’ 34-29 win over the Packers in Brazil on Friday night. It wasn’t because Devin White was dealing with an ankle injury. And it’s not going to change when White is healthy.

“No,” Fangio said, “Nakobe is the starter.”

The Eagles signed White this spring to a one-year, $4 million deal that included $3.5 million in guaranteed money — a relatively significant investment for the Eagles at the linebacker position.

White was brought to Philly to be the starting MIKE linebacker but Dean outplayed him all summer to earn the position.

“I just think from the start of camp to the end, he won the job,” Fangio said.

During the summer, the Eagles mostly used White and Zack Baun as their top linebacker combination but mixed and matched a ton throughout practices. Dean had the most active training camp of his three-year NFL career and definitely made more plays than White.

This is Dean’s third NFL season as a third-round pick. In 2023, he was handed the middle linebacker job and got hurt after a disappointing start. In 2024, he was forced to earn the job and outplayed the guy who was expected to start.

The Eagles started Dean and Baun as their two linebackers in the season opener in Brazil with solid results. Baun filled up the stat sheet with 15 tackles, 2 sacks and a TFL as the WILL linebacker. Dean struggled on a few plays but also did some good things as the MIKE.

Going forward into Week 2 and beyond, the Eagles’ starters are Dean and Baun.

So where does that leave White?

The former first-round pick didn’t even travel to Brazil because of an ankle injury he suffered in practice but if he had, he would have been a backup.

“Obviously, we’ve talked to him about it,” Fangio said. “He’s still a good player. Tweaked his ankle last week. He’s still a part of it and will be a part of it.”

White was the No. 5 overall pick out of LSU back in 2019 and early in his career found success with the Buccaneers. He made a Pro Bowl and won a Super Bowl but his time in Tampa ended on a sour note when he was benched toward the end of the 2023 season.

White came to Philadelphia for a fresh start and had the goal to play well enough to earn a long-term contract. He’s still just 26 years old. But that certainly hasn’t gone to plan.

Now that he’s a backup, it’s fair to wonder about White’s role on the team. The Eagles gave him a contract with some guaranteed money so they won’t want to cut him. But can White contribute on special teams?

Early in his career, White did play on teams a bit but has played just 231 special teams snaps in his five-year NFL career.

“Devin does a great job,” special teams coordinator Michael Clay said on Wednesday. “You guys have seen us do those tackle circuits. He’s first in line every time. He brings great energy. Moving forward, everything that he does, I comment. Great player from LSU, works his butt off at practice. Anything to help out the team, he’s willing to do. I’ll take anything that Devin wants to give.”

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier remained out there to talk to Jalen Hurts and the offense.

Things have changed. In 20204, it’s not Sirianni’s offense anymore.

But the Eagles are still his team. He’s still the head coach, but just with a different role.

On game days, not too much has really changed for Sirianni. He hasn’t called plays on offense since the first half of the 2021 season before turning over the play sheet to then-offensive coordinator Shane Steichen. He had Brian Johnson call the plays in 2023 and now Moore is doing it in 2024. So Sirianni has been freed up on the sideline during games for a few years.

The big difference this year? 

As a true CEO head coach, he’s feeling more free during the week.

“Yeah, obviously love going into the offensive game plan meetings,” Sirianni said the week before the opener. “Obviously we’re two days into — or we’ve been game planning a little bit longer than that — but going in there and sitting in there and listening and contributing.

“But also, being able to step out if I need to go talk to a player or being able to step out and go talk to Howie (Roseman) about the roster or being able to step out and check in on the defense.”

Such a big part of Sirianni’s weekly preparation in years past was working on an offensive game plan for the upcoming opponent because the Eagles were running his offensive scheme. That’s not the case anymore. While Sirianni’s expertise is still on offense, Moore is pulling the levers of his own scheme.

Sirianni still goes to the game plan meetings but they’re no longer his primary focus during the week.

“I find that very freeing that I’m able to stretch myself to different spots that I’m needed and not have to be hunkered down,” Sirianni said. “You ask Howie and he’d be like, ‘Man, I couldn’t get in to see Nick for Monday, Tuesday.’ After the players left, just wasn’t a lot of opportunities.

“Being able to do that is really important. But also, being able to give my expertise in the offensive room is really important as well. An offensive game plan is not just particularly the plays that you call. It’s also how situations are played out and game management is played out, which at the end of the day is something that I take a lot of pride in, our game management, how we go about that.

“Kellen and I have to be on the same page of that game management and of those different things. It’s still really important that I’m in there, but it is important that I’m able to stretch out and talk to other guys as well.”

So what is Sirianni doing with all this extra time?

He will pop into defensive meetings and special teams meetings. But he also uses the time to study. Sirianni has always been hyper focused on situational football and he is now using that time to prep more for game management situations.

“I can study fourth-down decisions throughout the league,” Sirianni said. “I can study two-point decisions throughout the league. I can watch all the four-minutes throughout the league and two-minutes and all those different scenarios throughout the league.

“It’s just like practice, right? You’re putting yourself in those scenarios so you can think through your process. Then you have to go back into the offensive meeting and say ‘Here is what I’m thinking here in these scenarios.’ Not necessarily play-wise, but whether it’s run, pass, aggressive, not aggressive. These different things. And so that’s where I think it’s different. I have a little bit more time to study that on Tuesday as opposed to what’s different on game day, if that makes sense.”

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

Here’s a recap of the moves:

Signed: WR Danny Gray, DB A.J. Woods

Released: LB Brandon Smith, WR Griffin Hebert

In addition to these moves, the Eagles are also losing 2024 sixth-round center Dylan McMahon. The Rams are signing McMahon to their 53-man roster from the Eagles’ practice squad. So there’s one spot still open on the practice squad.

One other practice squad note: Former Eagles cornerback Zech McPhearson signed to the Jaguars practice squad. McPhearson was a fourth-round pick out of Texas Tech in 2021. He was released at final cuts this summer after recovering from an Achilles tear that took away his 2023 season.

The 49ers drafted Gray in the third round (No. 105 overall) in 2022 out of SMU. Gray was the Niners’ second third-round pick that year behind RB Tyrion Davis-Price at No. 93.

That means that both of the 49ers’ third-round picks from the 2022 draft are now on the Eagles’ practice squad. Davis-Price had a good summer and is basically the Eagles’ fourth running back on the P-squad.

Running back Trey Sermon was another recent 49ers’ third round pick who then joined the Eagles in 2022.

Gray, 25, played in 13 games as a rookie back in 2022 but had just 1 catch for 10 yards and 1 rushing attempt for 9 yards. Gray began the 2023 season with the 49ers on Injured Reserve with a shoulder injury. They opened his practice window in December but never activated him so he missed the entire year. Gray was waived by the 49ers at final cuts this summer.

While Gray’s NFL career hasn’t gone to plan, he was a third-round pick for a reason. At the 2022 NFL Combine, Gray ran a blazing 40 time of 4.33 seconds after averaging 15.3 yards per catch in his two seasons at SMU.

2020: 33 catches, 448 yards, 4 TDs

2021: 49 catches, 803 yards, 9 TDs

Here’s what NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein wrote about Gray during the pre-draft process:

“Two-year starter on the FBS level with athleticism and play speed to project a continuing ascent at the next level. Gray stepped into a top playmaking role for SMU in 2021 and showed an ability to work all three levels of the field. His long, gliding strides separate from coverage on attack-oriented routes but he has the bend and agility to become a quality target working underneath. He needs to get a little stronger and limit the focus drops, but Gray has an inside/outside skill set with intriguing upside as a future WR3 with more work.”

Woods, 23 was with the Commanders this summer as an undrafted rookie out of Pittsburgh. During his college career, Woods played in 59 games with 14 starts. The 5-10, 187-pound cornerback had 4 career interceptions and 29 career pass breakups.

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

The Philadelphia Eagles will hold their home opener in primetime when they welcome the Atlanta Falcons to town for Monday Night Football in Week 2.

The Eagles are coming off an impressive 34-29 win over the Green Bay Packers in Brazil to open the season. Saquon Barkley erupted for three touchdowns in his Eagles debut, while A.J. Brown came through with 67-yard touchdown as part of a five-catch, 119-yard outing.

Now, they will host “Primetime” Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons. Cousins found himself in the loss column in his Falcons debut, as he threw for 155 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in an 18-10 home loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Can the Eagles improve to 2-0, or will the Falcons steal a win at the Linc? Here’s what to know for the Week 2 Monday Night Football contest:

When is the Eagles vs. Falcons game?

The Eagles and Falcons will close out Week 2 on Monday, Sept. 16.

What time does the Eagles vs. Falcons game start?

Kickoff is slated for 8:15 p.m. ET.

Where is Eagles vs. Falcons being played?

The Eagles-Falcons game will be played at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, marking the Eagles’ home opener.

What TV channel is the Eagles vs. Falcons game on?

Eagles-Falcons will be shown on ESPN. Joe Buck (play-by-play), Troy Aikman (analyst) and Lisa Salters (sideline) will be on the call.

How to stream the Eagles vs. Falcons game live

Viewers can stream the Eagles-Falcons game on Watch ESPN and the ESPN app.

How to watch NBC10, NBC Sports Philadelphia’s pregame coverage

NBC10 and NBC Sports Philadelphia will have Eagles fans covered in the leadup to the Monday night game. Check out the full schedule for game week below:

Sunday

9:30 a.m. — “Eagles Gameday Kickoff” on NBC10

11:50 p.m. — “Philly Live: Sports Edition” and “Eagles Gameday Final” on NBC10

Monday

6 p.m. — “Birds Huddle” on NBC Sports Philadelphia/NBC Sports Philadelphia+

6:30 p.m. — “Birds Huddle Gameday” on NBC Sports Philadelphia/NBC Sports Philadelphia+

7 p.m. — “Eagles Pregame Live” on /NBC Sports Philadelphia+

How to watch NBC10, NBC Sports Philadelphia’s postgame coverage

After Eagles-Falcons ends, head over to NBC Sports Philadelphia and NBC Sports Philadelphia+ for “Eagles Postgame Live.”

McMahon’s Tampa-based agent, Whitney Holtzman, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the Rams have signed McMahon from the Eagles’ practice squad to their 53-man roster.

McMahon, a center out of North Carolina State, was the Eagles’ second 6^th-round pick this year at No. 190, five picks after they selected Florida State wide receiver Johnny Wilson at No. 185.

McMahon becomes the only player the Eagles took in either the 2023 or 2024 draft who’s not currently on the roster, injured list or practice squad.

The Rams must keep McMahon on their 53-man roster for at least four games.

The Eagles don’t have a true backup at center and McMahon had a strong training camp, which is why it was a little surprising the Eagles released him on cut-down day – Aug. 27 – and then signed him to the practice squad. They’re not generally in the habit of giving away talented young offensive linemen.

The Rams suffered a bunch of offensive line injuries in their overtime loss to the Lions Sunday in Detroit.

Left guard Steve Avila is expected to go on Injured Reserve with a knee injury, offensive tackle Joe Noteboom is likely to miss two or three weeks with a sprained ankle and right guard Kevin Dotson suffered a sprained ankle, although he was able to finish the game. Right tackle Rob Havenstein was inactive for the Lions with an ankle injury and left tackle Alaric Jackson must serve one more week of a two-game NFL suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.

With McMahon no longer with the Eagles, they have four offensive linemen on the practice squad – Nick Gates, Jack Driscoll, Brett Toth and Laekin Vakalahi, who has an international exemption.

Gates and Toth can both play center. Starting left guard Landon Dickerson can also play center.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

One game in, the Eagles’ two-pronged o-line experiment – Mekhi Becton morphing from a tackle to a guard and Cam Jurgens morphing from a guard into a center – seems to be working.

Jurgens played center at Nebraska, but that was three years ago. In his first two NFL seasons, he played only 32 snaps at center – 28 in 2022 in various mop-up duty and four last year vs. the Giants on the final day of the season. 

So Friday was his first pro start at center, and he graded out well with a 68.7 according to Pro Football Focus, 11^th-highest of all 32 starting centers. He’s not Jason Kelce, but he did fine.

“Cam had some really nice plays,” Nick Sirianni said. “You know, Cam, there were a couple plays where Cam’s getting that initial hit, whether he’s working with Landon (Dickerson) or working with Mekhi, and then getting off to that second level. 

“The one play that really comes to mind is Saquon (Barkley’s) touchdown run, where it looks like him and Mehki are working a combination block and Cam gets that block in with him, that made-block as we call it, to get him up into the second level. I thought those were really good plays there.”

Yeah, there were some snapping issues, and that’s something Jurgens has to fix. 

In the first quarter, he snapped the football to Jalen Hurts before he was expecting it and the Packers recovered at the Eagles’ 13-yard-line and got a field goal out of it. There was also a botched snap on a 4^th-quarter tush push, which meant the Eagles had to settle for a field goal.

“Obviously, any time you put the ball on the ground two times, there is a miscommunication there,” Sirianni said. “We can’t put the ball on the ground two times. Cam and Jalen touch the ball on every down, so we have to make sure we’re taking care of that football.”

Jurgens hadn’t started a game at center since college, but Becton hadn’t started a game at guard on any level. Before spring practices, he hadn’t even practiced there. And when training camp began in late July, he was backing up Tyler Steen.

But there he was playing solid football against a very good front. The Eagles’ interior line – Dickerson, Jurgens, Becton – held Kenny Clark, a three-time Pro Bowler and one of the best in the league – to just one solo tackle and no sacks, hurries, quarterback hits, forced fumbles or any other big plays.

You always take PFF grades with a grain of salt, but Becton ranked 11^th out of 65 tackles with an 80.0 pass blocking grade and 20^th overall with a very respectable 73.8.

“Mehki is so big, and what you saw there with Mehki on Friday night was he was controlling the guy (he was facing),” Sirianni said. “He was going against good players. That’s a good front.

“He was controlling them at the line of scrimmage and there wasn’t a lot of pushback into Jalen’s face because he is so big and so long that he was able to control there. So, I thought he did a really nice job, particularly in the pass game, of keeping the pocket firm inside.”

The Eagles overall had PFF’s 2^nd-highest pass blocking grade and 4^th-highest run blocking grade against a formidable defensive line.

And that’s minus one Hall of Famer and with 40 percent of their offensive line in new spots.

“As far as those two guys playing their first game at those positions … I thought they did a nice job,” Sirianni said Monday.  “Cam is very natural. Cam played that position his entire life. … But I thought Mehki did a really nice job for his first game starting at guard.” 

This week, lots of Saquon Barkley and A.J. Brown, naturally, but plenty of other fascinating stuff I came up with from the Eagles’ season-opening 34-29 win over the Packers with using my high-powered super-electron hyper-charged abacus.

1. We have to start with Barkley, who became the seventh player in NFL history to score three touchdowns in his first game with a new team (not including 1987 strike games played with replacement players). Bobby Mitchell was the first to do it, in 1962 with Washington, then Billy Sims (Lions, 1980), Marshall Faulk (Colts 1994), Terrell Owens (Eagles 2004) and then Kareem Hunt of the Chiefs and Mike Gillislee of the Patriots – in the same game – in 2017. With an 18-yard TD catch and an 11-yard TD run, he became the first Eagle with double-digit rushing and receiving TDs in the same game since DeSean Jackson in a 31-17 win over the Falcons at the Linc in 2010. D-Jack had a 31-yard run and 34-yard catch from Kevin Kolb, both in the first quarter. Barkley is the first player with 100 rushing yards in his Eagles debut since Charlie Garner had 111 vs. the 49ers in Week 5 of the 1994 season.

2. Zack Baun became only the third player to record two sacks in his first game as an Eagle. The two others are an unlikely pair. Reggie White had 2 ½ of Phil Simms against the Giants in an overtime loss in Week 4 of the 1985 season – remember, he didn’t play the first three games in 1985 because he was still property of the USFL Memphis Showboats. And on Oct. 16, 2019, Orlando Scandrick of all people had two sacks of Luke Falk in the Eagles’ 31-6 win over the Jets at the Linc. He only played in two more games before the Eagles cut him and he never played another NFL game. Baun didn’t have a sack in his first 56 NFL games. He has four in his last seven games. Baun is only the fourth Eagles linebacker with a multiple-sack game in the last 20 years. Matt McCoy of course had two vs. the Falcons in 2006, Mychal Kendricks had two vs. the Bears in 2013 and none other than Nicholas Morrow had three in a win over Washington last October.

3. Jalen Hurts’ 67-yarder to A.J. Brown in the third quarter was the 2^nd-longest TD pass of his career, behind only an 81-yarder to DeSean Jackson in Dallas late in the 2020 season after Hurts replaced Carson Wentz. It was Jackson’s 42^nd and final touchdown catch as an Eagle and it was the only pass he ever caught from Hurts. Brown increased his receiving total as an Eagle to 3,071 yards, 3^rd-most in NFL history by a player in his first 35 games with a team, trailing only Odell Beckham (3,431 with the Giants from 2014 through 2016) and Justin Jefferson (3,248 with the Vikings from 2020 through 2022). Even though he’s only starting his third year with the Eagles, Brown already has the 9^th-most 100-yard games in Eagles history with 13. One more moves him into a tie for 7^th with Jeremy Maclin and Pete Pihos. At his current pace of one every 2.7 games, he’ll have 18 at the end of the year, which would trail only Pete Retzlaff (23), Harold Carmichael (21), Mike Quick (21) and DeSean Jackson (21). 

4. Reed Blankenship’s interception off Jordan Love was his fifth in just 26 career games, including four in which he played two or fewer defensive snaps. The last Eagles defensive back with five INTs in their first 26 games is Ben Smith, who had five over the 1990 and 1991 seasons. The fifth one was his historic INT of Bernie Kosar in Cleveland, ending Kosar’s NFL-record streak of 308 consecutive passes without an interception. Smith tore his ACL later in that game. The last Eagle at any position with five INTs in their first 26 career games was linebacker Jordan Hicks, who had seven over the 2015 through 2017 seasons. Blankenship is the first undrafted Eagle with five INTs in his first 26 games since Brenard Wilson, who had nine over the 1979 and 1980 seasons. The last undrafted player who began his career with the Eagles and had at least five INTs was Quintin Mikell, who had 10 from 2003 through 2010. Herm Edwards has the most INTs by an undrafted Eagle with 33 from 1977 through 1985.

5. This was only the Eagles’ second game in the last 20 years in which they’ve scored 34 offensive points despite three or more turnovers. Last time it happened was a 45-19 win over the Jets at the Linc in 2011 and before that a 35-17 win over the Texans at the Vet in 2002. Before Friday, the last three times they scored 34 or more points with three turnovers they had a return touchdown – Josh Sweat’s interception return in a 40-34 loss in Dallas in 2022, Chris Maragos’s blocked punt return in a 34-28 win over the Rams at the Linc in 2014 and Fletcher Cox’s fumble return in the 34-17 win over the Jaguars in the 2014 opener at the Linc. Those don’t count when tallying up offensive points.

6. From 1933 through 2007, the Eagles scored 30 or more points on opening day 10 times in 75 years. Since 2008, they’ve scored 30 or more points on opening day 10 times in 17 years, including three of four seasons under Nick Sirianni.

7.  Packers receiver Jayden Reed had four catches for 138 yards and a 33-yard TD run for 171 yards on five touches. He’s only the third player in history with 170 or more scrimmage yards against the Eagles on five or fewer touches. Jessie Hester of the Raiders did it in 1986 in a game the Eagles won 33-27 at L.A. Coliseum with four catches for 193 yards (including touchdowns of 49 and 81 yards) and James Lofton – three years before he became an Eagle – had a game with 174 scrimmage yards on five catches in 1990 in a 30-23 Bills win over the Eagles at Rich Stadium (that was the game Randall Cunningham had that all-time scrambling 95-yard TD to Fred Barnett). The last player with touchdowns of 30 or more yards both rushing and receiving in the same game against the Eagles was Herschel Walker of the Cowboys in a game the Eagles won 23-21 at Texas Stadium in 1986.

8. Until Friday, the Eagles hadn’t won a game in 35 years when they committed three turnovers and allowed 400 net yards and 160 rushing yards. They had lost 13 straight and were 4-38-2 in franchise history in such games. Their last win when committing three turnovers and allowing 400 net yards and 160 rushing yards was that 42-37 win over Washington at RFK Stadium in 1989, the game Randall Cunningham passed for 447 yards and led the Eagles back after trailing by 20 points (the day after he signed a contract extension).

9. It may not have been his best performance, but Jalen Hurts did put up 34 points and improve his career record to 35-17. Only 14 quarterbacks in NFL history have won more games in their first 52 starts, including only two current starters – double MVPs Patrick Mahomes (41-11) and Lamar Jackson (39-13). Hurts’ 35^th win tied him with Carson Wentz for the 4^th-most in Eagles history, behind Donovan McNabb (92), Ron Jaworski (69) and Randall Cunningham (62).

10. With four catches Friday, Dallas Goedert increased his career total from 307 to 311, passing Fred Barnett (308) and moving into a tie with Bobby Walston for 11^th place in Eagles history. He needs 32 more catches to tie Jeremy Maclin (343) and move into the top-10 in Eagles history. Goedert’s 311 catches are 5^th-most in Eagles history by a player in his first 84 career games, behind Zach Ertz (396), Brian Westbrook (343), DeSean Jackson (339) and Mike Quick (321). Pretty good company, considering he was Ertz’s backup his first 3 ½ years. Speaking of Ertz, he caught three passes in his first game with Washington and now has 748 in his career, 8^th-most in NFL history by a tight end. He needs three to pass Jimmy Graham for seventh and then another 33 to pass Greg Olsen and move into sixth all-time.

So Barkley got a lot of touches — 26 to be exact.

It’s just the fourth time in the Nick Sirianni Era that an Eagles player has had 25 or more touches in a single game. D’Andre Swift did it against the Vikings last year and Miles Sanders did it against the Jaguars in 2022 and the Jets in 2021.

Barkley, 27, was fantastic in the opener. He had 24 rushes for 109 yards and 2 touchdowns and caught 2 passes for 23 yards and another score. The Eagles gave Barkley a contract this offseason worth around $13 million per season and Barkley looked like he’s worth every penny.

But it’s also important that Barkley still looks fresh in December and January.

So do the Eagles plan on managing his workload?

“Yeah, you do everything you can do to win each football game,” Sirianni said on Monday. “And so once the game is in the flow, you think about how you’re going to win that game. And whether that’s Saquon getting 20-whatever touches, whether that’s us throwing the ball to A.J. (Brown), DeVonta (Smith), Dallas (Goedert), whatever it may be.

“You try to manage them more within practice. So something like that, with Saquon having that many touches, we’ll have a plan for that this week in practice where we can take some of the load off him there. Every time you go into the game — every game is so important in the NFL that it’s hard to say, and when he’s got a hot hand like that too — to say, ‘Hey, you don’t want to keep giving him the ball.’ You’re trying to win every single game that you play.”

Friday’s game was the 15th game in Barkley’s career with 25+ touches. Even though he had somewhat of a down year in 2023, he had 25+ touches in three games and in 2022 did it four times.

Since he entered the NFL in 2018, just six running backs have had more games with 25+ touches: Derrick Henry (30), Christian McCaffrey (26), Josh Jacobs (24), Joe Mixon (19), Dalvin Cook (19), Ezekiel Elliott (17).

So Barkley is capable of being a workhorse. But you just worry about his ability to stay healthy with all this work.

Because it’s not like Barkley is avoiding hits all the time. He’s a 233-pound running back who excels after contact. We saw that in action on Friday night in Brazil too.

Of Barkley’s 109 yards on the ground in the opener, 86 of them came after contact, which means he averaged 3.58 yards after contact per attempt, per PFF. For reference, Swift averaged 2.44 last season and had just one game higher than that 3.58 average. Swift ranked 52 out of 59 qualified backs in yards after contact in 2023.

And when it comes to rushing yards over expected, Barkley averaged 1.12 per attempt in Week 1. Last year, Swift averaged -.29.

It’s not like Barkley simply benefitted from finally playing behind a better line in Week 1. Sure, that will help this season. But Barkley in the opener created for himself too. This was an area where the Eagles felt like they needed an upgrade; and through one game, it appears like they got it.

Now, it’s about making sure that advantage is still in their favor for the entire season.

“That’s our job as coaches to manage that throughout the week during practice,” Sirianni said. “Games will take care of themselves as they go. There will naturally be a game where we throw it 50 times or Kenny (Gainwell) or Will (Shipley) will have a couple carries. So that will take care of itself throughout the year. As of right now, we handle that through our practice.”

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

But it was still an encouraging start for the fourth-round pick out of Clemson.

And offensive coordinator Kellen Moore found a unique way to use Shipley in the Eagles’ 34-29 win over the Packers on São Paulo, Brazil.

“It felt awesome,” Shipley said after the game. “Great to get out there. Preseason is preseason. To get out there for my first game and for it to be in Brazil, I don’t think I could have drew it up much better. So blessed.”

All four of Shipley’s offensive snaps in this game — three in the 2nd quarter and one in the 3rd — came as the second running back in 21 personnel. All four of them came with the game’s MVP Saquon Barkley on the field with him.

The Eagles used just 25 total plays in 21 personnel in 2023. But after seeing them use that package this summer, they had success with it on Friday night.

“I think it can be a huge part (of the offense),” Shipley said. “Also something that we had in the game plan going into the week. We knew that we were going to utilize it. We were ready for it. I think as we continue throughout the season, we’re going to continue to expand it and just see where it goes from there. 

“But any opportunity I get, I’m going to try to take advantage of it. Especially just learning from the two guys above me. You saw what Saquon did today. Just all opportunities, make the most of them.”

Three of Shipley’s plays came back-to-back-to-back in the second quarter:

Shipley first got on the field at the 8:04 mark in the second quarter on a 2nd-and-9. He lined up out wide right and ran an orbit motion to the left side of the field. As A.J. Brown ran a clear-out route, Shipley drew coverage from the nickel in the flat and also froze the linebacker. Jalen Hurts hit DeVonta Smith for a 25-yard gain.

On the next snap, Shipley lined up out left and ran orbit motion to the other side of the field. Hurts hit Barkley for a 5-yard gain in the left flat.

On the third snap, Hurts ran for 4 yards on 2nd-and-5 (the Eagles then picked up the first down with a tush push on 3rd down). Shipley and Barkley were next to Hurts in shotgun before Shipley’s motion cleared out a linebacker from the middle of the field to help Hurts find some room.

On all four of his offensive plays, Shipley was put in motion before the snap. The Eagles used a bunch of motion in this game after ranking dead last in that category in Nick Sirianni’s offense a season ago.

Being in motion is something that Shipley enjoys.

“Yeah, I love it,” he said. “That will shake the defense up a little bit. Once I’m able to produce a little bit from the motions, it’ll cause the defenses to respect me, maybe open up things a little bit more. But I think I did a good job of moving around tonight. We were able to convert. Our 21 package, we drove pretty much straight down the field. Looked really good. We got the playmakers the ball. I was really impressed with it.”

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

Here’s this week’s batch of 10 Random Eagles Observations after the Eagles’ seventh straight September win.

1. A lot of issues showed up on defense Friday – lack of pass rush, tackling, stopping the run – and the field condition could definitely have something to do with all of them. But there’s one thing the Eagles did exceptionally well on defense and that was deny the Packers in the red zone. The Packers had four red-zone drives and scored one touchdown and the Eagles’ defense near the goal-line – especially on the Packers’ first two drives – was the difference between a win and a loss. The Packers ran 20 offensive plays inside the Eagles’ 20-yard-line and netted 24 yards. Add in penalty yards and the Packers had seven net yards on 20 plays – about 12 ½ inches per play. Critically, the Eagles hounded Jordan Love into 0-for-3 passing on third down in the red zone (although Avonte Maddox’s DPI also came on third down) and Josh Jacobs ran six times for seven yards inside the 20. Last time the Eagles faced at least four red-zone drives and only allowed one TD was a 2022 win over the Steelers at the Linc (TD, INT, FG, FG). I thought Zack Baun in particular was tremendous down at the goal line. He’s credited with an incredible five of his 15 tackles inside the 20 alone. Obviously, you’re not going to win a ton of games giving up 414 yards and a bunch of big plays. But taut red-zone defense can overcome a lot of problems, and Friday night it sure did.

2. Considering this was Cam Jurgens’ first NFL start at center and Mekhi Becton’s first NFL start at guard, all things considered the offensive line played really well Friday. Jurgens has to fix his snapping issues – and make sure he and Jalen Hurts are on the same page with those snaps –  but as far as blocking? I thought the whole group was really good. The Eagles piled up 410 yards, kept pressure off Jalen Hurts for the most part (two sacks on 36 drop-backs), ran for 144 yards, put together three 70-yard touchdown drives and sustained that 67-yard, 7 ½-minute field goal drive to nearly end the game. The biggest question for me going into the season on the offensive side was the interior of the offensive line. How would it hold up with Jason Kelce gone, Jurgens moving from guard to center and Becton playing a position he had never even practiced until OTAs. One week in, some things to fix but overall an auspicious start.

3. The win certainly masked a few issues the Eagles have to address, and one of them is run defense. Yikes. The Packers only ran 21 times but for 163 yards, and that’s 7.8 yards per carry, which is absurd. That’s tied for the 4^th-highest rushing average ever recorded against the Eagles and the most rushing yards ever against the Eagles on 21 or fewer carries. It’s also 7^th-worst in NFL history on opening day. The Eagles are probably fortunate the Packers didn’t run more than they did. The Eagles have already allowed more runs from scrimmage of at least 30 yards (two) than they allowed all last year (one, by Saquon Barkley). What’s the issue? Combination of things. Way too many missed tackles, and maybe some of that was the field condition and lack of decent footing, but I thought the Eagles also got pushed around up front, and Josh Jacobs and the other Packers runners had some pretty big holes to run through. I don’t think Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis played poorly, but they didn’t dominate and they’re going to need to. 

4. Friday’s game was the first in five years where the Eagles won after trailing on four separate occasions (6-0, 12-7, 19-17, 26-24). Last time that happened was Dec. 15, 2019, at FedEx Field, when they trailed Washington 7-3, 14-10, 21-17 and 27-24 but took the lead for good with 26 seconds left on Carson Wentz’s four-yard touchdown pass to Greg Ward. That was the first TD catch of Ward’s career. 

5. I have a hunch Moro Ojomo may have earned himself a little more playing time with his performance Friday night. It’s tough to really evaluate pass rushers because the field was so bad and you could see those guys slipping all over the place. But Ojomo, a 7^th-round pick last year, did some good things in his 14 snaps, especially as a pass rusher. He lined up mainly inside but also got a few snaps on the edge and I thought he had a couple good pressures on Jordan Love. Ojomo has some juice. He’s pretty undersized to be a full-time interior lineman – they list him at 292 but he’s probably closer to 282 – but his effort against the run is very good and he has a good knack for finding his way to the quarterback. I like him in the rotation and it’ll be interesting to see how he’s used moving forward.

6. Curious to see what Vic Fangio and d-backs coach Christian Parker decide to do in the secondary if Isaiah Rodgers has to miss more time with that hand injury. Avonte Maddox had a rough time in the slot Friday night, and the Eagles have some options. Rookie 2^nd-round pick Cooper DeJean got six snaps in his NFL debut playing in the dime and Fangio has hinted all along that when DeJean is ready – after missing three weeks of training camp – he could slide into the slot. But is he up for the sort of workload the slot demands? Maddox played 60 of 67 snaps vs. the Packers. That’s a lot. They clearly want Quinyon Mitchell to stay outside, and after watching him Friday night that’s understandable. He’s terrific. The Kelee Ringo option is also out there – Kelee at outside corner and Q in the slot in nickel, with Q outside in base – but I’m not sure they’re ready to throw the 22-year-old Ringo into that role just yet. I like the DeJean option. Mentally, I feel really good with where he is. It’s just a matter of whether he’s physically up to that many snaps. If he is? That’s the way to go.

7. Going into Friday, Matt LaFleur had the highest winning percentage of any active NFL head coach at .675. Guess who passed him. With the Eagles’ win, LaFleur dropped down to .667 and Sirianni improved from .667 to .673 and now has the highest winning percentage of any active head coach. Overall, he’s got the 11^th-highest winning percentage of 227 coaches who’ve coached at least four seasons. And seven of the 10 ahead of him are in the Hall of Fame. 

8. Should Nick Sirianni play his offensive starters in preseason games? In the Eagles’ four season openers under Sirianni, not only are they 4-0, they’ve averaged 388 yards and 33 points per game. They’ve scored at least 25 points in all four openers, the first time in franchise history they’ve scored 25 or more points in four straight openers. They’ve netted 434 or more yards in nine openers in franchise history – six times from 1933 through 2020, three times since 2021. Whatever occasional sloppiness or rust you get from not playing the starters in the preseason is more than balanced by getting A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts, Lane Johnson and the others to the starting line healthy. The Eagles are 8-2 in September under Sirianni – the best September record in football – along with that 4-0 record in openers. Hurts didn’t throw those interceptions Friday because he didn’t play in a preseason game a few weeks ago. He threw them because he made really bad decisions. Sirianni is absolutely doing the right thing protecting his star players from getting hurt in meaningless preseason games. It’s not going to change. It shouldn’t change.

9. Zack Baun had no sacks in his first 56 career games. He has four sacks in seven games since.

10A. Over the last four seasons, Saquon Barkley has been on a team that’s scored 34 points in a game as often with the Eagles as with the Giants. 

10B. Barkley has had as many games with 100 rushing yards and three touchdowns as an Eagle as he had in six years with the Giants.

10C. Barkley played 43 games with Daniel Jones and had two TD catches of 18 or more yards. He had one 10 minutes into his first game with Jalen Hurts.

10D. Barkley already has as many touchdowns of 11 or more yards this year (two) as he had all of last year

10E. Barkley had more rushing yards (109 to 74), more points  (18 to 6) and more 30-yard plays (one to none) in Week 1 than the Giants.

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

As always.

Everything else might be going wrong around them, but Brown and Smith are just too good to be denied. And they were both huge in the Eagles’ season-opening 34-29 win over the Packers Friday night at Corinthians Arena in São Paulo, Brazil.

Brown caught five passes for 119 yards and a touchdown, and all five of his receptions went for first downs, and Smith had seven catches for 84 yards with another five first downs. So between the two of them, they caught 12 passes and 10 of them moved the sticks.

Are they the best tandem in the league? 

“They’re pretty damn good,” Jalen Hurts said post-game. “I say they’re the best. It’s the way they come into work every day, intentional about the little details they do.

“They showed up big-time tonight, showed up big-time in crucial moments, made some big-time plays that changed the game. That’s what it’s all about.”

This was the seventh time Brown and Smith have combined for 200 yards in a game. That’s the 2^nd-most in franchise history by a receiver duo. Tommy McDonald and Pete Retzlaff did it 11 times between 1957 and 1963. DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin did it five times, as did Fred Barnett and Calvin Williams.

The Packers had the 9^th-best pass defense in the NFL last year and added Xavier McKinney to their secondary this year.

But they had no answer for Brown and Smith Friday night.

Brown and Smith each had signature moments in the win over the Packers. 

For Brown, it was his 67-yard touchdown catch on the second play of the second half. Brown went back and forth with Pro Bowl corner Jaire Alexander all night, but on this snap, he lost Alexander with a double move, caught a perfect Hurts pass in stride and raced diagonally across the field into the end zone, Alexander was helpless to catch him.

It was Hurts’ longest touchdown pass during the Nick Sirianni Era – he had an 81-yarder to DeSean Jackson as a rookie in 2020 – and it was the 10^th TD catch of at least 50 yards for Brown, 

“It was just execution on the play, great execution on the play,” Hurts said. “Dialed it up, A.J. ran a great route, got on the ball, let him do the rest. It’s always good to be able to change the momentum of a game like that. Just got to do a better job of finishing.”

As for Smith, he had a huge 4^th-down conversion on a 2^nd-quarter field goal drive and then he really showed up on the clinching 16-play, 67-yard field goal drive that gave the Eagles a five-point lead with 27 seconds left.

Most of that drive was Saquon Barkley, but Hurts did complete two crucial passes – both on 2^nd-and-long, both to Smith and both for first downs. 

Ballgame.

“That drive started with, what, eight minutes left in the game? And we gave them the ball back with 27 seconds. Why? Because Jalen and DeVonta connected on some huge plays.”

Brown now has 3,071 yards since joining the Eagles. That’s the 3^rd-most yards ever by a player in his first 35 games with a specific team, behind Odell Beckham Jr. (3,431 with the Giants) and Justin Jefferson (3,248) with the Vikings. 

And Smith’s 3,262 yards are 3^rd-most by an Eagle in his first 51 career games, behind only Jackson (3,580) and Mike Quick (3,515).

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

Nope.

Not only is Baun a starting linebacker but he didn’t leave the field in the Eagles’ Week 1 win 34-29 over the Packers at Corinthians Arena in São Paulo, Brazil.

Baun, 27, played all 67 snaps and absolutely filled up the stat sheet. He led the gam with 15 tackles and also contributed 2 sacks, 2 QB hits and a TFL. He did miss one big tackle but he showed real promise as an every down player.

These 67 snaps are the most Baun has ever played in the game and the firs time he’s never left the field on defense. It was a good Eagles debut.

Fellow starting linebacker Nakobe Dean played 64 of 67 snaps and had some big plays as well. He did get lost in coverage at one point but Dean running downhill is fun to watch.

The Eagles were without Devin White (ankle) in this game but they might already have their two starting linebackers for the season.

Other defensive notes

• In addition to Baun, Reed Blankenship and Darius Slay each played all 67 snaps.

• Without Isaiah Rodgers, the Eagles started Slay and Quinyon Mitchell, who played 63 of 67 snaps. Avonte Maddox was the nickel cornerback and played 60 snaps (90%) in this game. The Packers picked on him a bit.

• Rookie defensive back Cooper DeJean was the extra DB on the field in the dime package. He played just six snaps but got his feet wet. The second-round pick from Iowa missed most of training camp with a hamstring injury.

• At edge rusher, Josh Sweat led the way with 41 snaps (61%), followed by Brandon Graham (32 snaps, 48%), Nolan Smith (31 snaps, 46%) and Bryce Huff (30 snaps, 45%). It’s worth noting that Huff is a starter but played the fewest of this group. Graham is 36 and got more snaps than a first-round pick from a year ago and a big-time free agent pickup. Graham is still a good player but that’s not ideal.

• On the inside of the line, Jalen Carter played 51 snaps (76%) followed by Jordan Davis (35 snaps, 52%), Milton Williams (28 snaps, 42%), Moro Ojomo (14 snaps, 21%) and Thomas Booker (8 snaps, 12%). Some of those deep rotational players got snaps in crucial moments. Ojomo had an important pressure on a 3rd-and-5 late in the game.

Offensive notes

• The entire offensive line and Jalen Hurts played all 76 snaps. That’s a good start to the season. DeVonta Smith also played 76 and A.J. Brown played 72. Brown and Smith combined for 203 receiving yards in this game.

• Saquon Barkley played 61 snaps (80%) and was tremendous, putting up 132 scrimmage yards and scoring 3 touchdowns. With Barkley playing so well, there was a limited role for Kenny Gainwell (15 snaps) and Will Shipley (4 snaps) but both saw the field. Gainwell had a nifty 10-yard catch and Shipley’s snaps came in 21 personnel with two running backs on the field.

• As Jahan Dotson gets caught up to speed, he’s not getting all the snaps as the third receiver. Dotson played 32 snaps, while Johnny Wilson played 10 and Britain Covey played 9.

• At tight end, Dallas Goedert played 62 snaps, followed by Grant Calcaterra (36) and E.J. Jenkins (3). This was Jenkins’ NFL debut.

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

In the third quarter on Friday night, when the Eagles were trailing the Packers by two, Blankenship picked off a Jordan Love pass up the seam. A few plays later, Saquon Barkley punched in another touchdown for the Eagles to take a lead they didn’t give back in a 31-29 win over the Packers in Brazil.

It was a huge play by Blankenship.

But he was quick to spread around the credit in the post-game locker room.

“I wouldn’t say there was any pressure, but absolutely, the turnover battle was definitely uneven and we needed some sort of momentum play,” Blankenship said. “We were fortunate enough to make it. I just didn’t make it. Everybody else played a part in it too. We play as a team and we win as a team.”

The Eagles turned the ball over three times in this game and had just one takeaway. It’s hard to win like that but that’s why Blankenship’s interception was so important.

What happened on the play?

“Ceedy (C.J. Gardner-Johnson) did a great job on the back side of holding that route, made Jordan Love come off of it,” Blankenship said. “Because that’s where he wanted to go initially. And then he shot his eyes to the middle of the field and I knew that he would probably throw that ball because the tight end was kind of running up the field free up the seam. I slowed down and I broke on it as soon as he threw it. It was one of those bang-bang situations.”

The pick was the fifth of Blankenship’s career. He led the team in interceptions with three last season but the Eagles, as a team, didn’t have very many. In 2023, they had just nine total picks, which ranked 25th in the NFL.

On top of that, the Eagles were -10 in turnover differential in 2023. It’s hard to win in the NFL with a bad turnover differential. But Blankenship also knows it’s too dangerous to press.

“You can’t chase plays all the time,” Blankenship said. “It’s hard. Once you start chasing plays, you get out of position and stuff. It goes back to your technique and natural instincts. If you’re in the right position and everybody else is doing their job, then you have a chance.”

This is Blankenship’s second season as a full-time starter in the Eagles’ defense after earning his way on the team in 2022 as an undrafted free agent. This year, he’s paired up with Gardner-Johnson, whom the Eagles brought back after a year in Detroit.

While the Eagles gave up 29 points and 414 yards of total offense, their defense made plays when it needed to. And after the three Eagles’ turnovers, the defense surrendered just nine points.

That is what kept them in the game early and allowed for a tight win.

“I think we did pretty good,” Blankenship said. “Yeah, we had some sloppy series here and there but we’re a team. Especially, in the locker room, we came together. On the sideline, we came together. It doesn’t matter what happens, we’re always together. That’s the main thing. You have to play as a team, you have to play as a brotherhood. That’s what we’re really doing.”

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

Hurts knows how bad his two interceptions were Friday night against the Packers. He knows they could have cost the Eagles an opening-day win. And he knows he’s got to stop making those kind of mistakes.

He knows. But they keep happening.

“Definitely could have avoided some of those things,” Hurts said. “I put us in a bad spot as a team,” he said.

It was a strange game all around because the Eagles struggled in a lot of areas but nonetheless got out of Brazil with a huge win over a very good team to open the season.

Nobody struggled more than Hurts, whose two interceptions in the Eagles’ 34-29 win in São Paulo weren’t tipped balls or incredible defensive plays. They were just avoidable mistakes that were the result of poor decision making.

He tried to float a ball to DeVonta Smith through about four defenders on his second pass of the year and then, after doing some good things in the middle of the game, he cost the Eagles certain points with an even worse interception on an across-the-body throw into the end zone early in the fourth quarter on a 3^rd-and-13 that had no chance to get to A.J. Brown.

What makes those plays so concerning is that they seem to be an extension of 2023, when Hurts was third in the league with 15 interceptions, matching the most by an Eagles quarterback since Randall Cunningham threw 16 in 1988. Carson Wentz also had 15 in 2020.

He’s in his fifth year now. He has to know better.

What saved the Eagles is that the defense held the Packers to field goals after both interceptions.

“They showed up and had my back big-time in that moment after those two turnovers,” Hurts said of the defense. “Those are things that I control and I have to be better at and I take accountability for that. 

“But that’s what it’s about. You have moments where it’s like, ‘Oh, well, we missed this opportunity, we didn’t take advantage of this opportunity,’ but how do we respond from it?

“I’m really happy with just how we weathered the storm as a team. We’ve been talking about it. I’ve been preaching it. A lot of guys have been preaching it. What type of team are we going to be? What type of teammates are we going to be? What type of approach will we have? How do we handle adversity when it comes? We take pride in that.”

And Hurts did respond positively after both interceptions. 

After the first one, he went 18-for-30 for 251 yards on the Eagles’ next seven drives, which netted 28 points on two Hurts TD passes and two Saquon Barkley runs.

And after the second one, he engineered the clinching 16-play, 67-yard drive, which culminated in a Jake Elliott field goal, gave the Eagles a six-point lead and left the Packers with only 27 seconds to go 84 yards. He converted a 2^nd-and-8 with a tough 1^st-down run and completed a couple huge passes to Smith for first downs.

It wasn’t a total disaster. He really did some good things. The 67-yard touchdown to Brown was the 2^nd-longest of his career – he had an 81-yarder to DeSean Jackson as a rookie – there was that spectacular 18-yard TD to Barkley and a total of 14 completions for first downs.

“You’ve got to have a short-term memory, process everything that happens, but move on and play the next play because the guys next to you are needing you,” he said.  

And – most importantly – the Eagles won.

“He’s going to want some plays back obviously,” Nick Sirianni said. “But as far as … playing through and handling the adversity — again, wasn’t perfect by any means – but I thought he responded good.”

Hurts threw 20 interceptions in his first 39 career starts. He has 17 in his last 18 starts.          

He had the 8^th-best interception ratio in NFL history going into the 2023 season (minimum 1,000 attempts). He’s now 25^th.

“It’s all things that you can control,” he said. “We’ll continue to find our rhythm as a football team. It’s always good to be able to figure it out with a win. Good to start the season off in the win column.”

Hurts is now 3-6 in his career when he throws two or more interceptions. He’s 34-14 when he throws one or none.

The Eagles got away with one Friday night, but Hurts knows that when he throws multiple interceptions the Eagles generally aren’t going to win.

“We all experienced some adversity, but we all dug deep, dug deep and kept pressing forward.

“In the end, we made some crucial plays to extend drives, crucial plays down the field, crucial plays on defense. Even showing up on special teams, as well. That’s what it’s all about. You’re going to keep pressing forward, keep pressing forward.

“We’ll learn from it. But I’m very happy. I’m very happy to get a win – good, bad or ugly. Whatever, I’m very grateful for that. I know this team is excited to continue to build.”

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube

It is not expected to be season ending, though Love will miss time. Initial tests revealed that Love’s ACL was intact, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

Love’s timetable for a return is somewhere between three-to-six weeks, per Pelissero. There is optimism he can return sooner, depending on a second opinion. If it is three weeks, Green Bay during that time plays at home against Indianapolis, away to Tennessee and back at home versus Minnesota.

On the second to last play of the game in Brazil, the Green Bay Packers star quarterback tried to get off a throw but ultimately had to turn around and flip the ball back to Josh Jacobs.

Love then saw his left leg get caught in a tackle made by Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman Jalen Carter. Love went down in pain and had to be helped off to the sideline, where he continued to receive treatment.

After the game, head coach Matt LaFleur said he didn’t know of any updates on the 25-year-old signal caller.

Newly acquired backup Malik Willis entered for Green Bay on the final play, but got sacked as time expired as Green Bay fell 34-29.

Love signed a four-year, $220 million extension with Green Bay over the offseason that made him tied for the highest-paid QB in league history.

The No. 26 overall pick in 2020, Love helped the Packers to the No. 7 seed in the NFC last season in his first full campaign as a starter, showing plenty of promise for the future.

Green Bay had been touted to finish even higher this season after upsetting the No. 2 Dallas Cowboys in the first round last postseason and taking the No. 1 San Francisco 49ers to the final seconds in an eventual loss.

This is a developing story…