The Philadelphia Eagles had numerous issues to overcome during the 2025 season. They managed to win the division and host a playoff game, but nothing ever quite felt right. Injuries, play-calling, disgruntled players, knee-jerk reactions to struggles rather than resolutions, kept the past season from ending as it could have.
Many changes have taken place since their loss in the wild-card round, but identifying the problems and addressing them is the challenge for the remaining and new coaches on the Eagles staff.
The OL play, largely due to injuries, was a bigger issue than the playcalling. The Eagles’ offensive line struggled against pressure. In my opinion, this was primarily due to injuries, but communication and responses under stress lagged. That lack of trust sped up Jalen Hurts’ clock and disrupted rhythm throws. Even the easy ones that should have been like pass-and-catch in the backyard.
Some of the play-calling and its repeated history resulted from trying to compensate for the diminished OL, but the plan's sequencing and evolution never materialized throughout the year. It did not influence defensive alignments or elicit reactions; it was predictable, showing the same tendencies. Early plays are often used to gather intel, designed to force the defense to show their hand and trigger safeties and linebackers to reveal their intent. The goal is to make the defense guess wrong before the ball is snapped, giving the offense a huge advantage, which didn’t happen in 2025. In short, the plays seemed isolated, never building on one another to set up counters late in the drive or game.
Marrying the run and pass game together is designed to look the same at the snap. It should stress defenders with identical formations, motions, and other elements. This never materialized for the 2025 Eagles’ offense. The Eagles' formations were all tells. They ran the ball out of certain personnel sets a high percentage of the time. If they had married the two properly, opposing linebackers and safeties would not have been able to tell run from pass, causing hesitation and doubt. That is where explosive plays are born, and that is what never came to fruition for the 2025 offense.
Getting out of the huddle late was also a huge flaw. It has been an issue during Nick Sirianni’s time as the Eagles' head coach, but it was far more crippling this past season. Opponents grew comfortable anticipating tendencies by down, distance, and formation. Without time to change plays or use motion to tell coverage, they ran into bad plays much of the season.
The offense's lack of consistent plays to exploit the middle of the field was a major flaw. Without a reliable way to punish defenses between the numbers, safeties were freer to tilt outside and sit on perimeter concepts. The offense moved the ball at times, but sustaining drives became harder without easy, layered answers inside.
Saquon Barkley was the same player. He was hit behind the line constantly and was never given the light of day. When he was, those home run, explosive plays were still on display.
AJ Brown’s tweets did not cause a rift in the locker room. One can judge his decision to post them that way, but his message does not seem incorrect. The offense was not sustainable in the way it was being carried out. Whether AJ will remain with the Philadelphia Eagles remains to be seen, but if you believe he is more of a problem than an answer, I would disagree.
Jalen Hurts’ talent or physical ability was not the issue. QB1 has the arm strength, mobility, and toughness to execute the offense. When the structure and timing were there, so were his throws.
Jeff Stoutland remained the best OL coach in the league and had one of the most talented units. The breakdowns were due to injuries rather than OL coaching. The Eagles' offense will move in a new direction in the 2026 season, without Stout U, but that was not due to his coaching ability. He has been the most respected coach in the organization for the last 13 years.
Vic Fangio’s defense, which had a few bad games and gave up second-half points, was a result of being on the field for too long and being leaned on to bail out the offense too many times. Fangio is a defensive genius, and whatever needs to be done inside the Nova Care to keep him with the franchise should be considered.
The entire team's effort and competitiveness weren't an issue either. This was not a team just going through the motions; they were intense and seemingly prepared to execute the assignments given to them. Their desire to win showed even when the execution lagged behind.
The Eagles' talent was never in question; there are many playmakers on this team. Maximizing them was the problem. Correcting those issues going forward will be the key to their success or decline. Overhauling the offensive coaching staff is the right move. They have injected youth and new ideas and are clearly moving towards major changes in their schemes.
As always, thank you for reading!
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