The Eagles’ Season Hangs by a Thread, and Their Road to Recovery Is Packed With High-Stakes Challenges.QQ

Exactly eight months ago Thursday, Jalen Hurts stared into a television camera in New Orleans and told the world that he was going on the dream vacation for every NFL player.

“I’m going to Disney World,” the Eagles quarterback declared with a smile after his team secured the second Super Bowl title in franchise history with a 40-22 rout of the Kansas City Chiefs.

That time and that place seemed so far away Thursday night as Hurts and the Eagles left MetLife Stadium following a 34-17 beating from a Giants team that entered the game with a 1-4 record and exited with a renewed confidence generated by a couple of rookies.

Where are Hurts and the 4-2 Eagles headed now?

Back to the drawing board.

“You can be on top one day and on the bottom the next,” Hurts said earlier in the week as the Eagles prepared for their game against the Giants. “So that’s the perspective of a competitor. You can never get too high and never get too low. It’s the NFL, so while it is an agonizing feeling (to lose), you have to take pride in everything that’s required to win.”

The Eagles’ list of things to do in order to return to the win column is a rather lengthy one at the moment.

Here are some things that are on our list:

1. Get the running game going

If you’re looking for the biggest difference between the 2024 and 2025 Eagles, this is it. In fact, this is the biggest difference between every Eagles team Nick Sirianni has coached and this one.

Over the course of Sirianni’s first four seasons, the Eagles finished second, third, sixth and first in rushing attempts and first, fifth, eighth and second in rushing yards. This season, they are 13th in attempts and 26th in yards.

Add in the fact that the Eagles are 29th with an average of 3.5 yards per attempt and it’s clear there’s something terribly wrong with the running game.

“A lot,” six-time Pro Bowl tackle Lane Johnson said when asked what was wrong with the part of the offense that has been so dominant during the Sirianni era. “I don’t know if we’re predictable. But it seems a lot harder than it needs to be. Maybe moving forward we have a bit more variety, hit the perimeter some, doing a little bit more than that. … We’ve got a very talented running back back there.”

Yes they do, and the Eagles have been guilty of negligence in their two losses, handing the football to Saquon Barkley a combined total of 18 times.

Is the play calling of offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo to blame? If so, it’s up to Sirianni to figure out a way to improve his right-hand man’s game plan.

If it’s the offensive line, then that’s not as easy a fix. The Eagles played their first game without left guard Landon Dickerson (ankle) Thursday and they have a new right guard in Tyler Steen this season, but according to Pro Football Focus it was Johnson and vaunted left tackle Jordan Mailata who struggled in the run game.

Whatever the problem, it needs to be fixed in a hurry or the losses could start to mount for the Eagles.

2. Tackle better

According to Pro Football Focus, the Eagles missed just 15 tackles in their first three games, but have missed 32 in their last three games, including 11 against the Giants.

Some of them were more glaring than others.

Rookie defensive tackle Ty Robinson whiffed trying to bring down Jaxson Dart on his the quarterback’s 20-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and rookie safety Drew Mukuba missed a sideline tackle on Wan’Dale Robinson on the Eagles’ next defensive series that allowed the Giants to score on a 35-yard touchdown pass.

That set the tone for a terrible tackling game by the Eagles and bad tackling teams tend to be bad defensive teams.

Case in point: The Bengals and Jets are currently tied for the most missed tackles per game and they both rank in the bottom three in points and yards allowed. The Cowboys have allowed the most yards per game and they have missed the fourth most tackles.

Bad tackling teams also typically have a difficult time stopping the run and the Eagles rank 26th in rushing yards allowed after finishing 10th in that department a year ago.

3. Get healthy and get help before the trade deadline

Dickerson and defensive tackle Jalen Carter were not playing at their typical elite level this season, but the Eagles still missed them.

Dickerson missed the game against the Giants with an ankle injury and Carter was out with a heel injury. It’s just a guess, but Carter will likely be back before Dickerson and possibly as soon as the team’s Week 7 game against Minnesota.

Cornerback Quinyon Mitchell going down was also a major blow because it left Kelee Ringo and Adoree’ Jackson as the team’s outside cornerbacks. With Mukuba struggling as a rookie safety and Reed Blankenship off to perhaps the worst start of his career, the Eagles have a weak secondary right now.

The other glaring absence right now is edge rusher Nolan Smith, who won’t be back until at least Week 10 when the Eagles return from their bye.

Even if Smith does come back then, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to add to the pass-rushing room. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio has said he isn’t unhappy with the amount of pressure the Eagles have been getting on the quarterback, but they haven’t done well at finishing as evidenced by the team’s nine sacks.

We’ll see what happens in the next two games, but general manager Howie Roseman allowed a lot of key defensive players to depart from last year’s team during the offseason and it sure appears as if he’s going to need some reinforcements ahead of the Nov. 4 trade deadline.

4. The Sirianni factor

Two seasons ago the Eagles’ head coach tried all kinds of things to keep the season from going off the rails following a 10-1 start, but he couldn’t prevent the monstrous freefall that resulted in a first-round playoff exit.

Last season, he used the team’s Week 5 bye to help turn a struggling team around and the Eagles closed out the season by going 16-1 and, of course, winning the Super Bowl.

RECOMMENDED

Will Eagles’ Saquon Barkley be able to play against Giants?Oct. 6, 2025, 5:21 p.m.

Eagles’ lopsided loss to Giants a lesson that was hard to stomachOct. 10, 2025, 4:19 p.m.

Now, the Eagles are at another crossroads following two straight losses and an overall uninspiring start on both the offensive and defensive sides of the football this season.

“There were some things that we had (against the Giants) that probably (were) a little uncharacteristic,” Sirianni said. “It’s our job to get it fixed. I’m saying that’s concerning and I’m putting (it) on me because when we’re in a team meeting, that’s the things we’re going over. You got to keep preaching it and going after it and be relentless with it. That’s my plan. We’ll get better from it.”