This must be what it feels like to be caught in an avalanche. The Eagles’ precipitous slide is one they can’t seem to escape. Just as they grab hold of the surface and wriggle their way out, they find new and innovative ways to sink even deeper, descending further from championship contention and closer to irrelevance. Their only accomplishment is finding more heartbreaking ways to lose a football game. Their only identity, no matter the country or the time zone, is complete and utter self-destruction. Aside from that, things are going great!
This week, the Birds took a trip across the pond to the home of James Bond and Idris Elba where they lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Diagnosing what’s wrong with this team is like trying to piece together a thousand tiny shards of a broken mirror. They are a multitude of dysfunction. A totality of tiny mistakes. A glimmer of hope extinguished by injuries and ineptitude.
Philadelphia entered this game with a roster that looked like a hospital ward, down 5 starters due to injury, including their #1 wide receiver, starting running back, starting center, starting edge rusher, and recently retired All-World right tackle. But the papier-mâché Eagles pieced themselves together with popsicle sticks and rubber cement to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars, who’ve emerged this season as one of the league’s best teams (which may be confusing for anyone waking up from a coma they’ve been in since 2012).
There was a time when playing the Jacksonville Jaguars felt easier than taking a mid-day nap. But this isn’t your “buddy’s dad who moved to Florida to start a gator farm’s” Jacksonville Jaguars. Led by NFL Villain of the Year nominee Liam Coen, this Jaguars team entered Sunday winning 11 of their last 12 games, dating back to 2025.
This game was chaotic from the jump. The Jaguars returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, but it was called back due to a holding penalty. On the same play, newly starting linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. was ejected for getting in a fight with a Jaguars backup defensive lineman, causing Philadelphia to lose a key starter on defense.
But despite losing Trotter, the undermanned, outgunned Eagles fought like hell in the first half. Vic Fangio’s defense played lights out, especially defensive lineman Jalen Carter. Carter was the best player on the field and easily had his best game of the season. He was a black hole consuming offensive lineman with speed and power. In the first half alone, Carter got to Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence and knocked the ball out of his hands twice to force two fumbles (both of which Jacksonville recovered).
After an early 51-yard touchdown pass to receiver Parker Washington, the Eagles defense held Jacksonville scoreless the rest of the half. Carter, Jalyx Hunt, and the defensive line fed on the Jaguars offensive line, getting pressure on Lawrence and closing lanes for the Jags running game as Jacksonville continuously dug themselves a hole on offense with untimely penalties.
The Eagles offense was also finally getting a little motion in the first half. In the second quarter, the Birds pieced together a 64-yard drive and scored on a Will Shipley touchdown. On the next possession, Hurts hit Darius Cooper for a 62-yard touchdown pass to put the Birds up 14-7.
With one more chance to score before the half, the Eagles defense stopped the Jaguars on a 4th and 1 in the redzone thanks to a big tackle by Jalyx Hunt. Hunt unfortunately suffered an injury on that play and would not return. As Shakespeare once said, “every rose has its thorn.” Or maybe that was the band Poison, actually.
Unfortunately, football games have two halves. It’s a revelation the Philadelphia Eagles have yet to internalize. Once again, Sean Mannion’s offense collapsed into the sunken place after halftime. Neither team scored in the third quarter. A Quinyon Mitchell interception on the Jaguars second drive of the half gave the Eagles offense a chance. But on 3rd and 15 on the ensuing drive, Jalen Hurts was pressured and missed a wide-open, uncovered Dontayvion Wicks on a deep ball that would’ve been an easy touchdown.
After the Eagles defense made a huge goal-line stand to keep Jacksonville out of the endzone and get their offense the ball back, the Eagles offense went 3-and-out in less than a minute. A tired defense trotted back on the field with 5:27 left in the game and gave up a 27-yard touchdown pass to Parker Washington, who levitated over Riq Woolen to rip the ball out of the sky and give the Jaguars a 16-14 lead after a missed extra point.
Only needing a field goal with 1:35 left, Hurts used a healthy dose of Dontayvion Wicks and Dallas Goedert to get the Eagles in range for Jake Elliott to hit a 48-yard field goal to give them the lead (and presumably the win) with 8 seconds left. It seemed like the Eagles would come out of London with a gutsy win after another halftime collapse.
Unfortunately, 8 seconds is all Jacksonville needed. The Eagles kicked the ball inbounds, and the special teams unit allowed Jaguars return man Ameer Abdullah to return the kick for 53 yards, enough for a long field goal attempt. With 1 second left, Jaguars kicker Cam Little nailed a 57-yard field goal to snatch my soul out of my body. Game Jaguars.
As gut-wrenching as this loss was, it’s not surprising. This is the story of the 2026 Philadelphia Eagles. A team crippled by injuries with an offense as effective as hammering a nail with a sponge. In the first half it felt like they would strap on a pair of goggles and find their way through the shit storm. But these Eagles prefer to get in their own way. To make things harder on themselves.
The problem with the 2026 Eagles is the same problem that plagued the 2025 Eagles. Their issues don’t find resolutions and disappear. They compound. They fester like standing water that collects on an old roof before caving in. They are frustration incarnate. A series of miscues that allowed Jaguars coach Liam Coen to slip on a banana peel and land on a victory.
People will point to Nick Sirianni for this loss and his in-game management malpractice. And rightfully so. But the biggest indictment of the league’s winningest coach is his inability to find answers or hire people who can do anything other than cause new problems.
This is a new low. A turning point or the beginning of an end. The Eagles are below .500 for the first time in 5 years. Next week the Eagles take on a well-rested Carolina Panthers team coming off a bye who’ve had a sensational start to the season. The big picture is that this team is 2-3, and 2-3 is not a death sentence. They should have numerous starters return from injury next week. But this team feels worse than that. They are hard to watch. An emotional rollercoaster that never ends. No team in the past 20 years has won a Super Bowl after starting 2-3. It doesn’t look like the Eagles will be the first.
TRENDING UP
Post-Phillies Fangio: The only thing the Philadelphia Phillies are good for is getting knocked out of the playoffs so Vic could focus on his day job. Despite Lawrence’s stat line, the Eagles’ defense had Trevor in a hell-in-a-cell for most of the game. This unit is improving and is the only thing giving the Eagles a chance every week. With the Eagles offense struggling, this defense is being left out to dry. If I were Vic Fangio, I’d consider throwing a roast pork sandwich at Nick Sirianni for wasting another masterful defensive performance.
Jalen Carter: Jalen Carter chose the perfect week to animorph into a grizzly bear. The River Thames and fish and chips brought out his best self. Carter was an absolute wrecking ball, single-handedly altering the Jaguars offense in his best performance of the season. He ended the day with 5 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, and 2 sacks. That’s big boy shit. At his best, Carter is a top 3 defensive tackle in the league and looked like one yesterday.
Dontayvion Wicks: Another solid performance from Don Wick (AKA Baba YACa). Wicks’ 5-for-63-yard stat line doesn’t look nearly as impressive as how he played. He’s become a Dallas Goedert-type beat security blanket for Hurts. He also should’ve added a long touchdown to his stat line if Hurts managed to find him wide open down the field in the third quarter.
Quinyon Mitchell: You ever see those crazy facts like “did you know Charlie Chaplin and 50 Cent were alive at the same time?” Well, here’s one for you reader! Quinyon Mitchell (top 3 cornerback in the league) recorded his FIRST regular-season interception against the Jaguars yesterday. Shout out to Trevor Lawrence for making it possible. What a luxury it is to have Quinyon Mitchell on your team.
Getting Healthy: Next week against the Carolina Panthers, we should see the return of Saquon Barkley, DeVonta Smith, Landon Dickerson, Drew Kendall, and if we’re lucky, my sanity.
TRENDING DOWN
Nick Sirianni: No one can take back everything Nick Sirianni has done for this franchise. But it feels like we’re getting towards the end of the road. Sirianni’s strength is culture-building. Holding players accountable, motivating them, keeping the ship moving through choppy waters. But his responsibilities on game day mostly involve in-game management, a facet of coaching that’s historically been up-and-down for him. Against Jacksonville, Philadelphia had a chance to score the game-winning field goal and give Jacksonville no time left to respond. On their last drive, the Jaguars even did them a favor by letting 20 seconds roll off the clock before calling their second timeout. With 1 timeout left for Jacksonville, the Eagles stopped the clock twice (Hurts throwing out of bounds and a Lemon out-route that went out of bounds) before the go-ahead field goal, leaving 8 seconds on the clock. Then after the field goal, the Eagles then made the confusing decision to kick the ball in-bounds giving the Jaguars a chance to return, which they did to get into field goal range. These are decisions Sirianni needs to be on top of as head coach. Not to mention, Nick lacks any answers for what ails this team offensively and never really has. I’ve historically been a Sirianni apologist. I don’t think you have the success this team has had with a head coach who adds zero value. But this season, it’s hard to see where he makes a difference or gives this team an edge and easier to see how he continues to hold them back.
Second Half Eagles: The Eagles second half problems are devastating and date back to last season when Kevy with the Playsheet was calling 3rd and long draws. It’s like after the Eagles Super Bowl win in 2025, Patrick Mahomes hired an Etsy witch to put a curse on the Birds so that they’ll never score in the second half of football games. Honestly, great investment Patrick.
Special Teams: Now I’ve never played kickoff coverage but I’m pretty sure a major part of it is tackling the opposing team. With the game on the line, the Eagles special teams unit couldn’t stop the Jaguars from getting into field goal range which cost this team the game.
Tush Push Usage: The Eagles offense was at its best when it went about the first three downs knowing it could easily get that last yard required on fourth down if needed. The key to that was the tush push and the Eagles masterful technique on the much-maligned quarterback sneak. But now, the Eagles barely even push tushes. On their first drive of the game they had a 4th and 1 at their own 37 yard line. Instead of a QB sneak, they called a shotgun run attempt with *checks notes* Will Shipley. Maybe it’s the changes on the offensive line or wanting to protect Hurts, but the Eagles have no confidence in their short-yardage game right now, and it’s costing them.
Running the Ball: The Eagles had 18 rushes for 22 yards. They averaged 1.2 yards per carry. That is very bad.
Being Healthy: Jalyx Hunt, Tyler Steen, Quinyon Mitchell, and Will Shipley all got hurt at one point in this game. Hunt and Shipley didn’t return. Not great!
The NFC East: Shout out to the Cowboys, Giant, and Commanders for also being trainwrecks.
Mina Kimes@minakimesThe NFC East winning 0 games on a week in which two teams played each other feels like a pretty good encapsulation of the division at the moment8:51 PM · Oct 11, 2026 · 1.13M Views336 Replies · 6.01K Reposts · 65.3K Likes
Hot Takes
The Young Offensive Line Played Ok…Kind Of…Maybe: The Eagles started their 5th offensive line combination this season, including starting Willie Lampkin, the smallest offensive lineman to start an NFL game in the past 35 years, at left guard, human giant Markel Bell at right tackle, and some guy named Jake Majors at center. Jake Majors sounds like he was named by ChatGPT. It’s a name that makes John Doe sound exotic. In pass protection, it looked like the young dudes held up ok or at least didn’t look any worse than the Eagles line has been looking over the past few weeks. Willie Lampkin led the way on Will Shipley’s first regular-season touchdown. Run blocking is another thing (which they did not do well), but I’d be interested to see how these guys develop as the season (from hell) continues.
Things Only I Care About
Kurt Warner is Midway Through His Transition Into Becoming Santa Claus: Kurt have you fallen off your roof recently? Have a craving for milk and cookies? Beard coming in thick? I’ll see you in late December, brother.
London NFL Fans go hard: Beware of this Jaguars fan from London who is the most terrifying person I’ve ever seen. Or this man dressed as a full Eagle at the game with his wife and child. Real sickos over there. I absolutely love it. Keep London NFL games weird.
9:30 games: I went into this game thinking about how nice it is to wake up and watch football. You pour a hot cup of coffee and enjoy a slow morning before sitting on the couch and embracing emotional torture from the Philadelphia Eagles for 3 hours.
Liam Coen is Wario Nick Foles: No I will not explain myself.
