The Philadelphia Eagles started the season 4-0 and looked well on their way to defending their Super Bowl title. The last two games, they haven’t just come down to earth, they don’t look nearly as scary as they did when the season started. Has the “tush push” argument finally broken them or is it something even bigger than that?
The season is still early and there’s still time for the Eagles to turn things around, but a blowout loss to the New York Giants, who hadn’t won a division game in a year-and-a-half, was humbling and highlighted the Eagles have some serious problems. They have a tough stretch coming up with the Giants again, the Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, Dallas Cowboys and the Bears.
Before the loss to the Denver Broncos, it looked like the Eagles would run through their schedule for the fourth straight year – they’ve had at least 11 wins the last three years and 14 wins in two of the last three years. Here’s what’s not only costing the Eagles games, but potentially their Super Bowl defense.
The Philadelphia Eagles inability to dominate the run game is hurting them
Saquon Barkley was a breath of fresh air to this Eagles offense when he landed in the City of Brotherly Love by way of The Big Apple. Last year’s historic rushing season by Barkley proved this Eagles team needs him to play well to win. The Eagles haven’t really had a convincing win this season with all their games being decided by one possession.
Barkley doesn’t have a 100-yard rushing game yet and has had less than 60 rushing yards in all but two of the Eagles’ games this season. The Cowboys lost two of the four games he’s had less than 60 rushing yards. I don’t think that’s a coincidence either. When Barkley runs the ball well, this team is good enough to win just about every game.
When Barkely doesn’t run the offense for Philadelphia, they struggle. That’s largely why they’ve lost the last two games. He had 30 rushing yards against the Broncos. While they have a really good defense, that’s inexcusable to a player of Barkley’s caliber. He didn’t have a single game with less than 45 rushing yards in 2024.
While he did have 58 rushing yards against the New York Giants, the game was already out of hand. The Eagles need the 2024 version of Barkley to resurface. He doesn’t have to 2,000 rushing yards again, but he does have to have a significant role in the offense if the Eagles want to turn things around.
Philadelphia’s run defense is becoming a serious problem
The Eagles prided themselves on their defense last year and it’s becoming one of their biggest weaknesses right now. Not necessarily their defense as a whole, but particularly, their run defense. Cam Skattebo and Jaxson Dart combined for 156 rushing yards and four touchdowns in the win on Thursday night. That’s unacceptable.
In the Broncos game, Bo Nix and J.K. Dobbins combined for 101 of the Broncos’ 130 rushing yards with a rushing touchdown. Do you see the theme? The Eagles run defense isn’t scary this year and that’s becoming a serious problem. According to Pro Football Reference, the Eagles are ranked No. 26 in rushing yards and 28th in rushing touchdowns.
They’ve gotten away with it through the first four games, but it’s starting to catch up to them and that’s becoming very clear. Including the playoffs, they had 10 games with less than 100 rushing yards and this season, they have given up at least 100 rushing yards in every game this season.
Is the tush push controversy the beginning to the end of the Eagles dynasty?
Ever since the microscope on the tush push got larger, the Eagles haven’t had as much success offensively. Is the play that became a staple of this offense officially becoming not just a crutch, but the only thing keeping the offense good? The Eagles have still run the play and still had some success, but it could be getting in their head that they have to establish a new offensive identity.
The tush push barely passed last offseason and I doubt it makes it through this season so it’s going to ultimately change their offense moving forward. Can the Eagles establish offensive consistency that doesn’t feast on a rugby-style quarterback sneak play? Time will tell, but it looks like the Eagles’ offense will have some major problems if the tush push can’t be part of their usual script.