The Philadelphia Eagles were one of the most dominant teams in the NFL for some time before their season began to go downhill drastically.
The Eagles went from a 10-1 record and No. 1 overall seed in the NFC to 11-6 and losing the NFC East title to the Dallas Cowboys. They are the first team in NFL history to start 10-1 or better and not reach 12 wins.
Eagles Suffer Late-Season Collapse
While the Eagles have clinched a playoff spot for the third year in a row under Nick Sirianni, they had the chance to win the NFC East and finish as the No. 2 seed if the Cowboys lost to the Commanders and Philadelphia beat the Giants. Instead, the opposite happened.
Dallas took down Washington, 35-10, while the Eagles suffered another devastating loss to New York.
The loss was not particularly shocking considering the way the team had looked over the last few weeks.
Philadelphia’s late-season derailment began in Week 13 against the 49ers, which throttled them by a 42-19 score. They subsequently lost to the Cowboys and Seahawks before taking home one more win against the Giants. They then dropped the final two games of the season, taking defeats at the hands of the Cardinals and Giants.
The Cardinals’ offense could not be stopped by Philadelphia’s struggling defense. Arizona racked up 221 yards on the ground while averaging 5.5 yards per carry and outscored the Eagles by a 29-10 margin in the second half.
The struggles continued against the Giants in the final game of the regular season. The first half was an absolute disaster, as they fell behind, 24-0, to the 5-11 Giants.
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“Yeah, obviously it wasn’t good enough, we didn’t coach well enough, we didn’t play well enough, and there’s not really an explanation,” Sirianni said after the loss to the Giants. “We just didn’t do the things we needed to do to be successful, and that starts with me.”
Postgame, Sirianni was also asked if he thinks he has lost the locker room, to which he said no.
“I know what I felt in that locker room,” he said. “We have a lot of belief in that locker room. A lot of teams want to be in our position. We’re in the playoffs, and now it’s time for all of us to give it everything we got.”
In terms of defense, which has faltered in recent weeks, Sirianni said the issues this week were different than last week.
“Obviously today was a little bit different as far as gave up some passing yards today; he got out of the pocket a couple of times, there were some guys open on some different things,” Sirianni said. “Obviously we gotta get it corrected fast … like I said we’re going to watch this game, get better from this game, and move on to Tampa Bay.”
Offensively, all the team could muster in Sunday’s contest was a 36-yard Jake Elliott field goal with 1:11 left in the third quarter and a 16-yard touchdown pass from Marcus Mariota to Quez Watkins with 10:15 to play.
Despite the recent downfall, Sirianni is confident that the team can take home a win against the Buccaneers next week.
“We’ve got a lot of good players that I know will give everything they’ve got,” Sirianni said. “We’ve got a lot of players that know what it takes to get to the top, we’ve got a lot of guys in that locker room that know how to win playoff games, we’ve got coaches who know how to win playoff games, and that’s what makes you confident.”
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