National Football League

The warning signs are clear in Philadelphia. The Eagles just need to heed them

Updated Dec. 11, 2023 7:30 p.m. ET

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Ralph Vacchiano

NFC East Reporter

There are alarm bells going off all over the city of Philadelphia after the Eagles just played their two worst games of the season. They're aware of how bad everything looks right now, even though they're convinced things aren't that bad at all.

"Everybody's acting like the sky is falling," Brandon Graham said after the Eagles lost to the Dallas Cowboys 33-13 on Sunday night. "But we're 10-3 and control our own destiny. It ain't going to be perfect."

Added quarterback Jalen Hurts: "It's something we're going through. Not something we're stuck in."

Maybe they're right. The Eagles are still a team loaded with talent. They're still going to make the playoffs. And there's still plenty of time left for them to win their division, too. It sure helps that their last four games are as soft as a bag of marshmallows. There's a pretty good chance they'll even end up right where they expected — as the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

But those alarms are going off for a reason, and they're getting louder. And the Eagles better listen closely, because they're real and not likely to go away.

There are real issues that were exposed for Philadelphia in back-to-back weeks by the San Francisco 49ers and the Cowboys — two teams that didn't just beat them, they clobbered them by a combined score of 75-32. These weren't just a couple of close games decided by a few inches or some bad breaks. The Cowboys and 49ers were very clearly the better teams.

It's not that either of them are necessarily more talented, though. It's that they're playing better, because the Eagles are not playing well. All season long it felt like the Eagles were flirting with disaster, getting away with sloppy or inconsistent play, that something wasn't quite right with them. It was easy to gloss over because they won 10 of their first 11.

There's no way to ignore those issues now.

"I think the biggest thing for this team now is really find out who the dudes are," defensive tackle Fletcher Cox said. "I've been part of teams where the dudes in the locker room do something about it. And I've been a part of the team where you know, it kind of crumbles. But now it's time to see the real leadership, the real players, the guys that are elite on this team, myself included, step up and do something about it."

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They actually might need more than that. The coaches might have to do something about it, too. It's hard to make sweeping changes 13 games into the season, but they have to do something because they have some serious problems, especially with the Cowboys and 49ers standing between them and another Super Bowl run.

For example, their tackling remains terrible. And it's not just the missed tackles, it's the positioning too. Both the 49ers and Cowboys clearly went after the middle of the field or ran toward the edges, trying to avoid the Philly defensive line while attacking their weak linebacking corps. And it hasn't helped that the Eagles' pass rush has been maddeningly inconsistent all year.

The once-proud Philadelphia defense has been torched for an average of 428 yards per game over the last six games. They were powering the Eagles through the first half of the season. They look more like a liability now.

And on offense the Eagles have a dangerous turnover problem — 19 now on the season. Their turnover differential is minus-4. And Jalen Hurts has 15 of them — five fumbles to go with his career-worst 10 interceptions. There's also no denying that something is just different about the way Hurts is playing this season. His stats, in some cases, are actually better than they were last season. He's still likely to end up at least on the fringe of the MVP race. But he's creating fewer plays outside the pocket, where he always has been the most dangerous. He doesn't look like the weapon he once was.

Put it all together, and it's like the Eagles are in a malaise. And maybe that shouldn't have been unexpected considering the stretch of the schedule they just completed. In the last five weeks, they played the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs, the Buffalo Bills, the 49ers and the Cowboys twice. Going 3-2 in that stretch isn't bad, and a gauntlet like that was always going to take a toll.

"I think we just didn't play up to our standard," center Jason Kelce said. "We've played a lot of high-profile games here before and executed well. I don't think it is the magnitude (of the games). These are good teams, and you can't make mistakes against good teams. We've done far too much of that."

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That's true, but they can't just blame it on the opponents or assume they're like a slugger in a slump, and they'll eventually shake it off. There's not a lot of time left to just wait for it to happen. They have to find a way to fix all their mistakes — or more importantly, figure out if they actually can. That's the only way they can prove they are still the powerhouse they thought they were earlier this season, not a team filled with irreversible flaws.

They're certainly entering the right stretch of the schedule to do that. They have a deceptively tough trip to Seattle next Monday night to face a Seahawks team (6-7) that has lost four straight, but two of those games were against the 49ers and one was against the Cowboys. But after that, the Eagles get their soft landing with a game against the Arizona Cardinals (3-10) sandwiched between two games against the New York Giants (4-8).

So there is definitely an opportunity for them to learn their lessons and fix their issues — as long as they're not just assuming that if they keep doing what they're doing, everything will be all right. Because it won't be. Even if they get through the Seahawks, Cardinals and Giants, they know they're going to see the 49ers or Cowboys or maybe both again in the playoffs.

And the Eagles have got a lot to do to get back to the level where they can compete with them again. Right now, confidence and momentum aren't on their side.

"I think they are all lessons," Hurts said of the last two losses. "You learn more about what we need to improve on. That's what this game is about. When you stop learning, that's when you should hang it up and leave it alone. 

"That's the mindset we have. Obviously, everything is about winning and finding ways to do so. But you don't win without losing. You don't win without some type of adversity. We'd love to come out here and be perfect, but perfection is only an illusion."

Nobody is expecting the Eagles to be perfect. But they certainly should be better. And they now can see clearly that this season is going to end in disappointment if they don't find a way to be a lot better than they've been.

Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.

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National Football League

Philadelphia Eagles

Jalen Hurts

Brandon Graham

Fletcher Cox

Jason Kelce

Ralph Vacchiano