The Philadelphia Eagles seemed to be riding high just several weeks ago when they had a 10-1 record and were pegged by many as perhaps the best team in the NFL.
But they won only one more game the rest of the way, and their season came to a catastrophic end in their 32-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.
While many are blaming head coach Nick Sirianni for Philly’s collapse, former NFL player Howie Long stopped short of blaming him, although he did say that his players “lost confidence in the plan” while on FS1’s “First Things First.”
Did the Eagles give up this season? Howie Long weighs in:
“The Eagles lost confidence in the plan and came to the realization that we’re not going to make the run here.” pic.twitter.com/ZLW5YMKf0u
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) January 18, 2024
The warning signs were there for the Eagles, who went to last season’s Super Bowl, even when they were winning games with regularity.
They usually weren’t winning by wide margins, even against inferior opponents, and they went through a stretch where they kept having to come from behind in order to achieve victories.
The first body blow they endured was a blowout loss at home in Week 13 to the San Francisco 49ers, and while that loss could’ve been downplayed at the time, it was followed by another blowout loss a week later to the Dallas Cowboys.
The big bugaboo for Philly this season was their defense, which was so strong in 2022 but ranked 26th in total yards allowed and 30th in points given up this season.
They have the talent to win it all, but clearly, something needs to change, and that could mean a shake-up of their coaching staff in one way or another.
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