The Detroit Lions are under new direction on offense, but “5 Questions” is still being run by the same guy. This week, we had the pleasure of connecting with Brandon Lee Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation
to give us some insight into the team currently at the top of the NFC standings. We got the lowdown on the drama between the Eagles and A.J. Brown, the whirlwind of changes at the defensive end for Philly including the trade deadline deal for Jaelan Phillips, and much more in the lead up to this highly-anticipated matchup between two of the best teams the conference has to offer.
Jalen Hurts has to be the most polarizing quarterback of this generation, especially for a guy who has been to two Super Bowls and won it all last year. What’s your read on his game at this point of his career and is he playing to his potential and holding up his end of the bargain on offense?
It’s been an uneven year for the reigning Super Bowl MVP.
There have been times when he’s played the best football of his entire career. The Eagles’ first half of the Buccaneers’ game comes to mind in that regard. Hurts was also looking pretty sharp in the two games before the Eagles’ Week 9 bye; he literally had a perfect passer rating against the Minnesota Vikings. At his best, he’s looked in complete control. And he’s done a really good job of taking care of the football with just three giveaways through nine starts.
Hurts had his worst game of the season in Week 6, when he was involved in two different 14-point swings. The first was when he overthrew a wide open DeVonta Smith deep for a potential touchdown. The Eagles instead had to punt, which led to a Giants touchdown drive. Hurts later threw his sole interception of the season to end what was looking like a promising scoring drive. The Giants scored again after that pick.
Hurts was uncharacteristically inaccurate against the Green Bay Packers in Week 10. He simply missed throws that he normally doesn’t struggle to complete.
So, the Eagles definitely need him to play better at times. But I’d say that the offense is letting him down more than he’s letting down the offense right now. There are times when the coaching staff inexplicably doesn’t trust him enough. Hurts has the highest third down passer rating in the NFL… and yet the Eagles were more than happy to regularly run the ball on third-and-long situations against the Packers. When the offense didn’t merely give up and actually relied on Hurts to complete third down passes, he made some really good throws.
All told, you feel like the Eagles are going to have a pretty good chance to win the game when Hurts is starting. The Eagles are 23-4 in their last 27 games he’s started and finished. And he’s regularly played well in the very biggest games of his career, so, there’s no worry about his crumbling in a big moment.
We’re young enough to remember how big of a personality Terrell Owens was in his time with the Eagles–and everywhere else he came and went. With that in mind, and after his most recent comments on Twitch, where does A.J. Brown land on the T.O. Scale of Distraction? Do you think it’s having a tangible impact on the Eagles offense taking a bit of a step back this season?
I don’t think Brown is the problem with the offense. I think he is the solution. That is, if the Eagles could actually find a way to get the ball to him. Even if Brown’s taken a step back, which I’m not so sure that he has, there’s no good reason for his production to have fallen off to this extent. It’s unconscionable that he only had two targets before the Eagles’ final play on offense against the Green Bay Packers.
I can’t blame Brown for being frustrated. People will say that there are better ways for him to express himself… but I would imagine he’s tried them and they clearly aren’t working. I don’t think Brown simply cares about stats. I do think he really cares about winning, and he feels like him getting the ball a lot is a really strong way to help the Eagles win. Which it is!
And to piggyback off your comments about Brown’s lack of involvement in the offense and how that’s had an impact on the offense, do you think that situation has affected the Eagles rushing attack? What can you say about the Eagles offensive line this year versus a year ago, and what about Saquon Barkley’s level of play from 2024 to 2025?
Certainly can’t say it’s helping but I think the biggest issue is the offensive line taking a step back after how excellent they were in 2024. They seem to be feeling the effects of such a massive rushing workload more than Barkley has been. Barkley’s actually looked pretty great in the rare circumstances when he’s had open space to work with. He’s had plays where he’ll be dead to rights for a loss and pull off a crazy spin or juke just to be able to gain three yards. His average yards before contact this season is down to levels worse than those of really bad New York Giants offensive lines he previously played behind. The Eagles need to block better for him.
What’s been the biggest storyline for this Eagles defense this season? Their interior defensive line, or a backend that’s been sticky in coverage—2.8 yards of average target separation, first in the NFL?
That coverage stat is pretty impressive for a defense that’s had a weakness at CB2. The Eagles wanted Kelee Ringo to win the starting cornerback job opposite from Quinyon Mitchell but he failed to beat out veteran Adoree’ Jackson, who lost the competition less by merely not struggling to the degree that Ringo did. Ringo clearly had more downs than ups when filling in for an injured Jackson this season. It’s also possible that Jackson will be unseated by Jakorian Bennett, whom Howie Roseman traded for back in training camp, at some point this season. Roseman also acquired two cornerbacks ahead of the NFL trade deadline: Michael Carter II and Jaire Alexander. MC2 could potentially play in the slot to free up Cooper DeJean to move to the outside, though Vic Fangio has been reluctant to move DeJean thus far. Alexander has apparently retired from football.
Ultimately, Fangio has earned a lot of benefit of the doubt. The 2024 Eagles allowed the fewest offensive points in the NFL and then totally shut down Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl LIX. The expectation was never that the 2025 defense would be as good since 1) regression is inevitable, 2) the Eagles lost a number of key contributors in free agency, and 3) this is the youngest defense in the NFL. By contrast, the Eagles have the most expensive offense in the NFL… and by a significant margin. Fangio’s defense has lived up to their end of the bargain more often than not.
Jaelan Phillips was a swing the Eagles made at the deadline to improve their edge position. Prior to that, it was Brandon Graham coming out of retirement to re-join the team he spent his entire career with. What was encouraging about their respective season debuts for the Eagles against the Packers on Monday night, and why was Howie Roseman so active around the trade deadline to improve the position?
The Eagles’ edge rusher position was not in a good spot not too long ago. Entering Week 8, they only had three active edge rushers: Jalyx Hunt, Joshua Uche, and Patrick Johnson. In Week 10, Uche and Johnson didn’t even play defensive snaps since they were behind the top quartet of Jaelan Phillips, Jalyx Hunt, Nolan Smith (who returned from injured reserve), and Brandon Graham.
The edge rusher room is in much better shape now. Phillips brought a lot of energy to the table and looked like a flat out beast, logging his highest pressure count in a game since 2022. The second-year Hunt has been coming on in recent weeks after a slower start to the season. Smith was on a pitch count in his first game back from IR but he began the season as the Eagles’ top edge rusher and he’s really good at setting the edge against the run. Graham looks like he’s working his way back into football shape but he sniffed out a Packers pop pass that led to a TFL.
The Phillips trade was an easy call because the Eagles needed more pass rush juice, they had three third-round picks to work with, and Fangio was obviously familiar with Phillips from spending the 2023 season together in Miami. His performance against the Packers was just one game but there’s real hope that it could spark this defense to turn in some more really strong defensive efforts.
