Welcome to The Linc, the daily Philadelphia Eagles links roundup at Bleeding Green Nation!
Not sure why the Tennessee Titans, who are seven-point home underdogs on Sunday, are giving Jalen Hurts and the Eagles any bulletin board material. Especially after Philly’s starting quarterback is coming off a strong Week 1 showing. But, hey, the Birds will take it.
Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles news and links …
Titans star takes shot at Eagles’ Jalen Hurts before Week 2: ‘Make [him] be a QB’ – NJ.com
“We just need to make Jalen Hurts be a QB,” Jeffery Simmons said on Wednesday. “Stop his runs, make sure Hurts doesn’t get out of the pocket and make plays.” The Eagles could use these comments as bulletin-board material. What Simmons said could be taken as a jab at Hurts. Hurts has developed into a good pocket passer, but his running ability makes him even more dangerous. Hurts will have to escape Simmons’ pressure for Philadelphia’s offense to have success against the Titans. With left guard Landon Dickerson on injured reserve, second-year player Drew Kendall will likely start on Sunday. Simmons could take advantage of that matchup to get after Hurts.
Eagles Film Review: A very good defensive performance against the Commanders – BGN
The Eagles’ defense was very good against the Washington Commanders. It wasn’t an elite performance, and the final two drives left a slightly sour taste, but the unit held Jayden Daniels to 18 completions on 34 attempts for 164 yards and limited Washington to 4.4 yards per play. Given the number of new pieces in the secondary and how difficult Daniels was to defend, I came away impressed. However, this defense has an offense problem. The Eagles’ defense played 67 snaps while the offense ran only 53 and gained just 10 first downs. Washington possessed the ball for 10:02 in the fourth quarter alone and put together touchdown drives of 67 and 63 yards. You could see the defense tiring. Jalen Carter looked exhausted by the end, and the pass rush dropped off. This is becoming a familiar problem. The defense can play exceptionally well for long stretches, but asking it to keep returning to the field eventually has consequences. The advanced numbers tell an interesting story. The Eagles generated pressure on 47.4% of Washington’s dropbacks despite blitzing on only 23.7%, but Daniels was sacked just once. That matches up to the film. The rush affected him and remained disciplined, but it rarely arrived quickly. I think the Eagles were deliberately cautious because they did not want to create huge escape lanes for Daniels.
Game Review – PHI 24, WAS 22 – Iggles Blitz
OL – Not a good showing. Penalties. Sloppy blocks. Missed assignments. WAS blitzed on more than 50 percent of plays and that certainly made things tough. You also factor in a lack of game tape on a new scheme. That made it challenging to prepare. Still, the OL should have played better. Landon Dickerson wasn’t healthy and it showed. He really struggled in pass protection. He didn’t have the quickness or lateral agility to get the job done. He got some movement in the run game, but also had his share of problems on run plays. He’s now on IR. Cam Jurgens had a couple of early penalties, but I thought he was solid overall. Tyler Steen was mostly good, but he has stuff to clean up as well. Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata were sloppier than you would want from players of their caliber. Mailata did have one highlight play.
Five thoughts on the Eagles offense: What the numbers say about Jalen Hurts vs. zone coverage, Makai Lemon’s usage – PHLY Eagles
Blocking woes aside, Lemon was not billed as a twitchy gadget player coming out of USC and is probably better utilized working the middle of the field as a slot receiver tasked with finding soft spots against zone coverage. There’s a conundrum with that, though: Lemon is a willing, but limited blocker in an offense that utilizes a heavy dose of condensed sets that will make him an important part of the run game. There were a handful of examples of him struggling in the run game in his debut, which is understandable given the transition to the league and the fact that he’s 5-foot-11, 192 pounds. Nick Cross drove Lemon into Saquon Barkley’s running lanes a couple times on Sunday and, in general, he’s not the conventional dirty-work receiver most iterations of the Kyle Shanahan-Sean McVay systems often deploy. Watching through each of the 25 routes Lemon ran against Washington, my general conclusion is that he’s still a work in progress doing most of the things the Eagles asked of him. He’s not going to consistently win against man coverage from the slot or the outside and probably shouldn’t be on the field quite as much on early downs. The best-case scenario right now is probably getting him the ball on underneath routes tied to play-action, something the Eagles didn’t utilize much against Washington and putting him in fewer blocking situations from condensed formations.
Why NFL offenses are going under center more often in 2026 – ESPN
Under center: 34% of offensive snaps. The Eagles didn’t morph into an offense from the 1980s overnight, but this 34% under-center rate was the seventh highest of any Hurts start. And the quarterback run game that faded out of the offense during the 2025 season completely evaporated. Hurts had seven carries in this game against Washington — five scrambles and two kneel-downs. There wasn’t even a tush push, as the Eagles ran Saquon Barkley, threw the ball or punted on various third- or fourth-and-2 opportunities. Barkley produced 42 yards on a third-and-2 attempt, running away from Leo Chenal, through the second level and into the open field on outside zone. His other 14 carries produced 41 yards and just five successful runs. That’s a solid performance, but it’s not the sort of 2024 Barkley the Eagles were hoping to unlock by moving toward an outside zone-heavy scheme. The same held in the passing game from under center. Hurts dropped back five times from under center. Those plays produced three incompletions, a sack and a 64-yard completion to Dontayvion Wicks on a pretty deep ball where cornerback Mike Sainristil lost track of the throw and nearly came to a complete stop in coverage. Averaging 12.8 yards per play from under center looks great in the aggregate, but the Eagles weren’t consistent in their first game under Mannion. And as the game wore on, the offense felt more like the tired, disappointing one we saw for most of 2025 than the dynamic 2024 attack. The Eagles picked up one first down in the third quarter, and it took great individual efforts to get the offense going, notably from Hurts converting a third-and-18 with his legs. It’s Week 1, and we’ll see how the offense operates in the games to come. Will we see more big plays, or will the offense struggle to move the ball consistently?
Eagles Week 2: Hurts’ legs, A.J. Brown’s absence and replacing Landon Dickerson – The Athletic
Jalen Hurts’ mobility was a major factor in Week 1. It would make sense for the Eagles to lean into Hurts’ legs this season. I’m not prepared to say it will be a prominent part of the offense because Hurts started last season averaging 44.8 yards per game in the first four games, then he reached 40 yards once the rest of the season. Yet Hurts is at his best when he can be a “triple-threat quarterback,” using his arm, mind and legs, and he’s not nearly the same quarterback if you take away that part of his skill set. Fangio acknowledged that Hurts looked quicker this summer. Hurts said when he watched this offensive system from afar, the quarterback run game “has not been an element you see.” Hurts thought his legs offer a “unique opportunity.” Mannion spoke about Hurts’ mobility from a theoretical perspective during the summer, but he saw it in action in Week 1. It’s worth wondering whether it could pique Mannion’s interest even more. “It’s a difference-maker, for sure,” Mannion said. “I know I’ve spoken about it. It’s what makes him a unique talent. It came to life in the game. You can just see how he can challenge defenses that way. He made a bunch of big plays with (his) legs. It’s certainly something that really unlocks things for us and makes him a difficult guy to defend.”
NFL QB rankings, Week 2: Caleb Williams, Lamar Jackson and Trevor Lawrence soar into top five – NFL.com
12) JALEN HURTS. Jalen Hurts had a classic Jalen Hurts game in Week 1, connecting on a handful of downfield shots while willing Philadelphia’s offense down the field with well-timed scrambles against Washington. The Eagles still need to be more consistent offensively on a per-play basis, but for one week, Hurts was able to carry them out of the muck to victory. Next Gen Stats insight (via NFL Pro): Hurts completed 6 of 9 downfield passes (10+ air yards) for 176 yards and three touchdowns in Week 1 against the Commanders. His yardage on those throws was the eighth-highest downfield total of his career, while he threw three-plus downfield touchdown passes for just the sixth time.
How Drew Kendall knows he’s ready for his likely opportunity – NBCSP
Even though Lampkin could be an option, it seems more likely that Kendall is the next man up. Whether he plays left guard or center is a different question. The Eagles could put Kendall at left guard in a 1-for-1 swap for the injured Dickerson or they could move Cam Jurgens to guard and play Kendall at his more natural spot at center. “I’ve been working with Cam,” Jalen Hurts said. “When Cam has had his off days in camp, (Kendall) steps in. But, yeah, Cam.” So maybe there’s your answer. Either way, Kendall better be ready to play on Sunday. And he thinks he is. The Eagles used a fifth-round pick to draft Kendall out of Boston College last year and he showed a major jump in his second training camp this summer. In fact, general manager Howie Roseman was interested to see how the backup interior line depth would hold up this training camp and came away impressed by what the Eagles have. Kendall is the centerpiece of that depth.
Eagles wide receiver Hollywood Brown was ‘surprised’ by lack of playing time in Week 1 win – Inquirer
Coach Nick Sirianni was asked about Brown’s snap count on Monday and said it will change moving forward. The Eagles coach knows the 29-year-old can create space with his speed and playmaking skills and acknowledged he’s been a decent fit in Mannion’s offense. “So, with [Sunday’s game], we have our rotations that we’re doing, you know, Hollywood could obviously help us,” Sirianni said. “We obviously want to get him into the football game because his speed is real. It just didn’t work out that way [Sunday]. … But we know that Hollywood can help us win football games, and his speed is real, and, quite frankly, just from my end, we want to get him into the football game, right?”Does it make Brown feel any better that Sirianni made those comments one day after the game? “Nah, no, it don’t,” he said. “But I’m not dwelling on it. I’m ready for next week.”
Spadaro: Dallas Goedert does it all and does it well for the Eagles – PhiladelphiaEagles.com
Dallas Goedert just tries to keep it simple. Mention that the tight end position in the NFL has evolved over time and he points to the idea “of doing anything they ask me to do.” Ask him about “being in a new offense” and he says that that’s kind of the nature of the NFL. “Every year, things change and you have to change with the flow of the offense,” he said. “I never get too worked up about it. I just do my job and try to execute what they want me to do on every play.”
Are you willing to be patient with the Titans? – Music City Miracles
The Tennessee Titans had the worst opening day imaginable. There weren’t many fans who had hope after a rough preseason, but the ones who did lost it after the 23-10 loss. It wasn’t just that they lost; it was the fact that they looked completely overmatched in every phase of the game. Robert Saleh and his staff are preaching patience. That’s easy for him to say. He has only been here for about nine months. It was just one week for him, but for those of us who have suffered through the last three seasons of Titans football, it just felt like a continuation of those dreadful years. Things don’t get any easier for Saleh and his team on Sunday. The Philadelphia Eagles are coming to Nashville on a day when the forecasted high is 98 degrees. There will probably be about 40,000 people there, and I’d wager at least 25,000 of them will be Eagles fans. The Titans will most likely be 0-2, and Saleh will be saying that it is only two weeks. How long are you willing to give them?
NFL Power Rankings: Cardinals soar, while Packers tumble – SB Nation
New York Giants (+7). Everything is coming up roses for the start of the John Harbaugh era in East Rutherford. This team had the raw talent on paper, but the veteran coach showed that he can harness it by dominating the Cowboys on both sides of the ball. The story moving forward will be how well Jaxson Dart can continue to play, and perhaps more-importantly, if he can stay healthy. If both those things happen we could see a very big season from the G-Men that makes a lot of noise in the NFC East.
Giants-Rams, Week 2 preview: 5 storylines, including Aaron Donald’s return – Big Blue View
Aaron Donald’s return? The future Hall of Fame defensive tackle, a nine-time First-Team All-Pro in 10 seasons, is back with the Rams after a two-year retirement. The 35-year-old did not make the trip to Australia with the team. Could he make his return Monday night? ”We haven’t decided that yet,” [Rams coach Sean] McVay said. “He’s going to continue to work his process and we’ll see what that looks like.” NFL Insider Ian Rapoport said there is “very, very realistic chance” Donald will be in uniform against the Giants. How much, and how well, Donald can play at this point are legitimate questions.
Commanders vs. Cowboys Wednesday injury report: Chig Okonkwo held out – Hogs Haven
The Commanders emerged from training camp in solid shape. While they put a few key players on injured reserve, all 53 members of the active roster were available for the regular season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles. They won’t enter Week 2 that way. A few key Commanders got banged up in that 24-22 loss to Philly, putting their status in some doubt. Tight end Chig Okonkwo (hamstring) and linebacker Frankie Luvu (groin) didn’t practice on Wednesday, the first full workout leading up to Sunday’s road test against the Dallas Cowboys.
Cowboys injuries: DeMarvion Overshown, Malik Hooker DNP – Blogging The Boys
Head coach Brian Schottenheimer provided some insight to injuries Monday and now we have more indication about player statuses following the Sunday’s loss. DeMarvion Overshown was designated as a DNP at Wednesday’s practice. He came up lame during Sunday night’s game and was visibly frustrated after sustaining the injury. Overshown would’ve been highly questionable to play this week with such an injury, and today’s status seems to be indicative that he is very unlikely to play this week.
Chiefs make 5 roster moves on Wednesday – Arrowhead Pride
Taking his place on the active roster will be [former Eagles] fullback Ben VanSumeren. VanSumeren joined Kansas City’s practice squad after final cuts. He was elevated to play against the Broncos. In his Red and Gold debut, VanSumeren was in on 79% of the Chiefs’ special teams snaps while taking the field for three offensive plays.
Falcons put Da’Shawn Hand on IR, promote TE Nick Muse to active roster – The Falcoholic
Muse is a former Eagle and Super Bowl LIX champion.
The Atlanta Falcons have made it official, placing Da’Shawn Hand on injured reserve with an ailment that’s expected to knock him out for the rest of the season. The team has promoted tight end Nick Muse to the 53 man roster in a corresponding move and have added defensive end Drake Jackson and running back Khalil Herbert to the practice squad.
Dolphins make roster moves – Miami Dolphins
Cal Adomitis has appeared in 58 career games with Cincinnati (2022-24) and Philadelphia (2025). He also appeared in three postseason games with the Bengals. He entered the NFL as an undrafted college free agent with Cincinnati in 2022 following a five-year collegiate career at Pittsburgh (2017-21), where he appeared in 64 games and recorded 13 special teams tackles (seven solo). He finished his Pitt career as one of the most accomplished long snappers in program history, earning 2021 All-America honors and the Patrick Mannelly Award, presented to the top collegiate senior long snapper in the FBS.
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