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Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles news and links …
Jalen Carter back to being healthy and disruptive as playoffs near – NBCSP Jalen Carter is back. And not just back, like he’s on the field. Back like the dominant defensive tackle we’ve all seen him be before. He showed that on Sunday after returning from missing three games following
a procedure on both shoulders. How did those shoulders feel on Sunday? “They felt good,” Carter said. “Like, way better than before. I guess that shot really did its thing.” Carter, 24, had been battling through injuries to both shoulders throughout the season that sapped his strength and mobility and left him dealing with serious pain. After the loss to the Bears last month, the decision was made to have Carter receive shots in both shoulders and sit for a few games. He came back with a vengeance on Sunday in Buffalo. In the Eagles’ 13-12 win, Carter had a sack, several pressures and a clutch PAT block to help the Eagles hold on against the Bills in a hostile environment at Highmark Stadium.
Eagles-Bills Film Review: The offense needs to stop spending entire halves playing scared – BGN
This Philadelphia Eagles win over the Buffalo Bills somehow felt like two completely different offenses playing in the same game. I was so optimistic after the first half, and so angry after the second. I’ve tried to be positive the past month and look at the progression this coaching staff has made, but this week was rough. I’m a little mad this week. Sorry! The inclement weather clearly mattered, but the bigger issue is that the Eagles once again chose to make life more complicated than it needed to be.
Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills come up short vs Philadelphia Eagles in Week 17 – Buffalo Rumblings
RB James Cook III. The Eagles did a great job on the NFL’s leading rusher, holding him below his season average for yards per game and yards per carry. Cook rushed 20 times for 74 yards, good for just 3.7 yards per tote. On the season overall, Cook is averaging 100 yards per game and 5.2 yards per carry. Buffalo is used to gaining chunks of yardage on the ground, as Cook and the Bills average 156 yards rushing per game. They also have 21 runs of at least 20 yards on the season. In this one, Cook’s longest carry went for just 10 yards. That’s the third-lowest “long” total he’s had this season, so the Eagles did a good job limiting those explosives on the ground. Cook saw four targets in the passing game, but he only caught one for a total of three yards. Allen thought he had Cook on a mesh-rail toss on the play that immediately preceded the 19-yard sack early in the fourth quarter. While Allen dropped the ball perfectly in the bucket, it would have been a tough catch, as Cook was surrounded by defenders, one of whom was able to knock his left arm down before he could secure the ball. It was an example of the kind of game that went down yesterday, as the Bills did everything right on the play, but Philly’s defense was one step ahead.
Bowen: Once again, Eagles, I implore you to stop doing this to us. Just be a little bit normal? – PHLY
The first half Sunday bolstered those hopes. A 13-0 lead, against a good team with a great quarterback, on the road, in awful weather? Sure, sign me up. Also, I don’t expect perfection. A drive for a lousy field goal in the second half would have made all the difference in the world. It was still 13-0 at the end of the third quarter. The offense just needed to do something, anything, maybe don’t even score points, just put together some first downs and run some clock so the defense can rest a bit before going back out there. Nah. Too much trouble. It was a lot like the second half of the Tampa game back in Week 4, except, this wasn’t Week 4. If they haven’t figured it out by now, they probably aren’t going to figure it out. The Eagles are primed to waste one of the great defensive seasons in franchise history, not because the offense has suffered catastrophic injuries, as with Randall Cunningham in 1991, but for reasons no one seems willing or able to explain. Our own E.J. Smith noted that TruMedia ranks the Eagles’ 5.6 percent offensive success rate in the second half as the worst recorded by any NFL team in any game over the past three seasons. With Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Saquon Barkley, Jordan Mailata, etc. This is just profoundly absurd.
2025 NFL season, playoff races: What mattered in Weeks 1-17 – ESPN
Didn’t seem to matter then, matters now: The Eagles struggle on offense but still pull out another victory. Wins don’t need to come with style points, but I’m not sure there has ever been an unhappier fan base to start 8-2 than this year in Philadelphia. One week after a 10-7 win over the Packers, the Eagles mustered just one touchdown in a 16-9 win over the Lions, leaning on a great defense and a generous pass interference call on the final drive of the game to help run the clock out on Detroit. Wins are wins, but the fans were right to be worried. Frustrations about Kevin Patullo’s offense boiled over in the weeks to come, when the Eagles went on a three-game losing streak, costing them any shot of competing for the top seed in the NFC. The complete absence of competition in the NFC East helped break one of the league’s weirdest trends and earned the Eagles their second straight division title, but against competent-or-better competition, Philly’s offense continues to underwhelm. The Eagles did absolutely nothing against the Bills in the second half of Sunday’s game, generating just 17 yards of offense after halftime and winning only after Josh Allen missed an open receiver in the end zone on the game-deciding 2-point try.
Albert Breer: Brock Purdy Explains How This Season’s 49ers Team Is Different – SI
You’re going to have to adjust your eyes to the way this Eagles team wins. No, Jalen Hurts doesn’t look the same as he did last year. Saquon Barkley’s production has been affected by offensive line attrition. A.J. Brown’s beat up. But here’s the thing: The defense, quietly, might be better than it was last year, and maybe significantly so.
And that brings me back to conversations I had with Eagles folks over the summer. I mentioned to a couple of them how it would be cool to see Philly’s guys playing in Vic Fangio’s scheme, with a year under their belts. I was immediately reminded that Fangio would be replacing nearly half of the starters from his championship defense, with Milton Williams, Josh Sweat, Brandon Graham, Darius Slay, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and Isaiah Rodgers all gone. Younger players were in their spots. It might take some time, I was told. Now, it sure looks like this group’s time has come, and Sunday’s heavyweight bout in Orchard Park—it was Eagles 13, Bills 12 when the final bell rang—is proof positive. Through three quarters, Philly shut out Josh Allen & Co., while holding the Bills to 201 yards on 35 snaps, and 11 first downs. Buffalo was 2-of-8 on third down over that time, and Philly stoned the Bills’ two trips inside their 40 with a forced fumble and a goal-line stand. And they did it mostly by carrying out Fangio’s plan to make anyone but Allen the hero.
One under-the-radar reason why the Eagles’ offense is struggling – NJ.com
Too often, by the time Patullo calls the play, Hurts relays it in the huddle and everyone gets set at the line of scrimmage, it all seems rushed. Hurts and the offensive line are scrambling to identify the defense, making it difficult to make the necessary checks. As a result, the offensive operation isn’t as clean or productive as it could be. Sunday was a prime example of that. The Eagles broke the huddle with 15 seconds or less on the play clock and snapped it with five seconds or less on 15 of 54 plays against Buffalo. On those 15 plays, the Eagles netted 20 yards with an average of 1.3 yards per play. On the Eagles’ other 39 plays, they averaged 4.4 yards per play. When your offense manages only 190 yards and 13 points, that’s a big difference. Saquon Barkley and the running game were uniquely affected by the late snaps. Barkley had four carries when the Eagles broke the huddle with 15 seconds or less left and snapped it with less than five seconds. He netted one yard on those four runs. On Barkley’s other 15 carries, he netted 67 yards (4.5 yards per attempt), which makes sense. The earlier you break the huddle, the more time Hurts has to diagnose the defense and check out of unfavorable looks. The earlier you snap it, the defense is less likely to jump the count.
Spadaro: 10 under-the-radar Eagles this season – PE.com
Darius Cooper, wide receiver. He made the roster after a sparkling summer, and Cooper has gradually worked his way into the picture. His six receptions for 59 yards – he has also drawn a couple of pass-interference penalties – are only part of the story as Cooper has blocked very well in the running game and has been a contributor on special teams. He is on the upswing, for sure.
Eagles are first team since 1987 Patriots with no second-half completions in multiple games – PFT
The deeper issue for the Eagles is a tendency to sleepwalk through long stretches of games. That has happened more than twice this season. If it happens in the postseason, it will be very difficult for the Eagles to advance. After Sunday’s 13-12 win at Buffalo, coach Nick Sirianni expressed regret for not assisting the offense between drives. He seemed to commit to doing that moving forward.
Post-Week 17 Mock Draft: Las Vegas Raiders, New York Jets select new franchise quarterbacks – PFF
23. Philadelphia Eagles: CB Avieon Terrell, Clemson. The Eagles have one weak spot at cornerback and several ways to address it. Drafting Clemson’s Aveion Terrell would give them flexibility, either keeping him on the outside or moving him inside and sliding current slot cornerback Cooper DeJean out wide. Terrell is an undersized playmaker who has broken up 15 passes over the past two seasons while earning a PFF run-defense grade of at least 86.0 in both years.
10 Bears Takes Following a Sunday Night To Remember (Even In Defeat) – Windy City Gridiron
From a health standpoint, the Bears are in good shape (pending Luther Burden’s status), at least when you’re looking to the Wild Card round. The flu virus has raged through the team’s locker room, and the hope is that in two weeks it’ll be over and everyone will be healthy. Could that impact how the Bears handle next weekend? A lot of that depends on how much they value the No. 2 seed, especially with the Eagles winning on Sunday afternoon. The apparent advantage of the two-seed is simple: It guarantees them at least two home games from the Wild Card round through the Divisional Round. With the third seed, those chances shrink a little, depending on what happens in front of them. Two of the three wild-card teams (both in the NFC West) appear to be stronger than the Eagles or whoever wins the NFC South. There will be plenty of calculus that goes into their decision on how they want to handle Week 18, but I’m putting money on Johnson leaning on what he knew in Detroit: playing all healthy, available starters. We already know that Campbell and the Lions will be doing the same. Not only that, but Williams is exactly 270 passing yards away from becoming the first quarterback in franchise history to eclipse that marker. Call it a gut feeling, but considering how Johnson has acknowledged that number before, I’m willing to bet that he’s got some skin in the game too when it comes to breaking that record in Year 1, on top of everything else they’ve already accomplished.
Bears made dubious NFL history vs. 49ers and it speaks volumes about their Super Bowl chances – SB Nation
The Bears are one of the best stories in the NFL this season, yet remain an enigma. We’re approaching Week 18, Chicago is 11-5, and we still don’t really have a clear idea if this team is a legitimate contender or not. Rookie head coach Ben Johnson has done a phenomenal job by transforming the Bears into a legitimate threat — but there are still mammoth holes on the roster, a feast-or-famine defense, and maturing players who might not have the next gear required to make a deep playoff push this season. Sunday night’s loss to the 49ers was a distillation of Chicago’s season. The Bears at their most Bears. There were amazing highs, some disappointing lows, and a spectrum of everything in between. This all comes to the fore with one phenomenal way they made history.
Lions coach Dan Campbell offers nuanced answer on playing starters vs. Bears – Pride Of Detroit
If you’re wondering whether the Detroit Lions are going to play all of their starter in a “meaningless” Week 18 game against the Chicago Bears, coach Dan Campbell gave a resounding… maybe? Unsurprisingly, Campbell mentioned that the game can say a lot about a team’s set of players, and it’s the standard in Detroit to give it all they’ve got every time they take the field. “You can always find a lot out with one to go,” Campbell said. “And, no, we’re not playing for the playoffs, but there’s still things we can find out, and I expect the guys that we have here to give it what they’ve got one more time. That’s the expectation.” To that end, it certainly seems like the Lions plan on playing most of their starters. But when it comes to players who have been battling injuries all year—or those who may have suffered recent ones—Campbell was a little more elusive in his answers. He admitted, first of all, that they’re pretty beat up right now.
9 more coaches the Cowboys should consider to fix their defense in 2026 – Blogging The Boys
Christian Parker. If the Cowboys want to break off a branch of that Fangio coaching tree but don’t fully believe in Hurtt, they could go for another Eagles assistant in Christian Parker. Currently the defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator for Philadelphia, the 34-year old Parker is viewed by many as the next coaching star. A quality control coach in Green Bay, Parker was a key assistant for defensive coordinator Mike Pettine in breaking down game film and preparing game plans each week. He then got hired in Denver in what proved to be Fangio’s last year as head coach. Parker was so impressive, though, that he was retained by each of the Broncos’ next two head coaches. He only left once Fangio took the job in Philadelphia. In Denver, Parker oversaw the rapid development of Patrick Surtain II. In Philadelphia, he’s helped both Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean get acclimated to the NFL quickly, too. And as a staunch Fangio disciple, he brings a deep understanding of that defense. Many around the league believe it’s only a matter of time until Parker is a defensive coordinator in his own right, and another strong season with the Eagles may mean this is the year for him.
Dan Quinn: Josh Johnson will start again if Marcus Mariota can’t play vs Eagles – Hogs Haven
Marcus Mariota is dealing with stitches in his throw hand and a quad injury, and didn’t participate in today’s walkthrough. Quinn said it would be a stretch for him to play on Sunday, He’s hopeful Mariota can play, but Josh Johnson will get his second start if he can’t. Quinn wouldn’t name a backup if Johnson starts. Jeff Driskel was Johnson’s backup vs the Cowboys, with Sam Hartman designated as the emergency 3rd QB. Tyler Biadasz was rolled up on during the loss to the Cowboys, and he suffered knee and ankle injuries. Quinn said he won’t need surgery, but he’s unlikely to play this week. Laremy Tunsil is still dealing with an oblique injury, and still doesn’t have full strength. He is likely also out vs the Eagles, and Brandon Coleman will get his third start in a row at left tackle. Daron Payne missed the Cowboys game due to a back injury, but he was at today’s walkthrough, and he’s “trending in the right direction” to play in Philly.
NY Giants coaching search: Marcus Freeman isn’t coming to New York – Big Blue View
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman will not be coaching the New York Giants, or any NFL team, in 2026. Freeman has informed NFL teams that he will remain at Notre Dame for the 2026 season. Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde reported that “Freeman informed two NFL franchises that had been in communication with him about their jobs that he was staying at Notre Dame.” The Giants are believed to have been one of those teams.
Andy Reid says he plans to return to the Chiefs in 2026 – Arrowhead Pride
“I think I’m coming back,” he said of the possibility of returning in 2026. “If they’ll have me back, I’ll come back. You never know in this business, so that’s a tough [question]. But I plan on it.”
What’s at stake in the NFL playoff race in Week 18? Both No. 1 seeds, 4 division titles and more – NFL.com
No. 1 seed in the NFC. The fight for the top seed in the NFC isn’t nearly as complex as the situation in the AFC because it comes down to what happens in the NFC West. Seattle is sitting in the best position with a 13-3 record and a one game lead over San Francisco. Those teams will meet Saturday for what amounts to a winner-take-all setup. The Rams still had an outside shot when Week 17 began, but that door officially closed when the 49ers beat the Bears on Sunday night. The Niners also have a victory over the Seahawks already but that was back in Week 1, when San Francisco wasn’t riddled with all the injuries that have once again plagued this franchise. Even playing the game in San Francisco shouldn’t matter here. The Seahawks secured a huge win over the Rams in Week 16. They’ll do the same against the 49ers in the season finale.
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