It’s week 8 of the NFL season and the 1-4-1 Washington Commanders will be facing a 2-5 Eagles team at home at Northwest Stadium on Saturday at 8:20 p.m. ET. The Eagles started the season with two straight wins, but have since lost their last 5 games. I covered the overview of the Eagles in the week 1 matchup article
, so I won’t rehash the same points here except for the basics. Instead, I’ll focus on what has changed.On offense, Eagles QB Jalen Hurts will miss the season due to blood clots and is replaced
by backup Tanner McKee. McKee is a 3rd-year NFL player who is more of a traditional pocket passer than the athletic Hurts. Although McKee has played well in limited action prior to this year, the Eagles traded for Andy Dalton this past offseason and made him the immediate backup to Hurts. Dalton’s poor play in limited action week 3 led to Dalton being demoted and McKee seeing the field when Hurts was eventually ruled unfit to play, though it’s a reasonable question if the offseason moves may have hurt his confidence. Another big change in the Eagles since week 1 is the fast that almost their entire offensive line has been reconfigured multiple times. RT Lane Johnson retired (replaced by 2026 3rd-round pick Markel Bell), C Cam Jurgens was traded, and LG Landon Dickerson was out with injury and is now back. WRs Devonta Smith and Dontavion Wicks are also out for this game due to injury, leaving a lot of the receiving game in the hands of 2026 1st-round pick Makai Lemon.
On defense, the Eagles are healthier, primarily dealing with injury to LB Jihaad Campbell, who has been ruled out of week 8. Despite their health, the Eagles defense has declined precipitously in 2026 to be the 5th-worst pass defense by yards allowed and the 6th-worst rush defense by yards allowed, as well as ranking poorly in advanced stats. One theory behind the defense’s decline is that they are getting beat up from being on the field all the time due to the collapse of the offense. Through Week 7, the Eagles defense has been on the field for 67.3 plays/game, 4th-most in the NFL. Certain players have had a harder time than others, with slot CB Cooper DeJean suffering from a high missed-tackle rate and notable drop in coverage quality.
I asked Brandon Lee Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation five questions to better understand the state of the Eagles and what to look for in this game.
1) What has changed for the Eagles since the last time these teams faced off? Let’s exclude the Jalen Hurts situation from this, since it requires a lot of nuance and has been covered elsewhere.
Might be more efficient to list what hasn’t changed.
BGN alumnus Jimmy Kempski put together an “Eagles season from hell tracker” which details all the crazy stuff that’s been going on.
In broader strokes, the offense has been really bad and ineffective. These struggles can be explained in part due to Lane Johnson unexpectedly retiring and the Eagles getting hit hard by injuries. But it’s hard to argue the coaching staff has made the most out of the talent they’ve been given to work with. The offense did show some signs of life against the Cowboys in Week 7 … but the Dallas defense is pretty awful, so, it’s hard to know how much of that success will carry over moving forward.
The Eagles’ defense, which was supposed to be their biggest strength this season, has underperformed lofty expectations. They’re coming off their worst (or second-worst) performance of the 2026 campaign after getting bullied by the Cowboys on Monday night. The Eagles have poured way too many resources into their defensive front to be as ineffective as they were against Dallas. They didn’t make Dak Prescott look the slightest bit uncomfortable, logging zero quarterback hits. And the Eagles also got shoved around in the run game.
It’s hardly hyperbolic to qualify the Eagles as one of the worst teams in the NFL right now. They rank bottom five in DVOA, point differential, and weighted EPA per play on both offense and defense.
2) Will the Eagles be sellers or buyers at the trade deadline or stand pat (and why)? If they make trades, what kind of trades would you foresee?
They SHOULD be sellers. This isn’t a season worth salvaging.
This isn’t to suggest Howie Roseman should be selling players for merely whatever they can get for them. The price has to be right in each deal. But I expect the Eagles to be receiving offers that will be worth their while.
There are different groups of players that the Eagles could be looking to sell. Some are in the no-brainer category in terms of players who are entering contract seasons and don’t figure to be long-term pieces in Philly. Those guys include the likes of Moro Ojomo, Riq Woolen, Dallas Goedert.
And then there are bigger names like Saquon Barkley (whose situation could be complicated by injury issues) and Zack Baun. Again, I’d be surprised if the Eagles unload those guys unless the price is simply too good to turn down, as was the case with the Cam Jurgens trade.
The Eagles shouldn’t be opposed to buying if there’s value to be had in acquiring a player who projects to be a long-term contributor. But there’s no need for any short-term rentals.
3) Eagles fans have made a lot of Nick Sirianni’s winning percentage, but what does he do to contribute to that winning percentage and how much do you think he deserves credit for it vs roster talent, a great DC, etc? Will he be around next year?
In fairness, it is a pretty crazy winning percentage. 9 of the 11 head coaches who currently rank ahead of him are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The question you pose is fair. As a Sirianni skeptic, I can struggle to see the value he brings to the table. And I think this season is really bearing out the idea that he’s been heavily carried by elite general managing and a great defensive coordinator. With those two aspects not being as strong this season as they have in the past, the team suddenly looks a lot worse as Sirianni struggles to provide answers to persisting problems.
Perhaps I’m underestimating the significance of Sirianni having multiple years on his contract left but I struggle to see him back next year based on Jeffrey Lurie’s precedent of not tolerating offensive struggles. Three of the Eagles’ worst offensive seasons in this century were 2012, 2015, and 2020. What happened after each of those years? The head coach was fired. The Eagles had another one of those very bad offensive years in 2025 … but the team understandably didn’t want to fire their head coach one year after winning the Super Bowl. But is Lurie really going to tolerate another season where the offense is an abject failure? Doesn’t seem likely to me.
4) How much influence does Howie Roseman have beyond traditional GM responsibility of roster construction and cap/contract management? Does he help decide which coordinators to hire, which players to feature, dissect what went wrong or right on gameday, etc?
The Eagles are a GM-centric organization. Roseman’s fingerprints are all over this franchise. He definitely has a voice in decisions that are more traditionally left to the head coach. There’s no arguing that this setup hasn’t worked well for the Eagles; they’ve won two Super Bowls and been to three with Roseman as a driving factor. But the configuration does have some drawbacks, as seen in the aftermath of their championship successes.
[Editor’s note: this question was somewhat inspired by reading this article on what transpired at the end of the Doug Pederson era.]
5) What is your realistic best-case scenario for the Eagles rest of season and offseason?
The best-case scenario is that the Eagles win out!
Oh … you said “realistic.”
It behooves the Eagles to lose as many games as possible. They shouldn’t (nor won’t) “tank” in terms of players/coaches not trying to win because that’s just not how their incentives work.
But the team’s focus should be beyond the 2026 season. They need to sell some players ahead of the trade deadline. They need to part ways with some dead-end veterans and find playing time for young guys.
2026 doesn’t have to be a harbinger of more bad seasons to follow. In fact, I’m confident in saying that it won’t be. Roseman has earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to turning things around after a bad year. I’m not saying that the Eagles will definitely win the Super Bowl in 2027. But I do feel good about their chances to be a contender again sooner than later.
There’s a lot of work to be done and the road might not be easy. But the Eagles will be back.
A companion article to this with my answers to Brandon’s questions is linked here.
Thanks again to Brandon Lee Gowton for taking time out of his day to answer our questions about the Eagles.
