The Eagles losing streak is now at seven, and Nick Sirianni isn’t promising that his coaching staff will look the same when Philadelphia comes back from its bye. After Sunday’s 19-11 loss to the New York Giants at Lincoln Financial Field, the Eagles are 2-7, last in the NFC East, and facing the kind of week no one in Philadelphia expected this fall.
Asked whether changes were coming, Sirianni kept the door open. “We’ll talk,” he said, according to ESPN.
How a 2-0 start turned into 2-7
This season started the way Eagles fans have come to expect. Philadelphia won its first two games. Then almost everything that could go wrong did, and the Eagles losing streak began.
The biggest blow was at quarterback. Jalen Hurts took a cleat to the calf on Oct. 4 against the Rams, was later diagnosed with a blood clot and went on injured reserve on Oct. 17, according to the AP. He’s now expected to miss the rest of the season.
Tanner McKee took over and went 0-3. Two days after Sirianni said McKee was still the starter, the team switched to Joe Milton, a 2024 sixth-round pick it had signed off the Cowboys’ practice squad on Oct. 16, the AP reported. Sunday was Milton’s first NFL start.
The injuries didn’t stop at quarterback. ESPN noted the offense has been without right tackle Lane Johnson and receiver DeVonta Smith for much of the year, and Saquon Barkley has been limited by hamstring and back problems. During the week before the Giants game, Barkley, Smith and receiver Dontayvion Wicks all missed practice.
Sunday showed every problem at once
Milton had his moments early. He led an eight-play, 58-yard touchdown drive on the Eagles’ second possession, capped by a 3-yard Barkley run, and he ran in a two-point conversion for an 8-6 lead.
After that, the offense stalled. Milton finished 18 of 34 for 169 yards and was sacked seven times, according to NJ.com. Philadelphia ran for just 92 yards. Barkley was stuffed for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-1 with two minutes left in the first half, and late in the game, Arvell Reese strip-sacked Milton to help seal it.
The Giants didn’t exactly light it up either. They kicked three field goals and got their only touchdown from Jameis Winston, a 5-yard pass to Isaiah Likely, after J.J. McCarthy left with a hip injury in the third quarter. That made it 16-8 with 9:06 left. It was enough.
The defense, at least, showed up. Philadelphia sacked Giants quarterbacks six times, two by Zack Baun. But a defense can only carry an offense this broken for so long.
Sunday was also the first time the Giants had beaten the Eagles in Philadelphia since 2013, ClutchPoints noted. And it came on the day the team honored longtime radio voice Merrill Reese at halftime for 50 years of calling Eagles games, as The Philadelphia Inquirer pointed out.
The offense is near the bottom of the league
The numbers back up what fans are seeing. Entering Sunday, the Eagles ranked 30th in the NFL in points per game (16.4), 30th in expected points added and 30th in first downs per game, according to ESPN. They were 28th in offensive efficiency.
That puts most of the heat on two coaches. Offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, 34, is calling plays for the first time this season. Offensive line coach Chris Kuper is under fire too, after an offensive line that has struggled all year gave up seven sacks to a division rival. NJ.com wrote that both could be demoted or fired during the bye.
Sirianni has publicly defended Mannion, and after Sunday’s game he spread the blame around. He said the problems on offense belonged to everyone, starting with himself, and that he hadn’t done a good enough job. He also said he doesn’t believe in making changes just for the sake of it, The Athletic’s Zach Berman reported.
Will the Eagles sell at the deadline?
The coaching staff isn’t the only thing that could change before Week 11. Tuesday’s trade deadline is at 4 p.m. ET, and Philadelphia has several veterans on expiring deals who could draw interest.
ESPN named three: tight end Dallas Goedert, cornerback Riq Woolen and defensive tackle Moro Ojomo. Goedert said he’s not too worried about his future. A contender looking for a reliable tight end would be a natural fit for him, and Woolen’s length and speed at corner would appeal to almost any defense.
Selling would be a big shift for a franchise that made the playoffs in each of Sirianni’s first four seasons, but the Eagles losing streak has changed the math. But at 2-7, with the Giants at 5-2-1 and running away with the division, the Eagles have to think about 2027. Our NFL trade deadline guide will track any Philadelphia moves as they happen.
Is Sirianni’s job safe?
For now, almost certainly. The question being asked in Philadelphia is about his assistants, not about him. The Inquirer called an in-season change at head coach the least likely outcome.
There’s history to consider, though. Owner Jeffrey Lurie has made an in-season move before: he released Chip Kelly with one game left in the 2015 season. One Yahoo Sports column argued Lurie should still wait until January rather than hand eight games to an interim coach.
What happens on the field over the final eight weeks will shape that decision. With Hurts out, a quarterback who has been in the building for three weeks and an offense near the bottom of the league, that’s going to be a hard stretch.
Can the bye end the Eagles losing streak?
The Eagles are off in Week 10, which gives Sirianni time to decide whether Mannion keeps calling plays and whether Kuper stays in charge of the line. It also gives Milton extra practice time before his second start, something he hasn’t had much of since arriving in October.
The NFC East picture adds to the pain. The Giants, the team that just won in Philadelphia, lead the division and host Washington on Thursday night. As we laid out in our NFC playoff picture, the Eagles are far outside the race.
For a fan base used to playing in January, the next two weeks will say a lot about whether this season is about fixing things for now or getting ready for next year.
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