There will be a lot of discussion and debating on whether or not Nick Sirianni’s decision to rest the starters was the correct decision after the Eagles had a chance to clinch the second seed in the NFC with the Chicago Bears losing to the Detroit Lions on Sunday.
Nonetheless, there was plenty to take away from the 24-17 regular season finale loss.
There has been a lot of public clamoring for the last month for Bigsby to get more touches in games. On Sunday, he cemented that notion with an impressive performance.
The backup running back racked up 106 total yards and a touchdown, rushing for 75 yards on 16 carries while hauling in one catch for 31 yards, breaking out of a tackle with an impressive move to rack up yards after the catch.
Bigsby produced three runs for 10-plus yards in the loss and averaged 4.7 yards per carry.
“Just being ready. Being ready for the opportunity,” Bigsby said when asked about what has led to his success down the stretch.
“It’s been a long season but just being ready whenever my number is called and giving it my all.”
Inexplicably, the Eagles decided to not give Bigsby a carry in the fourth quarter.
The running back proved that he could be an explosive weapon to spell Saquon Barkley and needs to get at least 10-12 touches next week against San Francisco.
Not many teams have strong depth across their roster. However, over the last couple of seasons, it seemed that the Eagles were the exception. That is not the case in 2025.
The cornerback depth, or the lack thereof, was on display as Kelee Ringo and Jakorian Bennett both struggled on Sunday, albeit going against Terry McLaurin, one of the top wide receivers in the NFL, and a savvy veteran in Deebo Samuel.
Ringo was called for a crucial 32-yard defensive pass interference on the first play of Washington’s go-ahead touchdown drive and also ran away from Josh Johnson as the quarterback scrambled to the end zone to cap off the same drive.
Bennett also did not have a good game and was called for a defensive holding and two pass interferences in the end zone to essentially gift the Commanders a pair of touchdowns with the ball being placed on the one-yard line.
Rookie Mac McWilliams was also called for a defensive pass interference in the end zone while defending Samuel.
The secondary was called for four pass interference calls in the game totaling 88 yards.
The struggles Sunday magnified the importance of Adoree’ Jackson’s solid play this season and of course, the elite production from Quinyon Mitchell and also the possibility that the Eagles will need to target multiple cornerbacks in next year’s draft or spend money to obtain a top tier outside cornerback in free agency or acquire one via trade.
Another game and another week of scratching your head asking “What the heck was that play call?”
There were a handful of those moments on Sunday even with the backups in on offense. A couple of examples that stood out the most to me:
On the third drive of the game in the second quarter, the Eagles leaned heavily on the passing attack. A little too heavily.
Getting down to the Washington six-yard line and staring at a 3rd and 2, Kevin Patullo opted to call two consecutive passes, both falling incomplete forcing a turnover on downs, instead of handing the ball off to Bigsby who was the best offensive player on the field for the Eagles.
Perhaps the most perplexing decision was the fact that Bigsby did not get a single touch over the final 15 plays they ran in the fourth quarter after feeding him the ball on their go-ahead touchdown drive in the third quarter.
On that eight-play scoring drive, Bigsby had six carries for 20 yards before ultimately punching it into the end zone.
The Eagles and the offense put up yet another scoreless quarter, being outscored 14-0 in the fourth quarter after putting up 10 points in the third quarter to take a 17-10 lead.
Not many fan bases have as much admiration for their backup quarterbacks than the one in Philadelphia. Between fans and some media personalities, there has been a small contingent wanting and possibly believing that McKee is a better option at quarterback than Jalen Hurts.
That should be put to rest after Sunday’s performance.
McKee struggled throughout the majority of the game against a bad Washington defense, completing just 21 of his 40 passes for 241 yards with a touchdown and interception. He missed on some big throws, including the poor pass leading to the interception in the red zone and was not as accurate as he had been in previous games.
“Me specifically, just dumb mistakes or different things that we can learn from,” McKee said postgame.
“The good thing is it’s never going to happen again. The bad thing is you got to learn from it by losing, unfortunately. So, if we can move on and not make those same mistakes again, then it’ll be worth it.”
It was not all on McKee’s shoulders. The pass protection with the back up offensive line was not great, forcing the quarterback to scramble, which is not part of his game. He was sacked three times in the loss.
The playcalling was also suspect and asking McKee to drop back 45 times with rookies on the offensive line certainly was not a good formula.
Trotter Jr. was all over the field with 12 tackles, including some big hits on run stops. The linebacker played all 69 snaps on defense for the Eagles and certainly made his presence felt in just his second start of his young career.
“He’s just a dog,” Jihaad Campbell said after the game. “If anybody were to go down, everybody can trust Trot.”
A position that had lacked consistency and depth over the years now has become a strength for the Eagles with the amount of talent they have in their linebacker room.
