There’s a tug-of-war happening around this Eagles team, and it isn’t just external from the fans and media. It’s internal.
We have all heard the phrase "for every action, there is a reaction." Well, for the Eagles, every encouraging development over the season has been met with disappointment and negativity.
Every flaw comes with a counter of goodness, and everything that has been done well has come with something poor. Watching them requires everyone to hold two ideas at once when they appear to contradict each other and let the season play out to see which one wins.
A.J. Brown has four straight 1,000-yard seasons, totaling over 5,000 receiving yards in an Eagles uniform. No receiver in franchise history has been more dominant over any four-year stretch. That part is not debatable. The uncomfortable part is how he got there this season. Did it require a public airing of frustration, tweets that created controversy, and caused fans to blame him, and some even wanted him traded?
The production has followed. So, did that action cause the reaction? The optimistic view is that elite players demand the ball and deliver when they get it. The pessimists wonder why the offense needed a nudge to remember this in the first place, and whether it caused more harm than good.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts is usually in the same uncomfortable place with fans and media that A.J. Brown found himself in. Pessimists have always questioned his ability to read a defense, and some argue that he’s a product of having elite receivers, a dominant O-line, and a risk-averse system built to protect him and limit mistakes. Yet, for me, none of that explains what keeps happening when the stakes are at their highest. His legs become a weapon; they’re a cheat code. They can change the Eagles' rushing attack and get them favorable chain-moving plays when plays break down. He's 5-0 in home playoff games. He’s a Super Bowl winner, a Super Bowl MVP, and on the biggest stage, twice, he outplayed Patrick Mahomes. You can debate the aesthetics of his game, but at some point, results stop being a coincidence. The optimists and history agree with me here: When the stage is the biggest, Hurts has consistently played at his best.
The Eagles nearly gave the game away late in Buffalo by going ultra-conservative offensively. That’s the pessimistic read. The optimistic read acknowledges the reality of the situation: it was raining sideways and cold, and the Bills were 28-4 at home since 2022. Style points don’t matter; winning does. The Eagles survived, even if the way they got there made people uncomfortable.
The second-half offense has been historically bad/conservative. It’s fair to be alarmed that the Eagles failed to complete a pass in the second half of two separate games this season. No other team can say that. It’s football malpractice on paper. Yet they somehow won both games. That’s where the argument begins. The pessimist sees offensive ineptitude that will eventually get exposed. Optimism sees a team that can win even when its offense is in "ghost mode" for an entire half, which could speak to resilience and knowing how to win in multiple ways.
Nick Sirianni lives at the center of this divide. People hate the way his offense looks. Opposing fanbases, and many in Philadelphia, loathe him. Fans and the media question his demeanor and decisions. Yet, by the numbers, he’s one of only five head coaches in NFL history with a winning percentage north of .700 through at least 50 games, per Elias Sports. That’s not hyperbole; that's fact. You don’t stumble into that company by accident. I know the roster is stacked, and many believe he wins on talent and not scheme. That may be true, but he is winning.
Through the pessimist's lens, the offense relies too heavily on its defense. However, that defense held Buffalo to a season-low 12 points... against Josh Allen. That matters, even if it didn’t feel comfortable. The defense almost gave it away late. True. It also stood up when Buffalo had the ball and a chance to steal it. Both things can coexist. Josh Allen doesn’t miss that pass if not for pressure and a defense that caused havoc to his body and mind all game long.
Sirianni’s relationship with players tells a similar story. Saquon Barkley openly admitted he hated that “MF” before he got to the City of Brotherly Love. Now he loves him. Fans and media don’t have to like Sirianni. They don’t have to enjoy how the offense looks or how he carries himself. None of that matters if the locker room believes in him. Teams don’t fake this for that for long. Sure, there are players with different personalities who likely dislike his brash nature, but they all like winning, and until they aren’t there, they have not come out against him.
The pessimists will point to blown leads against Dallas and Denver, games that could cost the Eagles the No. 1 or No. 2 seed. That’s real. The seeding and home-field advantage matter. But the optimism within me will remind everyone that the Eagles won their first Super Bowl as the No. 1 seed and their second as a No. 2 seed.
Maybe the so-called football gods are at it again, and if they are the third seed this season, their third Lombardi comes as the third seed. It would be a fitting example of this yin-and-yang season.
How a team has gone about its business during the season to end up hoisting the Super Bowl trophy is not always logical or clean and usually invites criticism along the way. But winning cures everything, they say.
Whether you are an optimist or a pessimist is irrelevant; the truth lies somewhere between frustration and belief. We will see which side wins out together, and very shortly.
As always, thank you for reading!
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