The Philadelphia Eagles are just over 24 hours away from kicking off their season in Brazil against the Green Bay Packers.
Once again, the Eagles and their fanbase hope for a successful season that will lead to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.
But just a year ago after coming off a devastating Super Bowl loss against the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022-23, the Eagles had the same vision.
They went 10-1 through 11 games in what started as a historic season. It seemed like no team in the NFL could come in between with yet another trip to the Super Bowl.
Philadelphia fans were on top of the world, imagining Jalen Hurts holding up the Lombardi, planning on shutting down the city for their championship parade but after a 42-19 loss to the 49ers at home in week 13, their Super Bowl aspirations plummeted week-by-week.
The Eagles had a disastrous ending to their season losing four of their last five games.
After giving up the NFC East lead to the Dallas Cowboys, the Eagles faced the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a fifth seed. Luck did not fall in their favor as they lost 32-9 leaving fans wondering where it all went wrong.
Big-time Signings
Howie Roseman and the Eagles’ front office did what they do every offseason: They loaded up on newly acquired talent. Once free agency opened, they immediately brought in some difference-makers.
The biggest signing came on March 13 when RB Saquon Barkley put pen to paper to sign a three-year deal. Other signings included LB Bryce Huff, LB Devin White, DB C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and WR Jahan Dotson.
Acquired in March, Saquon Barkley looks to boost the Eagles offense to new heights (Photo by John McMullen/Eagles on SI)
The NFL world raves about how the Eagles go out and sign big-name players with a lengthy resume. But has it truly worked out how’d they like?
Just as recently as last season, the Eagles acquired S Kevin Byard from the Tennessee Titans but had the second-worst season of his career in 2023. Similarly, CB James Bradberry hasn’t exactly flourished in Philadelphia since coming over from the Giants two years ago.
Philadelphia is certainly banking on the new veterans in the building to make a difference to make a run.
Vic Fangio & Kellen Moore
In my opinion, bringing in new coordinators on both sides of the ball was the Eagles’ most important signing this offseason.
Starting on the defensive side, the Eagles looking horrendous. Former DC Sean Desai failed time and time again to improve and fix simple mistakes, especially in the secondary. Philly ranked fifth in most passing yards allowed (4,551), second in passing touchdowns (35), and had only nine interceptions. Those types of numbers would win a quarterback an unanimous MVP award against their defense in 2023.
Fangio has a lengthy resume that goes back 40 years in the NFL. Most recently he was Miami’s DC last season and was a defensive consultant for the Eagles during their 2022 Super Bowl run.
His Dolphins team ranked middle of the league when it came to overall defense last season. Nonetheless, his old-school, gritty coaching style should be a positive change in Philly. The talent is there, he should have the defense playing at a top-10 level.
Vic Fangio looks to wrap up his coaching career in Philadelphia on a high note (Photo via Eagles.com)
On the offensive side, Kellen Moore comes over from the Los Angeles Chargers in his one-year stint. LA had an abysmal year overall, not just offensively. They were 0-8 in one-score games.
Last season aside, Moore led the Dallas Cowboys to a top-10 offense in three of his four seasons. Under Brian Johnson last season, Philadelphia looked simply bad in the final stretch of games.
QB Jalen Hurts threw a career-high 15 interceptions in a system that didn’t look dependable week after week. The biggest complaint seen by fans was the notorious bubble screen that began getting stopped immediately in the latter part of the season. The play calls were stale with little creativity and easy to scheme against.
Moore brings a fresh mind and scheme into Philly with the hopes of rejuvenating an offense that has all the talent to be the best in the league in every statistical category.
What will be considered a successful season?
If one thing I know for a fact, it’s that Philadelphia fans expect nothing less than a Super Bowl ring this season. Anything less will be considered a failure in their eyes.
Say they do fall short, I think it’ll be Nick Sirianni’s last season at the helm. Fans wanted him to be fired after last year’s meltdown, and I think it would be more extreme in the future. The blame is ultimately on him this time.
The talent is in the locker room, no one can argue that. New coordinators should bring new life to play calling and the schemes they implement. But will they be able to put together some success and maintain it through the playoffs?
The NFC has only gotten better this past offseason with the likes of the 49ers, Lions, Packers, and Cowboys. All will be fighting for the number one seed come January.
I predict an 11-6 season but fall short in the NFC East behind the Cowboys. They’ll earn the fifth seed while playing the winner of the NFC South for the second consecutive year.
I see them winning in the Wild Card Round but falling in the Divisional Round to most likely the 49ers.
It’ll be another season where they come up short, they’ll show glimpses of an elite contending team but will have their bad stretches throughout the season too.
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