Eagles Panic Button Has Been Smashed

After back-to-back losses against the 49ers and the Cowboys I said that while I was concerned, I was not yet panicking on the 2023 Eagles. But, after their latest loss to the Seahawks, I am smashing that panic button. The Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni Eagles have definitely deserved the better of the doubt based on their track record over the past two seasons. Still, it’s impossible to just blindly believe they will salvage this season after watching this team over the last 7 weeks.

The biggest concern with the Eagles right now is the Quarterback. Hurts has been up and down all season long, with the last 3 games being all down. I believe that the magic of Hurts’ 2022 MVP runner-up campaign left many Eagles fans to look over some mistakes he made early in the season. But now after just about a full season of those mistakes, they are impossible to look over now. Hurts is currently tied for first in the NFL for turnovers, and there seems to just be no fixing them this season. His decision-making with the football has been spotty all season, and we have seen him be more inaccurate with the football at times than he was last year. A prime example of that is the interception last week while he was targeted by Quez Watkins. Watkins had his defender beat down the field, but Hurts threw the ball short and it was picked. The fumbles have been a problem for Hurts all season long as well, with some of them even being recovered by the Eagles offense. At this point in the season, it’s hard to see Hurts’ turnover issue turn around, and I think it will come back to bite them in the biggest games, just like it did last year.

The other biggest panic for not only this season but moving forward is Hurts’ inability to see the field. While yes we are all not NFL Quarterbacks and we don’t know what is going on during every single play, but watching the videos of players running wide open and Hurts missing them, is a massive concern. Turnovers can fluctuate from year to year, and hopefully, it’s not a long-term issue we have to worry about, but Hurts not being able to read the field is an issue that could definitely come back to bite him next year as well.

I do not know if there even is a panic button to push anymore with this Eagles defense because we all know they are just bad. Whether it is injuries, or players not playing to their potential, this defense will struggle. The Eagles showed panic when they promoted Matt Patrica to defensive play caller last week, and while the defense played ok as a whole, they still gave up a 92-yard game-winning drive to Drew Lock. Thankfully the Eagles will not be playing the best teams over the rest of the regular season, but does anyone have any confidence that this defense will be able to come close to stopping a good team in the playoffs? I sure don’t.

While some of us may be able to jump all the way back in on the team with wins against the Giants and Cardinals, it will not matter how they play against these teams if they can’t do anything in the playoffs. Even if they do win out, it will be very hard to shake the feeling this city has right nowAt this current moment, I am in full panic mode and can just hope that this season doesn’t turn into a massive disappointment.