Issues become magnified: 5 takeaways from Broncos-Eagles a day later

In life, nothing lasts forever.

Luck, misfortune, everything cycles.

For the Eagles, they are on the bad side of that rotation.

The Eagles blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead on Sunday, ending their franchise-record-tying winning streak at 10, as well as a 12-game home winning streak. All of the issues proved problematic at Lincoln Financial Field in their 21-17 loss to the Broncos.

Here are my five takeaways a day after the loss:

1. If you have been watching the Eagles all year, the issues you saw Sunday were not new.

They could not sustain drives, committed too many penalties, struggled to stop the run, failed to pressure consistently, fell apart late in the game, blew a big lead, went 2-11 on third downs, had terrible field position, the play-calling was inadequate, and did not play a complete game of football.

They had gotten away with all of this for four weeks. It finally caught up to them.

Five games into the season, the Eagles have won games by seven, six, four, and three points and have now lost by four. They have been outgained by five, 78, 68, 176, and 56 yards in each game, respectively. The Eagles are the second reigning champion to be outgained in each of the first five games since the 1987 Giants.

This is a dangerous way to play football, and the Eagles have to figure out ways to put teams away when they have them down, and so far, they have not done that.

They just have not been good enough in any one phase, and that, combined with an inability to stomp on a team while they are down, is extremely concerning. Until the Eagles figure out a way to play a complete 60 minutes in all aspects and finish the game, they are not going to be a great team.

Remember 2023? That team had these problems.

It is deja vu all over again.

2. There has to be some sort of balance on offense. For the first month of the season, the Eagles ran the ball and hardly threw. On Sunday, they threw the ball and barely ran.

They ran the ball 11 times on Sunday. 11. Saquon Barkley got six handoffs for 30 yards. Six. He had one carry in the final 35 minutes. With five minutes left in the second quarter, Barkley spun off a 17-point run for a first down, his longest run this year. He had just one carry after.

Saquon was held under 100 yards 4 times last regular season, he’s already been held to that 5 times this year (last 3 games under 50).

It’s not just today, the offense has completely lost its identity in 2025.

— Buzz (@dan_wilson4) October 5, 2025

A game plan with a mix of the run and pass, keeping defenses off balance, and being unpredictable is not a revolutionary idea.

We are yet to see Kevin Patullo mix in the run game and pass game the way he needs to to really get this offense firing, which is baffling. He has been around this team since Nick Sirianni took over as head coach five seasons ago.

A lot of this has to do with the media for blasting the Eagles for not playing a complete game and bloating the narrative that A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith want out because they are frustrated with their roles. They tried to shut everyone up, and they lost. Maybe just stick to what was working.

It was picture-esque that the game ended with the two receivers lying on top of each other.

It's fitting #Eagles' first loss of 2025 ends with A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith lying helpless atop each other: Philly was unbeaten playing Jalen Hurts' not-pretty but efficient brand of ball, and then they forced the pass to appease hunger for more. Good wake-up call for all.

— Cody Benjamin (@CodyJBenjamin) October 5, 2025

3. The defense did their best September Mets impression in the second half. They absolutely collapsed.

The Eagles were dogging the Broncos’ offense. They netted just 168 yards, three points, and 10 first downs on their first eight drives. Then, Denver got in the endzone on 64 and 72-yard drives on their next two drives alone, and that was it.

The Eagles could not get off the field, could not stop Bo Nix, Courtland Sutton, and J.K. Dobbins, and did not get the big stops. Nix sliced the Eagles, finding open guys for short gains. The Eagles could not stop the run, they did not get any takeaways, and they committed way too many penalties.

Sean Payton out-coached Vic Fangio. That is something you rarely see.

Remember the Eagles’ last loss? The Eagles led Washington by 13 points early in the fourth quarter, way back at the end of December 2024, and lost 36-33. This was very reminiscent of that.

4. The penalties were a massive issue on Sunday. It really ended up costing the Eagles the game.

Defensive holding in the end zone on Quinyon Mitchell, Brett Toth‘s holding penalty eliminating a first-down run by Barkley, illegal man downfield on Tyler Steen wiping out a first-down completion to Smith, an illegal shift by Barkley forcing the Eagles to punt, and then unnecessary roughness on Zack Baun to give the Broncos a first down.

Five penalties in 13 minutes, all in the fourth quarter. Nine penalties for 55 yards in total.

You can say what you want about the officiating, but it is inexcusable, sloppy, and undisciplined football.

5. Maybe this is the wake-up call the Eagles needed.

So far, there seems to be a lot of turmoil in the locker room. Selfishness, stat-boosting, amongst other things. It has been shown on the field. The offense is out of sync, and the defense gets worn down at the end of games.

All of the problems they have had over the first five games were exacerbated on Sunday in front of 69,879 already pissed off Eagles fans at the Linc, a day after the Phillies blew a 3-0 lead in Game 1 of the NLDS.

The Eagles were never going to go 17-0 this year, and 4-1 with the schedule they have had, and there not being a single phase that the Eagles have executed well is pretty impressive. They still share the best record in the NFC, and the sky is not falling, yet.

Now, they need to prove what we think is true, and they will bring their heads back up, turn it around, and go out and bounce back on Thursday night against the Giants. They should get this thing turned around at MetLife Stadium, get to 5-1, and maybe play a complete game that does not come down to the final few minutes.

This was a bad loss. But as Jalen Hurts preaches, the response is most important.

Get new articles emailed right to your inbox.