The Philadelphia Eagles are not among the teams playing on Sunday, as they kicked off Week 6 with a disappointing 34-17 loss to the New York Giants. The Eagles were outplayed on both sides of the ball a few days ago, which is a cause for concern, given that they did not look good in Week 5 against the Denver Broncos.
While the offense has been a huge talking point amongst the fanbase, the Eagles’ pass rush needs to be under the microscope as well. Philadelphia did not do a great job of replacing Milton Williams and Josh Sweat in the offseason, and is now paying for it.
Through the first six games of the season, the Eagles’ defense has produced nine sacks, which is embarrassing. But to make matters worse, the Broncos, whom the Eagles played last week, had nine sacks in their Week 6 win over the New York Jets.
Eagles’ Pass Rush Continues to Fade While Other Teams Flourish
The Broncos’ defense, which the Eagles saw up close and personal, hammered the Jets’ beleaguered offense. In addition to the nine sacks, Denver posted 15 quarterback hits, seven tackles for loss, and only gave up -10 net passing yards.
According to Ed Kracz of Philadelphia Eagles on SI, the Broncos now have 30 sacks this year, while the Eagles only have nine.
Now granted, the Broncos were playing the winless Jets, which isn’t much to write home about. However, Denver took care of business against a bad opponent, which is something that the Eagles did not do on Thursday night against the Giants.
The Eagles’ defense got punched in the mouth by New York rookie running back Cam Skattebo (98 rushing yards and three TDs), and only had two sacks on rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart. For Philly’s defense to live up to what they did in 2024, they need their pass rush to step up in a big way.
Philadelphia is dealing with injuries on the edge to Nolan Smith Jr. and Ogbo Okoronkwo, but they still have Josh Uche, Za’Darius Smith, Azeez Ojulari, and Jalyx Hunt. The first three guys are on one-year deals, who you hoped would ignite this disappointing unit, but that hasn’t been the case.
The Eagles thought that Uche and Ojulari would help fill in the loss of Sweat when they signed them to one-year contracts, but they totally misplayed their hand. If you’re an Eagles fan, you wish they had 30 sacks, let alone 10 or 15, because right now they aren’t getting much of anything from Vic Fangio’s unit.
Philadelphia needs its pass rush unit to wake up in its next game against the Minnesota Vikings, as it cannot afford to lose its third consecutive game, which will send alarm bells around the city.