There is very little to complain about after the Philadelphia Eagles impressively notched a 31-0 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. The Eagles finally snapped their three-game free fall, giving them some much-needed momentum ahead of the regular season's final stretch.
For the first time in far too long, the Eagles played a complete game on both sides of the ball, one that didn't feature a player who could've used a soft opponent as a chance to get rolling down the stretch of the season and into the playoffs. Pass rusher Josh Uche had a great start to the season, flashing and appearing to be a clear answer defensively.
However, as the season has gotten deeper into the year, Uche's production has waned, and he's become less featured within the Philly defense. Sunday's win provided the perfect opportunity to change this. The Raiders have an underwhelming offensive line and were the perfect soft matchup to see if the defender can breathe life back into his Philly tenure.
Instead, Uche was forced to stand on the sidelines as one of the Eagles' Week 15 inactives, marking his third consecutive absence. If he couldn't get on the field against a beatable Las Vegas squad, one has to wonder if Uche will ever see meaningful snaps again this season.
Eagles Continue to Push Josh Uche Out of Defensive Plans
It'd be understandable if Uche were performing poorly, but that hasn't been the case. He's already tallied 20 pressures (18 hurries, one quarterback hit, one sack) across 131 pass-rushing downs, which is actually six pressures more than he had despite playing five more snaps in 2024, per Pro Football Focus. PFF grades aren't the end-all, be-all, but it's safe to say there's a reason why his 83.1 pass rush grade is the second-best mark of his career.
Perhaps the Eagles want to see a higher number for Uche's sack total, or they want him to round out other areas of his game. Either way, it's hard to get better if Philadelphia isn't letting him build his confidence against lowly teams like the Raiders.
There is still a chance for defensive coordinator Vic Fangio to remedy this mistake with two soft matchups left on the schedule against the Washington Commanders. The Commanders have been without quarterback Jayden Daniels for much of the season and have been incredibly soft defensively, with their 33 sacks allowed being tied for the 13th-most in the NFL as of Sunday evening.
In other words, the Eagles have no excuse not to put Uche consistently in the rotation in the final weeks of the season. At worst, they are given a clear answer that the veteran pass rusher isn't a viable answer when the game matters most, with the hope being that Uche returns to the form that amassed 11.5 sacks in 2022.
It's going to be a situation Eagles fans closely monitor down the rest of the stretch and, likely, into the NFL postseason.