With DeVonta Smith out due to a hamstring injury, the Eagles needed someone to step up at receiver.
Enter Darius Cooper.
The young wideout made an outstanding catch over a Rams defender for an 18-yard touchdown, pushing Philadelphia’s lead over Los Angeles to 13-3 with 5:44 left in the second quarter.
That capped a short, two-play 17-yard drive after a big punt return by Britain Covey.
Covey fielded a 51-yard punt at the Philadelphia 42 and returned it 51 yards to get into the red zone. It is the continuation of a trend that goes back to last season of poor play on special teams for L.A. — despite the club replacing the unit’s coordinator.
Jalen Hurts has started the game 8-of-13 for 68 yards with a TD.
Rams Clips
Already playing shorthanded, the Eagles now have another injury concern to a star player.
Running back Saquon Barkley pulled up after going out of bounds on a 6-yard run to the left with a hamstring injury.
He is officially questionable to return.
Barkley was attempting to hop back to the Philadelphia sideline when he stopped and took a knee, hitting his right hamstring to ostensibly loosen it up.
Barkley was able to gingerly walk off the field under his own power before heading to the sideline medical tent. After a lengthy stint in the tent, Barkley walked back up to the locker room for further evaluation.
Tank Bigsby came in to replace him.
Barkley’s injury came just after Matthew Stafford gave Philadelphia the team’s first takeaway of the season. Stafford was looking for Konata Mumpfield over the middle of the field but overshot him, with Andrew Mukuba diving to come away with the interception.
Philadelphia hit a 29-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead.
The Eagles won’t have right tackle Lane Johnson on Sunday against the Rams. History shows that it’s bad news for Philly.
With Johnson, a first-round pick in 2013, the Eagles have a record of 122-63-1 (including playoffs). It’s a winning percentage of 65.9.
Without Johnson, the Eagles are 18-29 — a success rate of 38.3 percent.
This time, the Eagles didn’t have much of a chance to pivot. Sal Paolantonio of ESPN reports that coach Nick Sirianni didn’t know Johnson would be unavailable until Sunday morning.
The Eagles did not elevate offensive lineman John Ojukwu. With Markel Bell replacing Johnson in the starting lineup, interior offensive linemen Willie Lampkin and Micah Morris become the only available reserves on Sunday.
The Eagles announced right tackle Lane Johnson was questionable to play against the Rams shortly before they released their inactive list for Sunday’s game and they confirmed that he won’t play when they announced that list.
Johnson is out for personal reasons and his absence leaves the Eagles very thin on the offensive line. They had already ruled out Fred Johnson with a knee injury on Friday, which leaves Markel Bell as the only option to step into the starting lineup. Interior linemen Willie Lampkin and Micah Morris are the only offensive line reserves available on Sunday.
It’s a big loss for an Eagles team that will also be without linebacker Zack Baun, safety Marcus Epps, tight end Dallas Goedert, and wide receiver DeVonta Smith.
The Rams will be missing defensive tackle Aaron Donald, but they will have wide receiver Puka Nacua available after he missed the last two games.
Cornerback Joey Porter Jr. will make his first appearance of the 2026 season on Sunday.
Porter is active for the Cowboys less than a week after joining the team in a trade with the Steelers. Porter was listed with a back injury while in Pittsburgh, but his contract impasse with the team was seen as the true reason for his inactivity and Porter was not on the injury report for the Cowboys.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports that Porter is expected to play a limited number of snaps against the Texans in his Cowboys debut, but his presence should be welcomed for a defense that has struggled to find consistency over the first month of the season.
Cowboys at Texans
Cowboys: LB DeMarvion Overshown, CB Cobie Durant, CB Caelen Carson, RB Emari Demercado, LB James Houston, OL Ajani Cornelius, WR Camden Brown
Texans: LB Azeez Al-Shaair, DE Chris Braswell, OL Febechi Nwaiwu, OT Nate Thomas, TE Marlin Klein
Titans at Ravens
Titans: RB Michael Carter, CB Jaylon Jones, G Drew Moss, OT Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson, TE Kylen Granson, DT Jackie Marshall
Ravens: QB Joe Fagnano, LB Trey Hendrickson, WR Chris Moore, DT Aeneas Peebles
Patriots at Bills
Patriots: OT Dametrious Crownover, TE Tanner Arkin, QB Behren Morton, CB Christian Gonzalez, DT Christian Barmore, CB Channing Canada
Bills: WR Skyler Bell, S Jalon Kilgore, CB Christian Benford, LB Mike Danna, G Ar’maj Reed-Adams, OT Jude Bowry, DL T.J. Sanders
Jets at Bears
Jets: WR Adonai Mitchell, RB Breece Hall, CB Nahshon Wright, LB Kiko Mauigoa, LB Kinglsey Enagbare, G Dylan Parham, TE Mason Taylor
Bears: QB Caleb Williams, OL Ozzy Trapilo, CB Cam Lewis, DL Jaydon Loving, DL James Lynch, DL Jamree Kromah
Jaguars at Bengals
Jaguars: CB Montaric Brown, WR C.J. Williams, CB Christian Braswell, S Jalen Huskey, LB Jack Kiser, OL Daniel Faalele, DE Wesley Williams
Bengals: S Bryan Cook, S Kyle Dugger, LB Swayze Bozeman, OL Myles Hinton, WR Colbie Young, DT B.J. Hill, DT Landon Robinson
Cardinals at Giants
Cardinals: QB Carson Beck, CB Starling Thomas, S Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, LB Cameron Robertson, OL Josh Fryar, WR Reggie Virgil
Giants: S Ar’Darius Washington, RB Devin Singletary, CB Nikko Reed, LB Jihad Ward, OL J.C. Davis, TE Thomas Fidone, DL Bobby Jamison-Travis
Rams at Eagles
Rams: WR C.J. Daniels, QB Ty Simpson, CB Cam Lampkin, CB Jaylen Watson, OL Bill Murray, TE Colby Parkinson, DT Aaron Donald
Eagles: WR Hollywood Brown, WR DeVonta Smith, QB Cole Payton, S Marcus Epps, LB Zack Baun, OT Lane Johnson, OL Fred Johnson, TE Dallas Goedert
Packers at Buccaneers
Packers: OL Jacob Monk, G Kevin Zeitler, G Aaron Banks, DT Anthony Campbell
Buccaneers: LB Rueben Bain, QB Baker Mayfield, DB Benjamin Morrison, TE Ko Kieft, OL Luke Haggard, OL Billy Schrauth, DL DeMonte Capehart
The Eagles could be without right tackle Lane Johnson for Sunday’s game against the Rams.
Johnson was added to the injury report on Sunday morning for personal reasons. The team calls him questionable to play and the timing suggests there’s a good chance that they will not have him available.
Fred Johnson would be the first choice to step into the starting lineup if his veteran teammate is out for the game, but he is not playing. Markel Bell is the only other tackle expected to be active.
The Eagles have already ruled out wide receiver DeVonta Smith and linebacker Zack Baun. Tight end Dallas Goedert has missed multiple games and is out again on Sunday, so there’s a lot of missing pieces in Philadelphia on Sunday.
The Eagles are reportedly making a change to their quarterback depth chart for Sunday’s game against the Rams.
Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports that Tanner McKee will move up to the No. 2 spot behind Jalen Hurts. Andy Dalton had been in that role for the last three weeks.
Dalton was called on in Week 3 when Hurts had to be checked for a concussion with the Eagles driving in the second quarter. Dalton was picked off by Bears safety Dillon Thieneman in the end zone and the Eagles went on to lose 27-7 to fall to 2-1 on the year.
Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that both McKee and Dalton are expected to be active due to injuries that will force other players to the inactive list.
The Eagles added a pair of tight ends to the roster for Sunday’s game against the Rams.
Zach Ertz has been summoned from the practice squad for the second straight week. Ertz rejoined the Eagles last month and he caught one pass for nine yards in last Monday’s loss to the Bears.
They have also elevated Josiah Deguara. He also signed to the practice squad last month, but this is the first time he’s been added to the active roster.
Deguara and Ertz will help fill out a tight end group that’s still without Dallas Goedert as he recovers from a knee injury. E.J. Jenkins and Johnny Mundt are the other tight ends for Philadelphia.
The NFL’s announcement of fines for Week 3 featured six infractions for player safety fouls that qualify toward possible suspensions.
Two of those fouls were hip-drop tackles. 49ers linebacker Fred Warner and Rams safety Kam Curl were each fined $17,911. Warner was also fined $23,882 for illegal use of his helmet in a tackle.
Texans linebacker Jamal Hill, Giants tight end Isaiah Likely, and Steelers linebacker Cole Holcomb were each fined for blindside blocks. Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair was fined for a hit on a defenseless player.
Any player with three fines for any one of those infractions will be suspended for one game. The same potential penalty applies to fouls for launching or horse-collar tackles. No player has been fined more than once for any of the qualifying infractions yet this season.
Despite a report that Rams defensive end Myles Garrett would miss about six weeks with his knee injury, head coach Sean McVay says the team isn’t working on a timeline that specific.
Asked how Garrett is doing after knee surgery, McVay said Garrett is doing well but told reporters the team does not have any time frame for when he will actually be back on the field.
“Myles is good. I’ve seen him in there, he physically looks good,” McVay said. “He’s got a good look in his eye. It’s been good having him in and out of a lot of the meetings while he’s attacking his rehab. He’s making good progress, but as far as a specific timeline, I’m not ready to give you guys that. As soon as I have those things I’ll give you guys updates.”
After sitting out practice with a knee injury in training camp and struggling to play on his injured knee in the Rams’ Week 1 loss to the 49ers, Garrett had surgery and was placed on injured reserve. By rule, players on injured reserve have to miss at least four weeks, but it appears that Garrett will be out longer than that. How much longer, the Rams still don’t know.
