The Eagles had a 20-10 lead over the Rams deep into the fourth quarter of last Sunday’s game against the Rams, but they wound up losing when the Rams scored back-to-back touchdowns in the final four minutes of the game.
The first Rams scoring drive started at their own 2-yard-line and the second covered 79 yards. Los Angeles only faced two third downs on the 21 snaps that made up those possessions, which led to a question for Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio about whether the cumulative effect of being on the field for 82 snaps — including penalties, but excluding one kneeldown at the end of the game — wore the unit down.
“Well, I’m not going to insult your or anybody’s intelligence that yeah, it has an effect, but we got to find a way to finish,” Fangio said, via a transcript from the team.
The Eagles couldn’t finish on either side of the ball against the Rams. If the offense continues to fail to do so in the future, the job Fangio and the defense will have to do for the team to win games will only get more difficult.
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Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson was unexpectedly scratched from the lineup on Sunday, with the team citing “personal reasons.” On Tuesday, he announced his retirement.
“I have given it my all for 14 years, season after season pushing my body to the max and tirelessly working my craft to not only live up to the legacy of the guys that came before me, but to set a new standard of success for the best franchise in all of sports,” Johnson wrote, in part, in a statement on social media. “I deeply wanted to gut it out for one more year, to take the field with my brothers for one last season. But after a lot of reflection, I’ve realized that my personal and family priorities in my life have changed. Right now, it is critical that I focus on my mental health. I owe it to my teammates, coaches, the organization and the fans to have my head and heart 100 percent in the game. And right now, my heart is telling me that it’s time to say goodbye to football.
“At this time, I have made the incredibly difficult decision to retire from the National Football League.”
Johnson missed time at the start of training camp and said his mother had been dealing with some health issues when he returned to the team.
The Eagles lost on Sunday, dropping their record to 18-30 without Johnson and 122-63-1 with him since drafting him in the first round in 2013.
Johnson, 36, is a six-time Pro Bowler and was first-team All-Pro twice. He started 171 career regular-season games and 15 in the postseason, and Johnson won two Super Bowl rings.
He missed seven games last season with a Lisfranc foot injury.
Eagles left guard Cam Jurgens self-reported concussion symptoms on Monday and has entered concussion protocol, Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports.
Jurgens played all 61 snaps in the loss to the Rams on Sunday.
Willie Lampkin likely will play against the Jaguars in London if Jurgens can’t go. The Friday overseas flight could complicate Jurgens’ chances of clearing protocol in time to play.
Jurgens moved from center to left guard after Landon Dickerson went on injured reserve with a bone bruise in his knee. Dickerson was injured in the season opener. Drew Kendall replaced Jurgens at center.
Jurgens, though, has struggled at guard, prompting a question to coach Nick Sirianni on Monday about whether the Eagles are considering benching Jurgens.
“No, I’m pleased with where Cam is,” Sirianni said, via Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports Philadelphia. “Again, with everybody, obviously we didn’t put out there the product that we want to put out there offensively yesterday, and then also combine that with a loss. There’s going to be plays he wants back, but there’s good moments also.
“I think that’s the consistency of everybody, from our coaches to our players, has to be the thing that continues to rise. That’s Cam; that’s everybody. But Cam is definitely doing good things and like us all, got to be more consistent at times as well.”
The Eagles have a problem at running back.
Starting tailback Saquon Barkley suffered a hamstring injury on his first and only carry of Sunday’s loss to the Rams. He didn’t return.
Via NFL Network, Barkley is “week-to-week.” Which is worse than “day-to-day,” and implies he’ll miss at least one week.
There has been no reporting on the degree of the hamstring strain. Whatever the extent of the damage, it’s an injury that takes time to heal.
Time is of the essence for the Eagles. They play the Jaguars in London on Sunday. And Tank Bigsby is out with core muscle surgery.
That leaves Ryan Shipley as the starter, barring a roster move. Jaydon Blue, Dameon Pierce, and Carson Steele are on the practice squad.
A trade is possible, in theory. Desperation, however, will drive up the price. The Eagles also could scour the other practice squads in search of someone who may want to make the jump to Philly and fill in while Barkley is out.
Some of the Rams assistant coaches did not win gracefully on Sunday. Videos on social media show coaches in the team’s booth taunting Eagles fans, with one assistant banging on a window in the booth before gesturing at them.
A cup and a water bottle are thrown from the stands at the glass windows of the booth in retaliation.
Rams head coach Sean McVay said he and his assistants have discussed the incident.
“We’ll be better in those situations,” McVay said, via Sarah Barshop of ESPN.
The Rams rallied for a 24-20 victory against the Eagles, scoring two touchdowns in the final 3:59. The Eagles had a 97.4 percent chance of winning with 8 minutes, 17 seconds left.
McVay said he understands the excitement and emotion, explaining he was in a similar situation while with Washington calling plays in Philadelphia.
“We’ll learn from that,” McVay said. “We’ll be better. Those fans are really into it, but I know that we want to make sure that we’re representing the class and just the calm steadiness that we want to have while also being emotionally into it. And there’s ways that we can have that reflected.
“We did talk about it, and that won’t be an issue moving forward.”
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley’s status for Week 5’s game against the Jaguars in London is up in the air.
Barkley left Sunday’s 24-20 loss to the Rams with a hamstring injury and head coach Nick Sirianni said the team will have a better idea later this week about whether Barkley is going to miss time.
“Yeah, we’ll see. These guys are going through different things with treatment and all those different things,” Sirianni said, via a transcript from the team. “We’ll see how everything responds and then have more answers for you probably Wednesday on that stuff. I know he’ll do everything he can do to get himself back, and obviously, he’s a great player and a great teammate. We always need him on the field.”
Barkley had two carries for eight yards on Sunday. He also missed most of Week 2 with a stinger and has 36 carries for 182 yards on the season.
Tank Bigsby is set for core muscle surgery after getting hurt against the Rams, so the Eagles are going to be shorthanded at running back even if Barkley is able to go this week. Will Shipley is the only healthy back on the 53-man roster.
The Eagles saw two running backs leave with injuries during Sunday’s 24-20 loss to the Rams and at least one of them is going to be out for a while.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Tank Bigsby will have core muscle surgery. Bigsby is set to miss around six weeks, so he will likely go on injured reserve while he recovers.
Saquon Barkley suffered a hamstring injury on Sunday and head coach Nick Sirianni said on Monday that his status for the Week 5 game against the Jaguars in London is to be determined. Will Shipley is the only other back on the active roster and the Eagles have Dameon Pierce, Carson Steele, and Jaydon Blue on the practice squad.
Bigsby, who joined the Eagles in a trade with the Jaguars last year, has 28 carries for 91 yards and a touchdown this season.
At the start of the season, there was a lot of talk about team travel for international games as the Rams played the 49ers in Australia.
The two teams employed vastly different strategies, with San Francisco appearing to choose the proper one.
While there is a lot more data about NFL team travel to London, there are still varying approaches to it. With the Eagles playing the Jaguars in London on Sunday, head coach Nick Sirianni detailed his club’s plan for the week in his Monday press conference.
“We felt like leaving Friday was best for our team,” Sirianni said. “This team and with the schedule that we have, with the weeks coming up. So, a lot of research, obviously, went into it. You guys know, when I’ve discussed these things with you about short weeks, long weeks, rain weeks, hot weeks — whatever it may be — international weeks, of how to kind of go about it. This one’s a little different than our last international trip because it was in the first game of the season [in 2024]. And we’re trying to get a full week’s worth of practice in before we go up there.
“But we felt like, though the studies that we did, and through some of the things that we looked all — all the things that we looked at, we decided on this. And at the end of the day, I’ve got to make those decisions, and this is the decision I chose — with the help of great people, no doubt, but at the end of the day, I have to make this decision and this is the one I chose to help this team get ready for this game this week.”
Any concern about jet lag with traveling late in the week?
“Yeah, again, we went through all this,” Sirianni said. “When we get there, I don’t want to get into too many specifics there, but like I said, we feel like this is going to give our team the best chance to win, taking everything into account — jet lag included.”
As Sirianni alluded to, the last time the Eagles played an international game was Week 1 in 2024 when they defeated the Packers in Brazil. The franchise also played the Jags in London back in 2018, winning that game 24-18.
Eagles edge rusher Jonathan Greenard did not suffer a major injury during Sunday’s loss to the Rams.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Greenard is considered day-to-day with his ankle injury.
Greenard — who dealt with a pectoral injury to begin the regular season — has registered a QB hit and a forced fumble so far in 2026.
Last year for Minnesota, Greenard registered 3.0 sacks with 10 tackles for loss and 12 quarterback hits.
The Eagles will face the Jaguars in London on Sunday.
The boo birds flew early and often in Philly on Sunday, thanks to an offense that couldn’t get off the ground.
The final tally from Sunday’s loss to the Rams: 172 total yards, 68 net yards passing, and 0-for-12 on third down.
Over the last two games, the Eagles have converted only two of 21 third-down opportunities.
After the loss to L.A., Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was asked whether the problems are a result of execution, play-calling, or scheme.
“Obviously, everybody contributed to that,” Sirianni told reporters. “Everybody. So, there’s execution errors, there’s coaching errors. Everybody contributes to it. It’s an ultimate team game. You can’t sustain drives and do the things that you want. Some of our problems offensively has been [that] we’ve been behind, but it wasn’t quite the same case today where we were in second-and-long and all those different things. It was more we couldn’t convert on third down for multiple different reasons. So again, there’s always a lot of contributors to that. I need to go watch the tape before I react to anything. But I know when you’re 0-for-whatever we were today, everybody has a hand in that. Our job is to figure out what happened and get better from it and not assign blame. That’s what we’ll be doing.”
Injuries had something to do with that. The Eagles didn’t have receiver Devonta Smith or tight end Dallas Goedert. Right tackle Lane Johnson was a late scratch. Running back Saquon Barkley injured his hamstring on his only carry of the game.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts didn’t blame injuries. Or play-calling. Or scheme.
“Poor execution,” he said regarding the offensive effort, particularly in the second half. “Poor execution. Yeah, poor execution.”
He was later asked what he means by “poor execution.”
“It’s just you’re finding your flow collectively as a unit,” Hurts said. “I think it comes down to finding a flow, finding a rhythm as a unit, as a group, and going out there and executing at a higher level. We didn’t do that today.”
The next chance to do it comes in six days, in London. Against the 3-1 Jaguars.
While the season isn’t yet on the brink, it’s clear that the Eagles aren’t the team they’ve been in recent seasons. They’re currently not dominant. They’re currently not elite. They’ve got the Panthers and the Cowboys after the trip to England, followed by the Commanders and the Giants.
The Eagles need to win at least three of the next five before their Week 10 bye. If they finish the first nine games at 4-5, 3-6, or 2-7, it could be very hard to get back to the playoffs.
Even if they do, the 2026 Eagles don’t look like a team that can make a climb up the playoff tree.
