The Eagles are 10-2 and return home to Lincoln Financial Field as double-digit favorites over the Carolina Panthers. Ahead of the team's quest for their 11th win of the season, here are some thoughts I currently have on the Birds (and one other topic...):
Nick Sirianni is in Philadelphia's good graces again. Could he be the Coach of the Year?
As the Eagles rolled into their Week 5 bye at 2-2 following yet another shellacking at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, people across the Delaware Valley were angry. They had every right to be! The Birds collapsed in spectacular, flaming fashion to end the 2023 season and it appeared that very little, if anything, had changed culturally for this organization.
Flash forward more than two months and the Eagles are toast of the city once again, a legitimate championship threat and coming off a decisive win over the Ravens that was billed as a potential Super Bowl preview.
It's not Nick Sirianni's offense that's a top-flight unit. It's Kellen Moore's. It's not Sirianni's defense that is conjuring up old-school, Gang Green vibes. It's Vic Fangio's. Still, after buzzing his head, chirping the fan base and trying to save his job while his seat was hotter than the fires of Mount Doom, Sirianni's done the impossible. He's become a likable figure to the Philadelphia fan base again after it felt like the pitchforks and torches were just out.
The question of what Sirianni actually does as a "CEO" coach, aside from clock management moments and situational football, persists. Those are fair, particularly in the aftermath of the franchise's decision to keep him in his role following last year's debacle. Sirianni, though, has gelled with his two new coordinators and weathered that September storm, now looking primed for a 2022-level deep playoff run.
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Credit to Sirianni for preventing an Eagles downfall even worse than what was witnessed last winter and bouncing back as strong as ever. As improbable as it might sound, he owns the fifth-best winning percentage among all NFL head coaches in history despite it all.
I would not go as far as to throw Sirianni's name in the ring for Coach of the Year honors, not with how prominent the roles of assistants like Fangio and offensive line coach/run game coordinator Jeff Stoutland are here. That's to say nothing of the jobs that Minnesota's Kevin O'Connell and Pittsburgh's Mike Tomlin have done across the league, too.
Nevertheless, Sirianni has flipped the narrative around his season, and his entire career, really, over these last eight weeks. How deep the Birds go into January or even February, however, will be the ultimate test of his legacy.
Jordan Mailata is the NFL's best left tackle
The story is well-known by now. Jordan Mailata never played American football until the Eagles selected him late in the 2018 NFL Draft. A couple years later, he was the team's staring left tackle and just a few more after that, he's establishing himself as the best player at the sport's second-most important position.
Mailata is the highest rated offensive lineman in the entire NFL on Pro Football Focus. He's played 524 offensive snaps across eight games and allowed just a single sack and only 10 total pressures this year, per PFF. Missing four games due to injury might derail Mailata's shot at an All-Pro nod, but Eagles fans will gladly take a healthy Mailata in the lineup destroying opposing defenses for the stretch run instead.
Zack Baun is a game-changer for the Eagles' defense
Everyone, from the media to the fan base, is gushing about Zack Baun's play this year for the Eagles, and rightfully so. Baun has had a transformative presence at the linebacker spot that's been perpetually maligned in Philadelphia. He's physical. He's versatile. He has a nose for the ball.
Baun has four forced fumbles, 2.5 sacks and three pass deflections on the year. The only player in the league in 2024 to match or better those numbers is Defensive Player of the Year favorite T.J. Watt, per Stathead. He's just been everywhere on the field and was part of an elite run defensive performance in Baltimore on Sunday that held Derrick Henry to 82 rushing yards on 4.3 yards per carry, both well below his season averages.
I'm still not over this play from against Washington several weeks back. It was almost cinematic, defenders flying around like they were in "Friday Night Lights" or "Remember the Titans."
Will the Eagles wear their all-black uniforms this year?
The Eagles used their black helmets with white jerseys and black pants in Week 1 against the Packers in Brazil. They've cycled through their other midnight green and white combinations, plus, of course, their Kelly Green throwbacks.
What they haven't broken out this year is the all-black look.
The blackout vibe is more 2000s than it is today's sports style. It was a fun alternate when it started in 2003, but the hype around Kelly Green as the Eagles' best alt uniform has vastly overshadowed it. They should wear it once this year though! How about against the Steelers in two weeks? It'll be a late afternoon game, so it'll get dark out quickly. Saquon Barkley gassing the Pittsburgh defense in that uniform would be sleek as well.
Sports merchandise used to be so much better back in the day
This actually isn't Eagles related and ultimately something way more esoteric, but how cool is this vintage hat?
Bring back cool sports merchandise! More fun collabs! Throw minimalism out the window and give football fans all the two-tone corduroy hats they can get. Beyond that, remember the joy and variety you could find on any given day at your local Modell's? That's all gone. It's a shame.
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