Eagles grades by position after crushing loss to Broncos

Here's the position report card after the Eagles' 21-17 loss to the Broncos in Week 5.

By Dave Zangaro • Published October 5, 2025

The Eagles were up two touchdowns in the second half on Sunday before blowing that lead and losing 21-17 to the Broncos at the Linc.

The first loss of the season was a fourth-quarter collapse.

While the Eagles did some good things on Sunday, they are obviously still struggling to find consistency. And after getting to learn from wins through the first four games of the season, now they’ll have to learn from a loss.

Let’s get to the report card:

Quarterback

Jalen Hurts: 23/38, 280 yards, 2 TDs

Hurts did some really good things in this game and hit some shots down the field to DeVonta Smith and Saquon Barkley. But after the first drive of the second half, the offense sputtered and had a few 3-and-out when Hurts just couldn’t get anything going. Hurts was sacked six times on this game and some of them were simply on him. He took a sack on the first play of the final drive, which was inexcusable.

Grade: C+

Running back

Saquon Barkley: 6 attempts, 30 yards; 3 catches, 58 yards, 1 TD

The Eagles got away from the run in this game as Hurts threw 38 times. Some of that was situational in the second half because the Eagles kept getting penalties, which got them behind the sticks. It’s just not ideal for Barkley to have just 6 rushing attempts in an entire game. But he was a factor through the air and had that 47-yard touchdown to beat Alex Singleton on a wheel route. A.J. Dillon chipped in 2 carries for 12 yards.

Grade: B-

Receiver

DeVonta Smith: 8 catches on 10 targets, 114 yards

It was a huge game for Smith and this doesn’t even count the 30-yarder that got called back because of an illegal shift in the fourth quarter. The Broncos played a ton of man coverage and Smith was routinely beating CB Riley Moss. Smith nearly pulled down a walk-off touchdown too. A.J. Brown had a tough matchup against Patrick Surtain II but still had 5 for 43 on 8 targets and also drew a DPI. Not to mention, the attention Brown warranted allowed Smith to see so many 1-on-1s. But Brown and Hurts couldn’t connect on a deep pass in the second half that would have been a dagger; it looked like Brown slowed down. And two deep balls for Jahan Dotson in this game weren’t completed either.

Grade: B+

Tight end

Dallas Goedert: 3 catches on 9 targets for 19 yards, 1 TD

While he had nine targets, Goedert caught just 33% of them and didn’t have a huge output. Goedert wanted a DPI call on the second-to-last play and if he got it, the Eagles would have had a better shot at sneaking out a win. Grant Calcaterra had a couple of catches for a total of 18 yards early in this game but left with an oblique injury and was unable to return.

Grade: B-

Offensive line

The O-line seemed to give Hurts enough time, especially early in this game, but got a little leaky at times too. While Hurts was sacked six times, it wasn’t all on the offensive line. But it’s also fair to point out that the 2025 version of the Eagles’ offensive line doesn’t look anywhere near as dominant as the 2024 version. It certainly didn’t help that Landon Dickerson had to exit in the first half with an ankle injury and did not return. Brett Toth filled in and there was an obvious drop-off.

Grade: C

Defensive line

Za’Darius Smith: 3 tackles, 1 sack, 2 QB hits

The Eagles’ D-line had some good moments in this game, like when Smith and Jalen Carter ran a stunt to free Smith on his sack. Jalyx Hunt had a good pressure that led to what was almost an intentional grounding in the fourth quarter. And Azeez Ojulari had a couple of plays in his first game action with the Eagles. Carter has flashy plays but is obviously playing through a shoulder injury. The Eagles gave up some chunks on the ground and the defense, as a whole, didn’t play well in the fourth quarter as the Broncos came back to win the game.

Grade: C+

Linebacker

Zack Baun: 12 tackles, 1 sack, 2 QB hits

The Eagles’ All-Pro linebacker had another big game but Baun was called for a crushing unnecessary roughness in the fourth quarter that ended up helping the Broncos milk the clock before kicking a field goal to go up 4 points. Baun had 12 tackles and Jihaad Campbell had 11. Nakobe Dean was eligible to return this week but the Eagles haven’t yet activated him to the 53-man roster.

Grade: B

Secondary

Quinyon Mitchell: 7 tackles, 1 PBU

Coming off his Defensive Player of the Week performance against the Buccaneers, this was a tougher game for Mitchell as he faced Broncos receiver Courtland Sutton. Sutton caught 6 of 8 targets for 81 yards when matched up against Mitchell, per NextGent Stats. That’s the most yards Mitchell has given up to a receiver in a single game in his career and 3 of those catches for 64 yards came in the fourth quarter. The Broncos also seemed to go after Kelee Ringo quite a bit in this game too. Ringo got his second-straight start as the CB2. Cooper DeJean had an impressive blitz in the first half and nearly had a strip-sack but the call was overturned. Drew Mukuba was the full-time starter next to Reed Blankenship and they combined for 9 tackles.

Grade: C

Special teams

Braden Mann: 7 punts, 359 yards (51.3); long of 69, short of 23

Mann was very good in this game until his final punt, which traveled just 23 yards after the Eagles got that illegal shift on 4th-and-4 to negate a conversion. Jahan Dotson had a 15-yard punt return but seems to fair catch the ball pretty deep in Eagles’ territory often. Will Shipley showed some juice on a 37-yard kick return but the return game is still a little shaky.

Grade: B-

Coaching

Record: 4-1

This was the first loss the Eagles have suffered since Week 16 of the 2024 season. It’s strange to see them lose but there were some undiuclipined moments in this game for the Eagles and the coaching staff deserves some of that blame. Kevin Patullo had some good moments calling this offense on Sunday. He was aggressive (finally) on a 3rd-and-long and moved the sticks in the first half. But the offense also went quiet in the second half when they got behind the sticks. Vic Fangio’s defense looked great for three quarters but gave up two touchdown drives in the fourth and couldn’t get off the field like they normally do.

Grade: C

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/eagles-grades-by-position-after-crushing-loss-to-broncos/688117/

I need to correct the inaccurate statement that Hunt had a good pressure. I'm sure he got credited with a pressure and QB hit in the stat sheet but he didn't do anything to deserve it.

On the play either the center gave the wrong line call or the right tackle mis heard it because at the snap the RT veered hard to the left to block the DT. No one was in front of Hunt. Not a RB or TE.

Just the QB standing alone and exposed. He looked startled and delayed a second before rushing in. Any edge rusher, LB or DB on our roster or the PS could have hit the QB there. It should have been intentional grounding but Hunt deserves no credit for making a play. It was a blown assignment on the part of the Bronco O line.