Roob's Observations: Eagles defense gets gashed by rookie QB for 34-17 loss

Sloppy defense and multiple turnovers contributed to the Eagles' second consecutive loss Thursday.

By Reuben Frank • Published October 9, 2025

When some rookie running back is doing freaking backflips in your face, yeah, that’s really bad.

Giants rookie Cam Skattebo ran for three touchdowns against the Eagles Thursday night at MetLife and did a backflip after each one, and I’m not sure there are more things more humiliating for a team that won a Super Bowl eight months ago than having a rookie 4th-round pick do backflips on you.

The Giants, 7 ½-point underdogs, 4-19 in their last 23 games against the Eagles, 1-4 coming into the game, flat-out humiliated the defending Super Bowl champs 34-17 Thursday night.

Once again, the Eagles fell apart after doing some decent things early. They led 17-13 late in the second quarter, only to get outscored 21-0 over the next 22 ½ minutes plus this dfrive and outgained in the second half.

That 4-0 start is now 4-2 and this is a broken team right now.

Brutal.

1. After two gruesome losses in five days, it’s time to reassess where the Eagles are right now. That 4-0 record is now 4-2 and in one week, the Eagles blew a 14-point lead at home and lost by 17 points to a team that hadn’t won a division game in two years. Kind of seems like 2023, when all those close wins turned into a disaster. Although that didn’t happen till late in the season. The Eagles still haven’t put together a consistent 60 minutes of football on either side of the ball, and maybe the Super Bowl hangover is a real thing. Maybe they just miss Josh Sweat, Darius Slay, Milton Williams, Isaiah Rodgers and Mekhi Becton more than we realized. Maybe the injuries – and there have been a lot - have caught up with them. But the Eagles team we saw last year played with heart and confidence and swagger. They beat up their opponent, not the other way around. They knew how to stomp on a team when they had it down. They were a machine and they were unstoppable. We saw signs during that 4-0 start that things weren’t ideal, but you thought they’d get figure it out. They haven’t figured anything out. They’re just a terrible football team right now. The Giants were laughing at the Eagles by the middle of the second half.

2A. I have no clue what the heck is going on with this defense, but right now they look nothing like the unit I thought they’d be, the unit they need to be, the unit they have to be. Allowing a 22-year-old quarterback making his third career start playing for one of the NFL’s worst offenses shred you like this? I’m running out of adjectives here. Inexcusable? Unforgiveable? Shameful? Yeah, this is the NFL’s youngest defense. Yeah, Jalen Carter was out. Yeah, they’re still missing Nolan Smith. Yeah, Quinyon Mitchell had to leave the game with an injury. But are you kidding me? The Eagles let Jackson Freaking Dart run around and make plays at will. They knew he was going to run, and they let him. They knew they were going to have plenty of chances to sack him and they couldn’t. They knew the Giants don’t have very good receivers, but they couldn’t stop them. They knew they weren’t facing an elite running back, but he gashed them. They knew they were facing a team that committed five turnovers last week, but they didn’t force any. They knew the Giants were 30th in the NFL on third down and they went 8-for-10, for crying out loud. What on Earth? This wasn’t the 2001 Rams or the 2018 Chiefs. This was one of the worst offenses in the NFL and the Eagles were helpless against them., Coming on the heels of an 18-point fourth quarter against the Broncos? I went into Sunday way more concerned about the offense than the defense, but now? This defense is trending the wrong way. They got out-muscled, out-physicalled, out-efforted, out-pushed around, out-intensitied, and I don’t even know if those are real words but this was a pathetic effort against a bad team with a rookie quarterback and a terrible coach, and everybody on that defense ought to be embarrassed right now.

2B. Last time the Giants had four or more 50-yard touchdown drives in a game against the Eagles was in Andy Reid’s final game as Eagles head coach – Dec. 30, 2012, a 42-7 Giants win at MetLife. That was 26 games ago. And that was a 4-12 Eagles team.

3. I was feeling pretty good about Keele Ringo before this game, but, wow, this was horrifying. I thought he battled the last two games, but after seeing this, you just can’t keep running him out there. Vic Fangio benched him in the second quarter, only to put him back in when Mitchell got hurt. So now you’re out there with Ringo and Adoree’ Jackson, who have both gotten benched. I’m not going to go into a rant about Isaiah Rodgers, who I campaigned for the Eagles to keep, but this is a real problem. Fangio may have to move Cooper DeJean to full-time outside corner and I don’t know if there are any other answers. Is Mac McWilliams ready to handle full-time slot duty? Parry Nickerson? They can’t be any worse in the slot than Ringo has been outside. There’s Eli Ricks on the practice squad. And Ambry Thomas, who was a 3rd-round pick a few years ago. Somebody. Anybody.

4. As bad as the defense was, let’s not forget the offense because once again they did enough good things early to fool you into thinking they could have some sustained success, but once again it just disappeared. Seventeen points before halftime, zero points after halftime. A couple nice touchdown drives in the first half – 75 and 74 yards – were followed by six straight ugly possessions – three three-and-outs to open the second half followed by Jalen Hurts’ first interception in 305 passes and a fumble by A.J. Dillon. First half, the offense was sharp, balanced and efficient. First four drives netted 17 points. Next six drives? Nothing. Too much talent. Way too much talent for this to keep happening. I don’t believe Kevin Patullo is the whole problem. There are good play calls that don’t work, good play calls that are wiped out by penalties, good play calls that aren’t executed. But I’m just about at the point where I believe Nick Sirianni needs to get a new play caller in there. The inability of this offense to play at a high level for a full game is incomprehensible. If Patullo can’t get the most out of them, find someone who can.

5. The sequence at the end of the first half, which saw the clock expire with the Eagles inside Giants territory? Just can’t happen. Cannot happen. he Eagles had driven from their own 7-yard-line with 72 seconds left to their own 43 with 15 seconds left and no timeouts. On a 3rd-and-10 with the clock running, Jalen Hurts took off running and gained nine yards out to the Giants’ 48. He tried to get the offense set up to spike the ball and stop the clock but time ran out and the half was over. They were still a few yards out of Jake Elliott field goal range, but Hurts has to be aware of the clock and has to try to get the ball down the field and into Elliott’s range, which means probably somewhere inside the 45. Fifteen seconds is an eternity to pick up 12 to 15 yards. You’re only chance to score there is throwing to the sideline, picking up the yards, getting out of bounds, stopping the clock and getting Elliott out there for a field goal attempt. That’s on Hurts. He has to know better.

6. The Eagles’ inability to stop any running back is alarming at this point. I don’t know what this team’s biggest issue is, but run defense is close to the top of the list. They’ve now allowed over rushing 100 yards in all six games for only the second time since 1971 and come on now, but Cam Skattebo? Seriously? Ran 19 times for 98 yards and three TDs – the first player with three rushing TDs in a game against the Eagles since David Johnson of the Cards in 2015, the first Giant ever to do it. Ever. This was like Boston Scott in reverse. The Giants piled up 172 rushing yards in all against the Eagles, and I get that Jalen Carter didn’t play, but 172? That’s pitiful. The Eagles are now allowing 134 rushing yards per game xand 4.7 per carry through six games, the first time they’ve been at those numbers since 1998, and that was a 3-13 team that got Ray Rhodes fired.

7. Lane Johnson said "We get predictable” post-game at his locker. He used the word predictable three times. He also said, "We’re stagnant offensively,” and this isn’t an outsider saying it, this is Lane Freaking Johnson. That’s shocking and it's alarming, and when your Hall of Fame right tackle is thinking it … you know other guys on the offense are thinking that as well. That’s really, really bad and an incredibly damning statement on the coaching staff by one of the greatest Eagles ever.

8. First half the last three games the Eagles have outscored the Buccaneers, Broncos and Giants 51-29. Not bad. Second half? They’ve been outscored 51-14. This offense just falls apart at halftime and so much for halftime adjustments, that’s two touchdowns on 19 drives in the second half over the last three weeks. Two touchdowns, 13 punts. That’s on everybody. Offense, defense, coaches, everyone. You don’t want to be a team that falls apart in the second half.

9. Need to get something positive in here, and huge game for Dallas Goedert, with nine catches for 110 yards, his seventh career 100-yard game, and another touchdown. Goedert has become quite a weapon in the red zone. Goedert has always been an elite receiving and blocking tight end, but he’s never gotten into the end zone like this, and it’s a welcome addition to the playbook because Goedert should be a force in the deep red zone with his toughness, size and great hands. Just a tough matchup at the goal-line. His 1st-quarter touchdown Thursday night was his fifth in the last four games – he hasn’t had five in an entire season since 2019, and that was a career high. So he has as many TD catches in the last month as in any of his seven previous entire seasons. When this dude is healthy, he’s still one of the top tight ends in the league. This ends Roob’s Positivity Corner.

10. Not a good day for special teams. They gave up a 37-yard kick return, Tank Bigsby and A.J. Dillon both muffed kickoffs, the Eagles less than 17 yards per kick return and eight yards on punt returns, Sydney Brown committed a dumb personal foul deep in Eagles territory on a punt. Wasn’t the biggest issue Thursday night, but definitely was a significant one. Special teams was terrible.

Bonus Ob!

This wasn’t a great night for Jalen Hurts, and he’s played well most of the year but like everyone else on the team the consistency has been missing, and when Hurts isn’t consistent, the offense isn’t consistent. Once again, Hurts was really good in the first half – 14-for-18 for 164 yards and a touchdown with a beefy 123.1 passer rating and 17 points. Second half, he missed DeVonta Smith on a sure touchdown pass, threw his first interception in almost a year – a bad one deep in the red zone – and was 10-for-15 in the second half but for only 119 yards and didn’t put up any points with an 85.14 passer rating. This is three games in a row now where Hurts was very sharp in the first half and then was just ineffective in the second half. If this offense is going to find a way to get this season back on track, Hurts is going to have to be better. Not for 30 minutes. For 60 minutes.

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/defense-gets-gashed-by-rookie-qb-for-34-17-loss/688972/

7. Lane Johnson said "We get predictable” post-game at his locker. He used the word predictable three times. He also said, "We’re stagnant offensively,” and this isn’t an outsider saying it, this is Lane Freaking Johnson. That’s shocking and it's alarming, and when your Hall of Fame right tackle is thinking it … you know other guys on the offense are thinking that as well. That’s really, really bad and an incredibly damning statement on the coaching staff by one of the greatest Eagles ever.

The "predictable" thing has been a low-level murmur most of this season and now that has to be put on blast. The offense apparently has "tells" that are consistent. Of course, I'm sure they did last year as well, they were just successful anyway in executing the plays. Not this year and that HAS to be addressed by coaching.

The team is just stuck in the mud.