The Eagles are terrible on third down

Why have the Eagles been among the league's worst with the football on third down?

By Evan Macy
PhillyVoice Staff

Bill Streicher/Imagn Images

The Eagles have struggled on third downs this season.

Many Eagles optimists will cite that the team has simply not played its best football yet — and is still 6-2 and comfortably in first in the NFC East. The potential for another Super Bowl is there.

It's hard to deny that prior to Sunday's three-score win over the Giants that the Eagles hadn't really put together a full 60-minute victory. And in addition to getting healthier, there is a bevy of things the team needs to figure out before it comes off its bye in two weeks, flying to Green Bay to face a Packers team that looks like a legitimate threat in the NFC.

The offense is inconsistent and the defense has some holes in it.

But the biggest area of emphasis might need to be their lack of success on third down.

In their 18-point win on Sunday, the Eagles quietly went 2-for-8 on third down. Against any other team, it would probably spell disaster, but luckily the Giants were pretty bad on both sides of the ball in Week 8.

It's nothing new. Here's a look at their numbers on third down so far this season:

The Eagles haven't really had a lot of third downs, which implies they're successful on the prior downs — which is good. That effects their league-worst 3.9 conversions per game. But they also have had a lot of three-and-outs this season, which directly impacts their plays per drive and yards per drive numbers being so awful.

Philly is behind last year's offense in every category above. They've also been flagged for the seventh-most penalty yardage so far in 2025, last season they had the fifth-fewest yards surrendered to penalties. Having 64 snaps from third and long situations — 8th most in the NFL – isn't a good way to keep the offense moving. They need to clean things up.

Another simple answer probably has to do with Saquon Barkley and the offensive line. Last season, the Eagles were dominating with the football and used Barkley to create short yardage situations which — combined with the tush push on third and fourth and short — and it gave them a dominating offense that held the ball for an NFL-best 32:21 per game. In 2025, Barkley has struggled, and save for his 150-yard performance in Week 8, he's been ineffective trying to run behind a bruised and battered offensive line.

On first down the Eagles are averaging 4.6 yards per play, 26th best in the NFL. They've held the ball for exactly 30 minutes per game, which not surprisingly is league average (17th).

Lane Johnson has been playing through pain all season. Cam Jurgens and Landon Dickerson have missed significant time, and Jordan Mailata is less of a lockdown tackle than he's been last season. The offensive line has been shaky.

What does all this mean? Well, eliminating penalties, getting the offensive line healthy, and keeping Barkley going after his big game against New York will be key. The Eagles probably won't win a Super Bowl if they convert 33% of their third down tries.

We'll see if they turn things around when the second half of the season begins for them next month.

https://www.phillyvoice.com/eagles-third-down-stats-news-analysis-penalties-third-and-long-latest-bye-week-giants/

It’s quite simple in theory… This team keeps putting itself in bad positions on 2nd and 3rd downs. 3rd and long isn’t going to have a high success rate. They need to get better at running the ball consistently and if they can to that then those numbers above will start to turn. Easier said than done I know but hopefully Sundays game is the platform for us to get the running game going.

I'm more worried about the defense getting off the field on 3rd downs

15 hours ago, EaglesAddict said:

I'm more worried about the defense getting off the field on 3rd downs

There were some bad ones in the Giants game to be fair! Far too many 3rd and long conversions.

3 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

There were some bad ones in the Giants game to be fair! Far too many 3rd and long conversions.

Eagles' D ranks pretty low when it comes to 3rd down stops. Their only saving grace has been their red zone defense.