On Monday night on prime time against the Chargers, the Eagles saw the return of their ferocious run and pass defense, bouncing back from giving up 24 unanswered points in Week 12 to the Cowboys and got steamrolled for more than 250 rushing yards by the Bears on Black Friday.
The Eagles closed run lanes for Chargers running backs Kimani Vidal and Omarion Hampton, and constantly hit and frustrated Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, who was already dealing with a left hand that was surgically repaired last Monday.
It was sigh of relief for defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and a reminder – perhaps a painful one – of how much the Eagles need their defense to carry the load as the offense, once again, relied mainly on shot plays but was, once again, turnover plagued. Jalen Hurts' overtime interception – his fourth of the game – was a fitting end, as the Eagles lost 22-19 at SoFi Stadium.
The Eagles' defense was tremendous but it was on the field too much, allowing Herbert and the Chargers to go downfield late in the fourth and tie the game on a field goal before getting the go-ahead field goal on their opening possession of overtime.
Here's a look at whose stock is up and down after Week 14:
Stock up: Nakobe Dean-led defensive front
Without Jalen Carter, the Eagles needed someone on defense to make a play. Not surprisingly, that someone has made impact plays quite a bit this season.
Nakobe Dean, one of the NFL's best blitzing linebackers, registered a sack, a tackle for a loss, and forced a second-quarter fumble that turned into a Jake Elliott field goal that cut the Chargers' lead to 10-6.
The Eagles hadn't generated much pass rush in their past two games, both losses, and it appeared that trend would continue as the Chargers marched 80 yards on six plays on their opening possession to go up 7-0 on a Justin Herbert touchdown pass.
The Chargers were at their 37 on the next possession, facing 3rd-and-7 when Dean blitzed up the middle on a 5-man rush, and jolted Herbert, who should've been saddled with an intentional grounding but apparently the refs thought Keenan Allen was close by (he wasn't).
In the second quarter, after Jalen Hurts threw his second pick to put LA at the Eagles' 30-yard line, Dean came through on another first-down pressure, barreled through running back Omarion Hampton's attempt to block him, then rammed into Herbert, who lost his grip on the ball and watched his fumble get recovered by Byron Young – a major field-flip for the Eagles and tremendous response to turnover. He almost got Herbert again in the fourth.
Adoree' Jackson later intercepted a pass thanks to Herbert getting hit on his throw by Jaelen Phillips, so there were other defensive playmakers. Cooper DeJean had some PBUs, including a big one in the fourth. Byron Young, getting more snaps with Carter out, picked up a huge third-quarter sack that forced the Chargers into a field goal after a stalled red-zone drive.
Herbert was sacked seven times and pressured on about half of his dropbacks. Plenty of Eagles in the front got to Herbert, but Dean single-handedly kept the team from getting boat-raced in the first half with his relentless pressure, as he continues to keep rookie first-rounder Jihaad Campbell mostly sidelined.
Honorable mentions: The rushing offense enjoyed its second-best effort of the season, as Saquon Barkley ran for 122 yards and averaged 6.1 yards per carry, second only to his 150 yards and 10.7 yards per carry against the Giants in Week 9.
Stock down: Nick Sirianni's involvement on offense
If Eagles coach Nick Sirianni had more involvement in the offensive game plan, as ESPN reported, it didn't help. Did it hurt? The Eagles turned the ball over three times in the first half and five times overall. Jalen Hurts threw four picks and fumbled.
The new wrinkle of the offense appeared to be more spread formations and motion, with Barkley often motioning out of the backfield from 11 personnel (three wide receivers, one tight end) to create a five-wide formation or four-wide with an inline tight end. But the impact of this featured look was minimal.
Hurts, who often keeps the ball on designed runs from this formation, didn't find wide-open run lanes. The Chargers appeared to sniff out those opportunities, and they even foiled a fake designed run. Hurts did hit on some quick throws from spread empty formations, but when you only keep in five to block, you invite the defense to blitz. Several Chargers pressures led to Hurts either overthrowing, bailing the pocket, or even worse, turning the ball over.
The Eagles were in spread empty for the infamous double-turnover play in which Hurts was first intercepted by lineman Da'Shawn Hand, who then fumbled on his return to Hurts, who then fumbled it back to the Chargers. But the throw over the middle, which shouldn't have been thrown at all, came as the Chargers sent a five-man rush with a delayed slot corner blitz.
Despite the best effort of an improved Eagles defense to stonewall Herbert and the Chargers' run game, the Eagles' offense resembled a broken record of swallowed-up runs, penalties, incompletions and turnovers sandwiched between an occasional RPO pass to Dallas Goedert or shot play to A.J. Brown.
Maybe offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo isn't the only one to blame for this mess of an offense.
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