Top Five Reasons Why The Eagles Lost Five Of Their Last Six Games

In theory, everyone should be "excited" that the Philadelphia Eagles are back in the playoffs for the third straight season and the sixth time in the last seven years.  Instead, fans are losing faith in this team ahead of their playoff matchup in Tampa against the Buccaneers on Monday Night January 15th.

The 2023 Eagles started the season 10-1 and have lost five of their last six games heading into the playoffs.  This is the worst end-of-season collapse by a Philadelphia team since 1994, when those Eagles started the season 7-2 and then lost seven straight games. The 1994 Eagles had wins against the Super Bowl Champion that season (San Francisco 49ers) and two other playoff teams (Packers and Bears) but they couldn't win a game the rest of that season.

Here are my top five reasons why the Eagles have lost five of their last six games along with why they may be the worst team of the NFL Playoff teams this year:

1. Poor Player Execution and Turnovers have Ruined this team
AJ Brown said the coaches don't play any snaps, so to follow his advice, we have to blame the players. Since returning from their Bye Week, the Eagles' Offense has had two or more turnovers in five of the last eight games and they are among the NFL's worst teams in Offensive Turnovers.  Over the last 8 games, the Eagles have the fifth most Penalties in the NFL (48) and at least half of those have been committed by veteran players who should know better.

2. Defensive Has Gotten Worse
Yes, the Eagles defense lost five starters from last year's team, but the defense has gotten worse and not better since the start of the season. Since Matt Patricia became the Defensive Play Caller, the Eagles Defense is allowing 26.75 PPG while under Sean Desai they were allowing 24.69 PPG.  Changing a playcaller is not supposed to make the defense play worse!  No one understands why they keep asking Pass Rushers like Haason Reddick and Nolan Smith into pass coverage or why there are so many games with soft zone defensive coverage.

3. Offensive Playcalling has gotten more inconsistent
The Offense has taken a huge drop from last year and it has to be more than just Shane Steichen is no longer the Eagles Offensive Coordinator.  The Eagles were third in Points Per Game (28.1) and a top-10 Passing Offense in the NFL last year.  This season, they are scoring almost three fewer points per game (25.5) and their Passing Offense is 16th in the NFL this year.  The Eagles' offense has also gotten worse this year, scoring 20.5 PPG in the last six games, but when the Eagles were 10-1 the offense was averaging 28.18 PPG.

4. Head Coach Nick Sirianni and his Players say one thing, then do something else on game day
There's an old saying "Actions Speak Louder Than Words" and the Eagles continue to put one message out to the media while playing like a team that is unprepared each week. While it sounds good that AJ Brown, Jason Kelce, Jalen Hurts, and others are taking responsibility for the losing, they don't play like a team that is taking responsibility.

In 2017 when Carson Wentz got injured, Safety Malcolm Jenkins stood up in the locker room and got the team to refocus for a Super Bowl run. Is there that type of leader in the 2023 Eagles Locker Room?  Instead, the Head Coach says this when asked if the Eagles should change their process if they are not getting positive results:

"I don't give a [crap] what we are out there and what our record is or anything, what losing streak or winning streak it goes, we're going to go out there and we're going to work our minds on the detail of what's going on full speed to the snap out there in walk-through. And then high intensity in practice."

And don't forget Tight End Dallas Goedert made this statement after the Eagles loss on Sunday that makes us all wonder what is going on with the Eagles Locker Room:

5. Big Dom was suspended when this streak started
Yes it may seem like a trivial point, but ever since Eagles Head of Security Dom DiSandro was kicked out of the Eagles home game against the 49ers and he was suspended from the sidelines for the rest of the regular season, the Eagles have been outscored 140 to 105 in the last five games.  Of the Eagles' 28 Turnovers this season, 12 have occurred in the last five games and the team seems to have lost their way without the man known as "Big Dom" on the sidelines.  The long-time Eagles employee will be allowed to return for the NFL Playoffs, but will his presence be too little, too late?