What needs fixing the most? Validation for Nick Sirianni’s training camp methods. And how the Eagles messed up the Landon Dickerson situation.

That all seems like a good starting point for this week’s bundle of Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Observations!

Hang on tight, here we go!!!

UNLOCKING THE RUNNING GAME: Priority No. 1 right now for the Eagles needs to be figuring out the running game and creating some lanes for Saquon Barkley. Because without an authoritative running game, this offense just isn’t going to be able to function at a consistently high level. The Eagles did run for 136 yards in the opener Sunday, but more than a third of that – 46 yards – came courtesy of Jalen Hurts scrambles. Barkley’s 42-yard run was huge, but the 17 other running back carries averaged just 2.8 yards and almost half of them – 8 of 17 – went for two yards or less. Barkley’s four carries for negative yards were the most in the NFL in Week 1. Only three teams had fewer rushing first downs than the Eagles’ four, and that’s not a particularly good Washington run defense. Barkley looks fast and strong and had a very good summer, but even the best backs in the NFL can’t make plays if there’s nowhere to run, and the run blocking in the opener looked ominously similar to 2025. Obviously, a big part of that was Landon Dickerson’s condition. When your left guard can’t move, it’s going to be hard to put together much of a running game. This is a different style of run blocking that requires the linemen to get out and move laterally and Dickerson couldn’t move at all. So Sunday in Tennessee will be a good test of where the running game is with a healthy and mobile left guard. Breece Hall ran for 102 yards and 4.6 yards per carry against the Titans in the opener, and Hall is a good back, but he’s no Saquon. Barkley is a superman, but he can’t do it by himself. I’d like to see him get 20 carries Sunday and see what that looks like. Against this team, it should look like at least 120 yards. 

HOW BAD ARE THE TITANS? Here’s what the Eagles are up against Sunday: The Titans lost to the Jets at home by two touchdowns last week, they’re 9-36 in their last 45 games and they’ve lost 14 consecutive games against teams with a winning record going back to a 32-27 win in Houston in 2024. They’re 1-19 in their last 20 games vs. teams with a winning record and they’ve lost 13 straight games against NFC teams with a winning record going back to a 20-17 win over the 49ers in Nashville late in 2021. Their 19-50 record since the start of 2022 is worst in the NFL. They’re one of seven NFL teams that hasn’t reached the postseason since 2021. They haven’t won back-to-back games since 2022 and their 7-26 home record since the middle of 2022 is also worst in the NFL. They are really, really bad and they have been for a while.

LOOKING FOR THAT FIRST WIN: The Eagles are 0-3 all-time at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, losing 27-24 in 2002, 37-19 in 2010 and 26-23 in overtime in 2018. Their last road win over the Titans franchise was 13-6 against the Oilers in 1991 in the House of Pain Game on a Monday night at the Astrodome. The Oilers believed they were the toughest and most physical team in the league and called the Astrodome the House of Pain. But the Eagles, with Wes Hopkins, Andre Waters and Seth Joyner laying out Oilers Run-and-Shoot WRs left and right, proved themselves the tougher of the two teams, leading Jerome Brown post-game to say, “They brought the house, we brought the pain.” Jim McMahon got knocked out of that game early and it was recent acquisition Jeff Kemp who threw the game-winning touchdown to Keith Jackson. The only other current stadium where the Eagles have played more than one game and are winless is the Steelers’ Heinz Field (now called Acrisure Stadium), where they are also 0-3 with losses in 2004, 2012 and 2020. 

KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE QUARTERBACK: If it seems like more quarterbacks than ever are using their legs to make plays, you are right. Ten quarterbacks had at least five carries and a 5.5 average in Week 1, and that’s the most ever in Week 1 of any NFL season and ties the most in any week. In Week 9 of 2022 there were also 10.

VALIDATION FOR SIRIANNI: Another opening-day win and another September win is continued validation that Nick Sirianni’s training camp method works. That means no tackling to the ground, shorter but intense practices, lots of conditioning, regular days off or walkthrough days and an emphasis on film study and classroom work. The Eagles are not only 6-0 on opening day, they’re a remarkable 14-4 in September under Sirianni, which was tied with the Bills after Week 1 for best in the NFL since 2021 (the Bills improved to 15-4 in September on Thursday). The only better 18-game September stretch in Eagles history was a 15-3 record spanning September games from 1978 through 1983. I know some people want the Eagles to beat the crap out of each other in training camp and hold brutal three-hour practices in the blazing heat. But it’s pretty clear that there are better ways to get a team prepared for the season, and Sirianni’s record proves it.

DALLAS CLIMBING ALL-TIME LISTS: Dallas Goedert is putting together quite a career body of work and is now one of only 10 tight ends in NFL history with at least 4,700 receiving yards, 400 catches and 37 touchdowns in his first 109 career games. If you factor in his postseason stats – 56-for-595-6 – he’s third in Eagles history with 469 catches, 11th with 5,348 yards and seventh with 42 touchdowns. He needs 21 yards to pass A.J. Brown and move into the top-10 in Eagles history in yards and 54 to pass Bobby Walston and move into ninth. He’s also within range of Tommy McDonald (5,589) so reasonably could be eighth within a few weeks. 

JALEN HURTS STAT OF THE WEEK: With his three passing touchdowns Sunday, Jalen Hurts now has 175 combined rushing and passing TDs in his first 83 career starts. Only five quarterbacks in NFL history have had more in their first 83 starts: Patrick Mahomes (211), Aaron Rodgers (198), Josh Allen (195), Dan Marino (192) and Andrew Luck (180). Hurts is 58-25 in those 83 starts, and only six quarterbacks won more of their first 83 starts: Mahomes (66), Roger Staubach (62), Tom Brady (62), Ken Stabler (61), Lamar Jackson (61) and Daryle Lamonica (60).

GET MAKAI LEMON OUTTA THERE: Not saying Makai Lemon is a bust. Way too early for that kind of talk. But he just doesn’t seem to be in a place right now where he’s confident enough in himself and comfortable enough in this offense to make plays to help the Eagles win football games. The Eagles have a pretty good slot option in Elijah Moore, who averaged 50 catches for over 500 yards per season from 2021 through 2024 and is coming off a solid training camp. Moore isn’t a superstar, but he’s a proven NFL veteran who looked good in this offense while Lemon was sitting out camp with a hamstring injury. Why Lemon played 35 offensive snaps Sunday while Moore was inactive, I don’t understand. Lemon had four targets for negative-five yards Sunday, becoming the sixth NFL WR since 1977, as far back as target totals are available on Stathead, to have at least four targets for negative five yards or less. He’s the second WR since 1977 with negative-five or fewer yards in his NFL debut, following Brandon Banks of Washington in 2010. And he’s the first 1st-round WR with negative-5 or fewer yards in a game since Jalen Reagor had minus-6 against the Chargers in 2021. He’s also the first 1st-round WR ever with minus-5 or fewer yards in his NFL debut. He just doesn’t look ready. The Eagles seem committed to getting him going and maybe he’ll start turning things around Sunday against a bad Titans team. But the guy I saw out there against Washington just didn’t look NFL ready.

HOW THE EAGLES BOTCHED THE LANDON DICKERSON SITUATION: I admire Landon Dickerson’s toughness and desire to play every snap of every game, no matter how much he’s hurting. What I don’t get about this whole situation is why he was allowed to play against the Commanders in the first place. Dickerson said in his WIP interview on Monday evening that he suffered that bone bruise in his knee a few weeks ago at a training camp practice, so I don’t get how the coaches and trainers couldn’t be aware how much he was hurting. And how much his play would be compromised. Watching Dickerson Sunday was tough. This is a three-time Pro Bowler who just couldn’t function and didn’t belong anywhere near a football field, and he would be the first one to tell you that. “I played like bleep,” he said, calling himself “a liability.” And that really compromised what the offense was able to do. The Eagles overcame it, mainly because Jalen Hurts played out of his mind despite being under constant pressure. But Dickerson should not have been out there. And if the coaches and trainers were genuinely unaware how badly Dickerson was hurting before the game, it was clear to everybody in the first quarter and they should have gotten Drew Kendall in there immediately. If we could see it, how could they not see it? I get that you don’t want to embarrass a guy who’s meant so much to this team over the last five years and yank him in the middle of the game. But Nick Sirianni’s biggest responsibility is to give the Eagles the best possible chance to win and playing Dickerson Sunday did not do that.

IT WASN’T JUST LANDON: It would be a mistake to assume that just replacing Dickerson at left guard is going to instantly fix all the Eagles’ protection issues. None of the interior linemen played well against Washington, and while tackles Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata were fine, that middle of the o-line remains a concern. Out of 58 guards who played at least 50 snaps in Week 1, Tyler Steen and Dickerson ranked 29th and 58th in Pro Football Focus rankings and Cam Jurgens ranked 18th among 32 centers. (Out of 64 offensive tackles who played 50 snaps, Johnson ranked sixth and Mailata 13th). The o-line is supposed to be one of the best in the league and they sure weren’t in Week 1. This is a new world with Chris Kuper coaching the offensive line and he’s facing quite a challenge moving forward here trying to get this group to play up to expectations.