Could changing offensive line coaches help? How dumb are the Bengals? Did the Eagles do Joe Milton a disservice starting him so soon?

All good questions and we have some answers to those and several other questions in this weekend’s 10 Random Observations as the Eagles give all of us a break from their ineptitude at least for one Sunday.

COULD GREG AUSTIN HELP? I don’t believe that all the offensive line’s problems are the fault of new o-line coach Chris Kuper. Lane Johnson’s retirement and chronic injuries to Landon Dickerson and pre-trade Cam Jurgens sure didn’t help. But things like the communication issues, Tyler Steen’s regression and the inability of this group to play the brand of smart, physical play we’re used to around here are squarely on Kuper, and it’s been bad. The offensive line should be playing a lot better than it is, even without Lane, and they’ve been so bad they really haven’t given whoever’s playing quarterback a chance. It was pretty damning to hear Drew Kendall say, “We all got to get on the same page from a communication standpoint,” when we’re halfway through the season. I don’t think there’s any chance the Eagles make a change. That’s not how they do things. Nonetheless, I am curious whether moving his responsibilities over to assistant offensive line coach Greg Austin might help. Here’s what I like about Austin: He worked alongside Jeff Stoutland from 2013 through 2015 after following Chip Kelly here from Oregon, where he was a quality control guy under Chip. Austin had a number of other jobs – including under Doug Pederson in Jacksonville – before rejoining the Eagles in 2025 and getting one last year in with Stout. I like the Stout connection and if you can’t bring Stout back – which obviously the Eagles will never do as long as Nick Sirianni is head coach – how about bringing back a discipline of Stout, a guy who understands how he coached and taught? Now, the big issue here is that everything Kuper does with offensive linemen – the way they line up, the way they block, the way they communicate (or otherwise) – is different than how Stout did things. It’s probably too late to go back to Stout’s scheme sitting here in Week 10, but if Austin can channel some of that Stout wisdom and experience and apply it to what this line is already trying to do, maybe that would help? Sure as heck can’t hurt. 

HOW DUMB ARE THE BENGALS? The Arnold Ebiketie situation is literally unbelievable. How did the Bengals not understand the ramifications that trading for Ebiketie would have on the comp pick formula? How is that even possible? The Bengals were all set to send the Eagles a 6th-round pick Tuesday for Ebiketie – why they even wanted him in the first place is another mystery – but pulled the plug on the trade after seeing a tweet from Over the Cap with comp pick expert Nick Korte explaining that the trade would nullify the 3rd-round comp pick they were due for losing Trey Hendrickson in free agency. How does Bengals de facto GM Duke Tobin not know the rules? How can a dude working for a website – a very sharp dude – know more about the comp pick formula than a guy running an NFL team? And why would the Bengals want to trade a pick in the first place for an edge rusher who has no sacks, no tackles for loss and one hurry in 300 snaps this year with the Eagles? The Bengals are 6-2 and they’ve won four straight so they’re doing something right. But it’s wild to think that a guy from Over the Cap saved them from losing a 3rd-round pick by acquiring Arnold Ebiketie of all people. Then they make head coach Zac Taylor hold the press conference to discuss the situation while Tobin hides out in his office. The Bengals should probably fire Tobin and hire Korte.

MILTON JUST WASN’T READY: I said it before the game so this isn’t second guessing, but there was no way Joe Milton could have been ready to face the Commanders just 23 days after the first time he walked into the Eagles’ facility and with just 10 practices under his belt. You can’t even begin to get comfortable in an NFL offense that quickly. Considering everything, I thought Milton played as well as you could possibly hope for. This is not just a guy new in this offense, he was also making his first NFL start. Too much to overcome. Andy Reid used to say it takes a quarterback five years in the same offense to truly master it. Joe Milton didn’t even have five weeks. There’s a reason there are OTAs in the spring, throwing sessions with the receivers during down time in the summer and then five weeks of training camp. All that stuff matters. If you’re going to play the most challenging position on the field you need that time to truly get comfortable in the offense, to understand how your receivers run routes, to get a feel for how your offensive linemen block (or don’t) and to get a sense for how the play caller – good or bad – calls plays. Milton had none of that. The Eagles sent him out there unprepared and that didn’t make sense for anybody.

PUTTING ALL THESE DRAFT PICKS IN PERSPECTIVE: Howie Roseman’s current draft stockpile is two 1st-round picks and a 2nd-round pick in 2027, two 1st-round picks and two 2nd-round picks in 2028 and a 1st-round pick and two 2nd-round picks in 2029. Keeping in mind that Roseman will use some of these picks to draft players and others as trade capital, let’s put that into perspective:

The Eagles have never had 10 picks in the first two rounds over a three-year period. The most they’ve had is nine from 1993 through 1995 – four 1sts and five 2nds. Those drafts produced Lester Holmes, Leonard Renfro, Bernard Williams and Mike Mamula in the first round and Victor Bailey, Bruce Walker, Charlie Garner, Bobby Taylor and Barrett Brooks;

The Eagles have never had five 1st-round picks in a three-year period. The most they’ve had is four from 1948 through 1950, producing Clyde Scott, Chuck Bednarik, Frank Tripucka and Bud Grant, and 1971 through 1973, producing Richard Harris, John Reaves, Jerry Sisemore and Charle Young.

The Eagles have also never had back-to-back drafts with multiple 1st-round picks. They had two in 1949, 1973, 1993 and 2023. The last time they had two 1sts and a 2nd was 1993.

There have only been nine times the Eagles have had two 1sts and a 2nd: 1983, 1986, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2005 and 2019. 

“A-TISKET, A WHAT?????” It was 1938. Joe DiMaggio was A.L. MVP. FDR was President. The most popular song in the U.S. was “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” by Chick Webb and his Orchestra. That’s also the last time before this year that the Eagles were outgained by at least 300 yards through nine games both rushing and passing. The Eagles have been out-rushed by 338 yards and out-passed by 501 yards. In 1938, they were out-rushed by 640 yards and out-passed by 604 yards. It’s been a while.

BARRY, JOSH ALLEN, JONATHAN TAYLOR AND JALEN: This is kind of crazy, but Jalen Hurts has the 4th-most rushing touchdowns in NFL history among players who only played for one team. Hurts ranks 40th with 64 career rushing touchdowns, but 36 of the 39 guys ahead of him played for multiple teams. Just goes to show you how rare in the free agency era for a guy to spend his entire career with one team. The top three on that list are Barry Sanders (99), who only played for the Lions, Josh Allen (88) with the Bills, and Salem’s Jonathan Taylor (77), who looked like he might be moving at the trade deadline but has still only played for the Colts. What would the all-time top-10 most rushing TDs by guys who only played for one team look like? 1) Sanders, 2) Allen, 3) Taylor, 4) Hurts, 5) Alvin Kamara of the Saints (63), 6) Terrell Davis of the Broncos (60), 7) Tampa’s Mike Alstott (58), 8) Tiki Barber with the Giants (55), 9), Neal Anderson with the Bears (51) and 10) Rodney Hampton of the Giants, Deuce McAllister of the Saints and Washington’s John Riggins (all 49). Among Eagles running backs, only four had at least 10 rushing touchdowns without ever playing for another team: Steve Van Buren (69), Anthony Toney (14), Heath Sherman (10) and Frank Ziegler (10). I may be the only one who finds that fascinating.

MAKAI LEMON STAT OF THE WEEK: With seven catches against the Cowboys and six each against the Commanders and Giants, Makai Lemon became the first Eagles rookie ever with six catches in three consecutive games. DeSean Jackson had five catches in four straight games as a rookie in 2008. 

WHAT ON EARTH HAPPENED TO CARSON WENTZ? I guess it’s just the accumulation of injuries on a 33-year-old quarterback, but, man, it was sad watching Carson Wentz play Monday night against the Bills. He was so good back in the day. And not just in 2017 but for much of 2018 and 2019 and even most of 2021 with the Colts. From 2017 through 2021 he had 124 touchdown passes (8th-most in the league) and 43 interceptions. He was still functional at times after that and had some decent starts in his various stops – Washington, Rams, Chiefs and now Vikings – but what we saw Monday night was horrifying. Wentz looked hopeless. He couldn’t throw, he couldn’t move, his decision making was atrocious, his pocket awareness was absent. Wentz’s 8.9 passer rating Monday night is lowest by an NFL starting quarterback in three years and lowest by a player drafted by the Eagles since Donovan McNabb had a 0.4 rating in a game against the Dolphins in 2007. Wentz turns 34 next month, and he’s running out of teams. Monday night was his 101st career start and I’m guessing it will wind up as the last one. Crazy career, from MVP candidate and key piece of a Super Bowl champion to hapless journeyman. Sad to see. But no Eagles quarterback was ever better than Wentz the first 14 weeks of 2017. He was 11-2 with 33 touchdowns, seven INTs and a 101.9 passer rating. Without Wentz there is no No. 1 seed and without a No. 1 seed there probably is no parade up Broad Street and for that Wentz should always be remembered fondly by Eagles fans.

CAN THE EAGLES LOSE OUT? How rare would it be for the Eagles to lose out after opening the season 2-0? Incredibly rare. Only one team in the last 84 years has won its first two games and not won another. That was the 2013 Texans – a team covered by Dave Zangaro for CSN Houston – who beat the Chargers and Titans to open the season, then lost 14 straight by an average of 11 ½ points to finish 2-14. The only other teams to lose out after a 2-0 start were the 1924 Dayton Triangles, who beat the Frankford Yellow Jackets and Buffalo Bisons before losing their last eight games to finish 2-8, and the 1941 Cleveland Rams, who opened with wins over the Steelers and Cardinals before losing their last 10 and finishing 2-10. Since 1942, 471 teams have opened a season 2-0, and 470 of them have won at least one more game the rest of the season. Can the Eagles really lose their last 15 games? Have you watched them lately?

THEY’RE REALLY BAD ON 4TH DOWN: Another victim of the Eagles’ offensive malaise has been fourth down. They’re terrible at it. From 2021 through 2025, the Eagles were 3rd-best in the NFL on fourth down, converting 63 percent on 82-for-130. This year, they’re tied for 27th at 33.3 percent on 6-for-18. That’s their 6th-worst percentage through nine games since the NFL began tracking fourth downs in 1991. Nobody likes going for it on fourth down more than Nick Sirianni, but this year has been a 4th-down nightmare. During the seven-game losing streak, the Eagles are 5-for-17 on fourth down for 29.4 percent, their worst seven-game span in seven years. Whose fault is this? Usual suspects. Sirianni, Sean Mannion, Chris Kuper, offensive line. Take your pick.