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In Roob’s Eagles Observations: The one thing missing from every Eagles Super Bowl originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Comparing Eagles linebackers from 2023 and 2024, a look at Saquon vs. the Chiefs’ run defense, thoughts on Kellen Moore’s replacement and the time Rodney Peete played at the Superdome … but it wasn’t football.
Here’s our regular weekly Saturday edition of Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Observations. Our daily 10 Obs begins Monday. Super Bowl LIX is only eight days away, and it’s time to let the Observations flow!
1. The Eagles haven’t recorded an interception in any of their four Super Bowls. They’ve faced 130 passes – 81 from Tom Brady, 27 from Patrick Mahomes, 21 from Jim Plunkett, one from Danny Amendola – without a pick. QBs are 85-for-130 for 1,184 yards with 11 TDs, no INTs and a 122.7 passer rating against the Eagles. Every quarterback that’s faced the Eagles in a Super Bowl has had a passer rating of at least 110. Teams without an interception in the Super Bowl are 9-32. The Eagles also didn’t have an INT in the 1960 NFL Championship Game. Their last championship game INT came in 1949, when Frank Reagan picked off Bob Waterfield at the Eagles’ 2-yard-line in the fourth quarter of the Eagles’ 14-0 win over the Rams in the NFL Championship Game at L.A. Coliseum. Reagan played football at Northeast Catholic High School and Penn, then served as athletic director at Villanova after his NFL career. All that said, this is a different secondary, one of the best in Eagles history. Mahomes is one of the best ever, but I think that streak ends now.
2. Eagles linebackers in 2023: 4 ½ sacks, no interceptions, 21 tackles for loss, one forced fumble, eight quarterback hits. Eagles linebackers in 2024: 8.0 sacks, three interceptions, 29 tackles for loss, 11 forced fumbles, 14 QB hits.
3. By the time the Eagles fly to New Orleans on Sunday, it will have been 69 days since they got on an airplane – the Eagles flew home from Los Angeles on Nov. 25 and haven’t flown anywhere since. Seven home games since then and two in Maryland. Finishing a season with five straight home games – the last two regular-season games and all three postseason games – is a fantastic way for a team to get its legs back going into the Super Bowl. There’s something to be said for getting into a routine, sleeping in your own bed, driving into the facility on Monday morning and not being wedged into an airplane week after week. Last time the Eagles played five straight home games? It was the last five weeks of 1933, their first season. They tied the Bears 3-3 on Nov. 12, beat the Pirates on Nov. 19, beat the Reds 20-3 on Nov. 26, lost to the Packers 10-0 on Dec. 3 and then finished the season with a 20-14 loss to the Giants. All five games were played at the Baker Bowl at Broad and Lehigh.
4. Loving this matchup between Saquon Barkley and the Chiefs’ run defense. Barkley has averaged 147 rushing yards in his three postseason games so far with a beefy 6.7 average – 2nd-highest ever by a back with at least 50 carries in a single postseason. But the Chiefs haven’t allowed a 100-yard rusher in their last 19 postseason games. The last one to do it was Sony Michel of the Patriots, who ran for 113 yards in the 2018 AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead. And during the regular season the Chiefs didn’t allow any opposing running back to surpass 100 yards (only Lamar Jackson did). But the Chiefs’ run defense has been shaky in the postseason. The Texans’ Joe Mixon ran 18 times for 88 yards and a touchdown in the conference semifinals and the Bills’ James Cook ran 13 times for 85 yards and two TDs. In all, the Chiefs have allowed 296 rushing yards and 4.9 yards a pop so far in the postseason. And Mixon and Cook are good backs, but they’re not Saquon. The Chiefs were 8th in the NFL in run defense during the regular season, allowing 102 yards and 4.1 per carry. Those numbers have jumped to 148 yards and 4.9 per carry in the playoffs. The Eagles have never had a 100-yard rusher in a Super Bowl. LeGarrette Blount had 90 in SB LII, Jalen Hurts 70 in SB LVII two years ago and Jay Ajayi had 57 yards in LII. Nobody else has been over 45 yards. I’ll be surprised – very surprised – if Barkley doesn’t go over 100 a week from Sunday. Well over 100. I think he can really gash the Chiefs. Then again, I think he can gash anybody.
5. With Kellen Moore looking like the next Saints head coach, Nick Sirianni is probably going to have to hire a fourth offensive coordinator in five years. That means Jalen Hurts gets his sixth play caller, following Doug Pederson in 2020, Sirianni the first half of 2021, Shane Steichen the rest of 2021 and 2022, Brian Johnson in 2023, Moore in 2024 and the new guy in 2025. Hurts has spoken so much about how much he’d love to have some continuity in that spot and how that translates to more consistent performances, but when you have success like this – and with teams searching for the next hot offensive assistant – it’s tough to keep a successful play caller. One way to provide continuity is to promote from within, but I’m not sure there’s an ideal candidate on Sirianni’s staff. Sirianni is high on Kevin Patullo, who he worked with in Indianapolis and has been on his staff here since 2021 as passing game coordinator, with the associate head coach title added last year. Patullo would give Hurts a familiar voice. QBs coach Doug Nussmeier has done a nice job this year and Hurts seems to think highly of him, but he’s been with Moore in Dallas, San Diego and Philly, and Moore could very well try to bring him down to New Orleans with a promotion to OC. The Eagles could try to keep Nussmeier by offering him play calling, since he wouldn’t do that with the Saints. There are some interesting outside candidates – Byron Leftwich, Jerrod Johnson, Eric Bieniemy, Josh McCown – but now you’re starting over with no thread of continuity. Would Sirianni assume play calling duties for the first time since early in 2021? That would be a mistake. Whatever happens, it’s not ideal for any quarterback to have six play callers in a six-year span. This is a very important hire for Sirianni.
6. It was Week 5 of the 1995 season at the Superdome, and Rodney Peete had just made his first start for the Eagles after replacing Randall Cunningham, who was benched after a disastrous loss to the Raiders a week earlier in Oakland. A while after the game, the affable Peete was standing by the tunnel outside the Eagles’ locker room chatting with a few writers and at one point, he smiled broadly and said, “You guys know I played here in college? But not football!” Peete was a very good third baseman on the USC baseball team for two years, and in 1988 he hit .338 with 12 homers and 46 RBI for the Trojans, drawing lots of professional interest. Turns out that on March 25, USC played Tulane in the Superdome, and Tulane won 12-8. Seven years later, Peete had better luck on the same field, throwing for 173 yards without a turnover in the Eagles’ 27-10 win.
7. It’s a no-brainer that Jeff Lurie will give Nick Sirianni a contract extension at some point in the coming months. Sirianni is signed through 2025, but Lurie has never let a head coach go into the final year of his contract. That’s just not done. If he’s not somebody Lurie wants to sign to a long-term deal, then he’s someone Lurie will fire. A year ago, the question was whether Lurie would fire Sirianni after the Eagles’ unprecedented collapse. He brought him back but without an extension. But with a 14-win regular season, another NFC East title and a second trip to the Super Bowl in three years, there’s no question about Sirianni’s future. The only question is when will the Eagles announce it, and I wouldn’t be shocked if Lurie hints broadly that something is imminent when he meets the media on Monday for the first time since the owners meetings back in March.
8A. What do former Eagles coaches Bud Carson, Buddy Ryan, Ray Rhodes, Peter Giunta, Dick LeBeau, Steve Spagnuolo, Wade Phillips, Matt Patricia, Jim Schwartz and Todd Bowles have in common? All coached for the Eagles at some point and all won Super Bowl rings as defensive coordinators. Carson won rings under Chuck Noll with the Steelers in 1974 and 1975, Ryan under Mike Ditka with the Bears in 1985, Rhodes with the 49ers in 1994 under George Seifert, Giunta in 1999 with the Rams under Dick Vermeil, LeBeau with the Steelers in 2005 under Bill Cowher (also a former Eagles player) and 2008 under Mike Tomlin, Spags in 2007 with the Giants and 2019, 2022 and 2023 with the Chiefs, Phillips with Gary Kubiak with the Broncos in 2015, Patricia with Bill Belichick in New England in 2014 and 2016, Schwartz with Doug Pederson here in 2017 and Bowles with the Bucs under his Temple coach, Bruce Arians.
8B. If the Eagles win, Vic Fangio would become the 3rd-oldest defensive coordinator to win a Super Bowl. Dick LeBeau was 71 years, 4 months, when the Steelers beat the Cards in Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa after the 2008 season, and Wade Phillips was 68 years, 7 months, when the Broncos beat the Panthers in Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara. Fangio is 66 years, five months.
9. Through three playoff games, Quinyon Mitchell has been targeted 14 times and had five passes completed on him for just 24 yards with two interceptions. Opposing quarterbacks have a 4.8 passer rating against the rookie corner in the playoffs and an absurd 1.7 yards per target. Somehow that’s not the lowest passer rating since Stathead began tracking defender targets in 2018. Jaire Alexander of the Packers had a 0.0 rating during the 2020 postseason. But Q is playing at such a ridiculously high level. Remember when there were concerns about level of competition coming out of the MAC? He’s already one of the best corners in the NFL. He’s 23.
10A. Oren Burks has been so good this postseason filling in for Nakobe Dean, it’s crazy to think that back in August the Eagles actually released him. Burks was part of final cuts on Aug. 27. It was surprising because Burks had a good training camp and they didn’t have a ton of linebacker depth. But the Eagles never planned on losing him. They signed him to the practice squad the next day and then to the 53-man roster a day after that. He’s been lights out during the postseason with 20 tackles, a sack, two forced fumbles, three tackles for loss and two QB hits. He’s not Dean, but he’s been better than anybody could have expected.
10B. Like Zack Baun, Burks is unsigned beyond this year, and with Dean’s status for the start of 2025 unknown, Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is really the only rotational off-ball linebacker whose status is certain for the start of 2025. Obviously, re-signing Baun is Howie Roseman’s biggest offseason priority, but it would make sense to lock up Burks as well.
Tune in to Mission 59 specials all playoffs long on NBC Sports Philadelphia, presented by Toyota.
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