Philadelphia Eagles

Tom Brady offered high praise to Jalen Hurts on his podcast Let's Go! after the Philadelphia Eagles' win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday:

Tom Brady on Jalen Hurts, via the SiriusXM podcast “Let’s Go! With Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray.” pic.twitter.com/okmhOMtg4R

— Tim McManus (@Tim_McManus) November 29, 2022

"That's why that team is so successful. He's playing at a very, very, very high level, and they're a tough team to stop," Brady said of Hurts.

Hurts has emerged as an MVP candidate with 17 passing touchdowns and just three interceptions, adding 597 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on the ground. He's a major reason the Eagles are 10-1.

Brady has won three MVP awards himself and was second in voting last year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, although he's mostly succeeded with his passing rather than rushing. The 45-year-old has negative-six rushing yards through 11 games in 2022.

It's easy to see why Brady has been in awe of Hurts' all-around play.

The Philadelphia Eagles will be without cornerback C.J. Gardner-Johnson after he suffered a lacerated kidney during Sunday's 40-33 victory over the Green Bay Packers.

Per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, Gardner-Johnson will be out indefinitely and testing is still ongoing, but he won't need surgery and isn't expected to miss the rest of the season.

Gardner-Johnson was injured in the first quarter when he delivered a big hit to Packers wide receiver Christian Watson. He fell to a knee afterward and walked to the sidelines before being carted to the locker room for evaluation.

The Eagles announced at the start of the third quarter that Gardner-Johnson was ruled out for the rest of the game with a rib injury.

Reed Blankenship took over at safety for the remainder of the game. He picked off Aaron Rodgers early in the second quarter and finished with a season-high six combined tackles.

A rookie out of Middle Tennessee State, Blankeship did have some rough moments in his first extended playing time. He was flagged for an unnecessary roughness penalty in the third quarter and got beat on Watson's 63-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter.

Losing Gardner-Johnson for any length of time is significant for the Eagles secondary. The 24-year-old leads the NFL with six interceptions, ranks third on the team with eight pass breakups and has four tackles for loss in 11 starts.

Blankenship had primarily been playing on special teams coming into Week 12. He had just two snaps with the defense all season before replacing Gardner-Johnson. The 23-year-old finished with 35 defensive snaps against the Packers.

The Eagles do benefit from having the NFL's best record (10-1) and a two-game lead over the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East. They can play things slow with Gardner-Johnson if they want to because they are a safe bet to at least make the playoffs already.

Philadelphia will host the Tennessee Titans on Sunday before embarking on a three-game road trip against the New York Giants (Dec. 11), Chicago Bears (Dec. 18) and Cowboys (Dec. 24).

The Philadelphia Eagles reportedly agreed to a one-year contract with defensive tackle Linval Joseph on Wednesday.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the news, noting Joseph could make his season debut as soon as Sunday's game against the Indianapolis Colts.

Joseph, 34, spent the previous two seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers but went unsigned during the 2022 offseason.

The Eagles lost rookie defensive tackle Jordan Davis to an ankle injury earlier this month, leaving a hole in the middle of the defensive line. Joseph is clearly past his prime, during which he made back-to-back Pro Bowls in 2016 and 2017, but he's a serviceable veteran who should be fresh for the stretch run after sitting out the first half of the season.

Philadelphia allowed the Washington Commanders to control the clock with the ground game for over 40 minutes in Monday's 32-21 loss. The Commanders ran the ball 49 times against just 29 passes, which kept the Eagles' high-octane offense parked on the sidelines.

Opposing teams will see how Washington handled Philly its first loss of the 2022 season and likely attempt to enact a similar ground-and-pound plan. Adding Joseph should help plug up the gaps left by Davis.

Philadelphia Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert will miss at least four weeks after being placed on injured reserve Wednesday with a shoulder injury.

The earliest he will be eligible to return is Dec. 18 against the Chicago Bears.

Goedert was hurt after a fourth-quarter completion which ended in a lost fumble. Washington Commanders linebacker Jamin Davis seemingly grabbed the tight end's facemask on the play, but it was uncalled on the field.

Goedert had three catches for 23 yards and a touchdown before the injury, while the Eagles suffered their first loss of the season, falling 32-21 to the Commanders.

The 27-year-old has been a key part of the Eagles offense this season, totaling 43 catches for 544 yards and three touchdowns. The fifth-year player's catches and yards per game are both a career high.

Goedert's presence in the passing game is even more valuable considering the Eagles' limited depth at receiver. A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith have a combined 90 receptions this year, but no one else on the roster has more than 12 catches.

Jack Stoll should see more playing time at tight end, yet he has only eight career receptions in two seasons. The Eagles will need more from receivers Quez Watkins and Zach Pascal, who've made minimal contributions this season.

If there is a silver lining for the Philadelphia Eagles following Monday's shocking loss to the Washington Commanders, it is the removal of the pressure to go undefeated as the season progresses.

"I know guys got long faces, but me personally—of course I want to win—but now all this 17-0 s--t is over with," wide receiver A.J. Brown said, per Tim McManus and Josh Keim of ESPN.

"Now we're going to wake up—how are you going to respond? This is a game that we all love to play and sometimes you get hit in the mouth. How do you respond? ... I hope we get up and start fighting back and I feel like we will."

Brown had just one catch for seven yards, and a potential deep connection bounced off his hands and into the air for a Washington interception.

It would have been a difficult catch, but it was part of the theme for a team that ended with four turnovers after posting just three in the previous eight games combined.

One of the turnovers came after Quez Watkins caught a deep ball going to the ground, got up to run and then fumbled as he was tackled. Another came on the final play in a desperation lateral attempt, and Washington recovered for a touchdown that clinched the 32-21 victory and made the final score seem worse than it was throughout the game.

There was even a mistake in the final two minutes, as Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham was whistled for unnecessary roughness for hitting Taylor Heinicke after the quarterback had given himself up on a critical third down.

The officials also made a costly mistake against Philadelphia.

Tight end Dallas Goedert lost a fumble in the fourth quarter, but only as his facemask was grabbed and pulled to the side. There was no whistle, and Washington took over possession and eventually parlayed the turnover into a field goal.

It was a glaring mistake but wasn't the ultimate difference in the game.

In addition to the turnovers, the Eagles struggled defensively to stop Terry McLaurin (eight catches for 128 yards) and gave up two touchdowns on the ground. They were in comeback mode throughout the second half as a result and were never able to get back on track.

The NFC East leaders are still 8-1 and will have a chance to bounce back in Week 11 against the Indianapolis Colts without the potential distraction of undefeated talk.

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni put the onus on his team rather than the officiating after the 32-21 upset loss against the Washington Commanders on Monday night.

According to ESPN's Tim McManus and John Keim, Sirianni said the following when asked if he thought questionable officiating cost the Eagles the game:

"I think whether the calls were bad or good, or whatever it was, when you play the way we did tonight on all three phases ... it does seem like everything's going against you. And we played like crap. We didn't do a good enough job ... We made our own luck today, and it was bad."

The Eagles were a perfect 8-0 entering Monday's game, but with the loss, there are no undefeated teams remaining in the NFL this season.

One major call that went against the Eagles occurred early in the fourth quarter with Washington leading 23-21.

Tight end Dallas Goedert made a catch on a 3rd-and-1 play and fumbled the ball, which was recovered by the Commanders. Goedert was facemasked by linebacker Jamin Davis on the play, but no call was made.

Washington subsequently added a field goal, and the Eagles turned the ball over again on the next drive when wide receiver Quez Watkins fumbled at the end of a 51-yard catch.

After the teams traded punts, the Commanders were able to salt the game away thanks, in large part, to another significant call by the officials.

On a 3rd-and-7 play with less than two minutes remaining, Commanders quarterback Taylor Heinicke took a knee in the backfield when he realized there was no easy completion available to him.

Two Eagles defenders dove at him, and defensive end Brandon Graham was called for unnecessary roughness, which effectively ended the game.

Graham took full responsibility for the penalty, saying: "I was just trying to touch him down because it just looked like he was going to get up. You just never know. But that's on me. I own that one. That's on me."

Referee Alex Kemp explained the call after the game, saying Heinicke "had clearly given himself up."

While the calls weren't necessarily in the Eagles' favor on Monday night, they were also thoroughly outplayed by a Commanders team that evened their record at 5-5.

Philadelphia turned the ball over four times, compared to two for Washington, and the Commanders ran the ball effectively as well.

Washington rushed for 152 yards and possessed the ball for long stretches, keeping quarterback Jalen Hurts and the Philly offense off the field.

The Commanders won the time-of-possession battle 40:24-19:36 and outgained the Eagles 330-264. Regardless of officiating, it isn't often that a team can win when it loses the time-of-possession, turnover and total-yardage battles.

On the heels of Monday's heartbreaking loss, the Eagles will look to bounce back Sunday when they go on the road to face the Indianapolis Colts.

The 1972 Miami Dolphins can keep their undefeated season, annual guzzling of celebratory champagne and pretentious attitudes. While the historical feat of not losing a single game for an entire season has yet to be matched during the Super Bowl era, the self-importance of such an act for five decades has become boorish.

From a macro perspective, the Philadelphia Eagles posted a great start with eight consecutive victories to open the season before falling 32-21 to the Washington Commanders on Monday Night Football. Despite the surprising result, the Eagles are still the NFC's best team, and raising a Lombardi Trophy is all that really matters.

Some outcomes simply can't be explained, which only adds to the allure of pro football's popularity. While every squad strives to win each and every contest, certain efforts warrant burning the tape afterward and never thinking about them again.

The Eagles endured such an effort Monday. The previously pristine team that committed three turnovers all season coughed up the ball four times against the Commanders. Obvious mental mistakes certainly didn't help matters.

"It's on us," Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts said after the game.

An 8-1 record is still tied for the league's best. Furthermore, Philadelphia decisively beat its current counterpart—the Minnesota Vikings—in Week 2.

Even so, overreaction to the loss will be unbearable for the next six days.

First, proclamations of a blueprint being created to beat the Eagles will almost certainly be (erroneously) made. Washington executed its game plan and deserves credit for doing so. After all, the Commanders ran 81 total plays and more than doubled the Eagles' time of possession.

"We found that one of the best ways to slow Jalen Hurts down is to keep him off the field," Commanders head coach Ron Rivera told reporters after the contest.

Is it really, though?

Washington moved the ball and strung together four drives of 12 or more plays. The approach is intentional on both sides of the ball.

The Commanders wanted to control the clock. Conversely, Eagles coordinator Jonathan Gannon built a defensive scheme on the idea of keeping the ball in front of defenders and forcing offenses to work for every single yard.

"I think it's going to be really hard for a team to beat us dinking and dunking, and it's also going to be hard for a team to beat us kicking field goals, because of our offense," James Bradberry said two weeks ago, per NBC Sports Reuben Frank.

“The way our offense can score, that puts a lot of pressure on the opposing offense. So if we can limit the big plays, it just makes it really tough for teams to score against us. It’s a huge priority for us.”

Washington consistently extended drives but averaged only 4.1 yards per play. Comparatively, Philadelphia managed 5.6.

The Eagles still had a wonderful opportunity to snatch a victory despite the issues experienced throughout the night. Unfortunately, Quez Watkins fumbled the football after a 50-yard pass with Philadelphia trailing by five points and 5:43 to play.

Had Watkins held onto the ball, the Eagles would have been on Washington's 23-yard line and driving to take the lead with a possible touchdown.

During the previous possession, tight end Dallas Goedert fumbled the football thanks to an obvious missed facemask penalty.

Turnover stats can be highly volatile. In the Eagles' case, they've been on the positive side of the ledger all season. A couple of plays/calls didn't go their way Monday, which became the primary reason behind the loss.

Mental mistakes played their part as well.

Plenty of attention will revolve around roughing the passer penalty called on Brandon Graham to give Washington its final game-clinching first down. Commanders quarterback Taylor Heinicke took a knee and gave himself up on 3rd-and-7 with 1:40 remaining. Graham continued his pursuit and ran into Heinicke, thus prompting a penalty flag.

Maybe the Eagles would have gotten the ball back and scored. Maybe they wouldn't have. It doesn't really matter since one penalty late in the contest didn't determine how Philadelphia played throughout the entire game.

"I wish I could have that call back, but at the end of the day, I wish we could have a bunch of calls back," Graham told reporters. "But, y'know what? They won. For me, I'd wanna make up for it by what I do next week, how I respond. I'mma take that one on the chin. Of course, we all gonna just flush it and move on."

Graham added, "We can't put the game in the refs' hands. In that position, I just gotta know. If he goes down, it's OK. For me, I was just hustling to the play and trying to make sure he was down and just trying to get off the field."

Basically, the plan to beat the Eagles is simple: An opponent must force them into multiple turnovers and hope they make numerous uncharacteristic mental errors. Oh, a couple of field goal conversions over 55 yards need to be thrown in there as well. Easy stuff, really.

A couple of key injuries on defense didn't help matters. Therein lies some concern. Both nose tackle Jordan Davis (ankle) and cornerback Avonte Maddox (hamstring) are currently on short-term injured reserve. Neither can return before Week 13, and the Eagles missed their contributions Sunday.

Washington played physically at the point of attack. While the Commanders averaged only 3.1 yards per carry, the offense put in work between the tackles. Davis' size, agility and power will make that far less attainable once he's back on the field. Meanwhile, Maddox can eventually help a unit that allowed Washington to convert 12 of 21 third downs.

However, the schedule should help the Eagles. The Indianapolis Colts are next on the docket. Though the Colts won their first game under the supervision of interim head coach Jeff Saturday, they did so against the hapless Las Vegas Raiders.

Philadelphia will be favored and should get back on track with the Green Bay Packers, Tennessee Titans and New York Giants rounding out the next month of play. Those three will be difficult but winnable.

One loss doesn't negate all of the good Philadelphia achieved so far this season. The Eagles still feature an elite offensive line, a dynamic dual-threat at quarterback, multiple weapons in the passing game and a proven defense.

Nothing ever goes according to plan. Recent Super Bowl winners show how a bad loss or two can't hamper a historic season.

Last season's Los Angeles Rams didn't win a game in November. Two years ago, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers got off to a slow start. The 2019 Kansas City Chiefs somehow lost 19-13 to the Jacoby Brissett-led Colts.

Those old Dolphins can keep their undefeated season. What the Eagles really want is another league title and Philadelphia is more than capable of representing the NFC for that opportunity.

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Brent Sobleski covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @brentsobleski.

The Philadelphia Eagles suffered their first loss of the season when they fell to the Washington Commanders 32-21 on Monday Night Football. However, the chatter coming out of the game didn't have much to do with the players on the field.

The Eagles were on the wrong end of some questionable officiating on Monday night. There were key calls that directly affected the momentum of this game.

Early in the fourth quarter, Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert caught a pass from star quarterback Jalen Hurts and proceeded to cough up the ball. However, the referees missed an obvious facemask penalty on Washington before the fumble that would have negated the turnover. Nonetheless, the Commanders kicked a field goal on the ensuing drive for a 26-21 lead.

With the game still in reach, the Eagles were poised to get the ball back with under two minutes left if they got a stop on third down. Washington quarterback Taylor Heinicke gave himself up behind the line of scrimmage, and Philadelphia linebacker Brandon Graham made enough contact with him that drew an unnecessary roughness penalty and effectively sealed the victory for the Commanders (5-5).

Fans on social media were not happy with how the officiating played a part in the outcome of Monday's game, and they let their feelings be known (some tweets may contain profanity):

Refs really reared their heads this week didn’t they?

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) November 15, 2022

That’s one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen, my god

— Tom Ignudo (@TomIgnudo) November 15, 2022

1972 Dolphins liked that call.

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) November 15, 2022

That's the right call but it's a terrible call.

— DJ Bien-Aime (@Djbienaime) November 15, 2022

What a mess tonight’s officiating has been

— Pat Leonard (@PLeonardNYDN) November 15, 2022

Yea, The Eagles got flag whipped a bit here on the second half.

— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) November 15, 2022

It may be the right call, but Brandon Graham didn’t do anything malicious there. Both can be true.

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) November 15, 2022

Can't throw that flag. Utterly ridiculous.

— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) November 15, 2022

These refs was so fucking bad tonight smh shit sad.

— Philly Cheese 🧀 (@dionwaiters3) November 15, 2022

Refs missed a blatant face mask there #Eagles

— John McMullen (@JFMcMullen) November 15, 2022

Man, that's a costly missed facemask.

— Doug Kyed (@DougKyed) November 15, 2022

literally pulled down by the facemask

— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) November 15, 2022

the fact that you can review the fumble but can’t review a blatant face mask is ridiculous

— SUPERBOWL CHAMPIONS (@eaglessavedme) November 15, 2022

You can't miss that facemask. Terrible.

— Art Stapleton (@art_stapleton) November 15, 2022

Is this crew serious tonight?

— Rich Hofmann (@rich_hofmann) November 15, 2022

The Eagles still have the best record in the NFL at 8-1, but Monday's loss will not sit right with the team. If a few calls had gone their way, there's a strong chance the Eagles would still be undefeated heading into Week 11.

Instead, Philadelphia will be looking to bounce back when it visits the Indianapolis Colts (4-5-1) next Sunday.

The Philadelphia Eagles continue to thrive offensively, and fantasy managers should want a piece of the action on their teams.

A.J. Brown is entrenched in starting lineups and would likely be difficult to acquire in a trade, but DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert could be quality targets ahead of your league's fantasy football trade deadline.

After the Eagles ranked dead last in pass attempts in 2021, the offense is up to 24th in attempts per game this year. More importantly, the squad ranks second in net yards per attempt. This is enough to keep three fantasy-relevant pass-catchers, especially with a clear separation from the rest of the team.

Brown, Smith and Goedert each have at least 50 targets this season entering Week 10, while no one else on the roster has more than 13.

Goedert is especially valuable as a productive tight end at a position that doesn't have many reliable options. He is up to TE3 on the season in points per game behind only Travis Kelce and Mark Andrews. He's also coming off his best game of the year with 100 receiving yards and a touchdown against the Houston Texans.

The 27-year-old won't have these numbers every week, but he should remain one of the league's top tight ends for the rest of the season. The 6'5", 256-pound athlete should also remain a top target in the end zone and add to his two scores on the year. In a shallow position, this makes him extremely valuable and worth acquiring even at the peak of his value.

If you don't have either Kelce or Andrews, Goedert is worth the trade even if you have to give up an RB3 or a WR3. A running back on the decline—like Leonard Fournette, Cordarrelle Patterson or Ezekiel Elliott—might be worth selling for a top tight end.

Smith, meanwhile, is more of a speculative add after his up-and-down play. The former Heisman Trophy winner has just 45 total receiving yards in his last two games and hasn't reached 100 yards since his explosion for 169 and a touchdown in Week 3.

The good news is he remains a key part of the offense, playing 90.5 percent of offensive snaps to lead all Eagles skill players. His receptions and receiving yards per game are also better than his impressive rookie season in which he had 916 yards on 64 catches.

Inconsistency will continue, but there will be better days than we have seen in recent games.

It makes Smith an exciting buy-low candidate as he tries to reach his potential as a top-10 draft pick. If someone in your league is frustrated by the recent performances, you could probably land him for a player coming off a strong game, like Mecole Hardman, Rondale Moore or Latavius Murray.