How the Eagles finally caught the Athletics after nearly a century, a free agent the Eagles have to keep and why I’ve been so impressed with Jahan Dotson.

We had a bunch of odds and ends lying around after the Super Bowl, so why not a midweek bonus edition of Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Observations?

Oh, and only 204 days till the 2025 opener! 

1. The Flyers won their only Stanley Cup Championships in 1974 and 1975, the Sixers won NBA championships in 1955 in Syracuse and 1967 and 1983 in Philadelphia and the Phillies won the World Series in 1980 and 2008. But the winningest Philly pro sports franchise has always been the Athletics, who won World Series under Connie Mack in 1910, 1911, 1913, 1929 and 1930 before moving to Kansas City in 1955 and eventually Oakland in 1968 (and off to Las Vegas in 2028). But with two Super Bowl titles in the last eight years on top of their NFL Championships in 1948, 1949 and 1960, the Eagles are now five-time champions as well. Ninety-four years after winning their last title in Philadelphia, the Athletics have been caught. 

2. Head coaches who’ve won at least 70 percent of their games and also won a Super Bowl: John Madden, Vince Lombardi, Nick Sirianni.

3. When I’m prioritizing free agents the Eagles need to re-sign, obviously Zack Baun is at the top of the list, but I’m putting Milton Williams next, ahead of Mekhi Becton, ahead of Josh Sweat, ahead of everybody else. Becton was outstanding at right guard and Sweat had a monumental Super Bowl, but Tyler Steen is capable of playing right guard and is on a rookie contract with two years left, Sweat has been a very good player most of his seven years here, but edges make a fortune when they hit the open market and the development of Nolan Smith and the promise of Jalyx Hunt may mean the Eagles don’t need to over-pay to keep him. But Williams plays a position that’s harder to replace than right guard or edge, and you don’t get a lot of three techniques who can rush the passer like Williams. He showed the world Sunday what kind of player he is with those two sacks, one against Joe Thuney, a three-time Pro Bowler, and one against guard Mike Caliendo that forced a fumble. Williams isn’t going to come cheap – Spotrac projects $12 million per year and I wonder if that’s even a little low – but he’d be worth every penny. 

4. Remember all those Dolphins players who didn’t like Vic Fangio because he worked them too hard? How did that 8-9 season go for you guys?

5. With Kellen Moore now officially off to the Saints, I believe promoting Kevin Patullo makes the most sense as Nick Sirianni looks for his fourth offensive coordinator in five years. Patullo and Sirianni go back to 2018, when they were both on Frank Reich’s Colts staff, Patullo as wide receivers coach and Sirianni as offensive coordinator. When Sirianni became Eagles head coach, he brought Patullo with him and he’s served as passing game coordinator for four years, with the added title of associate head coach the last two years. Hurts had Doug Pederson as a play caller as a rookie, then Sirianni for half of 2021, Shane Steichen for the rest of 2021 and 2022, Brian Johnson in 2023 and Moore this year, so whoever has the job in 2025 will be Hurts’ sixth play caller in six NFL seasons and having somebody he’s been around for four years, hearing a voice he’s familiar with, having a coach who speaks his language, getting that continuity is important. Hurts hasn’t had the same offensive coordinator for two years since high school. I know there’s concern that Patullo is too much of a Sirianni clone – he even looks like him – and would get away from the run-first formula that worked so well this year. But Sirianni and Patullo are smart enough to know what this offense’s strengths are and why it works, and they’re not going to suddenly start throwing 50 times a game just because Patullo was passing game coordinator. There are some good names out there – Frank Reich, who won a ring with the Eagles in 2017; Bobby Slowik, DeMeco Ryans’ offensive coordinator the last two years in Houston; and one-time Eagles practice squad quarterback Tee Martin, the Ravens’ quarterbacks coach. But I just can’t get past how important it would be for Hurts to have a thread of continuity as he enters his sixth season, and that’s something Patullo can provide.

6. The 1988, 1989 and 1990 Eagles defenses had Reggie White, Clyde Simmons, Jerome Brown, Byron Evans, Seth Joyner, Mike Pitts and Mike Golic. But in playoff losses to the Bears in 1988, the Rams in 1989 and Washington in 1990, they had a total of three sacks.

7. I’ve been so impressed with Jahan Dotson, who came here in late August in a trade with the Commanders and barely made a ripple during the regular season. Other than the meaningless season ender when the backups played, he caught 12 catches for 122 yards and no TDs all year. But I just saw a guy who never complained about his role, never demanded more targets, never had anything but a positive attitude, never stopped working. He was determined to be ready whenever his opportunity came, even though he knew it may not come at all. But then it did. He caught a touchdown on a scramble drill to open the Packers game, then wasn’t targeted at all in the Rams or Washington games, then had his best game as an Eagle in the Super Bowl, with that 27-yarder in the first quarter down to the Chiefs’ 1-yard-line to set up the Eagles’ first touchdown and a 15-yard catch on the next drive. I just really admire the professionalism Dotson has shown all year. And when he got the opportunity, he came up huge. Dotson has one more year left on his rookie contract, so he’ll be here next year and with a full offseason and training camp with Jalen Hurts, I could see him being a significantly bigger contributor in 2025.

8. As Super Bowl champs, the Eagles will open the 2025 season at the Linc on Thursday, Sept. 4,  in the league’s traditional kickoff game. The Eagles’ eight home opponents next year are the three NFC East teams, plus the Bears, Broncos, Lions, Raiders and Rams. The NFL favors non-divisional games in the opener, and we can probably eliminate the Raiders and Bears, who were 4-13 and 5-12 last year. Which leaves the Broncos, Rams and Lions. All three were playoff teams in 2024, but the Broncos being an AFC team don’t provide the juice that a matchup against one of the top NFC teams would bring. I think it comes down to the Rams, who won the NFC West before losing to the Eagles in the playoffs, or the Lions, who led the NFC all year and beat out the Eagles for the No. 1 seed. My guess is the Lions. That sort of elite matchup between two teams that went a combined 33-6 this year is generally what the NFL is looking for. It’ll be here before you know it.

9. Jalen Hurts is the 19^th quarterback to start two Super Bowls and win at least one. Of the other 18, some 11 are in the Hall of Fame, three are not in the Hall of Fame (Joe Theismann, Eli Manning, Jim Plunkett) and four are either still playing or not yet eligible for the Hall of Fame. 

10. The Eagles have won more playoff games in the last 30 days than the Cowboys have won in the last 5,511 days.

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Simplecast | RSS | Watch on YouTube