The Philadelphia Eagles are 4-1 after losing to the Denver Broncos at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday. Final score: 21 to 17.
The Eagles should have won this game. They were up 17 to 3 early in the third quarter after a Jalen Hurts touchdown pass to Saquon Barkley on a wheel route. The offense had turned in a relatively strong showing to that point.
But then the offense went cold, just like it has entirely too often this year. After Barkley’s touchdown and prior to the Eagles’ final desperation drive, the Birds’ second half drives looked like this:
- 5 plays, 23 yards, punt
- 3 plays, -16 yards, punt
- 3 plays, -6 yards, punt
- 3 plays, 2 yards, punt
14 plays for 3 yards in total. Pretty pathetic.
The weight was placed entirely on Vic Fangio’s unit to carry the team, which just isn’t reasonable. The Eagles’ defense had played well prior to allowing two touchdown drives that included a Broncos two-point conversion to take an 18 to 17 lead in the middle of the fourth quarter. Denver was later able to run some clock and kick a short field goal to go up four points to force the Eagles’ offense to get into the end zone, which they weren’t able to do.
Next up for the Eagles: a Thursday Night Football game against the New York Giants, who are 1-4. The quick turnaround could help the Birds get the bad taste of this loss out of their mouths. The Eagles should win. But they also should’ve beaten the Broncos.
Read on for a recap and stay tuned for BGN’s postgame coverage.
FIRST QUARTER
- The Eagles won the coin toss and elected to defer, per usual. The Broncos started at their own 31-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-4 after two J.K. Dobbins runs, a Bo Nix deep shot to Courtland Sutton went through the receiver’s hands with Quinyon Mitchell in good coverage. No pressure from the pass rush there, so, fortunate to come away with an incompletion. Still, good to get a three-and-out to start.
- The Eagles took over at their own 20-yard line after a Broncos touchback. Jalen Hurts’ first pass was batted down by Jonathon Cooper. Hurts had to scramble to complete a pass to A.J. Brown for just three yards. Facing 3rd-and-7, Hurts had plenty of time to throw but he overthrew Dallas Goedert down the field on a play where the tight end also failed to track the ball well. Dueling three-and-outs.
- The Broncos took over at their own 32-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-6 after picking up one first down, Vic Fangio brought the blitz but Nix got the ball out fast for a first down into plus territory. Facing 3rd-and-6 again, Nix’s completion was short of the sticks. Facing 4th-and-3 from the plus 40-yard line, Jalen Carter got called for encroachment. Sloppy. Azeez Ojulari (!) logged a TFL on the first defensive snap of his Eagles debut. Coming on a blitz, Cooper DeJean strip-sacked Nix. After review, it was ruled an incomplete pass and not a fumble despite the fact there wasn’t 100% evidence that it was not a fumble. Nix’s third down pass was low and incomplete. Will Lutz made his 55-yard field goal attempt. 12 plays, 31 yards, 5:19 off the clock for a FG. EAGLES 0, BRONCOS 3.
- Tank Bigsby caught the ball right on top of the other kick returner in the end zone … and decided to take it out for some reason to only get to the 17-yard line. The Eagles trading two draft picks for Bigsby to return kicks for them (zero offensive snaps before Week 5) isn’t looking so hot. Hurts completed a pass to Brown on a slant for a first down. What a novel concept! Saquon Barkley broke his longest run of the season for 17 yards. A short Hurts completion to Grant Calcaterra with a free rusher in his face and then an A.J. Dillon run resulted in another first down into field goal range. Hurts to DeVonta Smith on a slant gained eight yards. What a novel concept! Hurts kept the ball on a read and rolled left to hit Calcaterra for another first down into the red zone. Landon Dickerson got banged up and was replaced by Brett Toth. Facing 3rd-and-8 after Hurts could’ve taken a second down shot into the end zone but ran out of bounds for a one-yard loss instead, Hurts’ third down pass for Brown in the end zone was well overthrown and incomplete. Jake Elliott made the 31-yard field goal. Good job by the offense to move the ball 70 yards … but disappointing to have to settle for just three points. EAGLES 3, BRONCOS 3.
- The Broncos took over at their own 29-yard line. Nix completed a pass to Troy Franklin for 20 yards with Kelee Ringo trailing to bring up the end of the first quarter.
SECOND QUARTER
- Nix overthrew Trent Sherfield with Ringo trailing on what could’ve been a touchdown. Facing 3rd-and-8, a stunting Za’Darius Smith got to Nix for a 13-yard sack to prevent a field goal attempt and force a punt. Nice of an Eagles edge rusher to actually take down a quarterback.
- The Eagles took over at their own 10-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-2 after two Barkley runs, Hurts to Brown on a slant went for a first down. Impossible to stop, even with Patrick Surtain II on him. Facing 3rd-and-12 after Hurts run out of bounds for a loss for the second time on three drives, the Eagles got hit with a Jordan Mailata false start. Facing 3rd-and-17, the Eagles did NOT go with a coward’s draw and instead allowed Hurts to take a deep shot down the field … and the quarterback dropped a ball right in the bucket to DeVonta Smith for a 52-yard gain! That is exactly why you don’t just merely give up on third-and-long! Hurts threw to Brown towards the front left corner of the end zone and Surtain knocked down the pass but got called for DPI. Then Hurts rolled right to hit Dallas Goedert for a touchdown. Awesome job to overcome a rough start to the drive. EAGLES 10, BRONCOS 3.
- The Broncos took over at their own 19-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-8 after Moro Ojomo notched a TFL, Ojulari (!) beat Broncos starting left tackle Garett Bolles (pretty good player) hit Nix as the quarterback threw to force a third down incompletion. Strong showing in his Eagles debut. Three-and-out.
- The Eagles took over at their own 14-yard line. Broncos CB Riley Moss got called for DPI while defending DeVonta to give the Eagles a first down. Hurts made back-to-back first down completions to DeVonta and Brown to get into plus territory. Hurts took a deep shot to Jahan Dotson for an absolute dot that was originally ruled complete … and then overturned by a different official. Weird. Nick Sirianni threw his challenge flag … but the ruling on the field was upheld (not confirmed). Sirianni dropped to 0-2 on challenges in 2025. Facing 3rd-and-8, DeVonta stumbled in motion and got called for a false start. Facing 3rd-and-13, Hurts took off to run but got chased down from behind for a sack to force a punt. Big swing on that Dotson catch that was deemed not a catch.
- John Metchie had a chance to down Braden Mann’s punt deep but he couldn’t track the bouncing ball before it went into the end zone. Instead, the Broncos started at their own 20-yard line with 2:18 on the clock and one timeout to work with. Jalen Carter was blatantly held by Mike McGlinchey while rushing from the edge but the refs didn’t throw a flag. Facing 3rd-and-5, Nix’s deep shot was well off target. The Broncos brought out the punt team.
- The Eagles took over at their own 11-yard line with 1:19 on the clock and one timeout to work with. Hurts would’ve had a completion to DeVonta for a first down out of bounds had it not been deflected at the line of scrimmage. Facing 3rd-and-6, Goedert was open but Hurts was hit as he threw for an incompletion. Drive only took 17 seconds off the clock.
- Tank Bigsby made a good special teams tackle as a punt gunner and the Broncos took over at their own 44-yard line with 0:52 on the clock and one timeout to work with. Facing 3rd-and-13 after Quinyon Mitchell deflected a pass, Nix threw deep and a flag came out on Ringo … but it was picked up. Guessing the refs ruled the ball uncatchable?
- The Eagles took over at their own 5-yard line with 0:08 on the clock after a conservative fair catch by Dotson. Hurts took a knee to run out the first half.
THIRD QUARTER
- The Eagles took over at their own 26-yard line to start the second half. Hurts hit DeVonta on a slant for 21 yards. Then Hurts aired it out downfield to Barkley on the wheel route with old friend Alex Singleton trailing for a 47-yard touchdown. Beauty. And really strong way to start the third quarter. EAGLES 17, BRONCOS 3.
- The Broncos took over at their own 18-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-1, Nix’s sneak picked up the first down. The Broncos moved close to midfield and burned their first timeout with 9:43 left in the third quarter. Dobbins broke a run into plus territory. A blitzing Baun forced Nix into an intentional grounding penalty to set the Broncos back. Facing 3rd-and-22, Baun made the tackle on a Nix throw well short of the sticks. The Broncos took 5:07 off the clock on a scoreless drive.
- The Eagles took over at their own 9-yard line. The Eagles picked up a first down by continuing to spam the RPO play with Hurts hitting a motioning Goedert for a short gain. Facing 3rd-and-7, Hurts’ pass to Brown on a slant was knocked down by Surtain. Six-and-out with just 2:01 off the clock.
- The Broncos took over at their own 20-yard line after a 68-yard punt by Braden Mann went for a touchback. Facing 3rd-and-2, Nix’s pass short of the sticks was high and incomplete. Three-and-out.
- The Eagles took over at their own 44-yard line after a 16-yard punt return by Dotson. Hurts took a deep shot to Brown and it looked like the ball was overthrown … but the wide receiver had stopped running. Probably would’ve been a touchdown. Facing 3rd-and-15, Hurts was sacked. Three plays for -15 yards and a punt.
- The Broncos took over at their own 36-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-2, Nix hit Sutton for a short first down completion.
FOURTH QUARTER
- The Broncos began the fourth quarter at the plus 33-yard line. Dobbins broke a run into the red zone. The Broncos moved into goal-to-go. Quinyon got flagged for holding to give the Broncos 1st-and-goal at the 2-yard line. Dobbins punched it in with a run up the middle to make it a one-score game with 13:11 to play after a 10-play, 64-yard touchdown drive. EAGLES 17, BRONCOS 10.
- Badly needing to do something good after two straight punts, the Eagles’ offense took over at their own 28-yard line. A Barkley run was called back for holding on Brett Toth. Facing 3rd-and-13, Hurts was sacked. Three-and-out. The bad offense is back.
- Cam Latu made a good special teams tackle to have the Broncos take over at their own 28-yard line. The Broncos quickly moved into plus territory with Nix completions to Evan Engram with Ringo trailing and Sutton with Quinyon in tight coverage. Facing 3rd-and-5, Nix completed a pass but the Broncos were called for offensive pass interference with Baun getting illegally picked as the ball was in the air. Facing 3rd-and-15, Nix had too much time and ripped a throw up the middle to Sutton for a first down. Then Nix hit Engram for a touchdown. Not great stuff from the defense to allow a six-play, 72-yard touchdown drive. But Vic Fangio’s unit can’t be expected to do everything while the offense does nothing. The Broncos went for the two-point conversion and Nix completed his pass to give Denver the lead. EAGLES 17, BRONCOS 18.
- Will Shipley’s 37-yard kick return gave the Eagles the ball at their own 43-yard line. Good spark from special teams. Facing 3rd-and-6 after Barkley ran for no gain, Hurts to DeVonta was short of the sticks. Facing 4th-and-4, Nick Sirianni kept the offense on the field … and Hurts connected with DeVonta deep … but an illegal shift penalty on Barkley (feet not set?) wiped it out. Wow. Terrible. Sirianni brought Mann in to punt.
- The Broncos took over at their own 32-yard line with 5:00 on the clock. Jalyx Hunt pressured Nix into another intentional grounding penalty. Or not … the refs picked it up. Terrible. Nix wasn’t even throwing in the direction of the player the refs deemed was “in the area.” Facing 3rd-and-6, Nix’s pass was completed to Sutton. Really good coverage by Quinyon, just an even better catch to beat the defense. Sirianni called the Eagles’ second timeout with 2:27 on the clock ahead of the Broncos’ third down. Facing 3rd-and-2, Nix’s pass was completed short of the sticks with Andrew Mukuba making the tackle … but Baun was called for bullshit unnecessary roughness to allow a first down anyway. Stupid call. The Eagles took their final timeout at 2:16. The Broncos ran the ball to get the clock down to 2:00. Facing 3rd-and-8, Nix scrambled for a loss of a yard. The Broncos had a false start but made a 36-yard field goal anyway. EAGLES 17, BRONCOS 21.
- The Eagles took over at their own 26-yard line with 1:11 on the clock and zero timeouts to work with. Hurts was sacked. Facing 3rd-and-7, Hurts’ pass to Goedert over the middle was knocked down. Facing 4th-and-7, Hurts’ pass to Goedert was incomplete but refs threw flags for pass interference. The Eagles moved to their own 47-yard line with 0:15 on the clock. Hurts hit a crossing Dotson, who got out of bounds, to put the ball at the plus 29-yard line with 0:09 on the clock. The refs opted not to throw a flag on the Broncos for holding Goedert near the end zone. Hurts’ final pass of the game gave his receivers to make a contested jump ball catch for a touchdown but no one could make the play. Loss. Bad.
FINAL SCORE: EAGLES LOSE, 21 to 17
EAGLES LINEUP NOTES
- Kelee Ringo started as cornerback even though Adoree’ Jackson was not listed on the final injury report.
- Jackson played late in the game. Ringo benched?
EAGLES INJURY NEWS
- Parry Nickerson visited the medical tent late in the first quarter. He returned to the game.
- Landon Dickerson (ankle) got banged up late in the first quarter and slowly limped off the field. Brett Toth came in at left guard. Dickerson was ruled questionable to return. Dickerson headed to the locker room with a little more than two minutes left in the second quarter. Toth remained in the game to begin the second half. Dickerson was downgraded to out early in the third quarter.
- Grant Calcaterra (olibque) walked to the locker room with trainers very late in the first quarter. He was ruled questionable to return. And then downgraded to out early in the third quarter.
- Jalen Hurts was seen doing some stretching early in the fourth quarter.
- Byron Young got banged up late in the fourth quarter.