👋 Good morning! Was that the fastest game in NFL history? Well…

I always would defer to Boop on stuff like this, but let’s add another football writer in here to back him up.

OK then! In Friday’s newsletter, I wrote the following: “A low snap-count game from the Eagles defense sure would be nice.” Well, we got that and them some!

The Eagles defense was on the field for just 42 plays, which is not only eight fewer plays than any other game this season (and 14 fewer plays than the third-lowest game). The only game in the entire Nick Sirianni era with fewer defensive snaps was last season against Pittsburgh (41 plays), when Mike Tomlin punted from midfield down 14 and the Eagles ran the final 10:29 off with a 21-play drive.

On the post-game show, EJ said that everyone got out of the locker room quickly. For a team that has played a ton of ball and is clearly dealing with the wear and tear from all of that ball, this was exactly what the doctor ordered. Now, let’s see you do it again next week in that dump in Landover, Maryland. — Rich Hofmann

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Look, the Las Vegas Raiders are clearly terrible. That is one of the saddest teams we have seen walk into The Linc in a while. I had a friend text me that it felt like a preseason game down there, and they might as well have been a preseason-caliber opponent.

As mentioned above, that Eagles game absolutely flew by. When it was over, pretty much every other 1:00 p.m. kick had a full quarter of football left. It was wild. I turned over to Buffalo-New England, which was a good game. The Bills came back from a huge early deficit to get the win.

The Patriots still seem like they have a decent future ahead of them, with the quarterback and coach in place. I know, it stinks. And then I looked at their schedule and frankly could not believe it how soft it has been. Good team, bright future, but they have not even played in the same ballpark of opponents that the Eagles have faced.

My point is that, as uneven as this season has been, the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles are the last team that needs to be apologizing for putting it on a bad team at home. They have not played many of ‘em!

EJ’s piece will be on the site later today. Let’s run though some numbers that stood out from the game…

59.1 percent: That was Eagles’ success rate, which is the metric that the 2025 team is faring worse in than any Eagles team since The Dreaded Mike McMahon Year. On a play-by-play basis, this was the Eagles offense’s most consistent game of the season. It felt that way watching it, but statistically that was the case too.

Here were the Eagles’ drives on Sunday:

Pretty efficient! The Raiders defense is not good, but it’s closer to average than their offense. Kevin Patullo’s crew still played the hits with the three-and-out and turtle, but every other drive got inside the five-yard line.

58 percent: That is how often the Eagles were under-center yesterday. That is the most in any single game since Frank Reich’s 2016 offense, and by far the highest number of the Nick Sirianni era.

9: That is the amount of touchdowns Dallas Goedert has scored this season, which is not only a career high, but more than his last three seasons combined (h/t Jeff Neiburg). And it should be ten, that one drop in the end zone was pretty egregious.

There has been a lot of deserved hand-wringing about Kevin Patullo’s offense so far this season. But credit where it’s due, the Eagles are the best red zone team in the league and Patullo is channeling his inner Big Red with all of these shovel passes and push passes down by the goal line. Goedert has been the big beneficiary, as Fran broke down here.

12-15 for 175 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions… plus 7 carries for 39 yards. Thank you, Jalen. Professional performance.

We saw a couple of nice designed runs from Jalen on third down, and as you can see, the efficiency was there. But after this toss to A.J. Brown, his final play of the game, Jalen seemed to show some real emotion. That is big. As Bo said earlier in the week, QB1 needed to get his swagger back.

75: That is how many yards the Eagles defense held Las Vegas to… which is, uh, not a lot. Pretty mind-blowing tweet from BLG.

I had no idea that the “Chicago Cardinals” existed. The 1955 team played at Comiskey Park and featured players such as Pat Summerall and Night Train Lane. Anyway, the Cards had 49 total yards in December 1955 against Concrete Charlie and co. at Connie Mack Stadium.

And if you look back at yesterday, the Raiders had the typical early “success” we see against Vic Fangio’s defense. I put success in quotes because it was a 41-yard drive that ended on downs. After that, just 34 yards the rest of the game. Do you think Uncle Vic was doing online Christmas shopping up in the booth midway through the third quarter? It would have been funny if they panned up there and he was filing his nails.

0: That was the Eagles’ first shutout since 2018, which they pulled off in the finale at Washington when everything went right for them during that magical Week 17.

At the end of the season, when we look back at some of the Eagles’ overall metrics, we do need to remember what this game did on both sides of the ball. Little bit of juking the stats going on, Roland Pryzbylewski style.

2: That is the number of sacks from an up-and-comer named Brandon Graham. BG got the game ball from Nick Sirianni in the post-game locker room. Oldest Eagle ever with a sack. (*T.O. voice*) That’s my coworker!

Without Jalen Carter, it seems like BG has taken on the challenge of playing more snaps at defensive tackle. This has to be his most important sack ever rushing from the inside.

Last week, both on his show with Bo and Anthony’s show, I could not believe how positive BG was feeling. He had just hopped off a long flight from Los Angeles and slept maybe a few hours after a brutal loss, and he was like, “Oh well, we’ll be alright!” Perhaps the wisdom of someone who has been at it for 16 years, but a good life lesson too. Stay positive, folks!

1: That is now the Eagles’ magic number to end The Dreaded NFC East Back-To-Back Champions Streak. Say it with me, everyone!

Daaaaaaaa….. Cowboys lose!

I cannot believe I am saying this, but I can’t wait for Hard Knocks this week.

A weekend split: I mean, the Flyers technically lost both games to a really good Carolina team. But the Orange and Black, who have now lost three in a row against good teams, got a point in both of those losses. I do not want to get all into moral victories, but that does not seem like the end of the world.

Trevor Zegras did shockingly get stopped in the shootout a few times, but he had a four-point weekend. 32 points in 31 games for Zegras (after 32 points in 57 games last year), which led Charlie to ask, “Even if Zegras still feels like found money, when do we start looking at this guy as a core piece?” After all, he is just 24 years old.

Great pass from Travis Konecny to find Zegras for the tying goal yesterday.

Quinn Hughes, off the board: Oh, and remember that Quinn Hughes guy we talked about last week? Well, he is off the board but the good news is that The Fightin’ Josh Harrises did not acquire him. Instead, Hughes was dealt to Minnesota for Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren and a first-round pick. Buium is a pretty legit defenseman prospect.

I understand that the Flyers did not want to give up either of those players. That is fine, they are your two top prospect-age players. But if you will recall, this Flyers front office went against consensus when they drafted Jett Luchanko ahead of Buium a few years ago. If things do not turn around, I will certainly hold that against you! When you go into this rebuilding strategy, you have to hit on first-round picks. And this front office has made a few questionable ones.

Another weekend split: Just like the Flyers, I think the Sixers can be reasonably encouraged with how they played this weekend. But just like the Flyers, it was close to being better. There is no loser’s point in hoops, but just like the Flyers, the Sixers took half of the available games with a 1-1 record. Nice win against Indy on Friday, close loss in Atlanta in Sunday.

Tyrese Maxey missed both games with some sort of illness. That does not sound fun, but as you guys know, I support Tyrese getting off his feet in any sort of way possible. So, for him to have 11 days off even if he has to load up on soup and saltines and whatever else might not be the worst thing in the world.

Primarily, I think the Sixers can be encouraged with the play of three players in particular:

I almost think these Edgecombe performances are more encouraging than the blistering start. That is because the book is more out on him now, and he has actually dealt with some NBA adversity. Good stuff from Valdez.

On Sunday, the Sixers lost in large part because the Hawks shot 17-33 from beyond the arc. Some of the makes were pretty tough, and it’s one of those games where I think you kinda just tip your cap. But despite dealing with the hot shooting, they did battle back to have a chance to take the lead down one point late. And they came up empty. I thought two people messed up on that final play…

The Sixers probably should have had another chance down one, too. I do not know how the play below is legal. Some people are taking the contrarian view that Nickeil Alexander-Walker did not establish himself in the frontcourt, but by the spirit of the rule, this sure seems like it should have been a backcourt violation. Some goofy officiating at the end of these Sixers-Hawks games.

(Also, shoutout to the sickos in the Discord who were aghast at/loving the 2-3 zone with Embiid, Andre Drummond and Old Man Kyle Lowry on the back line. Some twisted stuff right there.)

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Crazy day in the NFL outside of Philly. The Chiefs got eliminated from the playoffs and Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL. Seems like Micah Parsons tore his ACL, too. And Old Man Rivers came so close to winning in Seattle!

Nothing today locally except some good ol’ sports talk. Flyers on the road, Sixers have another four-day break on this side of the NBA Cup losers bracket. But hey, it’s a Victory Monday and also the holiday season. There have been much worse Mondays.

Your tentative Monday schedule at PHLY:

Let's make it a good one.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
PHLY SPORTS