In Roob's Observations: Unlikely Contributions From Toth, Epps And Jackson

In Roob's Observations: Unlikely contributions from Toth, Epps and Jackson originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

In this week’s Roob’s Random Eagles Observations, we take a look at the offense’s regression, why Marcus Epps could be a starting safety in 2026 and why Andy Reid never hired his friends as assistant coaches.

The Eagles desperately need a win and you desperately need 10 Observations to get you through the day!

1. It’s interesting that through six games this year, the Eagles’ offense was in just about the same place as last year’s. Six games into 2024, the Eagles’ offense had 16 touchdowns, this year through six games they had 16 touchdowns. Last year, they were at 34.6 percent on third down, this year it was 34.7. Last year, they were 52 percent in the red zone, this year they were 87 percent. Last year, they were averaging 22.3 points through six games, this year it was 21.3. Last year, they had eight turnovers, this year just three. They were better running the ball last year but better throwing it this year. Both seasons they had a rookie play caller. Then their paths diverge. That offense under Kellen Moore took off, culminating in a Super Bowl championship. This year, it’s just fallen to pieces. That offense just kept getting better and better. This one kept getting worse and worse. That’s really important to remember. Things didn’t come easy at first for the offense last year. Moore didn’t figure things out immediately. Remember 15 points against the Saints, 16 in Tampa, 21 vs. the Falcons, 20 vs. the Browns? That was not an elite offense last year until that midseason stretch against the Giants, Bengals, Jaguars and Cowboys and then they were off to the races. They figured things out. They grew. Moore developed a deeper understanding of the Eagles’ personnel, and his play calling improved by leaps and bounds throughout the season. By the end of the year, they were unstoppable. They averaged over 36 points in the postseason, 6^th-highest ever. This year? The last five games, the Eagles are averaging only 16.2 points per game, their lowest five-game total since 2012. They haven’t figured anything out and it keeps costing them wins. Four games left and they’re running out of time.

2A. The Eagles have only had one game this year with at least 400 total yards, the second Giants game, of course. They had 25 in Nick Sirianni’s first four seasons. Last time they had one or fewer 400-yard games over a full season was 1999, when they didn’t have any in Andy Reid’s first year. 

2B. The Eagles’ five consecutive games with 21 or fewer points is their longest streak since an eight-game streak in 2005. 

3A. Adoree’ Jackson has certainly had his ups and downs this year, but he’s had his two best games of the year the last two weeks. The Bears and Chargers targeted him nine times, but he only allowed five completions for 39 yards and picked up his first interception in two years Monday night off Justin Herbert. He had a 56.2 opposing passer rating vs. the Bears – his lowest this year – and then followed that with a 30.4 rating in L.A. – his lowest since a game for the Giants against the Eagles in 2023 and 4^th-lowest of his eight-year career. His 26.9 defensive passer rating the last two weeks is 6th-lowest of 86 corners who’ve been targeted at least five times. His 4.3 yards per target allowed is 18^th-best. He really had his struggles early in the season, but he’s been very good lately.

3B. Three Eagles or former Eagles are among the top 15 corners in the league in opposing passer rating for the season. Quinyon Mitchell is eighth (62.7), Rasul Douglas is 10^th (67.6) and Josh Jobe is 13^th (69.5). 

3C. How about that Rasul Douglas? He’s really cobbled together a very nice career for himself. He’s now in his ninth season and first with the Dolphins and was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week after picking off a pass for the second week in a row. Two weeks ago, Douglas picked off Tyler Shough in the Dolphins’ 21-17 win over the Saints and this past week he intercepted Brady Cook in the Dolphins’ win over the Jets. Douglas, the Eagles’ 3^rd-round pick in 2017, is now with his seventh team (Eagles, Panthers, Raiders, Texans, Packers, Bills, Dolphins) and has 19 career interceptions, the most by any Eagles draft pick since 2013 7^th-round pick Jordan Poyer had 24. Douglas plays well wherever he is and it’s always surprising to me when teams move on from him.

3D. Douglas’s INT against the Jets came on a pass intended for John Metchie, who began the season with the Eagles.

4. Another defensive back who’s making a difference is safety Marcus Epps. He didn’t play the last 15 weeks of last year with the Raiders and only played seven snaps the first 15 snaps the first eight weeks this year. So he went out there Monday night after playing only a handful of snaps on defense in more than 15 months and played terrific football. You’ve got to give him credit for being ready mentally and physically just a few days after coming off Injured Reserve and having never played in a Vic Fangio defense before. Epps began his career as a 6^th-round pick with the Vikings in 2019, but when the Vikings cut him in mid-November, the Eagles claimed him and he stayed here for 3 ½ years, starting all 17 games at safety for the 2022 Super Bowl team. After two years with the Raiders, the Patriots signed him in March, then released him in August. The Eagles brought him back after that, but he spent the first couple months of the season on the practice squad and then IR. With Drew Mukuba out and Sydney Brown struggling against the Bears, Epps finally got a chance to make his first start for the Eagles since Super Bowl LVII in Arizona. Now, let’s look a bit to the future. Reed Blankenship is still unsigned – somewhat surprisingly – and without a new contract he’ll become a free agent this spring. He’s been fine, but the Eagles won’t be in a position to over-pay anybody this offseason. Epps will get the chance to start the rest of the year, and if it goes well, don’t be surprised if Howie Roseman re-signs him, and your starting safeties next year are Mukuba and Epps. We’re getting a little ahead of ourselves, but consider this last stretch a tryout for Epps, and it’s off to a pretty good start.

5A. On Oct. 4, 2020, George Kittle had 15 catches on 15 targets for 183 yards in the 49ers’ 25-20 loss to the Eagles in Santa Clara. The Eagles have not allowed a 100 yards to a tight end in 93 regular-season games since. Kittle’s 183 yards are the most ever by a tight end against the Eagles, eight more than Taz Anderson had in the Cards’ 45-35 win over the Eagles at Busch Stadium in 1962. The most yards a tight end has had in a regular-season game against the Eagles since Kittle more than five years ago is Jake Ferguson’s 91 in 2023. Zach Ertz did have 104 yards in the NFC Championship Game. The last tight end with 100 yards against the Eagles at the Linc in the regular season was Washington’s Jordan Reed, who had 129 in a 38-24 in 2015 in Chip Kelly’s final game as Eagles head coach.

5B. Speaking of Ertz, he’s an all-time Eagle, a Super Bowl hero and an all-time great guy and it really hurt to see him suffer that catastrophic knee injury last week in Washington’s loss to the Vikings. Even at 35, Ertz is 10^th among all NFL tight ends with 50 catches this year. Those 50 catches give him 825 career catches, 5^th-most ever by a tight end behind Tony Gonzalez (1,325), Jason Witten (1,228), Travis Kelce (1,064) and Antonio Gates (955). Only five tight ends have more 50-catch seasons than Ertz’s nine and only six have more 500-yard seasons than his nine. I don’t know how long a rehab Ertz faces or when (or even if) he’ll be able to play again, but I for one would love to see him finish his career next year with the Eagles behind Dallas Goedert or whoever else is TE1. Ertz had 579 catches as an Eagle and needs just 11 to pass Harold Carmichael and become the Eagles receiving record holder. Even in his 14^th year he’d be 100 times better as a receiving option than Grant Calcaterra and he’s even a better blocker. Just making those two historic catches in the Super Bowl – the 4^th-and-1 conversion from Nick Foles and the go-ahead touchdown – makes him an all-time Eagle and if he can get back healthy he’s still a very good receiving tight end. When the Eagles originally traded him to Arizona in 2019 Ertz spoke about coming back and finishing his career here, and I’d love to see it happen.

6. BRETT TOTH APPRECIATION POST: I never saw this one coming. Brett Toth has bounced around since 2018 from the Eagles’ roster and practice squad with brief stops with the Panthers and Cards. He’s a 29-year-old undrafted free agent who studied physics and nuclear engineering at Army, played fewer than 100 pass block snaps in his entire college career and has been released nine times by three teams. Through sheer hard work, determination and persistence has emerged as a very good backup interior lineman in his eighth NFL season. Toth played here and there in mop-up roles and meaningless year-end games his first seven seasons, but this year he became the Eagles’ top interior backup, and because of injuries to Landon Dickerson and Cam Jurgens he’s played nearly 300 snaps in parts of eight games, and there’s been no drop-off. The dude has been really good. Pro Football Focus agrees, ranking him 15^th of 124 interior linemen who’ve played at least 200 snaps this year – ahead of Dickerson, Jurgens and Tyler Steen. Dickerson and Jurgens are Pro Bowlers when they’re healthy, but neither has been healthy this year, and Toth has been huge filling in when needed. And he’s done it for the most part without getting very many reps during the week. Nobody holds their breath anymore when Toth jumps off the bench and jogs onto the field. He can play.

7A. Saquon Barkley has 2,886 rushing yards over the last two years and needs just 41 to set an Eagles record for most rushing yards over a two-year span. LeSean McCoy had 2,926 in 2013 and 2014. Also over 2,500 in a two-year span: Brian Westbrook (2,550 in 2006-07), Ricky Watters (2,684 in 1995-96) and Wilbert Montgomery (2,712 in 1978-79). 

7B. Speaking of Shady, if you haven’t seen the video of his comments about Kevin Patullo, go to YouTube and find it. It’s hilarious. Appearing on the Speakeasy podcast, Shady said he would leave the Eagles Hall of Fame if Patullo is back in 2026. “If he’s back, I’m leaving the Eagles,” he said. “I’m going to say, ‘Mr. Lurie, it’s either me or Kevin.’ If Kevin is not fired, put 25 back out there on the street. Give the kicker my number if Kevin is still there.” Funny stuff. 

8. Andy Reid once told me he never hired his friends as assistant coaches because he never wanted to have to fire his friends. That entire 1999 staff, which produced eight future NFL head coaches, was guys Big Red didn’t know but had always admired. I can’t imagine any scenario where Kevin Patullo is back as offensive coordinator in 2026, although Nick Sirianni and Patullo are such good friends I guess anything is possible. Doug Pederson would be a fun hire, but I’m not sure he wants to coach again and I’m not sure it makes sense to have a former Super Bowl-winning head coach on the staff. I feel like Brian Daboll is the most likely guy. He and Sirianni worked together with the Chiefs in 2012 – Daboll was offensive coordinator under Romeo Crennel and Sirianni was wide receivers coach – and Daboll’s last two teams with the Bills were 2^nd and 3^rd in the NFL in scoring, and there’s also the obvious relationship with Saquon Barkley. So he’s got the credentials despite how disastrous the Giants were his last three years as head coach. On the one hand you’d love to see what Jalen Hurts could do with some continuity on the coaching staff. Shane Steichen in 2022 is the only play caller he’s had for a second season since high school, and he had an MVP-caliber season. On the other hand, it has to be obvious to Sirianni, Howie Roseman and Jeff Lurie that a change is absolutely necessary. I think passing game coordinator Parks Frazier, tight ends coach Jason Michael and quarterbacks coach Scot Loeffler are all good candidates, but if the Eagles prefer keeping them in their current roles Daboll makes a lot of sense.

9A.  With four games left, edge rusher Jalyx Hunt is tied with safety Drew Mukuba for the Eagles interception lead with two. Mukuba is likely out for the rest of the year, and Hunt has a chance to become the first Eagles defensive lineman to lead the team or share the team lead in interceptions in 76 years. In the 1949 NFL Championship season, defensive end Dick Humbert from Reading led the Eagles with seven INTs in just 11 games in his final NFL season. 

9B. Eagles cornerbacks didn’t have any interceptions last year during the regular season and they have just two this year – one each by Cooper DeJean and Adoree’ Jackson. The last Eagles corner with four INTs in a season was Patrick Robinson in 2017 and the last with five was Brandon Boykin, who had six in 2013. Since 2019, Eagles corners have 21 interceptions in 113 games. Robinson and Boykin were both slot corners. The last Eagles outside corner with five INTs in a season was Asante Samuel, who had seven in 2010.

10. Jalen Hurts Stat of the Week: Jalen Hurts has played 99 career games and has never thrown multiple interceptions in back-to-back games. The last Eagles quarterback to throw two or more INTs in consecutive games was Carson Wentz, with two each against Washington, the Rams and the Bengals early in 2020. Wentz and Ron Jaworski are the only Eagles QBs to throw multiple INTs in three straight games.