Despite the 11-6 finish to the 2025 season, the Philadelphia Eagles still fell far short of expectations, with both the offense and defense underperforming, though the defense clearly carried the team.
Philly's offense finished in the bottom 15 in all major offensive statistical categories, while the defense was 13th in yards allowed and fifth in points allowed. Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio spoke with the media when asked about how the defense performed in 2025, and he was honest in an answer no Eagles fan would have said themselves.
"In some ways, I thought we were very good, had some very, very good games," Fangio said via The Athletic's Zach Berman. "And there's the narrative out there that if the offense could have been better, we would have had a more successful season, but we could have played better too on defense in certain games, and we need to take that mindset moving forward."
Eagles' defense did well, not great, according to Vic Fangio
At the beginning of the 2025 campaign, the Eagles' defense struggled to rush the passer, resulting in few sacks. Thankfully, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman remedied that with a trade for Jaelan Phillips that completely changed the season for the defense, as they were one of the best in the NFL in the back half of the schedule.
The other major issue with the unit that never really got resolved was at CB2, as Kelee Ringo and Adoree' Jackson both struggled. Jakorian Bennett, Jaire Alexander, and Michael Carter II were added to the cornerback position via trade throughout the season, but none of them made an impact. Luckily, Jackson picked it up late in the season and played well down the stretch, but he was not good enough to get re-signed.
Philly lost some key pieces in the offseason, with Phillips, Reed Blankenship, and Nakobe Dean all signing elsewhere, but they added some strong new players to the franchise. Guys like Jonathan Greenard and Riq Woolen are going to directly solve those issues they had last season.
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Fangio, in some ways, was right about the 2025 defense, but his unit carried that team throughout the season, while the offense struggled to get any traction. Hopefully, history doesn't repeat itself for the 2026 season, and the Eagles can get back on track.
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