The Philadelphia Eagles' defense is probably not quite as good as you might think, and this shocking regression could benefit Denver in a huge way. It's been a shaky start to the season on both sides of the ball for the Eagles, but the team has found a way to win the first four games of the 2025 NFL Season.
At the end of the day, the yards don't matter if a team keeps stacking wins, and the Broncos have honestly learned the hard way - this team is quite literally two plays away from being 4-0, but that's the brutal reality of the NFL sometimes. Denver is heading to Philadelphia for what some might think is the toughest task of 2025 thus far, but that might not be the case.
When you dig a bit deeper, you'll find that the Eagles are far from perfect and might not be close to being a great team, especially on defense. Former Denver Broncos' head coach Vic Fangio is in his second year as the Eagles' defensive coordinator, but year two is bringing a regression so far.
Philadelphia's run defense has not been good this year
In Fangio's first year as their DC in 2024, the Eagles gave up the 10th-fewest rushing yards in the NFL and had the sixth-lowest opposing yards per carry. That unit was very good against the run, and it was a huge reason why they stacked so many wins and obviously won the Super Bowl.
However, the 2025 NFL Season has not been kind to Philly thus far. They've given up the 13th-most rushing yards thus far, but with the San Francisco 49ers having played five games, Philly has effectively given up the 12th-most yards in the NFL through four games. Furthermore, they have allowed the sixth-highest yards per carry at 4.8.
Furthermore, their defense has given up 32 rushing first downs this year, which is the fifth-highest total in the NFL. I say all of this to say that the Denver Broncos have been quite solid on the ground this year. JK Dobbins ranks fourth in the NFL in yards and has been a consistent force for the Broncos in 2025.
With the way things are trending, the Broncos should be able to run the ball quite well against an underwhelming run defense, and being able to do this in a hostile environment could give them a monumental chance at winning a huge game.