Landon Dickerson To Miss Time After Getting Thumb Surgery

The hits just keep on coming. The Eagles have already battled injuries, illnesses, coaching changes, all while losing 3 straight games. And now, you can add Landon Dickerson missing time on top of that pile. The Eagles LG underwent thumb surgery and will miss time. Luckily, it doesn't seem like it will be much time. They will not place him on the IR. The news was first reported by Landon Dickerson.

The Eagles O-Line is one of the few things working well right now. They are top 5 in both pass block and run block win rate. And Landon Dickerson has quietly been the best of the bunch. He leads all Interior Offensive Linemen in run block win rate and is 5th in pass block win rate.

Who replaces him will depend on the health of Cam Jurgens. Jurgens missed the Seahawks game with a pec injury. If he can be back in time for the Giants game on Christmas, Sua Opera could fill in at LG. But if both Jurgens and Dickerson are out, it would be Opeta and Tyler Steen filling in. Both have actually played fairly well when their number was called this season.

It's just another blow when they are already struggling though. And it threatens to throw off the one part of their team that is still playing up to expectations. They are also without Darius Slay as he recovers from arthroscopic knee surgery, and maybe without Zach Cunningham who is nursing a knee injury.

The Eagles are 10-4. Which doesn't sound bad on paper. But they have been in a tailspin, and need to win out now if they want a chance at reclaiming the NFC East.

If the mood around Philadelphia was not already in the dumps, it certainly is now. After starting 10-1, the Eagles have lost 3 in a row. That would be bad enough, but the way they lost makes it even worse. The 49ers crushed them. After all the trash talk, the Eagles had no response and got their teeth kicked it. They followed that by being beaten up by the Cowboys. And then, to make it even worse, they got beat by Drew Lock and the Seahawks after allowing them to go almost the entire field in under 2 minutes. They go into week 16 10-4, and the 5-seed in the NFC.

If you were told they went 4-3 in their gauntlet and were 10-4 at this point of the season, you may have taken it. But it is hard to be happy with how it shook out. The Eagles are in a tailspin, and even the most positive fans will have a hard time making this situation look decent. The team is collapsing. They changed their DC, something teams doing well never do. They are near the bottom of the league in every defensive metric. The offense has hit a wall. And there are anonymous leaks coming out and finger-pointing between players. If this isn't rock bottom, it is close to it.

Last week, the Power Rankings were oddly positive about them coming off that Cowboys loss. I didn't get it, but there was lots of talk about them still being in a good spot. Then they fell onto their face again. Has the national media given up on them yet? Or will they still be oddly optimistic despite the product on the field? Let's take a look at where they fell in the Power Rankings this week.

ESPN did a thing where they talked about what every team is best at. And for the Eagles, it was 4th down rate. And right now, the tush push is pretty much the only thing that works.

ESPN Power Rankings

The only silver lining is most of the NFL is also a complete mess. The 49ers may be the only non-fraudulent team. The Chiefs had a get-right game vs the Patriots, but they are still a mess. The Cowboys just got blown out by the Bills. The Jaguars are collapsing. The Eagles are not alone in their issues. But that doesn't mean you let the Eagles off the hook or pretend everything will be okay.

NFL.com Power Rankings

Yes, this team as they are playing, will not win in the playoffs. They may still get the 2 seed. But they are not going to beat the 49ers playing like this. And just making the playoffs is not good enough. This is a team that has Super Bowl aspirations, but they do not look like a Super Bowl team. And their once-vaunted offense has become predictable.

CBS Sports Power Rankings

Hurts was brutal in that game. And it was not just this game, he didn't play well enough vs the Niners or Cowboys either. Every QB has their ups and downs. And we have seen great QBs have to work through stuff in the past. But he needs to figure it out fast. Also, this is very much a team in crisis. That isn't nonsense. You don't change your DC mid-season unless it is a crisis.

Sports Illustrated Power Rankings

Yeah, it is hard to argue with that. They lack the talent on defense to be a true elite team. It is just too easy for QBs to pick them apart. And it's not a recent thing, it was a trend that got worse rather than better. Changing the playcaller doesn't fix the lack of talent or speed.

Yahoo Sports Power Rankings

I swear these people are trolling us. All season, when the Eagles were winning, they called us crazy for praising them. Now that they lose, and lose ugly, we are called crazy for complaining about them. The O-Line and D-Line are talented. But that is clearly not enough to carry them when the rest of the defense is lacking in talent, and the Eagles offense can't score points.

The Athletic's Power Rankings

https://975thefanatic.com/listicle/the-all-time-roster-of-nfl-players-from-the-philadelphia-area/

https://975thefanatic.com/listicle/what-the-eagles-would-look-like-if-they-could-only-use-local-players/