Eagles vs. Rams LIVE: Recap & analysis (2025)

The Philadelphia Eagles remain unbeaten and spoil Cooper Kupp’s season debut with a 23-14 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. Here’s what you need to know:

• The Eagles held the Rams scoreless through the final 30 minutes after giving up all 14 points in the first half.
• Philadelphia rookie Jalen Carter had three total tackles and two sacks, while linebacker Haason Reddick added two sacks of his own.
• Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts threw for 303 yards, one touchdown and an interception, adding 72 yards and another touchdown on the ground.
• Kupp caught eight passes for 118 yards in his first game of the season.

Read more here.

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He probably won’t admit it, but Nathaniel Hackett had to enjoy that one. Even as nervy as it got at the end.

After the Jets’ offensive coordinator was trashed during the preseason by new Broncos coach Sean Payton — “one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL,” Payton infamously said of Hackett’s one-year run in Denver — Hackett largely brushed off the comments, mindful that the two teams would meet five weeks into the season.

On Sunday, Hackett and the Jets sent Payton’s Broncos to 1-4.

The Jets capped the 31-21 victory with a Quincy Williams strip-sack of Russell Wilson, which cornerback Bryce Hall scooped up and returned for a game-sealing score. Despite a late interception, it was the second strong showing for Zach Wilson in as many weeks (maybe Aaron Rodgers’ pep talk worked?). Robert Saleh deserves credit for the job he’s done of late. His Jets are 2-3, and despite the rockiness that followed Rodgers’ Week 1 injury, all is not lost in New York.

“We probably could’ve blown that team out of the water,” Saleh said, asked about his team’s red zone struggles Sunday (the Jets settled for four field goals inside the Broncos’ 20). He later added that Hackett got a game ball.

The Broncos, meanwhile, remain quite terrible. Wilson is now 5-15 in two seasons in Denver, and without a 21-point, second-half rally last week in Chicago, the Broncos would be winless in 2023.

There’s not much left for Payton to say, other than the glaring fact that his team is among the league’s biggest disappointments so far.

Across the NFL, the Bengals looked right again, at least for one week. And Ja’Marr Chase looked unstoppable.

Despite still not playing their best football, the Eagles are 5-0. They dropped the Rams 23-14 in Los Angeles.

In Pittsburgh, T.J. Watt walked off the Ravens with some help from Kenny Pickett and George Pickens, spoiling Baltimore’s bid to sweep their AFC North rivals on the road this season.

In Atlanta, Bijan Robinson’s one-handed, behind-the-back catch, Desmond Ridder’s 329 passing yards and Younghoe Koo’s 37-yard field goal as time expired helped the Falcons stave off C.J. Stroud and the Texans. But don’t overlook the sizzling start for Stroud, who’s now 184 pass attempts into his career without an interception, the best start in NFL history.

In Minnesota, Travis Kelce briefly left the game, got an X-ray on his ankle, then returned and caught a touchdown in the Chiefs’ 27-20 victory against the Vikings, pushing the reigning champs to 4-1. On the flip side, another disappointing loss leaves the Vikings 1-4.

In Miami, the 4-1 Dolphins made history (again) in their 31-16 win against the Giants: Their 2,599 yards are the most by any team five games into the season in the Super Bowl era. The Dolphins are also one of two offenses in league history with more than 2,500 yards in five games, joining the 2000 “Best Show on Turf” St. Louis Rams.

Here’s what else stood out from the afternoon slate of Week 5

The Los Angeles Rams had just taken the latest lead in a seesaw battle Sunday and the Philadelphia Eagles offense returned to the field with just 32 seconds remaining before halftime.

Deep in their own territory, they could’ve executed a single play — a kneel-down or a rush — to run out the clock and ensure they escaped the quarter unscathed. Few would have faulted coach Nick Sirianni for a conservative/safe approach. But there’s nothing conservative or safe about the Eagles coach or his team. Given the choice, Sirianni will always opt for the path of aggression, and his players love it.

So, Sirianni and the Eagles viewed the task of traveling 75 yards in 32 seconds as manageable. Three plays and two Rams penalties were all Philadelphia needed to reach the shadow of L.A.’s goal line, and with two seconds left on the clock, Jalen Hurts and the Eagles line plowed into the end zone on their signature and virtually unstoppable quarterback sneak. Blasting the Rams’ formidable defensive line off the line, the Eagles scored with authority. With that drive, they imposed their will on their hosts, swung the momentum back in their direction and never relinquished it en route to a 23-14 victory.

In so doing, Philadelphia remained unbeaten, improving to 5-0. They may own a perfect record, but the Eagles certainly have their flaws.

Read more here.

It would be fair, I think, to look at these Los Angeles Rams from a couple of perspectives at the same time: that of the optimist, and that of the pessimist.

After a 23-14 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, just a week after the exhilaration of an overtime win in Indianapolis, I want to create space for both because I think both are true.

The optimist: This team is better than expected. Remember those expectations throughout the spring and summer, or lack thereof? The old, injury-riddled quarterback Matthew Stafford, the aging (and also injury-riddled) receiver Cooper Kupp, the “no-name” defense with a bunch of young dudes and star Aaron Donald as their chaperone? Fourteen rookies on the 53-man roster? Tanking? Projections of flat-out a– kicking by teams far worse than the Super Bowl-contending Eagles? Remember?

It’s not the conversation around this group now, but now there are also expectations.

Read more here.

Dan Pompei: The Eagles aren’t perfect, but they are undefeated. They have fewer imperfections than most teams and lots of time to correct them. They also have the talent to be better in the red zone – a quarterback who can make tight-window throws, receivers who can win contested balls, a running game to keep defenses off balance and an offensive line that is elite. Last season the Eagles had the third-best touchdown percentage in the red zone. The expectation is they will iron out their deficiencies.

Ted Nguyen: I think offensive coordinators can affect red zone efficiency and losing Shane Steichen hurts. The Colts, with a much less talented offense than the Eagles, have improved their red zone efficiency from 29th to 16th. Philadelphia, with largely the same group from 2022, has fallen from 3rd to 27th – that’s a huge drop. I think Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson will ultimately figure things out. This is his first season calling plays in the league and a learning curve is expected. It’s definitely a situation to monitor, but Philadelphia has a bruising offensive line, an athletic quarterback who runs with power, and two big targets (Dallas Goedert and A.J. Brown). They should be better.

Vic Tafur: As long as they continue to win games while sleepwalking on offense, I don’t think the Eagles are going to be concerned. A.J. Brown made some big plays while Jalen Hurts continues to carry fantasy teams, so the only question mark is whether their running game will be good enough when the playoffs start. It should be, considering D’Andre Swift and Kenneth Gainwell are a solid duo, the Eagles have an automatic short-yardage rugby-style play and their new offensive coordinator is still getting his feet wet.

Here are my fantasy takeaways from the Eagles-Rams game:

1. Jalen Hurts continues on his path to fantasy MVP contention, as he made scoring a season-high 27.32 points today look fairly easy. The only issue is that he cannot keep taking as many hits as he did today, so Nick Sirianni may try to find ways to reduce the volume of rushes Hurts gets.
2. The fantasy tight end ranks have been thin this year, but Dallas Goedert getting 25.7 PPR points should help shore those ranks up, especially since the Eagles have two highly favorable tight end coverage matchups coming up.
3. D’Andre Swift is still the lead back in this offense, as his 17 carries and six receptions resulted in 16.8 PPR points and placed him well ahead of Kenneth Gainwell’s 3.4 PPR points.
4. DeVonta Smith had posted 14.8+ PPR points in three of the first four games this year but he caught only one pass on five targets and was so upset at a point that Nick Sirianni had to come over to talk to him. With two underwhelming games in the past three weeks, Smith may be available as a trade for a low target and the return on investment there could be strong given that there are some potentially high-scoring games coming up for the Eagles.
5. The Rams showed that this offense can support two wide receivers, as Puka Nacua (20.1 PPR points) and Cooper Kupp (19.8) had superb games, but Tutu Atwell posted only 8.9 PPR points and had only two catches for nine yards on five targets. This isn’t to say that Atwell should be given up on, but his scoring consistency may take a notable hit in this new setup.
6. Kyren Williams is still the bell cow of this offense, but facing the Eagles' stout rush defense held him to only 7.7 PPR points. Better days lay ahead since the Rams have three favorable rush defense matchups in the next four weeks, so if he is available as a trade for a low candidate this week, it’s a good move to make.

Eagles QB Jalen Hurts is no stranger to high-scoring games, but today’s performance against the Rams qualifies as his best of the 2023 season to date, as his 303 passing yards, one passing touchdown, one interception, plus 12 rushes for 68 yards and a touchdown equal 26.92 points.

On a related note, Hurts has been taking a lot of big hits on his rushing plays. Philadelphia aims to get Hurts carries while not having him take that caliber of punishment, so don’t be surprised if the Eagles lean even more on D’Andre Swift to close this contest out.

Duke Shelley opens Q4 with a PBU on third-and-7, intended for a TD. Eagles up 20-14 after field goal.

Eagles had 23 first downs and were 10-of-12 on third down in the initial three quarters. On those third downs, seven were third-and-5 or more. Eagles converted six of those seven.

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is questionable to return to Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings with a right ankle injury, the team announced. Here’s what you need to know:

• Kelce went down after trying to plant his following a reception from quarterback Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
• He was examined on the sideline and appeared visibly frustrated before walking slowly to the locker room.
• Kelce was taken to get X-rays on his right ankle, per the broadcast.
• The eight-time Pro Bowler joined his team on the sideline at the start of the second half, trying to get back into the game but was held back by coaches.

Read more here.

• The third quarter featured a big missed opportunity for the Eagles. They should have a 10-point lead entering the fourth quarter, but an apparent miscommunication between Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown led to an interception in the end zone by Rams DB Ahkello Witherspoon.
• Give the Eagles’ defense credit for keeping the Rams’ offense in check. There have been some chunk plays picked up by the Rams. But Philadelphia denied LA on all three third-quarter third-down attempts and got the ball back for their offense.

The first half is showing that maybe the Rams offense can support three starting-caliber wide receivers in fantasy football, as at halftime Cooper Kupp, Tutu Atwell, and Puka Nacua have combined to post 37.2 PPR points between them, with Kupp scoring 15.5, Nacua 12.4, and Atwell 7.3. That largesse led to Matthew Stafford tallying 13.88 points, which places him less than three points away from setting a season-high.

The scoring production didn’t carry over to the Rams' ground game, as Kyren Williams weighed in with only 3.8 PPR points.

On the Philadelphia side, Jalen Hurts is once again making fantasy scoring look easy, as he has posted 21.08 points in the first half and is just over four points away from setting a season-high.

The Eagles wanted to get the tight end involved in the passing game again and that helped Dallas Goedert get back to fantasy relevance with 16.2 PPR points.

A.J. Brown has made multiple catches in coverage that led to a 10.7-point first-half showing.

As was the case with the Rams, the Eagles' running backs aren’t contributing much fantasy-wise, as D’Andre Swift has only 5.5 PPR points.

DeVonta Smith’s lack of production is the biggest surprise of the first half, as he has been shut out in the first half of a game for only the third time in his NFL career.

The Rams defense continues to struggle in late-clock situations, especially before halftime. The field basically totally flipped for the Eagles off a one-handed AJ Brown grab on third-and-1, plus a penalty against Rams cornerback Derion Kendrick for a horse-collar tackle when trying to bring down Brown.

The Eagles then got to run their "tush push" at the goal line after Kendrick was flagged for pass interference -- a play they couldn't run on the third-and-1 to Brown because there were less than 30 seconds left in the half -- and of course, it worked. It's 17-14 Eagles at halftime here in Los Angeles.

• The Eagles’ defensive backs certainly have their hands full. Cooper Kupp has six catches for 95 yards, and Nacua has three catches for 34 yards and a touchdown while TuTu Atwell has a touchdown catch as well. LA puts so much pressure on DBs with all of their motions and bunch and stack formations.
• Philadelphia’s offense may not yet be fully back to well-oiled-machine status, but the Eagles do boast an ever-present home-run threat as they showed on the final drive of the second quarter when they went 75 yards in four plays to score.

I don't play fantasy football, but I did try to tell you guys to play both Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua if you're able...and the first half of Rams/Eagles is why. Kupp is at 95 yards on six catches, and Nacua has 34 yards and a touchdown.

Quarterback Matthew Stafford hit the finger-pistols (and then holstered them) after throws of 39 and 22 yards (the TD) on the Rams' scoring drive in their two-minute drill, to go ahead 14-10 before halftime.

Many Eagles players have posted solid fantasy point totals so far in this game, but that list doesn’t include wide receiver DeVonta Smith, as he has seen only a single target in this game.

If he ends up going scoreless for the first half, it will be the third time in Smith’s career that this has occurred. That history doesn’t bode well, as Smith ended up with a total of 2.5 PPR points in the other two instances of scoreless first halves for him.