Nick Sirianni’s decision-making, the pass rush are among the Eagles’ biggest questions at the midway point

Now near the midway point of the regular season, the Eagles enter a pivotal stretch well positioned for the upcoming playoff push but with plenty left to prove.

What might serve as the determining factor for how the team fares down the stretch? Here are the five biggest questions facing the Eagles in the second half of the regular season and beyond:

While the Eagles pass rush has had a few dominant games this season, the group has lacked consistency that leaves a question about tougher matchups.

Through eight games, the Eagles rank 29th in total quarterback pressures and 22nd in pressure rate, according to Next Gen Stats. Josh Sweat and Jalen Carter have been the most effective — Pro Football Focus credits Sweat with 30 pressures and Carter with 28 — but the production tails off significantly after those two. Brandon Graham is third on the team with 12 pressures, and Moro Ojomo and Bryce Huff have 11 apiece.

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Huff’s lack of contribution stands out the most, considering the Eagles signed the edge rusher to a three-year deal worth $51.1 million in the offseason as the apparent replacement for Pro Bowler Haason Reddick. Instead, Nolan Smith has taken most of the snaps across from Sweat since the bye week and has 10 pressures and 2½ sacks to show for it.

The Eagles fared well against the Joe Burrow-led Cincinnati Bengals last month, which is a reason for optimism. As is their No. 10 ranking in ESPN’s pass-rush win rate metric, which tracks how often a player gets off a block within 2½ seconds of the snap.

Still, the most effective formula for containing the league’s elite quarterbacks — the ones teams are most likely to see in the postseason — is to have an effective four-man rush without needing to send extra help. The Eagles haven’t shown an ability to do that consistently enough through their first eight games to feel certain about the pass rush going into the next nine and beyond.

One of the most obvious changes stemming from last month’s bye week was the shift in offensive approach from a group that threw the ball early and often to one that leans heavily on a dominant running game.

The Eagles went into the bye week ranked 16th in early-down pass rate, according to RBSDM.com. Since their Week 6 game against the Cleveland Browns, though, no team has called fewer passing plays on early downs than them.

The formula is obvious and understandable. Saquon Barkley leads the NFL in rushes for more than 10 yards, meaning the offense doesn’t need to throw the ball to be explosive. It’s hard to argue with the shift, which also has opened the play-action game for Hurts and contributed to him going four straight games without committing a turnover while also connecting on shots downfield each Sunday.

But can that formula, albeit effective, be an absolute each week? The Eagles should be able to salt a handful of their remaining games away in their current form, but there hasn’t been much evidence of Hurts dropping back at a high volume with success when matched up against a similarly high-powered offense. The season opener against the Green Bay Packers may be the best example, but even that game featured three turnovers from Hurts. He had one of his most efficient games against the Bengals in a game that could have turned into a shootout if not for an impressive second half from the Eagles defense, but Hurts finished that game with just 22 dropbacks.

It’s reasonable to suggest Hurts is capable of dropping back 40 times and delivering an efficient performance given the levels he’s reached in his career, but it’s also fair to point out he hasn’t shown that yet this season.

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What’s also fair to point out is that the Eagles may not need the answer to our second question often, if ever, as long as Barkley continues being one of the league’s most reliable high-volume rushers.

Barkley enters Week 10 ranked top five in several statistical categories, from total rushing yards and yards per carry to more advanced metrics like rushing yards over expectation or explosive rushes per game.

The 27-year-old has become the central figure for the Eagles offense, but his usage begs the question: Can he stay on this pace without issue? Barkley has averaged 22 touches per game, putting him on track to finish the season with a career-high 376 touches. For context, he had 352 touches as a rookie in 2018 and again in the 2022 season.

A lopsided result or two could help the Eagles lower his current usage, but it’s important to acknowledge that there already were a few games when the team rested starters in the fourth quarter that contributed to his current pace not being even higher than it is.

For what it’s worth, Barkley said he’s not worried about it. Still, the Eagles will need him at or near his peak going into the season’s final stretch.

After a nightmarish start to the season that saw them among the league’s worst teams in terms of turnover differential, the Eagles have slowly crept closer to the middle of the pack since the bye week.

It’s hardly coincidental that the team’s four-game winning streak perfectly aligns with a stretch in which the offense has committed just one turnover to the defense’s four takeaways. And while Eagles coach Nick Sirianni will harp on the idea that turnovers can be a coachable thing, the only giveaway the team has committed came on a flukey fumble from Barkley that affirms the notion that luck is a primary factor in a team’s differential by the end of the year.

So will the Eagles stay lucky — or disciplined? Hurts’ four-game streak without a turnover, the longest of his career, is an encouraging sign.

Whether they’re able to keep it up could very well be a determining factor for how this season ends, especially considering the Eagles are 17-0 since the 2022 season in games where they win the turnover differential.

Sirianni’s decisions both late in games and surrounding fourth downs have backfired at various points this season, although the coach deserves credit for his aggressive approach at times.

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It’s true that his approach led to the Eagles generating just 28 points despite gaining 447 total yards last week and was a contributing factor in the team’s as wellWeek 2 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Still, the Eagles have converted on 11 of their 17 fourth-down attempts this year, giving them the seventh-highest conversion rate largely thanks to the Tush Push and Sirianni’s consistent willingness to take chances in short-yardage situations.

Aside from the swings in win probability for a singular call, it’s hard to quantify the overall impact a coach’s decision-making in these situations has on a team in the long term. It won’t be so hard to quantify if it comes up in a big moment later this year, though.

Eagles reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith will preview the Eagles’ Week 10 matchup with the Dallas Cowboys on Gameday Central, which begins at 2:55 p.m. on Sunday.