Eagles notebook: How Will Shipley gets over a rough game

Eagles notebook: How Will Shipley gets over a rough game originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Will Shipley had a rough game in Washington.

The second-year running back made a couple mistakes as the Eagles’ kick returner, fumbling on the opening kickoff and later costing the team some valuable field position with indecision.

How does he get over a game like that?

“Just reset and remove yourself from the clouds, seeing everything as a fact,” Shipley. “And ultimately just not wanting to control the output. Taking the output as a fact and being able to go back and adjust my input.

“Everything is not always going to go the way you want it. But at the end of the day, you can either take it for an advantage or you can let it be a deficit.”

Those were two mistakes from Shipley in Week 16 but he has otherwise been a pretty good kick returner this season. He has returned 25 kickoffs for an average of 26.9 yards.

There are 32 players in the NFL who have returned at least 20 kickoffs this season and Shipley’s average of 26.9 ranks eighth among them. Not elite, but definitely above average. The Eagles have rotated that other kick returner spot but it would make sense for them to stick with Shipley.

“It’s one of those things where you try to tell these guys, you’re almost like a duck,” special teams coordinator Michael Clay said. “Keep the water off of your feathers right there. Let it roll off your back and next play in.”

Shipley appreciates the coaching staff for continuing to trust him even after a blunder or two.

“It definitely feels good,” he said. “I think at the end of the day, being afraid of mistakes is just not a way to play this game. They’re gonna come. I think any football player has faced mistakes at a multitude of different levels. I’m not afraid to make mistakes. I’m here to use them to my advantage.”

Seeing more attention

Zack Baun took plenty of teams by surprise during the 2024 season, his first as an insider linebacker. But that isn’t happening this year.

And that’s why his second straight Pro Bowl nod was special to him.

“I always want to get better,” Baun said. “I think last year I had a lot of opportunities because teams didn’t really know who I was or what my game would consist of. This year, I never thought that teams would be scheming against me or trying to cover me up on certain plays. But that was the case. And to still get Pro Bowl despite that was really cool.”

Despite that extra attention, Baun is having another very good season. Here’s a look at his stats from last year compared to this year:

2024: (16 games) 151 tackles, 11 TFLs, 3.5 sacks, 5 QB hits, 4 PD, 5 FF, 1 INT

2025: (15 games) 117 tackles, 6 TFLs, 3.5 sacks, 5 QB hits, 7 PD, 1 FF, 2 INT

What has it been like for Baun to have teams game plan against him more?

“You never know if it was because of you,” Baun explained. “You’re just like, ‘Dang, I’m getting blocked on every single play.’ I’m not having the splash run-throughs that I’m having last year or the crazy tackles that I did last year. I just stay consistent and understand that I’m doing my job and don’t really care about the stats. I just want the team to win and to play well.”

Still has his stinger

Because Vic Fangio has been around the NFL for so long, he has seen plenty of older players and he knows what it takes for them to play at a high level.

And Brandon Graham still has it.

“That may sound corny and not relevant,” Fangio said, “but as guys get older in their career, they lose their stinger a little bit for the real nut-cutting and contact of the game. He hasn’t.”

Graham, 37, retired after Super Bowl LIX but returned during this season when the Eagles needed a boost at edge rusher. But in recent weeks, without Jalen Carter (shoulders), Graham has been giving the Eagles quality snaps at defensive tackle. Fangio pointed out Graham’s strength, leverage and feel for blocks as the reasons he’s been having success inside.

Fangio said Graham looks very similar to how he looked in 2024. During last season, Fangio kept mentioning that he was going to try to talk Graham out of retirement.

Will he do it again?

“Yeah, we might,” Fangio said. “Maybe I’ll be his agent.”

Turning a corner?

After an incredible rushing attack in 2024, the Eagles haven’t found it as easy to run the ball in 2025. But the last few weeks they seem to be turning a corner.

“We know who we have in this locker room,” left tackle Jordan Mailata said. “The turnover from this year to last year is pretty similar. We just carry that confidence into this year and even into the last couple of weeks. We’ve just kept humming with the game plan and bought into it. It helps. That certainly helps.”

Through Week 13, the Eagles were 22nd in overall rushing with 1,302 yards and were 24th in average yards per carry at 4.0.

In the last three weeks, they’re third in rushing with 524 yards and eighth in average at 4.9.

Three weeks is obviously a small sample size but it’s a pretty good start, especially with the playoffs just around the corner. The line is blocking better and Saquon Barkley is showing more of what we’re used to seeing from him.

How did Barkley stay confident when things weren’t going well?

“Training. The work I put in, always having a positive mindset,” Barkley said. “If you have a negative mindset when stuff is going bad, nothing is going to change. The way you change is by coming to work with the right mindset and pushing yourself to get better every single day. Using all that as an opportunity to rise. That’s what we’ve been doing. Right now, we’re seeing the benefits of it. But always got room to improve and that’s something we’re going to continue to work on.”

Cross it off the list

The last time the Eagles played a game on the road against the Bills was in 2019, when DeVonta Smith was still at Alabama. So the Eagles’ receiver is looking forward to his first trip to Orchard Park, New York.

“I like going into different places,” Smith said on Friday. “Me personally, I want to be able to play in every stadium that there is just to say that I’ve done it. It’s good to have this one checked off. Wish it would have been earlier in the year but …

“I think it’s just cool to play in different environments, get kind of the feel of how it is. I heard this is a great place to play. Heard a lot about their fanbase and things like that. Just want to experience it.”

Smith has played a regular season road game against 23 different teams. The ones left are Buffalo, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Pittsburgh, Miami, Baltimore, Tennessee and San Francisco. The Eagles have played preseason games in some of those places.

Smith said his favorite road venues are Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and U.S. Bank Stadium in Minnesota. He likes Allegiant for the actual stadium but really enjoyed the atmosphere in U.S. Bank Stadium.

He’ll get to experience Highmark Stadium on Sunday.

“I think this might be the last one that I haven’t played in that I actually want to go to,” Smith said. “I think all the other ones I’ve played in pretty much.”

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