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Articles by David Murphy
Sixers are playing grown man hoops. LeBron James and Tyrese Maxey were again the adults against the Knicks.
Tyreese Maxey was a man in search of a shirt. The Sixers superstar glanced toward his locker on the opposite side of the room. A throng of media members clogged his passage. He glanced back toward the training room but found little help there. After a few more moments of deliberation, a nearby teammate tossed him a sleeveless black T-Shirt. Maxey slipped it on and stepped in front of the cameras. There was only one problem: LeBron James’ shirt size is a heck of a lot bigger than his own.
As NFL trade deadline nears, the Eagles should be watching the Colts’ fire sale closely. In more ways than one.
The most interesting game left on the Eagles schedule is one of the least interesting to the NFL at large. In Week 14, the Colts will visit Lincoln Financial Field for a showdown between teams who are currently 2-5 and who have combined to lose their last eight games. Come for the backup quarterbacks. Stay for the lame-duck head coaches. Instead of flexing the game to Sunday night, maybe they’ll flex it off the schedule entirely. I’m not sure Nick Sirianni or Shane Steichen would complain.
Should the Eagles be sellers at the trade deadline? | unCovering the Birds
Skip to content Published Oct. 28, 2026 I write opinion and analysis pieces, with a heavy emphasis on the four professional sports teams. I strive to objectively report and write about the Eagles.
Vic Fangio had no answers for the Cowboys’ run game, which raises questions for an Eagles team on the brink
The worst teams aren’t the ones without any answers. The worst teams are the ones without questions worth asking. The Eagles reached that point in a 38-21 loss to the Cowboys on Monday night. The troubling thing wasn’t the lopsided final score, or the resulting 2-5 record. It wasn’t the five-game losing streak that the Eagles will carry into Week 8. Rather, it was the lack of mystery about how it occurred. The Cowboys didn’t just beat the Eagles.
David Murphy: New team, more stars, same story: Sixers still can't solve life without Joel Embiid
PHILADELPHIA - Give Joel Embiid credit for lobbying to be out there. Give his bosses even more credit for not listening. The Philadelphia 76ers need Embiid healthy for the long haul. Desperately so. That much was obvious in their first game without him, a 106-93 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. It was a scheduled breather for Embiid. But it was also a stress test, and the Sixers very much failed it, in every phase of the game.
New team, more stars, same story: Sixers still can’t solve life without Joel Embiid
Give Joel Embiid credit for lobbying to be out there. Give his bosses even more credit for not listening. The 76ers need Embiid healthy for the long haul. Desperately so. That much was obvious in their first game without him, a 106-93 loss to the Pistons on Sunday night. It was a scheduled breather for Embiid. But it was also a stress test, and the Sixers very much failed it, in every phase of the game.
The Jaylen Brown analytics argument was misplaced. He powered a Sixers comeback and showed why.
One problem with analytics, or the application of them, is that they treat things that cannot be quantified as things that do not exist. That's not a criticism of the science. More so, it's a criticism of the manner in which the science is frequently applied. Any time there is gap between a player's perceived performance and analytical measures of that performance, we tend to treat the gap itself as evidence of absence rather than what it actually is: An absence of evidence.
The Jaylen Brown analytics argument was misplaced. He powered a Sixers comeback and showed why.
One problem with analytics, or the application of them, is that they treat things that cannot be quantified as things that do not exist. That’s not a criticism of the science. More so, it’s a criticism of the manner in which the science is frequently applied. Any time there is gap between a player’s perceived performance and analytical measures of that performance, we tend to treat the gap itself as evidence of absence rather than what it actually is: An absence of evidence.
The Sixers didn't look like a team full of stars in their season-opening win. And it was a lot of fun
NEW YORK — Nights like this, sometimes the basketball feels secondary. A let down, even. The story ends up being the color. It ends up being the scene. The vibes, as the kids would say. You end up remembering the Garden crowd chanting “We don't want you” as LeBron James stands on the free throw line. You remember James jawing back-and-forth with Spike Lee dressed in an orange suit with blue pinstripes that can only be described as a traffic cone crossed with a longitudinally challenged zebra.
With Jalen Hurts likely out for the year, 2026 is a sunk cost for the Eagles. Here are their options for how to proceed.
Before we dive into the football implications of the startling news the Eagles just announced, let's be clear about one thing. We aren't attempting to diminish or gloss over the serious medical nature of all that Jalen Hurts has endured over the last couple of weeks. The opposite, in fact. The more anybody attempts to say about an athlete's injuries or medical condition or a team's treatment thereof, the bigger a disservice he does.
No QB, no running game, no chance for Eagles without Jalen Hurts and a real O-line
The man with the world's worst job squinted into a row of camera lights and said that everything is on the table. It was the only thing Nick Sirianni could say. His job is to come up with answers. Except, right now, there aren't any. Digging ditches is hard work. But it's not the sort of thing that will drive a man mad. Sometimes, things really are as bad as they look. The current moment is one of those times for the Eagles.
No QB, no running game, no chance for Eagles without Jalen Hurts and a real O-line
The man with the world’s worst job squinted into a row of camera lights and said that everything is on the table. It was the only thing Nick Sirianni could say. His job is to come up with answers. Except, right now, there aren’t any. Digging ditches is hard work. But it’s not the sort of thing that will drive a man mad. Sometimes, things really are as bad as they look. The current moment is one of those times for the Eagles.
To Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies’ problems begin an arm’s length away
Dave Dombrowski had a lot to say about the ways everybody else on the Phillies can improve. Trea Turner? “We were very clear,” the Phillies president of baseball operations said during his nearly hourlong year-end media availability on Thursday. “He knows he has to be better at shortstop. I told him that’s really mandatory … if he plays shortstop like he did in 2025, he can play shortstop. But if he plays it like he did in 2026, he can’t.” Bryson Stott? “We like Stott,” Dombrowski said.
Don’t believe the anti-hype. The Sixers are as good as they look, Super Team or not.
Maybe it’s all Vince Young’s fault. That flicker of doubt. Heck, that flame. A whisper in your head. It can’t be this easy, can it? Five months ago, the Sixers were rebuilding. Now, they’re too big not to fail. That’s just the way it goes, isn’t it? The whisper won’t stop ... Super team. Super team. Muahahahahah. Weekly Get David Murphy’s clear-eyed analysis and fresh perspective on the biggest stories in Philly sports.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA - Pay no attention to the Phillies' palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year's World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA - Pay no attention to the Phillies' palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year's World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA - Pay no attention to the Phillies' palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year's World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
General manager Preston Mattingly (left) president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski will be defined by the Phillies' prospects developing. (Yong Kim/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS) PHILADELPHIA - Pay no attention to the Phillies' palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year's World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA - Pay no attention to the Phillies' palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year's World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA - Pay no attention to the Phillies' palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year's World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA - Pay no attention to the Phillies' palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year's World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA - Pay no attention to the Phillies' palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year's World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA - Pay no attention to the Phillies' palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year's World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA - Pay no attention to the Phillies' palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year's World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA - Pay no attention to the Phillies' palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year's World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA - Pay no attention to the Phillies' palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year's World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA - Pay no attention to the Phillies' palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year's World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA - Pay no attention to the Phillies' palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year's World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA - Pay no attention to the Phillies' palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year's World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA - Pay no attention to the Phillies' palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year's World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA - Pay no attention to the Phillies' palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year's World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA - Pay no attention to the Phillies' palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year's World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA - Pay no attention to the Phillies' palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year's World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA - Pay no attention to the Phillies' palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year's World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
Pay no attention to the Phillies’ palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year’s World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. kAm%96 qC6H6CD 6?E6C v2>6 b @7 E96 }2E:@?2= {628F6 r92>A:@?D9:A $6C:6D H:E9 2 a\_ =625 @? E96 s@586CD 2?5 2 S`ca >:==:@?
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA — Pay no attention to the Phillies’ palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year’s World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
PHILADELPHIA — Pay no attention to the Phillies’ palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year’s World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
Alex Cora did the smart thing. The Phillies will be fine with Don Mattingly. But, really, who cares?
Pay no attention to the Phillies’ palace intrigue. Everyone should be laser focused on one simple fact. This year’s World Series will likely feature two teams that spent nearly $60 million less combined on their 2026 rosters than the Phillies spent on theirs. I know that sounds absurd. It is absurd. But that is the math. The Brewers enter Game 3 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and a $142 million payroll, according to FanGraphs.
David Murphy: Eagles are doing something scarier than tanking, rebuilding, or going all in. They'll be better for it.
PHILADELPHIA - You'd rather a general manager do what Howie Roseman did than refuse to do it on principle. I've been searching for something more definitive to say about one of the more discomfiting weeks in recent Eagles history. But all I have are first principles. - It is better to be a year early than to be a year late. - It is harder to get unstuck than it is to avoid getting stuck in the first place. - Never let a crisis go to waste.
Footage of Jalen Hurts’ infamous benching reveals a lot of what we’ve come to know about the Eagles QB
It’s all there, isn’t it? The hundred-yard stare. The nods of the head. The jaw set square. Jalen Hurts is standing in a cramped corner of a Mercedes-Benz Stadium locker room. He is surrounded by teammates in white jerseys, and also alone. It is halftime of the 2018 College Football Playoff title game. Alabama trails Georgia, 13-0. Coach Nick Saban has just informed his sophomore quarterback that he will not start the second half.
David Murphy: What, exactly, do the Eagles do well? A crucial question as injuries mount and London calls.
PHILADELPHIA — Every great team needs a thing. It needs a thing it can do better than anything else. What is that thing for the Eagles? Where should they turn when nothing is working? When the injuries accumulate? When the score tightens? When the offense as a whole looks lost? There are lots of things that might explain the Eagles' 24-20 loss to the Rams on Sunday. At the top of the list is this: The Rams had their thing. The Eagles did not.
David Murphy: What, exactly, do the Eagles do well? A crucial question as injuries mount and London calls.
PHILADELPHIA (TNS) — Every great team needs a thing. It needs a thing it can do better than anything else. kAm(92E :D E92E E9:?8 7@C E96 t28=6Dnk^Am kAm(96C6 D9@F=5 E96J EFC? H96? ?@E9:?8 :D H@C<:?8n (96? E96 :?;FC:6D 244F>F=2E6n (96? E96 D4@C6 E:89E6?Dn (96? E96 @776?D6 2D 2 H9@=6 =@@<D =@DEnk^Am kAm%96C6 2C6 =@ED @7 E9:?8D E92E >:89E 6IA=2:? E96 t28=6D’ ac\a_ =@DD E@ E96 #2>D @?
David Murphy: What, exactly, do the Eagles do well? A crucial question as injuries mount and London calls.
Every great team needs a thing. It needs a thing it can do better than anything else. kAm(92E :D E92E E9:?8 7@C E96 t28=6Dnk^Am kAm(96C6 D9@F=5 E96J EFC? H96? ?@E9:?8 :D H@C<:?8n (96? E96 :?;FC:6D 244F>F=2E6n (96? E96 D4@C6 E:89E6?Dn (96? E96 @776?D6 2D 2 H9@=6 =@@<D =@DEnk^Am kAm%96C6 2C6 =@ED @7 E9:?8D E92E >:89E 6IA=2:? E96 t28=6D’ ac\a_ =@DD E@ E96 #2>D @? $F?52J] pE E96 E@A @7 E96 =:DE :D E9:Dik^Am kAm%96 #2>D 925 E96:C E9:?8] %96 t28=6D 5:5 ?@E]k^Am kAmq67@C6 H6 E24<=6 E96 52F?E:?8 BF6DE:@?
unCovering the Birds: What is ailing the Eagles' offense
Skip to content Published Oct. 6, 2026 I strive to objectively report and write about the Eagles. I write opinion and analysis pieces, with a heavy emphasis on the four professional sports teams. Dylan Johnson Jonathan J.
What, exactly, do the Eagles do well? A crucial question as injuries mount and London calls
Every great team needs a thing. It needs a thing it can do better than anything else. What is that thing for the Eagles? Where should they turn when nothing is working? When the injuries accumulate? When the score tightens? When the offense as a whole looks lost? There are lots of things that might explain the Eagles’ 24-20 loss to the Rams on Sunday. At the top of the list is this: The Rams had their thing. The Eagles did not.
The same structural failures cost the Phillies again in the playoffs. The onus falls on Dave Dombrowski
ATLANTA — You can blame the manager for his handling of the pitching staff. You can blame the front office for forcing him to handle a grenade. I suppose you can blame the pitchers themselves: Jhoan Duran for giving up the decisive three-run home run in Game 1, Aaron Nola for doing the same in Game 3.
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