Eagles-Cardinals takeaways: The defense is broken, and the coaches let Jalen Hurts down

The Eagles suffered the worst loss of the Nick Sirianni era — and perhaps even longer — collapsing late against the Arizona Cardinals for their fourth loss in five games. The 35-31 loss takes the NFC East title out of the Eagles’ control and could be the result that finally dashed what hope remained that this team is truly a Super Bowl contender.

Here’s what we learned:

Matt Patricia can’t fix what’s broken with the Eagles defense.

It shouldn’t come as a great surprise, especially when considering the clunky transition brought on by Nick Sirianni following the Dec. 10 loss at Dallas. Still, the defense has been more of the same — or perhaps worse — since Sirianni demoted defensive coordinator Sean Desai and handed the play-calling reins over to Patricia last month.

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It felt like a panic move at the time and three games later, the aftereffects have become painfully apparent.

The Cardinals went into the weekend ranked 26th in scoring offense. They were third in average yards per rushing attempt, but 22nd in average time of possession. That was not the case on Sunday, when Arizona ran at will en route to four consecutive touchdown drives in the second half. Discounting a two-play possession to close out the first half, all seven of the Cardinals’ drives reached the Eagles’ 20-yard line.

Patricia has brought plenty of changes to the defense since taking over, but the personnel deficiencies that led to Desai’s demotion are beyond repair at this point in the season. The Eagles defensive front, despite heavy investment through the draft and free agency, was overmatched by the Cardinals in the run game and registered just one sack for a second week in a row. The middle-field defense, occupied by a makeshift group of linebackers and safeties that has been constantly changing all season, was porous as well. Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray was 9-for-9 for 62 yards and a touchdown when targeting the intermediate middle part of the field.

The personnel problems at each level of the defense fall at the feet of general manager Howie Roseman, not the two defensive coaches tasked with working around them. That’s not to say Patricia hasn’t made his share of head-scratching calls; Haason Reddick and Nolan Smith’s usage in the last three games has been confounding and the untimely man-coverage looks with an overmatched secondary have proved costly.

» READ MORE: Eagles grades: Coaching, defense fail them in a loss to the Cardinals

When Patricia took over, he emphasized “dictating” what offenses did, but the inverse was true for most of Sunday’s game. The Cardinals recognized the Eagles’ packages with five down linemen and one linebacker and matched them with formations that forced Reddick into coverage responsibilities rather than letting the pass rusher do what he does best. What’s even worse, Reddick was lined up as a 4i-technique on James Conner’s 2-yard touchdown run that gave Arizona the lead with 36 seconds left in the game.

There may not be a formula with this group. Jordan Davis, the team’s first-round pick in 2022, managed just one assisted tackle despite having his role in the defensive front diminished to mostly early-down run stuffing at this point in the season. The Eagles shifted to a five-man front for most of the second half with Davis at the center of it in an effort to stop the bleeding, but the Cardinals gashed them nonetheless.

Major overhauls to the Eagles’ defensive coaching staff, philosophy, and personnel feel necessary. In the meantime, their sole hope going into the postseason might be navigating a shootout.

Watching the game back, it’s even harder to make sense of the Eagles’ second-to-last offensive series.

Sirianni said postgame that Jalen Hurts was “in complete control” of the game, which is ironic considering how little trust the coaching staff afforded him on the pivotal drive late in the fourth quarter.

» READ MORE: Eagles falter vs. Cardinals after questionable play-calling in crunch time. Why go conservative?

“He played an unbelievable game,” Sirianni said. “The ball didn’t touch the ground very often. I don’t know what all his stats were, but I know the ball didn’t touch the ground. He was in complete control of the game.”

Hurts did play quite well, especially considering the large layoffs between the Eagles’ offensive series because of the Cardinals’ clock-chewing approach. He finished 18-for-23 for 187 yards, three touchdowns, and the Hail Mary interception on the final play of the game.

Still, the first two plays, with the Eagles offense facing first-and-20 because of a holding penalty on Jordan Mailata, were designed quarterback runs so predictable that the second one resulted in a 4-yard loss. What’s worse, the operation from the sideline was so disorganized that the Eagles had a botched substitution on first down and had to burn a timeout on third down to avoid a delay-of-game penalty. Mistakes like that often get ironed out in training camp, not in Week 17.

Confusion aside, the true fault lies in the approach from Sirianni and offensive coordinator Brian Johnson. They were playing for a field goal in a game that clearly required touchdowns. Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon knew as much when he called an onside kick, knowing that giving the Eagles a short field to score was better than putting the game in the hands of his defense.

» READ MORE: Jonathan Gannon ‘guts’ the Eagles and outcoaches the free-falling Nick Sirianni

Instead of matching that aggression, the Eagles’ offensive brain trust called a screen pass on third-and-19, which resulted in Kenneth Gainwell gaining 4 yards and the Eagles settling for a field goal. DeVonta Smith, ironically used as a blocker on the play, got rolled up in the aftermath and suffered an ankle injury.

It’s only fair to point out A.J. Brown was running a mirrored screen on the other side, but the unwillingness to take a deep shot like the one Hurts and Brown orchestrated a week before against the Giants looms large. The fact that the Cardinals marched down the field and scored on their next drive wasn’t surprising, but the Eagles lacking a similar mindset was.

Where do the Eagles go from here?

They’ve lost four of their last five games with major defensive lapses, the coaching has not solved any of the team’s big issues, and there’s just one week remaining in the regular season.

» READ MORE: Mike Sielski | Forget it: The Eagles and their defense aren’t good enough

Barring the Washington Commanders upsetting the Dallas Cowboys next weekend — a result that would hurt Washington’s chances of landing the No. 2 pick in a draft with two generational quarterback prospects — the Eagles will get the fifth seed in the NFC and play the NFC South champion on the road to start the postseason.

There are no easy tasks considering the current state of the team, but playing the Buccaneers, Saints, or Falcons is a relatively favorable draw. From there, the Eagles will need to play the type of football we haven’t seen them play this season. They haven’t been complementary, they haven’t been well-coached, and they haven’t been consistent.

Time’s running out, and the offseason changes this team needs are starting to overshadow the postseason chances that will transpire between now and then.