A tale of two Jalen Hurts and defensive doubts in our Eagles Week 2 stock watch

A last-minute defensive collapse sunk the Eagles in a 22-21 home loss to the Falcons. Atlanta needed just over a minute to take the decisive lead and Jalen Hurts dashed any hopes of a comeback with an ill-advised pass that was picked off by Jessie Bates. Here’s our Week 2 stock watch, with more bad than good …

Down: Darius Slay

After conceding red-zone trips far too easily throughout the game, the Eagles’ bend-but-don’t-break defense finally snapped. The Falcons drove down the field in just one minute, 5 seconds with Kirk Cousins throwing for 70 yards and finding Drake London for the game-winning touchdown past Darius Slay.

Up: Jalen Hurts the runner

After a quiet day on the ground in the season opener, Hurts knocked off the preseason rust and had his typical impact as a runner in prime time. Hurts reeled off some timely runs in key situations and fought for extra yards when necessary with success. He finished with 85 yards after just 33 in Week 1.

Down: Jalen Hurts the passer

The Eagles got the ball back with 34 seconds and two timeouts left, but Hurts misfired at the worst possible time, targeting DeVonta Smith on a deep pass that was picked off by Jessie Bates.The passing woes weren’t all on Hurts, though. Saquon Barkley had a costly drop on the series prior that would have sealed the game.

Down: Bryce Huff

The Eagles' inconsistent pass rush stood out to a significant degree against the Falcons. Huff, the team’s highest-priced addition in free agency, failed to make an impact for a second game in a row, getting washed out in the run game and remaining quiet as a pass rusher even when matched up against a tight end. 

Up: DeVonta Smith

With A.J. Brown sidelined with a hamstring injury, the onus was on Smith to take a bigger share of the targets — and he delivered. Smith made an impressive catch in the back of the end zone late in the first half for a seven-yard touchdown. He finished with seven catches for 76 yards and the score.

Down: Jordan Davis

The Eagles run defense as a whole struggled for much of the night, making many players culpable here, but we’ll go with Davis as the fulcrum of the line. The group got gashed consistently, conceding 6.9 yards per attempt to Bijan Robinson one week after allowing 7.8 yards per rush to the Packers’ rushing attack.