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

Instant grades on the Eagles’ performance in their 35-31 loss to the Arizona Cardinals:

Jalen Hurts had a great first half. He completed 9 of 11 passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns for a 142.8 passer rating. But he made some questionable decisions with the ball in the second half, particularly during the Eagles’ late fourth-quarter possession in the red zone. His last pass — a Hail Mary — was fittingly intercepted to end the game. Hurts’ first two touchdown passes went to veteran receiver Julio Jones. He had perfect touch on the first score, and did well to step up in the pocket and find Jones on the second just before the half. With his first pass to Jones, Hurts set the franchise mark for total touchdowns in a season with 36 (21 passing and 15 rushing). He added to that total with two more touchdown passes.

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D’Andre Swift eclipsed 1,000 yards rushing in a season for the first time in his four-year NFL career. He ran hard in the second half and finished with 61 yards on 13 carries. Kenneth Gainwell got to flash his southpaw with a 17-yard pass to DeVonta Smith on a halfback option built off a Tush Push fake. Rashaad Penny was active for the first time since Week 9, but he didn’t get a touch.

Receiver A.J. Brown led the Eagles with four catches for 53 yards. He got open on his other target, but Hurts missed him downfield. Smith finished with three catches for 30 yards. He couldn’t pull in a tough over-the-shoulder catch on third down in the third quarter. Dallas Goedert had a toe-dragging, go-ahead fourth-quarter touchdown catch. The tight end caught 5 of 5 passes for 47 yards. His first catch was an important one — a 23-yard run-pass option play on third down on the Eagles’ second drive. Jones had his first two-touchdown game since 2020. They were the only catches for the future Hall of Famer, but they were obviously pivotal. Reserve receivers Olamide Zaccheaus and Quez Watkins weren’t targeted the entire game. Tight ends Jack Stoll and Grant Calcaterra were relegated to blocking and running receiver-less routes.

The O-line continued to be the least of the Eagles’ problems. Hurts’ pass protection was sound. He often had a clean pocket to work from and was not sacked. The run blocking, when the Eagles committed to the rush, was mostly on point. But considering the Cards entered near the bottom of the league in nearly every run defensive metric, there probably needed to be more done on the ground. Left tackle Jordan Mailata was penalized for holding in the fourth quarter.

The Eagles’ run defense was horrendous and it started with the D-line. The unit got pushed around by a decent but not great Cards O-line. Jordan Davis left briefly in the third with a left leg injury, but he returned. It’s hard to say the nose tackle did well as a run defender considering the Cards’ success on the ground. Haason Reddick and Josh Sweat went yet another game without recording sacks. Sweat has now gone six straight without taking a quarterback down in the backfield. He got close in the third, but Cards quarterback Kyler Murray slipped him and threw a pass that running back James Conner caught in the end zone one-handed. Defensive tackle Jalen Carter notched a second-quarter sack — his sixth during his rookie season. Fletcher Cox had a quiet day. Defensive tackle Milton Williams recorded a tackle for loss on Murray with the Cards inside the Eagles’ 5-yard line on their opening drive. Brandon Graham seemed to be the only defensive lineman to get penetration vs. the Cards’ run game. Nolan Smith missed Murray once off an edge run. Moro Ojomo got the nod to dress ahead of Marlon Tuipulotu. He had a run stop in the second quarter.

Shaquille Leonard appeared to miss his assignment on Trey McBride’s 26-yard catch on the Cards’ first play from scrimmage. Cornerback Avonte Maddox might have also been out of position. Leonard snuffed out the next designed screen to the tight end. He couldn’t bring Michael Carter down in the open field on Arizona’s first touchdown in the third. Nicholas Morrow was back in the lineup after missing last week’s game with an abdomen injury. He played in most of the defensive packages, including big dime. Morrow led the Eagles in tackles with 14, but a lot of them came at the second level with the Cards’ O-line often winning at the point of attack. Nolan Smith played some more off-ball linebacker in 5-1 “Penny” front. He didn’t appear to struggle as much in the position as he did last week. Graham and Reddick both dropped into coverage several times. The latter was successfully targeted in the pass game a few times. Ben VanSumeren got some time with Leonard in and out.

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With the Cards content to run the ball and play the short passing game, the Eagles’ outside cornerbacks didn’t get much work. Kelee Ringo started again for the injured Darius Slay. The rookie appeared to commit what was an unnecessary pass-interference penalty in the fourth and gifted the Cards 29 yards. Earlier, he was flagged for illegal contact. James Bradberry started on the other side and moved inside in the small dime. He kept McBride in check for the most part in dime. Eli Ricks took Bradberry’s place in that package. He got his ankles broken on a Carter 16-yard scamper in the third quarter. Maddox returned after a long layoff due to a pectoral muscle injury, which forced Bradley Roby to the bench. He had a big early hit. But Maddox got turned around by receiver Greg Dortch for a 12-yard catch in the third quarter and got beaten by receiver Rondale Moore in the fourth.

Sydney Brown had the defensive play of the game — a 99-yard interception that was returned for a touchdown in the first quarter. It was the fourth-longest pick-six in team history. Reed Blankenship was briefly in the medical tent in the second quarter. He had a third-down stop on a short pass in the second. Kevin Byard came up and made a stop on a short pass on the Cards’ first drive. He notched a fair number of tackles vs. the run that, unfortunately for the Eagles, occurred in the secondary. But the safeties otherwise did nothing of note in a brutal loss.

Braden Mann has arguably been general manager Howie Roseman’s best in-season move. The punter entered the game fourth in the NFL in net yardage with a 44.0 average. He matched that number with two punts on Sunday. Jake Elliott connected on all of his kicks, including a 43-yarder with 2½ minutes left to give the Eagles a 31-28 lead. Britain Covey didn’t field a single punt with the defense unable to stop the Cardinals offense.

Nick Sirianni had no timeouts left on the Eagles’ final possession — emblematic of the many bad decisions the head coach made against an opponent that entered with a 3-12 record. It may end up being the worst loss of his three-year tenure. Matt Patricia couldn’t seem to do anything to slow the Cards offense. The de facto defensive coordinator who took over for Sean Desai three games ago might have benefited from playing subpar offenses the previous two weeks — and no one is saying the Cards offense is the 1985 49ers — but Patricia mostly had zero answers vs. Murray & Co. Brian Johnson had a solid first half calling plays for the offense. He dialed up the timely third down RPO to Goedert and Gainwell’s option pass off the fake Tush Push.