Eagles-Seahawks takeaways: Jalen Hurts calls for more commitment to halt a concerning losing streak

SEATTLE — After finding ways to win games so often this year, the Eagles found a devastating way to lose at Lumen Field on Monday night.

The 20-17 loss at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks dropped the Eagles to 10-4. They still control their own destiny in the NFC East, but lost valuable ground in the race for the No. 1 seed. If they can’t correct course in the final three games of the season, it may not even matter against the elite teams that await them in the playoffs.

Here’s what we learned:

Jalen Hurts had plenty of reasons to be weary after the loss.

He played through flulike symptoms that left his status in question in the lead-up to the game, and the gutting loss in cold, wet conditions exacted a heavy toll.

In a congested, low voice, Hurts didn’t mince words after the game while laying out a challenge for him and the rest of his teammates.

“We didn’t execute,” Hurts said. “I don’t think we were committed enough. Just got to turn it around. You know, it’s a challenge that we have to embrace. Just continue to see it through.”

“We have to make an internal change in how we attack things,” Hurts added later. “How we come to work every day. It starts with the little things, how committed we are to what we’re doing, and that all starts with me as the quarterback. It’s a challenge that I’m embracing, I have embraced.”

» READ MORE: Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense left frustrated in Seattle after sputtering in another loss

If the Eagles are going to reverse course in time for the postseason, change will certainly be necessary for the offense. Hurts’ call for a better approach from him and his teammates may be part of what’s needed, but there’s plenty ailing the group. The Eagles haven’t managed to surpass the 20-point mark in each of the last three games and haven’t turned in a consistent performance in even longer.

The predictability of the offense has become apparent. So apparent, in fact, that San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey was able to call out an Eagles quarterback draw in the second quarter during the ManningCast, ESPN’s alternate Monday Night Football broadcast. He did so because of the alignment of Jack Stoll, who was lined up notably far behind the line of scrimmage to allow him to get across the formation. It’s the type of tendency that all teams inevitably have, but that the good ones compensate for with a higher attention to detail and wrinkles off those predictable looks.

While it may be easy to assign culpability for these lapses to offensive coordinator Brian Johnson, it’s important to remember that he’s calling Nick Sirianni’s offense and that play design starts with the head coach.

I’ve written before that the Eagles’ offense needs to evolve, and evolve it hasn’t. Defenses have caught up with the foundational pieces of Sirianni’s scheme, now it’s time for the coaching staff to build off that foundation.

More so than in the past few weeks, Hurts shares the blame for the lack of rhythm in the passing game as well.

It’s fair to point out how infrequently the offense gives Hurts easy completions, but those completions were there at times on Monday night. Hurts, who didn’t complete a single explosive passing play in the game, started hunting deep shots as the game wore on and it cost the Eagles late.

It’s what led to both of his interceptions. The first one came when he targeted Quez Watkins matched up against Seahawks safety Julian Love, only for Watkins to get knocked off his route while Love came up with the pick in the end zone. The second was an even more dubious decision, with Hurts chucking a deep pass to a tightly covered A.J. Brown near the sideline with the Eagles only needing a field goal to force overtime in the final seconds of the game. Operating out of a deep alignment on the play, Love made a leaping interception to ice the game for the Seahawks.

The advanced numbers back up Hurts’ unsuccessful, aggressive approach. He averaged 10.3 intended air yards per throw on Monday night, which was the fourth-highest of any quarterback in Week 15, according to Next Gen Stats.

Perhaps the offense’s over-reliance on Hurts to make plays out of structure have borne out some bad habits, or perhaps Hurts is putting too much on himself independent of the scheme. Either way, the quarterback needs a reset going into the final stretch of the season.

» READ MORE: Did Nick Sirianni rearrange the wrong set of deck chairs after Eagles offense fluttered in loss to Seahawks?

With several new faces playing major roles on the Eagles defense and Matt Patricia replacing Sean Desai as the play caller, the same woes that plagued the group and got Desai demoted persisted against Seattle.

The Eagles made marginal improvements in the stat column — Seattle went 6-for-14 on third down and managed 297 total yards, but the dip in competition from some of the league’s best offensive units to a Seahawks team led by backup quarterback Drew Lock should be taken into account.

It’s fair to say the defense played well enough to win the game while also pointing out that, with the game on the line and the offense struggling, the group couldn’t deliver. The call on the decisive third-and-10 that saw Jaxon Smith-Njigba get by James Bradberry was a stark reminder of the personnel limitations the defense faces regardless of who is running the show.

» READ MORE: Eagles’ James Bradberry fails Seahawks’ testing of him on final drive: ‘He just ran past me’

Patricia got aggressive, crashing safety Sydney Brown from a deep alignment into the middle of the field and leaving Bradberry on an island in man coverage. Even with veteran cornerback Darius Slay healthy for most of the season, man coverage has been a problem for the Eagles’ back end all season and Bradberry’s struggles were even more pronounced with the sink-or-swim approach.

The pass rush managed just two sacks against a shaky Seattle offensive line as well, despite an increased emphasis on getting pressure on the quarterback from Patricia, according to several players.

Switching from Desai to Patricia may change the way the defense looks, but Monday further dispelled the notion that the results would differ much, especially against the elite teams.

As concerning as the last three games have been, the Eagles are still in a good spot in the playoff-seeding race thanks to the Dallas Cowboys’ blowout loss to the Buffalo Bills.

The Eagles have the easiest schedule remaining in the NFL, according to tankathon.com, with two games against the Giants and one against the Arizona Cardinals sandwiched between them. Three wins would likely win them the division even if Dallas also wins out because of strength of victory. They’ll need San Francisco to falter down the stretch to bring the No. 1 seed and the first-round bye that comes with it back into the picture, though. San Francisco has a game advantage on them and the tiebreaker with games against the Baltimore Ravens, Washington Commanders, and Los Angeles Rams left.

Regardless of seeding, there will be a major lingering question for the Eagles going into their first playoff game: Can this team truly contend?

We’ll have to wait to find out.