Snatched away: 4 turnovers lead to the Eagles’ first loss of the season

Jalen Hurts has been here before — four Eagles turnovers, one gut-wrenching loss to an inferior team.

Last year, the Eagles saw their eight-game winning streak to start the season come to a halt against the Washington Commanders. The Eagles turned the ball over four times, including one Hurts interception and three fumbles lost by three receivers. On Sunday, Hurts experienced a bit of déjà vu, as he tossed three interceptions and running back D’Andre Swift lost a fumble in their 20-14 loss to the New York Jets that soiled their spotless record after five wins.

“You turn the ball over four times, you shouldn’t expect to win,” Hurts said.

This loss, however, was even worse than the one against Washington, which was Hurts’ previous in the regular season. Unlike the Washington game, in which the Commanders forked the ball over to the Eagles twice on turnovers of their own, the Jets protected the ball and didn’t give the Eagles a chance to capitalize on a mistake.

The last Eagles turnover was their most significant, occurring when they were trying to protect their 14-12 lead on the first play after the two-minute warning. On third-and-9 from their 46-yard line, Hurts was picked by safety Tony Adams on an underthrown pass intended for tight end Dallas Goedert. Adams returned the ball to the Eagles’ 8-yard line, setting up a running back Breece Hall’s go-ahead touchdown run on the next play. Wide receiver Randall Cobb caught the two-point conversion from Zach Wilson and the Jets took their first and final lead of the game to go up, 20-14.

After the game, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said that the final interception was the only one of the three that fell squarely on Hurts’ shoulders. In that particular scenario, Sirianni did not think that running the ball was the right decision, aiming to pick up a first down to ice the game instead of settling for a punt on fourth down and relying on the defense to come up with a stop.

“The worst thing that could have happened, happened,” Sirianni said.

Hurts echoed a similar sentiment and took accountability for the pick, which capped off the second instance in his NFL career in which he threw three interceptions (Nov. 28, 2021 against the New York Giants, a 13-7 loss).

“I think I had an opportunity and I didn’t do my job on the play,” Hurts said. “I don’t think I made the correct read on it. But it happens. It’s an opportunity for us to learn from it and grow.”

Hurts was intercepted twice earlier in the game. The first one came in the second quarter on another pass intended for Goedert. The ball appeared to bounce out of Goedert’s hands as edge rusher Jermaine Johnson wrapped him up and into the arms of defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. Sirianni chalked that interception up to an odd bounce and that Williams was in the right place at the right time.

The second interception happened early in the fourth quarter on a first-and-10 pass intended for wide receiver DeVonta Smith. Johnson beat backup right tackle Jack Driscoll off the edge and swatted Hurts’ arm as he made the throw. The ball took a high, wobbling trajectory, and fell into the hands of cornerback Bryce Hall.

“We’ve got to do a better job at protecting the QB and giving him as much time to get through his reads and go from there,” left tackle Jordan Mailata said.

» READ MORE: Eagles’ loss to the Jets exacts a heavy toll to an already banged-up team

Driscoll entered the game in the first quarter in relief of an injured Lane Johnson, who is believed to have suffered a high ankle sprain, a source told The Inquirer. The Jets attempted to take advantage of the Eagles’ weakness on the right side of the offensive line, consisting of Driscoll and spot starter Sua Opeta, who is starting in replacement of Cam Jurgens (on injured reserve with a foot injury).

But the Jets didn’t register a single point on either of their first two interceptions. On the Swift fumble in the second quarter, the Eagles defense managed to limit the Jets to a field goal. In total, the Eagles conceded 11 points off their four turnovers.

Still, the Eagles left plenty of points on the table, squandering scoring opportunities by losing possession on four occasions. While those turnovers fall on the players, Sirianni said that the coaches will also have to self-evaluate and figure out how to minimize those mistakes.

“We’re going to go back and we’re going to look at why the turnovers happened and do our best to eliminate them,” Sirianni said. “And we’ve got to do a good job as coaches, making sure we’re putting them in situations where these turnovers are happening, as far as how we drill it and different things like that. We put a lot of time and effort into that and we’re going to have to look at how we can fix it on our end fundamentally to help the guys.”

Just as Hurts did against the Commanders last season, he’s prepared to use this latest loss as learning experience heading into their next challenge against the Miami Dolphins.

“It’s about how we respond,” Hurts said. “A lot of guys are hungry, eager to fix the mistakes that we’ve had today and made today. Everybody will harshly hold themselves accountable, as they should. That’s top down. But you continue to move forward.”