Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense left frustrated in Seattle after sputtering in another loss
The Eagles offense failed to put the game away. A lot of the blame falls on Hurts, who was ailing and unable to come through when it mattered most.
SEATTLE — The Eagles are sputtering — maybe, just maybe — out of control. Following their disastrous collapse on Monday night against the Seahawks, the Eagles have lost three consecutive games for only the second time in the Nick Sirianni era.
The common denominator throughout the current skid has been the team’s sputtering offense, a unit that has failed to score 20 points in each of its losses. A lot of the blame falls on quarterback Jalen Hurts, whose status entering the Week 15 matchup was uncertain due to an illness. Hurts’ symptoms, which included body aches, chills, and a fever, apparently were so bad that the Eagles made arrangements for him to fly separately from the team on his own charter jet.
Nonetheless, Hurts rallied. He made the 2,800-mile trip west and was under center with the lights shining bright on Lumen Field. Only the 25-year-old Hurts knows exactly how his illness affected his performance, but he looked the part of an ailing signal caller.
Hurts passed for a season-low 143 yards with a season-worst 40.1 passer rating in the 20-17 defeat. He also tossed two interceptions, including his careless heave to A.J. Brown that was picked off by safety Julian Love to halt the Eagles’ comeback effort and cement their fate in the game’s waning seconds.
That turnover increased Hurts’ season total to 17, a career high that continues to grow on a weekly basis. This is a legitimate concern after Hurts committed just eight turnovers last season.
“I’ve talked about execution all year, being on the same page. And we didn’t execute,” Hurts said.
“I don’t think we’re all committed enough. We’ve just got to turn it around. It’s a challenge that we have to embrace and continue to see it through.”
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Facing a Seattle defense that was down two starters in safety Jamal Adams and stud rookie cornerback Devon Witherspoon, the Eagles struggled to move the ball with any consistency. That has been a common theme for the Brian Johnson-led group. The Eagles opened Monday with their best sequence in recent memory — a 15-play drive, in which they converted four third downs and covered 75 yards, and finished it off with a Hurts rushing touchdown.
The Eagles had three scoring drives against the Seahawks that reached double digits in plays. But they also had seven other drives that resulted in five punts and two turnovers. Only one of those seven drives exceeded four plays.
“We’ve got to execute,” left tackle Jordan Mailata said. “I say it every week. We put on the film, there’s one person off, and it ruins the whole thing. We’re not executing at a high rate. We’re not being attentive to detail.”
It should be noted that the defense was unable to stop Seahawks quarterback Drew Lock in crunch time as Lock produced a game-winning, 92-yard drive that was highlighted by rookie Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s touchdown reception over cornerback James Bradberry.
However, the offense had way too many opportunities to put this game away, and it failed to do so.
That blame should be shared evenly between Hurts, Johnson, and Sirianni, who is tasked with overseeing all things related to offensive game planning. It’s unfathomable to imagine the Eagles reaching this point, especially considering that the offense retained nine of 11 starters from a 2022 group that powered its way to the Super Bowl, while also adding talented running back D’Andre Swift.
“Some uncharacteristic things situationally, fundamentally,” Sirianni said. “Any time you have uncharacteristic things situationally and fundamentally, that’s got to go to me first. We’ve all got to be critical on ourselves, starting with myself.”
The offense’s frustration boiled over from the field into the locker room, where wide receiver DeVonta Smith was at a loss for words.
“I don’t even know what to tell you, honestly,” said Smith, who hauled in all five of his targets for 50 receiving yards.
“I don’t even know. The frustrations are everywhere. It’s everything.”
Brown, a fellow wideout and team captain, subtly summarized the unit’s vexation without pointedly directing any fingers.
“I feel like these last couple games, they’ve all been winnable,” he said. “Especially this game. It’s frustrating.”
Brown continued: “I’m disappointed, but I’m not discouraged. I personally know who I am, what type of football player, how special I am. I’ve just got to focus on my job and being ready to play, trying to get our guys in the room ready to play.
“Everything else, it’s all out of our control. We run routes. We catch the ball. We try to make plays. Other than that, we can’t control none of that stuff. As much as we don’t like it, there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Brown hauled in five of 10 targets for 56 receiving yards. On at least two of Hurts’ misfires toward Brown, Hurts appeared to overlook a pair of open receivers.
With the Eagles facing third-and-8 and 1 minute, 41 seconds left in the third quarter, Hurts tossed a pass intended for Brown that ended up sailing out of bounds. On the play, Smith ran an underneath crosser and could have hauled in an easy conversion had Hurts looked his way.
Then, on the Eagles’ final offensive play in which Hurts was picked off by Love, Hurts neglected to look toward his safety valve in running back Kenneth Gainwell, who was open in the flat with plenty of field ahead of him. With 13 seconds left and two timeouts remaining, the Eagles needed just a field goal to tie the game and force overtime.
But when the ball left Hurts’ fingertips, an aching feeling of regret collectively struck the visitors’ sideline.
“It’s a matter of being on the same page,” Hurts said. “It takes everyone being in on all aspects. And it starts with me. I had multiple opportunities there in the end. There’s just not another way you’d have it. The trust that we have in one another, how much we communicate as players, and taking advantage of those moments we have to break the game open, whether it’s in the final minutes or early on.
“We have to be better. I have to be better. Minimizing the mistakes, penalties, mental errors. It starts with me leading. We’ve lost games because I can be better. That’ll change everything, and I accept that.”