Eagles stats: Defense’s inability to affect the QB and stop the run is a root cause of the devastating loss

The Eagles were about as close to a win on Monday night against the Atlanta Falcons as any given person on the planet is to an atom of oxygen.

According to NFL Next Gen Stats, the Falcons had a 0.7% chance of pulling off a victory with 1 minute, 56 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Three plays later, Saquon Barkley dropped a bootleg pass in the flat on third-and-3 deep in Falcons territory, and Nick Sirianni opted to settle for a field goal. The Falcons stormed 70 yards down the field in roughly a minute to score a touchdown and rally for a 22-21 comeback win at the Linc.

Here are four stats that paint the picture of the Eagles’ devastating loss:

In the opener, the Eagles’ defensive front could blame the field conditions at Corinthians Arena for its lack of a pass rush on Jordan Love. This week, not the case. The Eagles pressured Kirk Cousins on 32.3% of his dropbacks (10 pressures on 31 dropbacks; No. 13 in the league in Week 2), according to Next Gen Stats. Milton Williams notched the lone sack of the night in the third quarter.

On paper, that pressure rate for the Eagles technically is an improvement over their performance against Love (25.7%; No. 26) in Week 1. But after watching each of those 10 Cousins dropbacks, it was evident that pressure did not always affect the quarterback. There were a few instances when Cousins wasn’t moved off of his spot despite having someone lunging at him and still managed to complete a short-to-intermediate pass. Remember, this is the quarterback who is coming off of an Achilles injury that ended his 2023 season and has appeared limited in his mobility. Missed tackles in the back seven made the lack of production up front sting even more.

Josh Sweat finished the game with three pressures on 23 pass-rush snaps (13% pressure rate). Jalen Carter had two pressures on 23 snaps (8.7%). Bryce Huff, the 26-year-old edge rusher whom Howie Roseman essentially signed to replace Haason Reddick, had none on 15 pass-rush snaps. There was no pressure to be found on the Falcons’ game-winning drive.

The Eagles’ run defense remains in a tenuous spot to start the season. After leading the league with the most yards per carry allowed against the Packers (7.8 yards), the Eagles once again struggled to limit Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier. The Falcons averaged 5.4 yards per attempt on the ground (28 carries for 152 yards), which was the eighth-highest in the league in Week 2. The Eagles’ concession of 2.43 yards before contact in the run game was the fifth-highest.

The inability to avoid explosive plays is part of the problem. The two Falcons running backs combined for six runs of 10 yards or more, making the Eagles one of just seven teams in the league this week to concede at least six carries of that distance. The Eagles have given up 11 of those runs through two weeks, which is tied for third-highest in the league. Overall, teams facing the Eagles have earned +0.15 expected points added per rushing play (No. 4 in the NFL). The statistic measures the expected points gained or lost by a team after each play.

» READ MORE: Can’t stop the run, can’t win a Super Bowl. Vic Fangio needs to fix his worst-in-NFL unit. Fast.

Spectators may walk away from Jalen Hurts’ performance with a negative impression, given the interception he threw to Jessie Bates on first-and-10 from his own 43-yard line with 27 seconds remaining as the Eagles attempted a comeback. That’s understandable. For most of the night, though, he made a number of positive contributions to the offense, particularly with his legs. Hurts posted four carries of 10-plus rushing yards (tied for No. 2 in the league this week) and finished with a total of 85 rushing yards and a Tush Push touchdown on 13 carries.

Two of those explosive gains were scrambles, and two were designed runs. The Falcons initially appeared to pressure Hurts into escaping to his right with a defender waiting for him, but Hurts eventually made them pay with his scrambling ability later in the night. On his 23-yard scramble in the second quarter on the DeVonta Smith touchdown drive, Hurts looked like he wanted to bail to the right at first, but he stepped up and took off up the middle.

Without A.J. Brown, who was ruled out before the game with a hamstring injury, the deep ball was not a part of Kellen Moore’s game plan. Hurts tried to complete just one pass of 20 air yards or more for a 3.3% deep pass attempt rate, according to Next Gen Stats. Only three quarterbacks in the league attempted fewer (i.e. none) in Week 2.

That lone try ended with Bates’ interception. Otherwise, the Eagles’ longest passing play was a 19-yarder to Smith in the third quarter. Only seven of Hurts’ passes were considered intermediate (defined as 10-19 air yards), including Smith’s 7-yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone. One of Hurts’ superpowers is his connection with Brown on deep balls, and the offense could be in trouble without him if he isn’t ready for Week 3 when the Eagles visit the New Orleans Saints and their No. 1-ranked scoring offense.

“Obviously, he’s one of the best receivers in the league,” Hurts said after the game. “Of course, he’s definitely missed, but it doesn’t change the trust that I have in everybody else to step up. I think we had, you know, guys step up in a big way. [Britain] Covey made some great plays out there. [Smith] made plays. We just didn’t meet the moment in terms of it wasn’t for us tonight.”