Looked like Jalen Hurts was the one with the broken hand.<\/p>\n
Hurts has won so many big games for this team, made so many big plays, reached two Super Bowls, won one of them. A month ago he was in the MVP race.<\/p>\n
But this was horrifying.<\/p>\n
Five turnovers, four interceptions, including one down at the goal-line in overtime.<\/p>\n
After a 22-19 overtime loss to the Chargers at SoFi Stadium, the Eagles are now 8-5 with their third consecutive loss, all of them in nightmarish fashion.<\/p>\n
This is bad.<\/p>\n
What a mess.<\/p>\n
1.<\/strong> Let\u2019s get this out of the way: He\u2019s not getting benched. I\u2019m the world\u2019s biggest Tanner McKee fan and I\u2019m convinced he\u2019s a starting-caliber quarterback and I believe he’ll get that opportunity somewhere. But you\u2019re not going to bench the Super Bowl MVP sitting here at 8-5 and almost certainly headed into the playoffs for a guy who\u2019s started one game in his life. Nick Sirianni would just never do that, and he shouldn\u2019t. But I don\u2019t need to sit here and say if Hurts doesn\u2019t get his act together this team isn\u2019t going to go anywhere close to where it wants to go. It\u2019s just hard to watch right now. Four straight games Hurts has been anywhere from mediocre to awful. He\u2019s had these stretches before and worked his way out of them. Maybe he\u2019ll work his way out of this one. But for the first time maybe ever, I really wonder.<\/p>\n 2.<\/strong> And beyond Jalen, this offense is just such a mess right now. They had drives to the Chargers\u2019 12, 17, 21, 23, 26, 30, 36 that didn\u2019t lead to touchdowns. That\u2019s insane. That can\u2019t happen. And that\u2019s everything. That\u2019s o-line. That\u2019s quarterback. That\u2019s play calling. That\u2019s receivers. That\u2019s seven drives inside the Chargers\u2019 36 that didn\u2019t result in touchdowns. How can that even happen? The Eagles moved the ball well at times \u2013 they did pile up 365 yards \u2013 but 19 points? Look at the Eagles\u2019 last five point totals: 10-16-21-15-19. That\u2019s 81 points in five games, their fewest in any five-game span since \u2013 get this \u2013 early in 2012, Andy Reid\u2019s final season. And the 21 points \u2013 their biggest scoring output since the bye week \u2013 came in a game when they blew a 21-point lead. This offense is a disaster and I\u2019m not going to rant about Kevin Patullo again and it\u2019s important to remember that this is on Nick Sirianni as much as K.P. Worst offensive stretch in 13 years.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>Explain to me how Saquon Barkley gets just five carries in the second half after a really strong first half with 13 carries for 69 yards? Your quarterback is struggling badly and your all-pro running back is grinding out productive yards against a beat-up Chargers defensive line and five carries in the second half? Barkley finished with 122 rushing yards and a 6.1 average, including that 52-yard touchdown run, but I just don\u2019t get how these coaches continually get away from Barkley, especially in games where he\u2019s moving the chains and especially when the passing game isn\u2019t functioning. Barkley has had some rough games this year. But lately he\u2019s shown some signs of life. He\u2019s actually averaging 4.7 yards per carry in the Eagles\u2019 last six games. Somebody tell Nick Sirianni and Kevin Patullo because Barkley\u2019s talents lately have been going to waste at moments when they could really, really help.<\/p>\n 4.<\/strong> It\u2019s hard not to compare Jake Elliott and his former teammate, Cameron Dicker. Elliott missed a 48-yarder wide left in perfect conditions and Dicker \u2013 who played for the Eagles for a week in 2022 when Elliott was hurt – made all five of his field goal attempts. And when you go into overtime \u2026 well, we can all do the math. Dicker is the most accurate kicker in NFL history and Elliott has now missed six field goals and a PAT this year. Elliott has won a lot of games for this team, and we\u2019ll never forget his huge 42- and 46-yard field goals in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis. But in a game like this \u2013 low-scoring, one-possession \u2013 you just can\u2019t miss a 48-yard field goal in a dome. You can\u2019t. Elliott isn\u2019t this team\u2019s biggest issue, but he is becoming an issue.<\/p>\n 5.<\/strong> Let\u2019s talk about the defense. Gave up a touchdown on the Chargers\u2019 first drive, then defended 12 consecutive drives without allowing a TD. Gave up five field goals, but here are the drive distances on those: 30, 51, 22, 43 and 34 yards. This was just lights-out stuff from the defense, keeping the team in the game when the offense was bumbling all over the place. They held the Chargers to 275 yards, 16 first downs, 106 net passing yards. They had two takeaways, seven sacks \u2013 seven! \u2013 and only allowed one play of 20 yards or more. They beat up Justin Herbert from start to finish and Herbert really showed some toughness hanging in there and making enough plays \u2013 mainly with his legs \u2013 to get the win. He was clearly compromised with that broken left hand, and the Eagles sensed blood and attacked him the way they should. On the heels of subpar performances against the Cowboys and Bears, there was a lot to like about this defensive performance. Marcus Epps showed up in his first start this year, his first game after a month on IR. Adoree Jackson had a very good game and had his first interception since 2023. Jalyx Hunt picked up 2 \u00bd sacks and Byron Young had the first 1 \u00bd of his career. Jordan Davis had another 1 \u00bd. If the defense hadn\u2019t played this well, the Chargers would have blown out the Eagles.<\/p>\n 6.<\/strong> A.J. Brown had his third straight 100-yard game, but this was not a good game for the veteran wide receiver. The interception off his hands just can\u2019t happen. Was the ball a little high? Maybe. But no question it was a catchable pass. And then there was the ball in the end zone on a 2nd-and-11 just before the two-minute warning. Would have been a great catch, and Cam Hart had decent coverage. But it\u2019s a catch we\u2019ve seen A.J. make in the past. He just didn\u2019t come up with this one. Brown is a hell of a player, and he says he wants to be the best receiver in the world, and sometimes he looks like it. But if he made either one of those plays Monday night, the Eagles win the game and they\u2019re flying home 9-4. I\u2019d still rather have A.J. than just about anybody else, but he\u2019s got to be better.<\/p>\n 7. <\/strong>We all want to see rookie 1st-round pick Jihaad Campbell on the field, but when you watch Nakobe Dean you understand why Vic Fangio is so reluctant to take him off the field. After missing the first five games of the season \u2013 and not playing defense in a sixth \u2013 Dean has been remarkably productive since returning from that 2024 knee injury. His sack Monday night that forced a Justin Herbert fumble was his fourth sack in five games, making him the first Eagles linebacker with four sacks in a five-week span since William Thomas in 1997. He also had two QB hits, a tackle for loss and seven tackles. Campbell was playing really well and I think he\u2019s got a bright future ahead of him. But Dean is just an elite playmaker, and he just has to be on the field. And Zack Baun sure as heck isn\u2019t leaving the field. Too many good linebackers is not a problem this franchise has had maybe ever.<\/p>\n 8. <\/strong>This was a spectacular performance by the secondary, and they sure worked hand-in-hand with the pass rush, but they just covered at such a high level and played so well together, forcing Justin Herbert to a career-low 46 percent accuracy, and this is a guy who\u2019s started 92 games and had a pretty darn good career. Herbert completed a fluky 60-yarder on a little pass in the flat to running back Kimani Vidal on the Chargers\u2019 first drive that set up their only touchdown, but other than that the Chargers had just 46 net passing yards. This might have been the best game of Adoree Jackson\u2019s career. Cooper DeJean put the clamps down on Ladd McConkey, who caught just one 12-yard pass. Marcus Epps was all over the place in his first defensive playing time this year. Quinyon Mitchell did his usual thing, holding Keenan Allen to 3-for-22. And Reed Blankenship was his usual consistenet self. The last time the Eagles held an opposing quarterback to below 50 percent accuracy and had seven sacks and lost? How about never.<\/p>\n 9.<\/strong> I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen with Dallas Goedert next year, but the Eagles can\u2019t lose him. We don\u2019t talk about him enough, but he is so steady and so clutch and so good both as a receiver and a blocker. He had eight catches for 78 yards Monday night, including three catches just in overtime, and he\u2019s at 48-for-481 with seven TDs this year. Goedert, who turns 31 next month, is still a top-10 tight end in the league, and it\u2019s unfortunate the Eagles don\u2019t have a viable TE2, but they\u2019ve got to find a way to keep TE1 around another year or two.<\/p>\n 10.<\/strong> I still think this is a playoff team, and I still think they win three of their last four and I still think they\u2019re going to find their way to 11-6, but honestly that\u2019s more a reflection of who the Eagles finish with than anything else. They might only face one regular starting quarterback the rest of the way in Josh Allen, and if they can\u2019t beat Kenny Pickett (or Geno Smith) and Marcus Mariota twice they don\u2019t deserve to be in the playoffs. But here\u2019s the thing. I think back to 2023 and how that team hobbled into the postseason with no confidence and no swagger and no vibe and no momentum and just got annihilated in Tampa. Unless some things change very quickly, I fear the same result this year, whoever the Eagles wind up playing in the playoffs. When you have standards as high as this team \u2013 two Super Bowls and one Super Bowl win in three years \u2013 11 wins and a 1st-round exit is just not good enough. Maybe they can figure this out in the next few weeks, but it\u2019s just hard to be super confident in this team\u2019s ability to win football games against good teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Looked like Jalen Hurts was the one with the broken hand. 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