Jalen Hurts has 2-word message to keep Eagles' season from disaster
· Yahoo Sports
PHILADELPHIA − Nobody cares that the Eagles already had six starters out before the game even started, including stars in wide receiver DeVonta Smith, tight end Dallas Goedert and linebacker Zack Baun.
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Or that they found out only 90 minutes before game time that star right tackle Lane Johnson was sitting out for personal reasons. Or that Saquon Barkley, Quinyon Mitchell and Jonathan Greenard all left the game against the Rams on Oct. 4, leaving the Eagles woefully short-handed against the high-powered Rams offense.
So it was hardly a surprise that the Rams scored two touchdowns in the final four minutes to overcome a 10-point deficit and hand the Eagles a devastating 24-20 loss on Oct. 4.
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Especially when the Eagles self-destructed yet again in so many ways. And there is so much blame to go around. Sure, you can begin with Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, whose scheme seems disjointed with players missing blocks, exchanges, committing penalties and so on.
The offense went 0-for-12 on third downs, gained just 172 yards in the entire game, and they're 2-for-21 over the past two games.
"Anytime you're 0-for-12 ..." Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. "I've got a ton of confidence in Sean, and he's going to wear a lot of this. There's no doubt. I'm going to wear a lot of this. Our offense is going to wear a lot of this."
That's because the defense, stout through three quarters, was picked apart in the fourth when Rams QB Matthew Stafford led a lightning-quick 98-yard drive in 3 ½ minutes and a 75-yard drive in 1:45 to bury the Eagles.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts wasn't having any of it. When asked what his message to the team was, Hurts responded with two simple words: "Get up."
He could have added, "and fast."
That's because the Eagles have a long trip to London, England, to face the 3-1 Jacksonville Jaguars on Oct. 11. And the Eagles' 2-2 record can quickly become 2-3 if they're wallowing in their injury woes after this game.
And really, the Eagles have no one to blame but themselves. Despite all of the injuries and offensive ineptitude, they had the Rams on the ropes, facing a 4th-and-goal from the Rams 2-yard line with 7 ½ minutes left in the game.
Instead of kicking a field goal to go up by 13 points, thus forcing the Rams to score two touchdowns to win, Sirianni went for the touchdown. Had the Eagles converted, then added the extra point, they would have been up by 17 points, forcing L.A. to score three times (two touchdowns and a field goal) to tie the game.
That also showed Sirianni's desperation. He had Michael Carter at safety. He had Jonathan Jones replacing one of the NFL's top cornerbacks in Mitchell. The defense could only hold Stafford down for so long, especially when the Eagles' six second-half possessions went like this: Three punts (two on 3-and-outs), and three failed fourth-down conversion attempts.
So the problem on the failed fourth down near the Rams' goal line actually began when the Eagles botched the third-down play from the 2 on a bad exchange. The timing for the handoff from Hurts to Tank Bigsby was off, and Hurts was by himself with Rams defenders closing in on him. All he could do was dive back to the line of scrimmage.
"Third down was not good enough, not good enough at all," Hurts said. "Situationally, we were not good enough. So, us as a team, we've been really good when we've been able to be dominant in situational football, and we’ve just got to be better."
So many little things turned into big things for the Eagles.
Let's start with Barkley's injury. It happened one play after safety Drew Mukuba intercepted Stafford − the Eagles' first takeaway of the season − giving the Eagles the ball at the Rams' 28. Barkley ran for 6 yards on first down and injured his hamstring. Bigsby replaced him and gained 7 yards and a first down to the 15.
The Eagles got another first down, then faced a 3rd-and-1 from the 6. But another play imploded as Bigsby lost 5 yards. The Eagles had to kick a field goal.
"Poor execution," Hurts said, repeating those two words three more times. "I don't think there's any other way to put it."
On the Eagles' next drive, they had a first down at the Rams' 24 when Bigsby picked up 19 yards on a run to the right. The play was negated by a Johnny Mundt holding penalty. Instead of 1st-and-goal from the 5, the Eagles had a 1st-and-20 from the 34.
Again, they settled for a field goal.
Sure, Barkley and Smith would have made a difference, as would Johnson, on offense.
"Those guys always have an immediate and instant impact when they're out there on the field," Hurts said. "In the end, we've got to execute at a high level. I've got to be better. I've got to figure it out. However it looks, whatever that means, find a way to win the game."
The Eagles didn't find a way. Not when Hurts could only throw for 93 yards, mainly because he had no one to throw to. Not when the offensive efficiencies that have been apparent through the first four games, nearly one-quarter of the season, keep happening over and over again.
Is that scheme? Is that execution? Either way, it's bad.
That's why Sirianni was desperate on 4th-and-goal from the Rams' 2 midway through the fourth quarter, even though his team was up by 10 points. This was the Eagles' chance to put the Rams away. They failed miserably.
"What I told our guys is that when you've got a team down, you've got to finish it," Sirianni said. "That's everybody. Coaching, playing, everybody."
In other words, "get up," before it's too late.
Contact Martin Frank at [email protected]. Follow on X @Mfranknfl. Sign up for the "Eye On The Eagles" newsletter, emailed to your inbox every Friday morning. Read his coverage of the Eagles’ championship season in “Flying High,” a hardcover coffee-table book from Delaware Online/The News Journal. Details at Fly.ChampsBook.com
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Jalen Hurts has 2-word message to keep Eagles' season from disaster
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