Crossing Broad
Sometimes you have to take things at face value, and the quarterback wasn’t good enough on Monday night.
Four interceptions for Jalen Hurts and a credited lost fumble as well when he somehow turned the ball over twice on one play. He completed 21 of 40 passes for 240 yards and no touchdowns while running four times for eight yards.
The offensive line wasn’t great, the receivers left some plays out there, and Jake Elliott missed a field goal, but if the Super Bowl MVP doesn’t start playing better football then the Eagles aren’t going anywhere in the postseason, assuming they make it. They’re blessed with the Raiders and Commanders (2x) on the remaining schedule, which at this point is the only thing creating a path to the NFC East title and a playoff berth.
Now, to the observations.
1) Moving the Chargers to LA never made any sense. They should go back to San Diego. That crowd was 50% Eagles fans.
2) Nick Sirianni did not shave his head. Disappointing! The more he looks like Eminem, the better the Eagles play.
3) Saquon Barkley in orbit motion on the first play? That one ended up breaking down but they almost got A.J. Brown on an improvised deep shot. It’s a pass he catches more often than not, yeah? Couldn’t get the arms extended.
The first drive also featured a short sprint to Jalen Hurts’ left and a four-wide double stack / inside zone, but Hurts took a 3rd-down sack and they ended up punting after going seven yards on six plays. We saw some different wrinkles in formation, but it was largely the same crappy routes run by the receivers and the offensive line couldn’t block anything in the run game, so lipstick on a pig.
4) Kimani Vidal for 60 yards on 3rd down is pretty gross. The Eagles’ defense has given up 78 explosive plays this season, which is tied for 13th in the NFL. Last year they gave up 80 all year long, which was 32nd.
5) It was good to seen Hurts hit Dallas Goedert a could of times on third down early in the game. One was an anticipation throw against zone, the other was a simple 1v1 win against man coverage with a single-high safety.
6) That 3rd and 9 screen pass was ugly. They barely got it off before the play clock hit zero and it looked like it was hot against LA pressure. Regardless, A.J. Brown got nothing on his block and that play probably isn’t getting you more than 4-6 yards even if it is successful.
7) Hurts has been giving himself up pretty quickly on some of these scrambles and QB runs. You don’t want him taking unnecessary contact, but he’s sitting down on his butt instead of sliding or diving and you grit your teeth because it only takes one late hit or cheap hit to send him to the blue medical tent.
8) Did you see...
