How will the Eagles respond after their First Loss?
It was only a matter of time until the Eagles would experience their first loss. However, no one expected it to come from a team that the Eagles had never lost to in the history of both franchises: The Jets. This unexpected loss represents an accumulation of current and ongoing issues within the Eagles that have been needed to be addressed. The concept, however, has been masked by their winless record up until this past Sunday. With Jalen Hurts’ second regular-season loss as a starter since the beginning of the 2022 season, all eyes are on him and the Eagles on how they’ll rebound from this upset. It’s important how the Eagles choose to respond, because their upcoming stretch of games is a difficult one, to say the least.
Photo Credit: Noah K. Murray
head scratching injuries heading into week 7
While a defeat to the Jets stings in its own right, this loss bears heavier tolls to the overall health of this Eagles team. The Eagles were already banged up heading into this Week 6 showdown, but even more players came out injured from this sluggish turnout. By the end of the game, the Eagles’ secondary only had one starter in James Bradberry, Mario Goodrich at slot cornerback, and undrafted rookie corner Mekhi Garner filling in at safety. Darius Slay was inactive and Reed Blankenship was taken out in the third quarter with an injury to the ribs. Ironically enough, Bradley Roby, who was signed as a slot corner less than two weeks ago, left the game with a shoulder injury. The list goes on. The biggest loss of the day came from Lane Johnson’s exit with an ankle injury during the first quarter. Evidently enough, whenever Lane Johnson is not playing, the team struggles. With a 13-22 record when Johnson misses games, the Eagles are looking to bring him back onto the field as soon as possible with news that his injury isn’t severe.
“Lane’s a big part of why we’re so successful. He’s a guy that can survive out there. Whenever you have a tackle in this league that you’re very confident with blocking the edge, it expands what you can offensively and makes you feel pretty comfortable” (C Jason Kelce).
six games down, six games up next
The scariest stretch of games for the Eagles is coming up, and with how much of a toss-up this team can be week-by-week, it’s difficult to determine how each game can go. The first major assignment of the season will be the upcoming Sunday night game against the Dolphins. On paper, that star-studded offense poses a challenge for this depleted Eagles secondary. So far this season, Miami has been averaging 316.8 passing yards per game, the most of any team by a significant margin. It seems that Slay may return for Sunday’s game but the extent of the injuries to Blankenship, Roby, Ricks, Johnson, etc. remains unsure. This in mind, the Eagles offense will have to prepare for a potential shootout. Speaking of which…
Will Jalen hurts bounce back?
Following a career-worst game in interceptions thrown (3), Jalen Hurts has all eyes on him on how he and the Eagles offense will respond. Hurts understands when the blame may fall on him…
“I think I had an opportunity and I didn’t do my job on the play,” Hurts said. “I don’t think I made the correct read on it. But it happens. It’s an opportunity for us to learn from it and grow” (QB Jalen Hurts on his third and most critical interception)
In the grand scheme of things, there were many unfortunate factors that take some blame away from Hurts, such as: Dallas Goedert’s knocked-out drop which led to a Quinnen Williams interception, D’Andre Swift’s fumble, Jack Driscoll’s poor blocking, Jake Elliot’s missed chip-shot field goal, Devonta Smith drops… the list goes on. However, Jalen Hurts is now second among interception leaders, with eight turnovers in total. This problem is uncharacteristic of the MVP runner-up but it may be worthwhile for HC Nick Sirianni and especially OC Brian Johnson to take the load off their quarterback. Considering the Eagles are now 0-4 when Jalen Hurts drops back to throw 40+ times, this should be taken into consideration as a means of lessening his pass attempts. This will hopefully reintroduce the running game that the Eagles have in their arsenal while also taking some of the load off of Hurts, which can reduce his turnovers. Expect these decisions to be implemented for a potential bounce-back game for the MVP-caliber quarterback and Eagles offense.
