The Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts era has reached the first crisis moment.
The Eagles were embarrassed on Monday night in Dallas against the Cowboys, losing 41-21 in a game that wasn’t even as close as that score seems.
The offense was terrible. The defense couldn’t get off the field. The quarterback was the worst he has ever been.
The question is, now what? How will the team respond? Can they recover from this — or will the upcoming schedule doom the season before it even really got started.
There will be plenty to take away from this one, but for now, here is a report card for Jalen Hurts, Nick Sirianni and Jonathan Gannon:
Jalen Hurts: Monday night was Jalen Hurts’ chance to make a statement in front of a national audience against a division rival.
He failed that test — in a big, big way.
Hurts was terrible against the Cowboys, playing arguably the worst he has in an Eagles uniform since he took over for Carson Wentz in 2020. He looked rattled in the pocket, made poor decisions with the ball and made a critical mistakes at the start of the both half to make things go from bad-to-worse for the Eagles.
Hurts’ interception on the first drive of the game was a terrible under throw, something that definitely stood out after he missed a few deep throws last week. Hurts had Reagor (in tight coverage) down the left sideline, but didn’t put enough under it and it was easily picked off by Anthony Brown. There was a safety over top, so it couldn’t just be thrown way ahead of Reagor, but it was still an under thrown ball. The interception killed what was a promising opening drive for the Eagles and gave the momentum right back to the Cowboys.
His interception at the start of the second half was aided by DeVonta Smith falling down, but the pass still looked like a bad one, and was easily picked off by Trevon Diggs for a pick-six that gave the Cowboys a 27-7 lead.
The one positive from the night was that Hurts fought through the rough start and kept going. He lead them on a 8-play, 90-yard touchdown drive midway through the third quarter, making an excellent play on a 41-yard completion to Quez Watkins.
Hurts was so bad that even thought it probably wouldn't have been the right move, benching him would have been understandable considering how poorly he was playing.
The reality is that this kind of game was coming at one point from Hurts. He hasn’t been perfect in his first six starts, but he hasn’t been this bad either — and all young quarterbacks eventually have this moment.
The question is how will he respond to adversity? We will start to get that answer much earlier than anyone expected.
Grade: F
Nick Sirianni: For the third week in a row, Nick Sirianni’s offense wasn’t able to get much of anything going to start the game.
Eagles offense totaled just 55 yards on their first three possession, gaining just one first down on nine plays. What was surprising was the lack of running plays, as Hurts had eight pass attempts to zero rushing attempts by any of the running backs. But while they moved the ball vs. Atlanta and San Francisco early on, the offense looked completely helpless against Dallas to start — and for the majority of the game.
The only saving grace for Sirianni is that it seemed like Hurts was the issue, as he made multiple terrible throws and missed receivers that were open when plays were there to be made.
Grade: C-
Jonathon Gannon: The Eagles defense carried the team to a certain extent for the first two weeks of the season. They were unable to do so on Monday night.
The Eagles defense was beat up-and-down the field against the Cowboys, giving up 20 first-half points that could have been worse if not for a few big plays.
Eagles defense saved the day at the start of the game, forcing a fumble in the end zone on the Cowboys’ second drive and recovering it for a touchdown. The play featured the two linemen the Eagles needed to dominate the most — Javon Hargrave helping to create the pressure and Fletcher Cox recovering the fumble in the air for the touchdown to tie the game up, 7-7.
The defense stepped up again on the Cowboys’ third drive of the game, stopping the Cowboys short on 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard line. A great play by Darius Slay on 3rd down kept Ezekiel Elliott from getting into the end zone, and a great push combined with a hit by Alex Singleton stopped Dak Prescott on fourth down from getting in on a quarterback sneak.
Still, even with the big plays, the Cowboys moved the ball up-and-down the field on the Eagles defense, totaling 182 yards on their first four drives.
When the Eagles got some life late in the game, the defense gave up a 12-play, 61-yard drive that ended in a touchdown on fourth-and-goal from the two-yard line.
The only defense of Gannon’s unit is that the offense was so bad that they made life hard on the defense.
Grade: C-
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!
