The positive momentum and the big steps forward this team took this season must feel like a very distant memory right now for the Eagles, their players, their coaches and their fans.
The Eagles season is now over following their 31-15 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, a game they never truly seemed to have a chance to win turned into an embarrassment in the second half.
But while the Buccaneer deserved to win the game, the Eagles made plenty of mistakes to kill their chances at every making a comeback. They had bad penalties at key moments. They dropped passes. They turned the ball over Derek Barnett was flagged for hitting Tom Brady late. Jalen Reagor fumbled a punt at the worst, yet also so predictable, moment possible.
The fumble by Reagor and the impact it had on the game can’t be mentioned enough. Before the fumble the Eagles looked bad. After the fumble they looked lifeless and like they had given up.
The question now is which will ownership and the front office put more stock in — the end to the season that include an unexpected run tot he playoffs or a terrible performance against the first good team they have played in months?
There will be plenty to discuss from this one, but for now, here is a closer look at the day Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni had:
Jalen Hurts: The reality of what happened Sunday can’t be ignored — the Eagles might have re-entered the quarterback market.
Hurts looked completely rattled at the beginning of the game. He completed two passes for seven yards combined on the first two drives. He seemed to have Quez Watkins wide-open for a touchdown on 3rd down on the second drive of the game, but just didn’t see him. On the third drive he sailed a pass over the head of tight end Jack Stoll.
There were a few positive moments for Hurts, but they were immediately followed by mistakes. Hurts hit Dallas Goedert on 4th-and-4 from the Tampa Bay 47-yard line with just over five minutes to play in the second quarter. On the next play Goedert dropped a pass with plenty of space to run. Hurts hit Quez Watkins on a 35-yard completion on 3rd-and-11 with just over one minute to play in the first half. The completion got the Eagles field goal range and gave there offense some much-needed life, but on the very next play Hurts threw an ugly interception to kill any chance they had at getting points to end the half.
That sequence of events was pretty much the entire game for Hurts. He would make a play that gave the offense some life, only to follow it up by a mistake that immediately set them back.
Everyone will have their own opinion on Hurts. Some will want him back next year. Some will say it shouldn’t even be a discussion. Some will demand the Eagles try to find a replacement,.
The reality is that it really only matters what Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman think. It isn’t often a team has three first-round picks. It isn’t often players like Aaron Rogers, Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson are available. Add those two together and the chances Lurie and Roseman use those picks on linebackers and safeties might be laughable.
What will happen remains to be seen, but one thing is very, very clear — Hurts did not help himself at all on Sunday. If anything, he might have done away with all of the positive steps he took this season.
Grade: F
Nick Sirianni: Nick Sirianni had to be embarrassed by what happened on Sunday.
This was Sirianni’s first real return to the national spotlight since his introductory press conference. Sure, he has played in primetime games, but the entire league hasn’t been watching him. They were on Sunday.
They witnessed a beatdown.
An advantage Sirianni has in the dissection of this game is he only calls the plays, he doesn’t have to execute them. The offense looked terrible to start the game. Hurts carries most of that blame. But while it looked to be struggling because of Hurts, but there is no question Sirianni deserves blame as well. It is his job to get the offense moving. That is harder to do with a quarterback playing as poorly as Hurts was, but Sirianni stilled failed to get them going in the first half.
Sirianni came out running the ball, like everyone wanted him too, with two runs on the first three plays, and five in the first seven. The offense totaled 15 yards on their first two possessions. The game plan of trying to run the ball was likely the right one, but the Eagles seemed to have no counter punch when the run game wasn’t working. The offense look confused, congested and hopeless. That falls on Sirianni.
Sirianni tried to get some life in his team when he decided to go for it on 4th-and-4 at the Tampa Bay 47-yard line in the second quarter. It was a risky decision, but a right one considering how all three units were playing — the defense was struggling, the offense needed life and the punting game had been terrible. The offense converted, but it didn’t turn into the points or momentum Sirianni was hoping it would.
It is easier to replace Hurts than it is Sirianni, so chances are this game won’t impact his job security in anyway like it might have Hurts.
Going into next season, however, Sirianni is going to have one big chip on his shoulder — proving he can beat a quality team.
Grade: F
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com