Playing in front of a sold-out Lincoln Financial Field for the first time since 2019, the Eagles had a real chance to improve their record to 2-0 with a win over the San Francisco 49ers.
Instead, they blew it.
The Eagles' offense was terrible on Sunday, shooting themselves in the foot again-and-again with bad mistakes and bad play calls in an ugly 17-11 loss.
Making matters worse, the Eagles lost two key players to what could be serious injuries, as Brandon Graham (ankle) and Brandon Brooks (chest) both left the game and did not return.
There will be plenty to get into from this one, but for now, here is a report card for Jalen Hurts, Nick Sirianni and Jonathan Gannon:
Jalen Hurts: How much blame Hurts deserve for Sunday's poor offensive showing isn't exactly clear.
On one hand, he definitely had long stretches of the game where he struggled.
Hurts had a rough start to the game as he under threw DeVonta Smith on a long pass on the first drive. Smith had his man beat but the pass — although a tough one — was under thrown. Hurts then made a poor decision on 3rd-and-3 in the first quarter, as he tried hit Smith about 10 yards down the field instead of Dallas Goedert, who was open at the first-down marker.
Hurts best sequence early on in the game came on the team's only scoring drive of the first half. First, he ran for 12 yards on 3rd-and-4 to get a fresh set of downs. Then, later in the drive on 3rd-and-4, he threw a perfect pass down the field to Quez Watkins for 26 yards. Hurts hit Watkins with another perfect pass from the three-yard line in the second quarter, which resulted in a 91-yard gain down to the 6-yard line. The Eagles, however, didn't score.
Hurts couldn't get much going in the second half either, save for a touchdown drive late that briefly gave the Eagles some life but was too little, too late. Hurts was good on the drive, however, running the ball for 50 yards and completing a nice 14-yard pass to Goedert.
But while Hurts is the quarterback, and thus deserves blame for the offense struggling, he himself wasn't that bad. He didn't miss obvious, easy throws. He didn't turn the ball over. He did make a few nice throws and keep plays alive with his legs. If Watkins doesn't get caught from behind on the 91-yard reception, or Reagor's foot stays inbounds on a long pass tat was originally ruled a touchdown, things look a lot different.
The offense's struggles seemed to be more because of poor play calling, as opposed to poor execution by Hurts.
Grade: C-
Nick Sirianni: After an outstanding showing in Week 1, Sirianni looked like a rookie head coach against the San Francisco 49ers.
Sirianni's play calling was all over the place, and in big spots, bad calls kept the 49ers in the game.
His worst sequence of play calling came in the red zone after a 91-yard completion from Hurts to Watkins in the second quarter. First, his offense had a bad penalty to push them back five yards. Then, they got bailed out by a flag on San Francisco in the end zone to get a first-and-goal at the one. After two plays lost them a total of three yards, Sirianni called what was essentially the "Philly Special" play, which resulted in Greg Ward throwing it out the back of the end zone. With Hurts at quarterback it is surprising, and very questionable, that he didn't call a sneak from the one-yard line.
In addition to some bad play calling, Sirianni was conservative on two fourth-down decisions, kicking the field goal on both instead of going for it. You can debate what the right decision was, but a week after being aggressive on fourth downs against Atlanta, Sirianni kicking both field goals was surprising.
The bottom line is that a week after moving the ball up-and-down the field, the Eagles' offense looked dead for the majority of the final three quarters. That falls on Sirianni, as the rookie head coach cost the Eagles a game they could have won.
Grade: F
Jonathan Gannon:
A week after starting poorly against Atlanta, the Eagles defense dominated at the start against a better 49ers offense.
Gannon's defense got three-straight three-and-outs to start the game, including putting the 49ers into 3rd-and-14 and a 3rd-and-11 situations. The 49ers totaled 14 yards of offense on the first three drives, and were forced to punt on their first four possessions.
The defense finally brown down on the final drive of the second quarter, letting up a 12-play, 97-yard drive that gave the 49ers a 7-3 lead.
With the Eagles' offense struggling, the defense was unable to keep the team in the game. The shut the 49ers out in the third quarter, but a 15-play, 85 yard drive gave the 49ers a 14-3 lead with 11 minutes to play in the game.
Ultimately, it is hard to be too critical of the defense, considering they got zero help from the offense and were the only reason the team was in the game most of the day.
Grade: A-
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!
