The good news? Sunday was another impressive showing from Jalen Hurts -- and it sure felt like an emotional victory for the Eagles.
The bad news? Emotional victories won't help the Eagles make the playoffs.
The Eagles are now 4-9-1 following their 33-26 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, and now need the Washington Football Team to lose next week to remain alive in the race to the NFC East title.
There is a lot to talk about from this one, including the strong play of Hurts, but for now here are some initial thoughts from the loss:
Jalen Hurts
*** Outside of just better quarterback play, one benefit of the Eagles moving to Jalen Hurts has been the chance to evaluate him. On Sunday he showed the Eagles three big things. First, he can move the ball through the air. Two, he doesn’t need to run to be successful. Three, he doesn’t get rattled. He still needs to show he can do those things consistently, but seeing Hurts do all three had to be extremely encouraging for the Eagles.
*** Hurts had a chance to play hero with the Eagles down seven and just 1:28 to play in the game. He moved the Eagles down to the Cardinals' 31-yard line with a number of nice throws, and one very clutch fumble recovery, but came up short.
*** Hurts took a safety on the Eagles’ opening drive of the game, throwing it away while still inside the pocket and still in the end zone. Hurts might have been tackled anyway, with two defenders in his face, but still (obviously) not a great decision by the rookie quarterback to hand the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.
** For as bad as his start looked, Hurts’ stat line to start was actually not that bad — 7/10 for 107 yards, one touchdown and a passer rating of 138.3. It was impressive the way Hurts did not look rattled by the team’s terrible start.
*** Doug Pederson put a lot of trust in the rookie quarterback midway through the second quarter, going for it on 4th-and-3 on the four-yard line midway through the second quarter. Hurts delivered, rolling to his left and firing a perfect pass to Greg Ward for the touchdown, pulling the Eagles to within 19-14. Impressive play by Hurts, and very telling how much trust Pederson put in Hurts by having him throw it.
*** Hurts made an extremely impressive play on 3rd-and-1 with just over five minutes to play in the third quarter, dodging one oncoming defender and getting the ball to Dallas Goedert for a big first down. Hurts’ ability to be so calm on big downs has been very impressive.
*** It is clear Hurts has done of potential as a passer. Hurts moved the ball up-and-down the field against the Cardinals threw the air, hitting the open receivers in stride and giving his receivers chances to make plays on 50/50 balls.
Receivers
*** Rookie receiver Quez Watkins made a huge play on his first catch of the game, taking a short catch on 3rd-and-20 and taking it 32-yards for the touchdown at the start of the second quarter. Watkins made a great spin move after the catch and then shot up the sideline, using his breakaway speed to get in the end zone. The touchdown pulled the Eagles to within 16-7.
*** Greg Ward isn’t viewed by many as a long-term answer at receiver — but he should be. Ward is extremely consistent and had a big game on Sunday, pulling in two touchdowns in the first half. His second touchdown was a great grab along the sideline, getting both feet in by about an inch to complete the catch.
*** Alshon Jeffery’s final stat line might not look impressive, but he had a great game, and got a big pass interference call on Patrick Peterson in the third quarter that gave the Eagles the ball on the one-yard line. They scored one play later to tie the game, 26-26. He then made another big catch on 3rd-and-12 late in the fourth quarter, getting open and pulling in a 39-yard catch to get the Eagles into Cardinals territory.
Offensive Line
*** The offensive line had a good game -- until they had their worst sequence at a huge moment in the game. Hurts was sacked on back-to-back plays with just over two minutes to play in the fourth quarter, pushing the offense back from the Cardinals' 14 yard line to the 22, and in a 3rd-and-22 situation.
Defensive Line
*** Derek Barnett had a late, borderline-dirty hit on receiver DeAndre Hopkins in the first quarter, drilling the receiver in the shoulder after he was out of bounds. The result was a 15-yard penalty that got what turned into a Cardinals-touchdown drive going.
*** Javon Hargrave jumped offsides on 3rd-and-5 through through the second quarter, giving the Cardinals a fresh set of downs.
Secondary:
*** The stat line for DeAndre Hopkins is certainly impressive — 169 yards on nine catches and a touchdown. But the Eagles, with a secondary filled with UDFAs, made him work for those yards and it required a few crazy catches to get those yards. Obviously they didn’t do a good enough job, but the big day was more a result of Hopkins making a number of impressive catches as opposed to poor coverage.
*** Eagles started with Michael Jacquet and Kevon Seymour at cornerback, with Jalen Mills and Marcus Epps at safety. The early result was lots of confusion prior to the snap on the opening drive, which was to be expected with not only so many changes, but with veteran leader Rodney McLeod on the sideline.
*** The Eagles’ seemed to have the Cardinals off the field on the opening drive, but a brutal personal foul by Seymour kept the drive alive. Really bad play by Seymour, who went high with his elbow into the helmet of Cardinals tight end Dan Arnold.
*** Eagles cornerback Michael Jacquet made a huge play on the opening drive of the game, forcing a fumble after a Deandre Hopkins completion on the Eagles’ nine-yard line. He then had part in the Eagles second turnover of the game, bringing down Kyler Murray in the backfield midway through the second quarter, helping to knock the ball loose for a fumble that the Nickel Robey-Coleman recovered.
*** Robey-Coleman gave up a touchdown to Larry Fitzgerald at the end of the first half from 15-yards out. Robey-Coleman didn’t get turned around in time to make a play on the ball, and Fitzgerald made a great catch in the corner of the end zone to give the Cardinals a 26-14 lead.
*** Jalen Mills missed a key tackle on the Cardinals’ third drive, turning what should have been a short gain into a 42-yard catch by Maxx Williams. One play later, the Cardinals scored from eight-yards out to take a 9-0 lead. He did make a big play later in the game when in the third quarter he knocked away a 3rd-and-12 pass from Murray to force a punt.
*** Safety Marcus Epps made a huge play midway through the third quarter, picking off Murray in the end zone to kill a Cardinals’ drive that seem destined to end in a touchdown. Murray threw the ball right to Epps, but credit to Epps for making the play and keeping it at 26-20 Cardinals.
Special Teams
*** Things went from bad-to-worse quickly for the Eagles when a punt on their third possession was blocked, giving the Cardinals the ball just six-yards from the end zone. They scored two plays later to take a 16-0 lead before the end of the first quarter.
*** The Eagles’ punt team allowed the Cardinals to convert a fake punt at the start of the fourth quarter, giving up a 33-yard pass on 4th-and-2.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!
