Another week, another uninspiring performance from Philadelphia.
The Eagles once again were unable to get in a groove on offense and wasted far too much time to get things going in their 33-16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. For the third straight week, the offense failed to assemble any type of momentum or consistency and they appear to have a serious problem moving the ball as key players remain banged up. It’s tough to be a complete and winning offense without the likes of Lane Johnson, A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.
But the Eagles do have a young, highly paid quarterback who hasn’t been able to overcome less-than-perfect situations, which is what’s needed from a quarterback making top-of-the-market money.
“I think overall, I just have to play better,” Jalen Hurts said afterward. “Gotta play better. We had a ton of opportunities to lead the offense and really play complementary ball, and it starts with me on that side of the ball. To get down like we did, I have to help the defense out.”
The Eagles had zero yards of offense until there were six minutes left in the second quarter. Zero. Not a single yard. It doesn’t matter how many players are out. Under no circumstance is that an acceptable level of production for a professional football team, especially one that has playoff aspirations.
Hurts just wasn’t able to get anything going in the passing game, and the Eagles were completely neutered for most of the afternoon due to shaky pass protection and Hurts’ own inaccuracies as a passer. Hurts has 27 turnovers over his last 20 starts dating back to last season, including a strip sack on Sunday.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni wouldn’t pin the blame solely on Hurts for that, arguing a lot more goes into it, and it’s not all the quarterback’s fault.
“That’s not [on] Jalen,” Sirianni said.
Still, if Hurts is not going to be making big plays like he was in 2022, the Eagles are just going to be in store for some tough games until they can get back to full strength.
Perhaps there’s a disconnect between Hurts and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, but some of these issues predate Moore’s arrival to the team. Hurts might just be one of those guys that’s reliant on the talent around him rather than being able to truly rise above and overcome adverse situations. Which is OK, but it puts a hard ceiling on what the Eagles can do right now — especially if the defense is going to have stretches where they get diced through the air.
The only facet of this offense that seems to be working with any measure of consistency is the newly signed Saquon Barkley, who has recaptured his status as being one of the most explosive, exciting running backs in the sport. Barkley had 12 touches for 116 yards, but they couldn’t get him handoffs because they were down so early in the game. This offense can’t play from behind without their top wide receivers, and they just don’t appear to have any answers on how to produce offense without those guys on the field.
At some point, Sirianni, Moore and Hurts are going to have to figure out answers to the offense’s slump. Too many high-level resources and contracts have been dumped into this side of the ball for them to slog through as many games as they do. Things will undoubtedly get better when Smith, Brown and Johnson get back into the lineup, but they can’t let these kinds of offensive performances continue to pile up and become their new norm. This has been a downward trend for far too long, and it’s making people begin to wonder exactly where Hurts ranks in the hierarchy of NFL quarterbacks.
Philadelphia still has time on its side at 2-2, but the Eagles need to figure out answers quickly, because they just haven’t been playing winning football this season. Since winning 10 of their first 11 games last season, the Eagles are 3-7 — they can’t let this spiral much further.
“We’ve experienced different adversities. We just have to continue to learn from these moments,” Hurts said. “That’s been the takeaway from every game we’ve played.”