The spiraling Philadelphia Eagles are no longer among….

Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles have lost three straight games since starting the regular season with a 10-1 record.

The spiraling Philadelphia Eagles are no longer among the NFL’s elite

Following a 10-1 start, the reigning NFC champions appeared to be headed back to the Super Bowl. However, a three-game losing streak has eliminated them from the running for the title.

A significant portion of the December NFL story is around teams battling to make it into the playoffs; yet, the conclusion of the regular season presents an excellent opportunity for the few remaining Super Bowl contenders to improve and set themselves apart from the others.

Despite having lost their previous two games, the Philadelphia Eagles, one of those contenders, had a chance to defeat the Seahawks on Monday in Seattle. All they needed to do was prevent Seattle, down by four points, from driving 92 yards in less than two minutes.

Drew Lock of the Seattle Seahawks looks to pass during the second half of Monday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lumen Field.
Even while they can find fault with almost anything, Eagles supporters probably wouldn’t have gone too crazy if Philadelphia had pulled off an incredible triumph. Ultimately, Drew Lock, the backup quarterback for Seattle, had only started two games in the previous two seasons.

In addition, the struggling Eagles defense, led for the first time on Monday by assistant and former Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia, a protégé of Bill Belichick, did appear to be much better than it had been in the team’s crushing defeats to Dallas and San Francisco.

Guess what, though? With 28 seconds remaining, Lock completed 10 plays to get Seattle those 92 yards. He found wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who had slipped past the seasoned Eagles CB James Bradberry, in one-on-one coverage, and completed a 29-yard touchdown pass in the pouring rain.

Seattle was ahead 20–17 after the TD. After leading the Eagles, who still had two timeouts, to within around 20 yards of what would have been a game-winning field goal try, Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts threw an interception. Hurts winced, removing his helmet.

Hurts said, “I didn’t do my job well enough,” during a news conference after the game. However, Hurts wasn’t the only one who performed poorly—that was just the polite thing to say.

The Seahawks (7-7) are thus still very much in the running for the postseason. Their 72-year-old coach, Pete Carroll, is still able to boast to people that in his seven years as the Seahawks’ coach, he had never lost to the Eagles. Philadelphia would have been in a foul temper anyhow.

While upsets sometimes occur during the playoffs, December is when the best players come to the fore, discovering a new gear. Last year, Philadelphia had lost two of their final three regular-season games; also, quarterback Brock Purdy’s injury cast doubt on the team’s triumph over the 49ers in the NFC title game, at least in the eyes of San Francisco supporters.

This, though, was a killer loss for the Eagles, who gave Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs a memorable battle in the last Super Bowl – and had big plans to go back. The Eagles (10-4) should still win their last three games, but nothing is sure now.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba of the Seahawks catches a touchdown pass as James Bradberry of the Eagles defends in the last minute of Monday’s game at Lumen Field.

Brian Johnson, the Eagles’ very unpopular first-year offensive coordinator, will be forgotten on sports talk shows for another dubious play call, one that had Hurts laterallying the ball to his tight end, Dallas Goedert, who gained one yard.

Although head coach Nick Sirianni attempted to solve the defense’s issues by replacing Sean Desai, his first-year defensive coordinator, with Patricia on the sidelines on Monday, it was the Eagles’ defense that crumbled when Philadelphia needed the big plays.

After the game, Sirianni said of the switch in coaching duties, “Listen, it was a tough decision to be able to do this, but again, like I said, I did what was best for our football team.” We’re always making adjustments, and that’s what I did.”

Much of the pregame chatter in Philadelphia during the week focused on how the Eagles, the grim losses to the 49ers (11-3) and Cowboys (10-4) notwithstanding, could still win the NFC East, and maybe a first-round bye, by sweeping their last four games.

Then the Cowboys were overrun Sunday in Buffalo by the gasping Bills (8-6), who were considered to be Super Bowl contenders at the start of the season. San Francisco must play Baltimore (11-3), winners of eight of nine and the AFC leaders, in a huge Christmas night game.

So Monday night was a gigantic opportunity for the Eagles. They were not hammered as Dallas was Sunday, but the long Seattle drive by the backup QB that led to a last-minute loss was excruciating and deflating. Declare it now: the 49ers stand tall over the NFC pack.

As the Eagles won 10 of their first 11 games, somehow losing only to the awful Jets, it became a popular sport in Philadelphia – for both fans and players – to point out that the team had not put together a commanding performance. The 49ers and Cowboys exposed their flaws.

One major problem was the defense. After the Eagles’ 33-13 loss to Dallas, defensive end Josh Sweat said in hushed tones to a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter, “I’m not used to our group not taking care of each other when it comes to pressure.” Following arthroscopic knee surgery on Saturday, cornerback Darius Slay had to start two rookies in the secondary for the Eagles.

DK Metcalf, a dangerous wide receiver for Seattle, had only one reception through three quarters, for a pitiful eight yards. Although Seattle’s running back Kenneth Walker III was difficult to tackle for the Eagles, the Seahawks managed just one touchdown in their first eight possessions.

Then came the ninth. Metcalf caught three passes for 58 yards, including an astonishing six-yard reception in which he appeared to snag Lock’s pass with just his left arm before it hit the turf. He also split Bradberry and Sydney Brown to drag in a critical 34-yard reception.

The Eagles season will continue. Games against the New York Giants (5-9) sandwich a game against the Arizona Cardinals (3-11), so Philadelphia still can win the NFC East with a sweep. Even if the Eagles don’t earn a first-round home playoff game, they could face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-7), the worst NFL division leader.

But a radical defensive fix looks now like a panic move. Hurts, who played Monday despite being physically ill, now has 12 interceptions in 14 games this year, compared with 19 interceptions in the first 45 games of his career.

Ten months after they made it to the Super Bowl and wanted more, the Eagles are no longer elite. San Francisco tower above them.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *