It doesn’t get much worse than a prime-time loss headlined by a five-turnover performance from your starting quarterback. Especially when Hard Knocks is there to film it.
The HBO documentary series released its second episode on the NFC East on Tuesday, bringing a behind-the-scenes look at each team’s preparation for Week 14 of the NFL season.
The latest episode looked into the Eagles’ wide receiver room, Zach Ertz’s unfortunate injury, and what players were saying on the sideline during Monday night’s deflating loss.
Here’s what you may have missed from Episode 2 of Hard Knocks …
Brown feels the love
If you have listened to sports radio throughout the season, you have likely heard about A.J. Brown.
Described by some as a diva receiver, the seventh year All-Pro wideout received a large amount of screen time from Hard Knocks this week, starting with some of his charity work at a local Acme.
“Shopping’s on you today?” one Philadelphia resident asked.
“It’s on me,” Brown responded. “Go get you another steak.”
“Just spreading holiday cheer and just paying for customers’ groceries,” Brown said in a later interview. “Trying to make someone’s day.”
Brown appeared to make one shopper’s day in more ways than one.
After he met a pair of customers and told them their groceries were on his foundation, one of the women thanked the Eagles wide receiver and finished by telling Brown, “You’re fine.”
In case Brown didn’t hear her, she leaned in and whispered in his ear, “I said, ‘You’re fine.’” Brown thanked her before the two shared a laugh.
“She kind of surprised me,” Brown said during an interview. “I read her lips perfectly fine the first time, but it just didn’t register in my brain. And then she leaned in and whispered it again, and I was just in shock. But that was a cool moment.”
A.J. Brown paid for fans' groceries to spread some holiday cheer ❤️ @Eagles
After checking in on DeVonta Smith’s Pilates workout, and reliving some of Nick Sirianni’s college highlights (more on that in a bit), the episode moved to the wide receiver room for a conversation between Smith and Brown about a fear you wouldn’t expect to hear out of an Eagle.
“If you get on a plane,” Smith said, “you [are] not afraid of heights.”
“It ain’t like we got a choice,” Brown responded. “What are you going to do, drive?”
Smith shared an interesting strategy for surviving a plane crash, which we wouldn’t recommend trying.
.@devontasmith has a plan if he ever needs to get off a plane 😂
The Washington Commanders’ portion of the show focused on Zach Ertz, the former Eagles tight end and Super Bowl LII champion.
Former Eagles tight end Zach Ertz scoring a touchdown against Washington in 2017.
The 35-year-old is second all-time in receptions for the Birds, and was candid with the documentary crew about not knowing how long he has left in the game.
“I try and exhaust myself in this career as much as I can,” Ertz said. “I don’t know how much longer I’m going to play in my whole career, it’s just been focused on the task at hand and how I can be better as a player.”
In meetings, coaches even poked fun at Ertz’s increasing age — comparing the tight end, who recently rose to top five all-time in career receptions for his position, to a clip of then 89-year-old Bryan Sperry scoring a touchdown in a 2015 Kansas football alumni scrimmage.
It was a hard watch, especially for those who knew what was coming next.
During the team’s 31-0 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, Ertz suffered a season-ending ACL injury — with Hard Knocks providing an up-close view of the ordeal, letting fans witness Ertz’s raw emotions leaving the field.
“I think it like hyperextended in the back,” Ertz said. “I don’t think I can get up by myself.”
The former Eagles star may have played his last down of football after leaving the field in tears.
A game to forget
The second episode ends with the Eagles’ overtime loss to the Chargers, the team’s third straight defeat in what some worry will be another end-of-season collapse.
In the week leading up to the game, Sirianni focused on motivation as the team looks to get back on track. But his own college highlights brought excitement to the team, especially Brown.
“You want to know his personality? Just watch these highlights,” Brown said as the episode showed Sirianni catching touchdown passes — and celebrating — at Mount Union College. “And that’s how he coaches and how he wants to be on the sideline, but he may have to calm down — like he is the coach.”
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts threw four interceptions against the Chargers on Monday night.
As for the actual game, one many Birds fans likely don’t wish to relive, Hard Knocks makes sure to cover every excruciating detail — starting with Hurts’ two turnovers on one play in the second quarter.
“Damn, man,” Smith said. “We can’t get all the way down there and do that.”
Later, in the fourth, following Saquon Barkley’s 52-yard touchdown on a fake Tush Push, the show shifts focus to a potential go-ahead touchdown Brown dropped in the back of the end zone, leading to overtime.
“I’m more than capable of making those plays,” Brown said after the game. “Jalen trusts me in any situation. I made some plays, but I wasn’t great when it mattered.”
Before the Eagles took the field on offense in OT — trailing by three and needing a field goal to tie it or a touchdown to end the game — Barkley had this to say to Brown and Smith.
“One of us three, all right?” Barkley said. “It’s that simple.”
After Smith’s huge third-and-16 conversion to get the Eagles across midfield, the hype built even further.
“We are about to score,” Brandon Graham said from the sidelines. “You hear me?”
Of course, the game ended on Hurts’ fourth interception of the night on a pass to Jahan Dotson, and the Eagles fell to 8-5.
The blame game on offense this season has been a constant back and forth. One week it’s the coordinator. The next, it’s the head coach and his scheme. But after Monday’s game in LA, the pendulum took a major swing, and it was impossible to ignore the direction: right at the quarterback. Jalen Hurts isn’t the only problem, but five turnovers is unacceptable. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane and David Murphy look at the implications of a historically bad performance by Hurts, and examine how the Super Bowl MVP has sunk to this level 10 months after reaching the pinnacle of his career.
unCovering the Birds is a production of The Philadelphia Inquirer and KYW Newsradio Original Podcasts. Look for new episodes throughout the season, including day-after-game reactions.
The positivity bunny couldn’t save the Eagles offense on Monday night if it tried.
Jalen Hurts threw a career-high four interceptions in the Eagles’ 22-19 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, extending their losing streak to three games. Just as it has for most of the season, the passing game continued to flounder, as Hurts completed just 21 of 40 passes (52.5%) for 240 yards.
The game was somewhat reminiscent of Week 10 against the Green Bay Packers, in which the Eagles defense dominated its way to victory. This time around, though, the Eagles’ stellar play, especially against the pass (Justin Herbert completed a season-low 46.2% of his attempts), wasn’t enough to earn the Eagles the win.
Is a get-well game finally on the way? On Sunday, the Eagles will face the 2-11 Las Vegas Raiders, who haven’t won a game since mid-October (over the 2-11 Tennessee Titans).
Or are the Eagles walking into a 2023 Week 17 Arizona Cardinals-esque trap game? After all, since Week 9, the Eagles have scored only one more touchdown (eight) than the Raiders. Here’s what we know (and what we don’t) about the Eagles heading into Week 15:
How will Jalen Hurts rebound from perhaps the worst outing of his NFL career?
Slopfest continues
After Monday night’s loss, Nick Sirianni described the Eagles’ five turnovers as being “uncharacteristic.”
In the greater context of the season, yes, the Eagles’ turnovers indeed were uncharacteristic. Entering the game, the Eagles had given up the ball 13 times, tied for the fourth-lowest total in the league.
But the turnovers have become characteristic of the Eagles over the last three weeks, a byproduct of their lack of attention to detail. They’ve coughed up the ball nine times, the worst total in a span of three games under Sirianni. Hurts has been responsible for seven of those turnovers, although it’s fair to point out that those mistakes aren’t always exclusively on him (especially his fourth-quarter interception on a pass deflected by A.J. Brown).
For the first time since Week 8 against the New York Giants, the Eagles were not the more penalized team in a game (the Eagles had six penalties and the Chargers had seven). But the offense still found a way to lose the game because of its copious mistakes, even though the defense forced three turnovers and sacked Herbert seven times.
Before the Eagles’ three-game losing streak, Sirianni spoke of the importance of winning the turnover battle. He said, “When you combine good talent with good detail and good fundamentals, that’s where you get some special things happening.” The Eagles have enough talent on offense, but the lack of fundamentals has been holding them back.
If they can’t put it together, regardless of how they fare for the rest of the regular season, their playoff run won’t have much life.
Old pal Kenny Pickett, who relieved Geno Smith last week, could get a shot against one of his former teams on Sunday.
Geno goes down
The blows keep on coming to the Eagles’ upcoming opposing quarterbacks.
After facing Herbert, who played through a surgically repaired nonthrowing hand on Monday, the Eagles may not see Raiders quarterback Geno Smith on Sunday. The 35-year-old quarterback exited their Week 14 loss to the Broncos with an injury to his throwing shoulder after taking a hit in the third quarter. According to the NFL Network, Smith is unlikely to start on Sunday.
With Smith sidelined last week, the Raiders turned to backup Kenny Pickett, who served in the same role with the Eagles in 2024. The Ocean Township, N.J., native fared well in relief of Smith, going 8 of 11 for 97 yards and a touchdown, but his efforts weren’t enough to help the Raiders pull off a comeback.
The game marked Pickett’s first meaningful action with the Raiders, who acquired him from the Cleveland Browns in late August.
Pete Carroll has not found the magic formula in his first season at the helm of the Raiders.
Raiders coach Pete Carroll said postgame that Smith’s shoulder “locked up,” and initial tests indicated that he avoided damage. If Smith can play, Carroll suggested that he would go with his starter. Otherwise, Pickett will be ready for his first start since he was a member of the Eagles in Week 17 against the Dallas Cowboys while Hurts was in concussion protocol.
With Smith at the helm this season, the Raiders offense has been one of the worst in the league, ranking 30th in expected points added per play (-0.22), a statistic that measures the average points an offense generates on a play.
One of the passing game’s bright spots lately, though, has been Jack Bech, the second-round receiver out of TCU. His usage has increased over the last couple of weeks, culminating with a career-high 80.9% of the snaps against the Broncos. He caught all six of his targets for 50 yards.
But the Raiders’ running game, headlined by sixth overall pick Ashton Jeanty, is worse than their passing game. The Raiders rank last in expected points added per rush at -.28. The next closest teams, the New Orleans Saints, the Tennessee Titans, and the Browns, are tied at -0.12. The offense’s dysfunction led to the firing of Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, the former Eagles head coach, in late November after the team started its season 2-9.
If Vic Fangio’s defense can’t stop the Raiders offense, regardless of who starts at quarterback, the Eagles have a major problem on their hands. The group was stellar against the Chargers, despite the result, limiting Los Angeles to 1 of 3 in the red zone and 7 of 19 on third down.
Meanwhile, Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels exited his first game back since Week 9 after reinjuring his left elbow. That’s a topic for next week.
Can Saquon Barkley build on the positive signs of his Monday night performance?
Run defense slide
Despite the teamwide turmoil, the Raiders defense has been solid against the run for most of the season. Through the first 12 weeks, the Raiders had given up 1,137 rushing yards (94.8 per game), the 12th-lowest total in the NFL.
The last two weeks have been a different story. The Raiders have conceded 344 rushing yards (172 per game), which is tied with the Arizona Cardinals for third-worst.
Six ballcarriers contributed to the Broncos’ rushing total of 152 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries. RJ Harvey, the Broncos’ rookie running back, led the way with 75 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries (4.4 yards per carry).
Missed tackles have been an issue for defensive coordinator Patrick Graham’s unit. The Raiders have missed the third-most tackles in the NFL at 106, according to Pro Football Reference. Former Eagles inside linebacker Devin White is tied for second-most in the NFL with 18 missed tackles this season.
But the Raiders still made plays against the run on Sunday. Four-time Pro Bowl defensive end Maxx Crosby set a new career high with 25 tackles for loss. According to Next Gen Stats, Crosby leads all defensive linemen with 52 run stops, 10 of which have come in the last two weeks.
Despite the Eagles’ offensive struggles on Monday night, Saquon Barkley had some positive moments in the running game. He finished with 122 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, good for his second-best output of the season and just the second time he has eclipsed 100 rushing yards.
Barkley was particularly effective when Hurts handed the ball off from under center. His longest gain — a 52-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter — came off a Tush Push fake when Hurts was lined up under center. If Barkley and his blockers can build on their latest performance, and if Lane Johnson returns this Sunday, the Eagles could have continued success on the ground against the Raiders.
Could a big Britain Covey week be coming against the porous Raiders special teams?
Special teams nightmare
Kelly wasn’t the only coordinator who got the ax this season. The Raiders also fired special teams coordinator Tom McMahon in early November.
The Raiders’ special teams unit is one of the weaker groups in the league. They have conceded two touchdowns on punt returns this year, most recently on Sunday when Denver’s Marvin Mims scored on a 48-yard return in the second quarter to break a 7-7 tie. The Raiders joined the Browns as one of two teams that have given up two touchdowns on punt returns this season.
Britain Covey could have an opportunity to take advantage of the Raiders’ shaky punt coverage. The 28-year-old return specialist has proved over the last two weeks why he should have been the Eagles’ punt returner to start the season.
Covey averaged 18 yards per punt return against the Chargers. For reference, Xavier Gipson averaged 11.2 yards return during his stint as the Eagles’ punt returner and Jahan Dotson averaged 9.6. Covey is still seeking his first career touchdown on a punt return.
Monday’s loss to the Chargers was not a pretty one for the Eagles offense, which was led by a career-worst performance from Jalen Hurts.
The Birds (8-5) are now riding a three-game losing streak, but they still sit in the driver’s seat in the NFC East with the Cowboys hot on their heels. That streak has not been good for their position in the NFL power rankings. Here’s where the Eagles stand heading into Week 15 …
ESPN: Ninth
The Eagles dropped three spots from sixth after their 22-19 loss to the Chargers. Tim McManus pointed to the Birds’ poor third-down conversion rate and high three-and-out percentage as some of the most shocking statistics from their skid.
“The Eagles have been among the worst on three-and-outs for most of the season — shocking giving all the talent on that side of the ball,” McManus wrote. “But a mix of pre-snap penalties and a substantial drop in rushing success has prevented the offense from getting into a flow. They ranked 11th in third-down success rate last season (40.28%) but entered Monday’s game near the bottom at 34.46%.”
The Ringer dropped the Eagles to seventh, their lowest rating of the season. Diante Lee has the Birds on fraud watch given the team’s deterioration compared to how it looked one year ago.
“Philadelphia’s offense has spent this entire season seemingly afraid of the shadow cast by its own immense roster talent, running away from any bit of discomfort and hoping that the rest of the league would quietly submit instead of challenging the Eagles’ right to the NFL throne,” Lee wrote. “Complacency kills in this sport, and it’s only the Eagles’ fault that they’ve allowed complacency to ruin two of their past four seasons.
“While the Eagles offense has failed to evolve, their opponents have been picking away at every weak spot, notably Kevin Patullo’s scheme and the play of Jalen Hurts. The typically risk-averse QB committed five turnovers in Monday’s loss to the Chargers, a new low point for the Eagles’ passing offense. Philadelphia still has a comfortable lead in the NFC East, but this offense hardly looks like a playoff-caliber unit.”
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts committed five turnovers in his team’s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Athletic: 12th
Josh Kendall and Chad Graff gave their most pessimistic take on every NFL team in this week’s power rankings. For the Eagles, that worst-case scenario is that A.J. Brown has been right about the offense all along.
“The mercurial wide receiver has been advocating for a more wide-open offense (and himself) all year long,” Graff and Kendall wrote. “The last month has suggested he was right. The Eagles act like they’re getting extra points for degree of difficulty on offense, and Jalen Hurts isn’t making things much easier. He turned the ball over twice on one play Monday night and finished with four interceptions (one of which bounced out of Brown’s hands) and a 31.2 passer rating. Philly has lost three in a row.”
NFL.com: 13th
Eric Edholm said that time is running out for the Eagles to figure themselves out on offense, and the group wasted another elite performance from the Birds defense.
“It’s hard to blame a defense that held the Chargers to 3.9 yards per play and didn’t allow a touchdown after Los Angeles’ opening drive,” Edholm wrote. “The Eagles consistently got good starting field position from the return teams but had eight empty drives and went 0-for-2 in the red zone. After a third straight loss, this will be another long week in Philly. If the Eagles can’t get right in Sunday’s home game against the lowly Raiders, the reigning champs are in serious trouble.”
Jalen Hurts had only thrown two interceptions over his first twelve games this season. But the 13th game vindicated hotels and superstitious fans across the country — the Houston native was intercepted a career-high four times against the Chargers, including one near the end zone in overtime to seal a three-point Los Angeles victory.
It was the Eagles’ third straight loss, their first time doing that since Weeks 13-15 in 2023, when Philadelphia started 10-1 before losing six of its next seven games, including to Tampa Bay in the wild-card round. The Birds have a chance to end their current losing streak against the 2-11 Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.
Here’s a look at the odds for that matchup, as well as the rest of the season …
Eagles vs. Raiders odds
Despite the offense’s continued struggles, the Eagles defense put up a bounceback performance against the Chargers. Vic Fangio’s unit allowed just one total touchdown the entire game, and turned over Los Angeles quarterback Justin Herbert twice while sacking him seven times. Other than running back Kimani Vidal, who recorded a 60-yard reception on the Chargers’ third offensive snap, no LA pass catcher finished with over 25 yards.
The Eagles open as double-digit favorites on Sunday. That likely has to do with their opponent, the Raiders. It has not been a good season for Las Vegas, who is riding a seven-game skid, which included a 31-0 loss to the 6-7 Kansas City Chiefs and a 24-10 loss to the 3-10 Cleveland Browns. The Raiders have only scored 20 points once in their last seven games. Quarterback Geno Smith is also tied for the league lead in interceptions with 14.
Jerry Jones’ Cowboys are the only NFC East team with a chance of catching the Eagles.
NFC East odds
The Dallas Cowboys remain 1½ games back of the division lead after losing to the Lions on Thursday night. Still, Dallas has gained two games on the Birds by winning three of its last four contests.
It gets slightly more dicey for the ‘Boys when you take into account the Eagles’ remaining schedule. In addition to the Raiders matchup, the Eagles play the Buffalo Bills, and the Washington Commanders twice. Even if the Birds lose to Buffalo, Dallas would still need Philly to lose to a two- or three-win team to have a chance.
The good news for the Cowboys is that their schedule is similarly light. Dallas has one tough matchup remaining, against the Chargers, and three easier games against the Minnesota Vikings, Commanders, and New York Giants. If the Eagles were to drop two games, Dallas could take the NFC East by winning out. The Commanders and Giants have both officially been eliminated from playoff contention.
Even with three straight losses, the Eagles still have the fourth best odds in the NFC to make the Super Bowl at both FanDuel and DraftKings. Ahead of the Birds are the Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers, and Seattle Seahawks.
The Eagles beat the Rams at home earlier in the season, but Los Angeles has been the better team since.
Super Bowl odds
The Birds’ Super Bowl odds have taken a considerable dip. Last week, Philadelphia was listed with the fourth-best odds to win the Super Bowl by FanDuel and the fifth-best by DraftKings. This week, they rank seventh at both sportsbooks. On the AFC side, the Bills, New England Patriots, and Denver Broncos all have shorter odds than the Eagles.
In his sophomore season, Drake Maye has led the Patriots to an 11-2 record, which is tied for the AFC lead. Maye ranks second in the NFL in passing yards. Meanwhile, 37-year-old Matthew Stafford has led the 10-3 Rams to the top of the NFC and has thrown an NFL-leading 35 touchdown passes. Next closest are Dak Prescott and Jared Goff, who have both thrown 26.
Packers quarterback Jordan Love and Bills quarterback Josh Allen are both longer-shot candidates worth monitoring. Hurts and Saquon Barkley are not, but we included their odds for reference.
The Eagles continue to spiral, losing their third consecutive game on Monday night in overtime against the Los Angeles Chargers behind an uncharacteristically bad performance from quarterback Jalen Hurts.
While it was once again a bad showing from the offense, it appears that offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, the target of much criticism this season and even recent vandalism, is escaping the bulk of the blame — at least for one week — thanks to Hurts’ struggles in LA.
Here’s what the national media, including a few former Eagles, had to say about the team’s performance …
“If you were going to tell me going into last night that somebody was going to throw four interceptions, I would have thought it’d probably be the guy with only one hand,” ESPN’s Dan Graziano said on Get Up, referencing Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert’s broken non-throwing hand.
No one has defended Hurts more than former Eagle LeSean McCoy over the course of the season, but even he didn’t have much to say in Hurts’ defense after Monday night’s performance.
“Did he play bad?” McCoy said on Speakeasy. “Yes. Did he play horrible? Hell yeah, but he ain’t no four-pick-type quarterback. He had a bad game. A lot of quarterbacks have that.”
“You guys have been waiting for a moment like this,” McCoy said later in the show. “You talk about Jalen Hurts all the time and you try to bash him. The truth is, all he does is win. You can’t really bash him.”
His podcast cohost Emmanuel Acho wasn’t buying his defense of the Birds quarterback, especially after a third straight loss.
“Do your job,” Acho said. “… He’s been average all season, and he was atrocious today. He was the reason they lost today.”
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts on the sideline during the loss to the Chargers on Monday.
On First Take, Stephen A. Smith said the Eagles ultimately lost because Hurts and the offense once again failed to step up and deliver in a big moment. While not all of Hurts’ turnovers were his fault — one slipped right through A.J. Brown’s hands — his game-sealing pick was a bad mistake.
“You can’t make that throw,” Smith said. “You’re in field-goal range, in a position to tie. You know how much is on the line. Dallas has a tie on its record in your division and they’re tugging at your heels. …
“If you’re playing this game like Jalen Hurts has shown he’s capable of playing this game, that is a mistake at that particular moment in time that you simply cannot make. He made it, and once again we find ourselves sitting here talking about the Eagles offense, because the Eagles defense, outside of the 80-yard drive to open the game, put the Chargers pretty much on lock and key.”
"Jalen Hurts and that offense didn't answer the call, and that's why the [Eagles] lost this game." 👀@stephenasmith reacts to the Eagles' MNF loss to the Chargers 🏈 pic.twitter.com/Cwm756KM0g
So, is there hope that the Eagles can turn it around in time for the playoffs? Or is the offense doomed to repeat the collapse of 2023?
“I thought they would [turn it around] until last night,” Jeff Saturday said on Get Up. “When you look at the way that they’re moving, the only thing that feels different about this than a couple years ago, their defense can win games, and they’ve already beat the best teams.”
Despite the concerns, the First Take panel still believes the Eagles will ultimately win the NFC East and make the playoffs.
“The Philadelphia Eagles are going to win the NFC East, they are,” Chris Canty said. “When you look at the remaining schedule, they’re going to cruise to 11 wins.
“That’s not the conversation we should be having about the Philadelphia Eagles. The conversation we should be having about the Philadelphia Eagles is how can they position themselves to go back-to-back, because that’s all anybody was talking about after Super Bowl LIX. … We were ready to compare the Eagles to those modern-day dynasties. They are a far cry from that.”
"The Philadelphia Eagles are going to win the NFC East."@ChrisCanty99 believes the Eagles will win the NFC East despite their recent struggles 👀 pic.twitter.com/5ReiFyCS9G
Saturday said he thinks the Eagles listened too much to outside noise about the offense, and moved away from the more conservative style that won them games last year.
“I’m very concerned, because I don’t think they know who they are,” Saturday said on First Take. “… It was such a boring offense to watch, but they won that way. It was a very low-risk, high-reward profile that they were playing under. I understand their run game was struggling, their offensive line wasn’t the same, they’re not as dominant, I get all of that, but there is a style of play that translates to wins for the Philadelphia Eagles.”
Could that mean more Saquon Barkley moving forward? If so, it’s something LeGarrette Blount would endorse.
The former Eagles running back said on Good Morning Football that the Birds need to find a way to get Barkley more touches in order to improve the offense. Barkley showed off a bit of the explosiveness from last season with his fourth-quarter, 52-yard touchdown, but a struggling and injured offensive line has prevented the running game from reaching its full potential.
“You’ve got to get him more and more touches,” Blount said.
The Eagles lost to the Los Angeles Chargers, 22-19, in overtime on “Monday Night Football.” The loss, their third straight, drops them to 8-5 on the season.
The Birds remain in first place in the NFC East, but the path to a potential first-round bye just became a lot more difficult.
The Eagles next game is Sunday against the Raiders (1 p.m. at Lincoln Financial Field).
// Timestamp 12/09/25 5:17pm
Eagles waive long snapper Cal Adomitis
The Eagles waived long snapper Cal Adomitis on Tuesday, opening the door for the return of Charley Hughlett.
Hughlett, the free agent the Eagles signed in the offseason to replace longtime snapper Rick Lovato, has been on injured reserve since late September after suffering a core muscle injury that required surgery.
Hughlett, 35, also had a neck injury in camp.
But his potential return has the Eagles in line to have their initial specialists back together for the first time since Week 4.
Jake Elliott is going through a little bit of a rough patch. The kicker missed from 48 yards before halftime Monday night. He missed an extra point and an attempt from 52 yards during a windy Black Friday loss to Chicago, and also missed from 56 yards indoors the previous week vs. Dallas.
“They need to stop,” Elliott said of the misses. “I feel like I’m striking the ball well. Last week, obviously, windy conditions. But no excuses here indoors. It’s frustrating.”
Despite the offense’s struggles, the Eagles defense put up a bounce-back performance against the Chargers. Vic Fangio’s unit allowed just one total touchdown the entire game, and turned over Los Angeles quarterback Justin Herbert twice while sacking him seven times. Other than running back Kimani Vidal, who recorded a 60-yard reception on the Chargers’ third offensive snap, no L.A. pass catcher finished with over 25 yards.
The Eagles open as double-digit favorites on Sunday despite their current three-game losing streak. That likely has to do with their opponent, the Raiders. It has not been a good season for Las Vegas, which is riding a seven-game skid, including a 31-0 loss to the 6-7 Chiefs and a 24-10 loss to the 3-8 Browns. The Raiders have only scored 20 points once in their last seven games. Quarterback Geno Smith is also tied for the league lead in interceptions with 14. The Eagles enter the matchup as 11.5-point favorites.
According to multiple reports, grandfather — yes, you read that correctly — Philip Rivers, who last played in 2020, is coming out of retirement to sign with the Colts practice squad, presumably with the plan of starting for the team if backup Riley Leonard (knee) is unable to suit up.
The Colts (8-5) lost starter Daniel Jones (Achilles) in Sunday’s loss to the Jaguars, and Leonard, who came in to replace him, suffered a PCL sprain and is questionable for this weekend’s game against the Seahawks. Meanwhile, last year’s starter, Anthony Richardson, remains on injured reserve with an orbital injury.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts threw twice as many interceptions Monday night (4) as he had the entire rest of the season (2).
The reigning Super Bowl MVP is not a top 10 quarterback in the NFL, according to ESPN analyst and Birds fan Ben Solak.
“He’s an incomplete quarterback. To me, he’s not a top 10 guy,” Solak said on the Up and Adams Show, when asked about what is fair to say about Hurt’s game the day after the Eagles extended their losing streak.
While offering Matthew Stafford, Jared Goff, Jordan Love, and Caleb Williams as examples of NFC quarterbacks that are playing better than Hurts, Solak also cautioned against overreacting to his poor showing on Monday Night Football.
“We can’t take a guy who is on a historic pace to avoid interceptions this year, by the way, and immediately just rip him down the rankings off of one four-interception game, two of which were batted balls,” he said.
"[Hurts is] not a top 10 guy… [Caleb Williams has] all the clubs in his golf bag in a way that Jalen Hurts doesn't"
But Solak said that recent games have shown Hurts’ limitations.
“Jalen has done such a wonderful job in the NFL working around his deficiencies, getting so much better in areas like situational management, he’s usually really good at avoiding turnovers, he is a great scrambler … But if you wanted to start a team right now and build a complete passing game, you have to do it with a guy like Caleb Williams’ arm and all the throws at his disposal,” he said.
A.J. Brown owns his drops: ‘I wasn’t great when it mattered’
Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown attempts to catch the football during the first quarter against Los Angeles Chargers cornerback Tarheeb Still on Monday, December 8, 2025 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.
A.J. Brown believes he has the “best hands in the world.”
The Eagles’ star receiver, who has been open about the need for the passing game and the offense as a whole to meet its potential, and for the team to take advantage of his abilities, reached 100 yards for the third consecutive game.
He had six catches for 100 yards and made a few key plays. But inside the visitor’s locker room at SoFi Stadium late Monday night, it was the balls that hit his hands and landed elsewhere that stood out the most and had Brown looking inward.
The Eagles lost for a variety of reasons to extend their slump to three games. Jalen Hurts was nowhere near good enough. They had untimely penalties. Jake Elliott missed a field goal that proved pivotal. But Brown knows that his three drops changed the game.
Each one of them in isolation could have produced a different result Monday night. He wanted all of them back, he said, and was probably going to spend the long cross-country flight home thinking about them before he planned to “flush” the game when the plane touched down in Philadelphia.
Brown touched on all three drops.
“I’m more than capable of making those plays,” Brown said after the loss. “Jalen trusts me in any situation. I made some plays, but I wasn’t great when it mattered.”
Some are ‘very concerned’ about the Eagles; others think they’ll ‘cruise’ to the playoffs
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts turned the ball over five times, including twice on the same play, against the Chargers.
Ultimately, Stephen A. Smith said on First Take Tuesday, the Eagles lost to the Chargers because Jalen Hurts and the offense once again failed to step up and deliver in a big moment. While not all of Hurts’ five turnovers were his fault — one of his four interceptions slipped right through Brown’s hands — his game-sealing pick was a bad mistake.
“You can’t make that throw,” Smith said. “You’re in field-goal range, in a position to tie, you know how much is on the line. Dallas has a tie on its record in your division and they’re tugging at your heels. … If you’re playing this game like Jalen Hurts has shown he’s capable of playing this game, that is a mistake at that particular moment in time that you simply cannot make. He made it, and once again we find ourselves sitting here talking about the Eagles offense, because the Eagles’ defense, outside of the 80-yard drive to open the game put the Chargers pretty much on lock and key.”
Longtime former Colts center Jeff Saturday said he thinks the Eagles listened too much to outside noise about the offense, and moved away from the more conservative style that won them games last year.
“I’m very concerned, because I don’t think they know who they are,” Jeff Saturday said. “It was such a boring offense to watch, but they won that way. It was a very low-risk, high-reward profile that they were playing under. I understand their run game was struggling, their offensive line wasn’t the same, they’re not as dominant, I get all of that, but there is a style of play that translates to wins for the Philadelphia Eagles.”
Despite the concerns, Smith and the First Take panel still believe the Eagles will ultimately win the NFC East and make the playoffs.
“The Philadelphia Eagles are going to win the NFC East, they are,” Chris Canty said. “When you look at the remaining schedule, they’re going to cruise to 11 wins.
“That’s not the conversation we should be having about the Philadelphia Eagles. The conversation we should be having about the Philadelphia Eagles is how can they position themselves to go back to back, because that’s all anybody was talking about after Super Bowl LIX. … We were ready to compare the Eagles to those modern day dynasties. They are a far cry from that.”
Former Eagles debate Hurts’ performance: ‘He was the reason they lost today’
No one has defended Jalen Hurts more than former Eagle LeSean McCoy over the course of the season, but even he didn’t have much to say in Hurts’ defense after his performance on Monday.
“Did he play bad?” McCoy said. “Yes. Did he play horrible? Hell yeah, but he ain’t no four-pick-type quarterback. He had a bad game. A lot of quarterbacks have that.”
“You guys have been waiting for a moment like this,” McCoy said later in the show. “You talk about Jalen Hurts all the time and you try to bash him. The truth is, all he does is win. You can’t really bash him.”
His podcast co-host Emmanuel Acho wasn’t buying his defense.
“Do your job,” Acho said. “… He’s been average all season, and he was atrocious today. He was the reason they lost today.”
LeGarrette Blount thinks more Saquon Barkley is the answer for Eagles
Running back Saquon Barkley scored the Eagles’ only touchdown in their loss to the Chargers.
Eagles Super Bowl champion LeGarrette Blount believes that getting more touches for Saquon Barkley is the key to unlocking Philly’s stagnant offense. While Barkley finished the game with 122 rushing yards and a touchdown, Blount said the Eagles star needs the ball even more.
“You got to get him more and more touches,” he said on Good Morning Football, pointing out that while Barkley carried the ball 13 times in the first half against the Chargers, he only carried it 7 more times in the second half and in overtime. Barkley finished the game without a reception.
Blount advocated for the bell-cow approach, despite the Eagles’ struggle to get the running game going during points of the game. Removing his 52-yard breakaway rush in the fourth quarter, which broadcasters said could have been called back for a Jordan Mailata hold, Barkley averaged 3.7 yards per carry.
It appears the team is still desperately missing perhaps its most important player. Since Lane Johnson was drafted in 2013, the Eagles are 15-27 in games played without him.
Eagles defensive tackle Jordan Davis and linebacker Zack Baun sack Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert in the third quarter.
Lost in the offensive calamity Monday night was another outstanding performance from Vic Fangio’s defense, which came after its worst effort of the season last week.
Here are some highlights from the defense …
Justin Herbert was pressured on 68.3% of his drop backs, according to Next Gen Stats, the highest pressure rate of any defense this season and the sixth-highest since 2018. Eight Eagles tallied at least three pressures against a banged-up Chargers offensive line. Jaelan Phillips and Nolan Smith each had seven pressures apiece.
How did the Eagles replace Jalen Carter? By committee. Jordan Davis had an outstanding game, but he didn’t see a major uptick in snaps. Neither did Moro Ojomo. Instead, Byron Young saw increased work, Brandon Graham was used on the inside, and Ty Robinson was in for seven snaps. The defensive line dominated, too. Young was credited with 1½ sacks, the firsts of his career. The Eagles sacked Herbert seven times, with Jalyx Hunt’s 2½ sacks leading the way.
Cooper DeJean was excellent in pass coverage, especially in his ability to keep Ladd McConkey in check. DeJean had a few lockdown coverage reps against the talented inside-outside pass catcher. McConkey was targeted five times and caught one pass for 12 yards.
Nakobe Dean continues to excel as a blitzer. He rushed Herbert five times Monday and tallied four pressures and two quarterback hits, including one sack. Dean is up to 11 pressures on 26 pass rushes through seven games since returning from injury.
Marcus Epps started at safety after coming off injured reserve with a shoulder injury. It will be his job to lose for as long as Drew Mukuba is out — which will be a while. Fangio doesn’t seem to prefer Sydney Brown being on the field in most situations. Epps has a chance to stabilize the back end down the stretch.
The Eagles haven’t allowed more than 24 points in seven consecutive games and are allowing 18.3 points per game during that stretch.
One area where the defense struggled Monday was containing Herbert when the quarterback decided to run. Herbert ran 10 times for 66 yards, his most rushing yards in a game since Nov. 19, 2023.
“If you were going to tell me going into last night that somebody was going to throw four interceptions, I would have thought it’d probably be the guy with only one hand,” Dan Graziano said on ESPN’s Get Up, referencing Chargers’ quarterback Justin Herbert’s broken non-throwing hand.
So, is there hope that the Eagles can turn it around in time for the playoffs? Or is the offense doomed to repeat the collapse of 2023?
“I thought they would until last night,” Jeff Saturday said. “When you look at the way that they’re moving, the only thing that feels different about this than a couple years ago, their defense can win games, and they’ve already beat the best teams.”
Last time the Eagles offense was this bad, Terrell Owens was involved
Terrell Owens did sit-ups at his home in Moorestown, N.J., for the assembled media after he was banished from training camp for insubordination in 2005.
Seven months after he nearly played hero in the Super Bowl, Terrell Owens started the 2005 season by doing sit-ups in his driveway after being sent home from training camp in Lehigh University during a contract dispute with the team.
Every “next question” from Drew Rosenhaus should have foretold what was to come: a Super Bowl hangover, an offensive meltdown, and an eventual split between Owens and the Eagles.
Parallels to today? There are a few. The Eagles did something Monday for the first time since 2005: Had a fifth consecutive game come and go without scoring more than 21 points.
The streak in 2005 was eight games, from Week 5 to Week 13. The Eagles started 3-1 before losing six of their next eight.
Things aren’t quite that bad right now for the Eagles, but it’s not a season with which you want to have many touchpoints.
“Everything is still right in front of us,” A.J. Brown, the closest comparison there is to Owens, said Monday night after a game in which he had three crucial drops. “There’s still so much to be optimistic about. These tough losses, tough little stretch, I’m not going to say it’s humbling us but we are doing what we need to do, going back to work and taking pride into that and get this thing turned around at the right time.”
Despite the turnovers, missed throws, and maybe the worst four quarters of his NFL career, the quarterback had an opportunity to drive the Eagles to victory in overtime.
He did not.
Instead, Hurts tossed an interception — his career-high fourth of the game — that was deflected and caught at the 1-yard line and gave the Los Angeles Chargers a wild 22-19 win over the Eagles at SoFi Stadium on Monday night.
“As frustrating as the night was, we had an opportunity to win the game,” Hurts said. “In the end, I had the ball in my hands driving down the field, having everything on our terms to a sense, and I didn’t bring it home.”
The loss, by no means, was all on the sixth-year quarterback. … But Hurts’ imperfections as a dropback passer were again glaring. He threw over and behind his intended targets. He made the wrong reads and missed receivers either schemed open downfield or on check downs. He was in a fog and couldn’t see the field, especially over the middle.
There were some good moments, no doubt. But not close to enough. It seems unimaginable that Eagles coach Nick Sirianni would consider benching Hurts for backup Tanner McKee. Opening that can of worms may cause more harm than good — especially in the long-term — but the idea has some merit.
Eagles guard Landon Dickerson walks off the field in the second quarter after injuring his calf. He returned in the second half.
While the Eagles suffered a stinging defeat Monday night in California, they did escape relatively healthy, with the only in-game injury being sustained by guard Landon Dickerson (calf). The injury occurred in the first half, but Dickerson, who along with a few fellow offensive linemen has battled injury all season, returned to the game after the halftime break. With Lane Johnson already out with a Lisfranc injury, Dickerson’s health will be worth monitoring.
Coming into Monday’s game, the only two starters carrying injury designations were Johnson and defensive tackle Jalen Carter, who underwent a procedure on his shoulders earlier in the week. Both were listed as questionable, but were inactive as expected.
We’ll keep you posted if any other injury news emerges out of Monday’s loss.
Yes, the vibes remain bad, but despite three straight losses, the Birds remain on track to become the first team in 21 seasons to win the NFC East in back-to-back years. That would mean hosting at least one playoff game at the Linc.
Even if the Cowboys win their four remaining games — at home against the Chargers and Minnesota Vikings (5-8), on the road against the Washington Commanders (3-10) and New York Giants (2-11) — Dallas would still need the Eagles to lose two of their final four games to take the division.
NFC East standings
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The race for the No. 1 playoff spot in the NFC is another story.
In order for the Eagles to earn the No. 1 seed with a 12-5 record, they’ll have to win out and root for a lot of losses from a lot of teams at the top of the NFC. Wharton professor and Eagles analytics nerd Deniz Selman has a full breakdown if you’re curious:
#Eagles playoff scenarios updated after Sunday's games.
NFC East magic number is 3 (any combo of 3 wins / DAL losses out of 9 combined games left).
For NFC # 1 and # 2 seed, here are all scenarios with Eagles finishing 13-4 or 12-5 (excluding any further tie games): pic.twitter.com/JuoOkxyRRd
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Jalen Hurts does something that hasn’t been done in nearly 50 years
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts fumbles, his second turnover on the same play after throwing an interception and then recovering a fumble on the return.
When Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts turned the ball over twice on the same play against the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night, not even the fictional characters of Disney/Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. could keep up with one of the most bizarre sequences in recent NFL memory.
It also proved costly, giving away three valuable points in what would be a 22-19 overtime loss for the Eagles.
Hurts didn’t see defensive tackle Da’Shawn Hand dropping back into coverage over the middle on third down midway through the second quarter and threw it right to the 300-pounder. Hand started running but was stripped from behind by Eagles running back Will Shipley, sending the ball bouncing into Hurts’ hands, only for Chargers defensive tackle Jamaree Caldwell to force another fumble which was recovered by linebacker Troy Dye.
According to Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time one player committed two turnovers on one play since at least 1978, which is as far back as available play-by-play data goes.
Da'Shawn Hand picks off Jalen Hurts. Da'Shawn Hand fumbles. Jalen Hurts recovers. Jalen Hurts fumbles. Troy Dye recovers. @Chargers ball.
A.J. Brown on how the Eagles can turn their season around
// Timestamp 12/09/25 8:56am
Sielski: This could be worse than 2023
Nick Sirianni and the Eagles have gone 4-5 since starting the season 4-0.
So we know what kind of team the Eagles are now. It took 13 games, and to watch most of them was to experience the same amount of pleasure as when you slam your fingers in a door. But they have revealed themselves, and there’s no use disputing the diagnosis.
The Eagles are an excellent defensive team, and that is all, and that is not enough, not even close. Not with an offense like this. Not with this team’s tendency to commit untimely and inexcusable penalties. Not with so many questions that don’t get answered and so many problems that don’t get solved.
They lost Monday night to the Los Angeles Chargers, 22-19 in overtime, and we know now that the most basic assessment of their status is deceiving. They still are 8-5, still in first place in the NFC East, still on track to make the playoffs and, in theory, have a shot at winning another Super Bowl in a conference without a dominant team. But no one who has watched them can see through that spin, that false representation of who they are and how the rest of this season could play out.
They have lost three straight games, and they are poised for a breakdown as bad or worse than their collapse in 2023. That was six losses in seven games and a franchise that faced an inflection point with its head coach. This is different. This disintegration, if it continues, will be harder and graver, because it will mean their season is transforming from an attempt to defend a championship into a referendum on the coach, the quarterback, and any number of players who were presumed to be part of a talented and tested team’s core.
“Who said it was going to be easy?” Brandon Graham said. “This year, coming off a Super Bowl, man, all we got to do is make sure we stay together.”
Eagles fall to Chargers in OT behind Hurts’ four interceptions
Jalen Hurts threw four interceptions — and lost a fumble — in the Eagles’ loss to the Chargers.
On Monday night, the Hollywood lights were too bright for Jalen Hurts.
The fifth-year starting quarterback tossed a single-game career-high four interceptions in the Eagles’ 22-19 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium. Backup safety Tony Jefferson called game, picking off Hurts near the end zone on a pass intended for Jahan Dotson.
The game went to overtime after Chargers kicker Cameron Dicker tied it, 19-19, with eight seconds remaining in regulation. The Eagles won the toss, and the Chargers had the first possession. Vic Fangio’s defense got gashed on the ground, but limited the Chargers to a field goal, giving the offense a chance to win the game with a touchdown.
On the first play of the drive, Justin Herbert kept the ball and rushed right for a 12-yard gain punctuated by a stiff-arm on Reed Blankenship with his injured left hand. Omarion Hampton followed it up with an 18-yard run to the same side.
Ultimately, the Chargers were forced to settle for a 54-yard field goal.
The Chargers and the Eagles scored one touchdown apiece. Los Angeles scored on its opening drive on a 4-yard pass to Hampton, while Saquon Barkley notched a 52-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter off a Tush Push fake.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — A.J. Brown believes he has the “best hands in the world.”
The Eagles’ star receiver, who has been open about the need for the passing game and the offense as a whole to meet its potential, and for the team to take advantage of his abilities, reached 100 yards for the third consecutive game.
He had six catches for 100 yards and made a few key plays. But late Monday night inside the visitors’ locker room at SoFi Stadium, it was the passes that hit his hands and landed elsewhere that stood out the most and had Brown looking inward.
The Eagles lost for a variety of reasons to extend their slump to three games. Jalen Hurts was nowhere near good enough. They had untimely penalties. Jake Elliott missed a field goal that proved pivotal. But Brown knows his three drops changed the game.
Each one in isolation could have produced a different result Monday night. He wanted all of them back, he said, and probably was going to spend the cross-country flight home thinking about them before he planned to “flush” the game when the plane touched down in Philadelphia.
Brown touched on all three drops.
There was the first play from scrimmage of the game, a broken play that resulted in Hurts launching a deep ball up the left sideline. “I wish I could have somehow found a way to make that one,” Brown said.
The second came four minutes into the fourth quarter with the Eagles leading, 16-13. One play earlier, Hurts scrambled to his right and connected with Darius Cooper for a 19-yard gain that moved the Eagles to near midfield. The Eagles were on the move and looking to add to their lead and put what had earlier looked like a sure loss to bed. Hurts took a shotgun snap, faked a handoff to Saquon Barkley, and fired a pass over the middle to a crossing Brown near the Chargers’ 40-yard line. The throw was high, and Chargers linebacker Denzel Perryman was closing in, but Brown couldn’t haul in the pass as it tipped off his fingertips and into the hands of cornerback Cam Hart.
Los Angeles drove down the field and tied the score with a field goal.
“The ball over the middle, I know it wasn’t perfect, but I’m more than capable of making that catch,” Brown said.
“That was just going to be another tough one. I’m more than capable of making that grab for [Hurts]. He stepped up in the pocket, he’s under pressure.”
The third one hurt the most, though.
On a second-and-11 from the Chargers’ 26-yard line with less than three minutes to play and the score tied at 16, the Eagles got Brown in one-on-one coverage with Hart. Hurts struggled for most of the night, but this throw was one of his best. He dropped a deep pass into a perfect spot for Brown to catch it. Hart made a decent play at the point of attack, but the 28-year-old receiver has made many similar and more difficult plays, and this one probably would have given the Eagles a needed victory.
“He just made a play,” Brown said. “That one hurt the most because we’ve been setting things up all game, and he made a play. That one hurt me. I’m more than capable of making those plays. Jalen trusts me in any situation. I made some plays, but I wasn’t great when it mattered.”
And so the Eagles, and Brown, are going “back to the drawing board,” Brown said.
They have now gone five consecutive games without topping 21 points. It is the first time in the Nick Sirianni era that has happened and a first for any Eagles team since 2005. An impotent offense has been the story of the season, and while there were small flashes Monday, it was more of the same.
“It’s the same thing every week,” DeVonta Smith said. “Do something good, shoot ourselves in the foot. Nobody is doing nothing to stop us. We’re stopping ourselves every time, putting ourselves back behind the sticks. We get something going, and we just do some dumb s—.”
Like turn the ball over. Hurts threw a career-high four interceptions, but Smith said the receivers were responsible for two of them. Smith blamed himself for the second interception, saying he fell. The other, Smith said, was on Brown.
“I made some plays but I wasn’t great when it mattered.”
— Quay L.Jones🦅 #FlyEaglesFly SBLIX CHAMPIONS!! (@QuayLJones3) December 9, 2025
“S— happens,” he said.
Said Brown: “You always have to look inward and be honest with yourself first and foremost. Take accountability and find a way to fix it as quickly as possible.
“As soon as I get off the plane, it’s going to be flushed because you have to. It’s a part of the game, it’s a part of playing at a high level. I’m catching like 500 balls a day. I pride myself on making those catches.
“I could go out there and drop 100 balls, but I’m still going to believe in me, believe in my hands. I believe that I got the best hands in the world. But sometimes it don’t go your way, and that’s a part of it. You got to have thick skin and go back to work.”
That work begins right away. The Eagles were due to land Tuesday morning and will be back on the practice field Wednesday in a short week with the Las Vegas Raiders coming to town Sunday.
The Eagles still have a 1½-game lead in the NFC East, and they finish the season with a game against the two-win Raiders before playing two of their final three against the three-win Washington Commanders.
“Everything is still right in front of us,” Brown said. “There’s still so much to be optimistic about. These tough losses, tough little stretch, I’m not going to say it’s humbling us, but we are doing what we need to do, going back to work and taking pride into that and [getting] this thing turned around at the right time. It’s one week at a time.”
It gets late early, though, and the Eagles are running out of weeks to make their necessary fixes.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — It was all there for Jalen Hurts.
Despite the turnovers, missed throws, and maybe the worst four quarters of his NFL career, the quarterback had an opportunity to drive the Eagles to victory in overtime.
He did not.
Instead, Hurts tossed an interception — his career-high fourth of the game — that was deflected and caught at the 1-yard line and gave the Los Angeles Chargers a wild 22-19 win over the Eagles on Monday night at SoFi Stadium.
“As frustrating as the night was, we had an opportunity to win the game,” Hurts said. “In the end, I had the ball in my hands driving down the field, having everything on our terms to a sense, and I didn’t bring it home.”
It probably was the best decision and throw of Hurts’ four picks. But Chargers cornerback Cam Hart somehow got his hand on a pass intended for wide receiver Jahan Dotson, and safety Tony Jefferson snagged the deflection to seal the outcome.
That Hurts would succumb seemed destined, however.
The loss, by no means, was all on the sixth-year quarterback. The offense was disjointed and produced just one touchdown, on a fake Tush Push. Receiver A.J. Brown had a pass bounce off his hands to a Chargers defender and two deep Hurts teardrops that he failed to pull in could have resulted in scores.
There were penalties that brought back successful plays. A missed field goal. And even the defense, which kept the Eagles alive with repeated stops and forced field goals, had the occasional breakdown.
But Hurts’ imperfections as a dropback passer again were glaring. He threw over and behind his intended targets. He made the wrong reads and missed receivers schemed open downfield or on check downs. He was in a fog and couldn’t see the field, especially over the middle.
There undoubtedly were some good moments. But not close to enough. It seems unimaginable that Eagles coach Nick Sirianni would consider benching Hurts for backup Tanner McKee. Opening that can of worms may cause more harm than good — especially in the long term — but the idea has some merit.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni lamented the turnovers. “Tonight was a little uncharacteristic of us.”
Not just the quarterback
Hurts has been in a free fall since the Week 9 bye. Each week has seemingly been worse, with the quarterback uncharacteristically turning the ball over at a high rate. Sirianni can’t dismiss all that Hurts has accomplished. And he and offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo have to take ownership, as well.
But something likely has to change if the reeling 8-5 Eagles don’t want to repeat their collapse from just two years ago.
“It’s never just on execution,” Sirianni said when asked about Hurts. “We look at ourselves as coaches first to help them be in position to succeed and execute. Obviously, you never want to turn the ball over. We’re pretty good at that, and tonight was a little uncharacteristic of us.”
But turning the ball over has become more the norm during the Eagles’ three-game losing streak. They committed nine turnovers over that span after having just four in their first 10 games. Hurts wasn’t involved in two, but the other seven have come from five interceptions and two of his fumbles.
The fumble vs. the Chargers was fluky and came after his first pick. Hurts didn’t see defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand drop into coverage on a simulated third-down pressure. He forced a throw to Brown when it appeared that Dotson was open over the top.
Eagles running back Will Shipley knocked the ball out of Hand’s grasp, and Hurts picked it up. But he, too, lost it for the rare double turnover. How rare? It had been at least 48 years since it last happened.
Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo with A.J. Brown and Jalen Hurts.
On the next series, Hurts was intercepted again when he threw behind DeVonta Smith. He settled down as the teams exchanged field goals until Saquon Barkley broke through on the fake Tush Push and scored a 52-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
But with the Eagles finally ahead, 16-13, a high Hurts dart to Brown over the middle went off the receiver’s hands and into Hart’s.
“The ball over the middle — no, it wasn’t perfect,” Brown said, “but I’m more than capable to make that catch.”
Brown, who finished with six catches for a team-high 100 yards, said he also wanted back Hurts’ deep shot to him on the first play from scrimmage and a dime the quarterback dropped into his bucket in the end zone.
“I know there’s definitely some that he wants back,” Hurts said of Brown. “There’s some that we all want back.”
Hurts walked over to the receiver on the bench after the third interception and gave him a fist pump. Brown, whose chemistry with his quarterback on and off the field has come under question, defended Hurts after his rough night.
“You can’t just point a finger,” Brown said. “I think all of us have our hand in that pot and we’re trying to get better. Obviously, he’s the quarterback, he’s going to get a lot of stuff for it.
“But we in this thing together.”
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts tries to pick up a fumble after throwing an interception in the second quarter.
Still looking for answers
Sirianni, who got more involved in the offense after the Eagles’ mini-bye, has to find a formula that doesn’t require Hurts to drop back as often as he has the last three games. The run-pass ratio favored the latter 45 to 21. Hurts completed just 21 of 40 attempts.
The tinkering of the offense resulted in more motion and passing concepts in the middle of the field. Hurts had some impressive throws in those scenarios, but there were as many bad ones. Against a good defense, the odds weren’t in his favor.
“Nick stepped in, and I think he played a very good role this week, provided some structure and kind of organized some things for us,” Hurts said. “Obviously, we still have ways and room for improvement. But I look at myself first. I look at the man in the mirror first.”
After the Chargers settled for a 54-yard field goal on the opening possession of overtime, Hurts ripped a 28-yard pass to Smith on third-and-16 early in the next drive. Then he avoided a fourth-and-4 test when Chargers pass rusher Odafe Oweh jumped into the neutral zone.
But after two completions to tight end Dallas Goedert, Patullo dialed up a run-pass-run option play that had proved successful earlier in the game and a week ago vs. the Chicago Bears. Rather than have Smith as the read in a high-lo concept route, though, it was Dotson.
“I knew it was going to be a tight-window throw,” Hurts said. “I’d have to watch the film to see it from the film’s point of view. Ultimately, it’s a play that I didn’t make.”
This angle of Jalen Hurts' fourth INT that sealed the game for the Chargers 👀 pic.twitter.com/93F7sbxkkc
The Eagles locker room, when it finally opened to reporters, was full of players and coaches with blank stares. As Hurts sat silently on his stool, Smith was in the next stall over with his arms crossed and his head bowed for what seemed like eternity.
“It’s not nowhere close to 2023,” Smith said later when asked about this Eagles’ late-season swoon.
Brown was across the aisle, catty-corner to Hurts. He chatted with rookie Darius Cooper until receivers coach Aaron Moorehead came over and offered consolation.
There were no overt displays of anger for public consumption. The players who didn’t perform took accountability. No one pointed blame. But frustrations with Hurts behind the scenes have been mounting, according to team sources, and may have reached a precipice.
The lowly Las Vegas Raiders offer a chance for the quarterback to get right next week. It’s not all on Hurts. But he keeps showing that he can’t shoulder too much of the offense.
“It starts with me and how I play, how I lead, and how I go out there and do my job,” Hurts said. “So when I look at it at any point, it’s about how I respond to a test, and what level of resilience and resolve I have to push forward and figure things out.”
The division title and more are still there. Can Hurts get the job done?
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — So we know what kind of team the Eagles are now. It took 13 games, and to watch most of them was to experience the same amount of pleasure as when you slam your fingers in a door. But they have revealed themselves, and there’s no use disputing the diagnosis.
The Eagles are an excellent defensive team, and that is all, and that is not enough, not even close. Not with an offense like this. Not with this team’s tendency to commit untimely and inexcusable penalties. Not with so many questions that don’t get answered and so many problems that don’t get solved.
They lost Monday night to the Los Angeles Chargers, 22-19 in overtime, and we know now that the most basic assessment of their status is deceiving. They still are 8-5, still in first place in the NFC East, still on track to make the playoffs and, in theory, have a shot at winning another Super Bowl in a conference without a dominant team. But anyone who has watched them can see through that spin, that false representation of who they are and how the rest of this season could play out.
Coach Nick Sirianni complains to the officials after the Eagles were called for holding late in the second quarter at SoFi Stadium.
They have lost three straight games, and they are poised for a breakdown as bad or worse than their collapse in 2023. That was six losses in seven games and a franchise that faced an inflection point with its head coach. This is different. This disintegration, if it continues, will be harder and graver, because it will mean their season is transforming from an attempt to defend a championship into a referendum on the coach, the quarterback, and any number of players who were presumed to be part of a talented and tested team’s core.
“Who said it was going to be easy?” Brandon Graham said. “This year, coming off a Super Bowl, man, all we got to do is make sure we stay together.”
Easy to say. Challenging to do. The dynamic within the Eagles right now, the divide in performance between one side of the ball and the other, is fertile ground for dissension to bloom. Anyone who has paid attention to them over the last five games could tell you what Monday made clear: that they are regressing on offense, that some of their best and highest-compensated players are letting them down, and that there’s little or no reason to believe that anything about the unit is going to improve in the short term.
Since their bye five weeks ago, the Eagles have played one good stretch on offense, and that stretch was brief. In their loss to the Cowboys on Nov. 23, they scored 21 points in the game’s first 18½ minutes, then didn’t score again. Those 18½ minutes seem like a mirage now. They marked the only game in a month and a half that the Eagles put up more than 19 points, and the offense’s performance against the Chargers only reinforced the reality that something about it has to change.
Jalen Hurts was a mess. Kevin Patullo’s play calls are too predictable too often, the offensive line didn’t help Hurts much, and A.J. Brown helped him even less, dropping a deep ball on the game’s first play, then T-Rex-arming an over-the-middle pass in the fourth quarter that led to an interception. But even with those excuses or extenuating circumstances, Hurts was still a mess.
He threw four interceptions. He failed to see some open receivers and threw wildly to others. His play this season is raising the question of whether, assuming he remains their starting quarterback for several more years, the Eagles will be able to win another Super Bowl, or even come close again, if they don’t surround him with the best roster in the NFL.
Jalen Hurts is sacked by Chargers linebackers Tuli Tuipulotu and Odafe Oweh during the first quarter.
We’re getting to the point where removing Hurts and inserting Tanner McKee would be helpful, just to create a control in this ugly experiment that is the Eagles offense. It’s unlikely to happen, and it’s possible, even probable, that such a change would do more harm than good. It would create an instant controversy, no doubt. Hurts might take the demotion as an insult, in the same way Carson Wentz viewed the decision to draft Hurts in 2020, and demand to be traded. There are an infinite number of scenarios that could play out from such a seismic move. One of them, though, could be that the Eagles would acquire some certainty about who and what have been the real problems with the offense all along.
That decision would come with enormous risk for the man who presumably would make it. Nick Sirianni would be acknowledging that he and his handpicked offensive coordinator can’t fix Hurts, can’t help him get back to being someone who at least didn’t hurt the Eagles’ chances of winning. Once Sirianni crosses that bridge, there’s no going back, and there’s nothing Jeffrey Lurie is less willing to forgive than a head coach who fails to allow the franchise quarterback to thrive.
“The people we have in there have won a lot of football games,” Sirianni said. “Right now, we’ve lost three in a row. Again, I saw a great, great week of preparation, and I’m confident in the coaches that we have, the players that we have, the owner that we have, the front office that we have — that we’re built to overcome. We know how to do that.”
Then they’d better get to doing it. Fast. No, this wasn’t just another loss for the Eagles, and this is no small slump. This is a test for everyone in that locker room. And let’s be honest here: Have they given anyone any reason to believe that they’re going to pass it?
