The Eagles' "sloppy" play and Jalen Hurts' injury put Philadelphia on alert

LANDOVER, Md. – Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni’s return to action just after his team’s 36-33 loss to the Washington Commanders on Sunday was “sloppy.”

Punish. Sales. Drops. Alignment confusion. All of it.

“When you play against a good football team like we did today and you’re sloppy, no matter how many turnovers you force, it’s going to be hard to win,” Sirianni said, citing the five turnovers (three fumbles, two interceptions). Commanders had. “What I told these guys is that if it’s sloppy in any way, that’s always going to be on me as the head coach.”

The Eagles deserve all the mercy they can get as quarterback Jalen Hurts left less than six minutes into the game. He left with a concussion, and Kenny Pickett took over quarterback duties, going 14-24 for 143 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

CJ Gardner-Johnson was sent off in the third quarter after his second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taunting the Commanders in a heated divisional battle. The referees also hit Philadelphia with two unnecessary roughing calls; The Eagles committed 10 total penalties for 91 yards.

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“We talked about it right on the field when it happened,” Sirianni said of the extracurricular punishments. “Again, if it doesn’t get fixed it will always be my fault, they need to be better in those scenarios and I need to be better in those scenarios to help them.” to improve them because we know we have to. We know we have to overcome the things we messed up today.”

Cornerback Darius Slay couldn’t get off the field before Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels hit Olamide Zaccheaus for a 49-yard touchdown, giving the Commanders their first lead of the game with 9:06 to play.

Punter Braden Mann, in charge of kickoffs, struggled from the start of the game – when the ball failed to reach the intended landing area – until the end, when another weak kick allowed a return (plus a penalty for Eagles safety Sydney Brown ). As a result, the Commanders only needed 57 yards to score a touchdown and take the lead. Daniels found Jamison Crowder with six seconds left for the receiver’s second touchdown of the game.

Running back Saquon Barkely had 108 rushing yards on seven attempts with two touchdowns, including a 68-yarder, in the first quarter. It looked like the Eagles offensive line was going to dominate all day. But Hurts’ injury changed the entire dynamic of the game and Washington remained on the run for the rest of the afternoon. Barkley finished with 150 rushing yards on 29 attempts.

Barkley said Sirianni emphasized the “little things” in his message after the team’s first loss in 11 games.

“Go back and look at it, there’s a lot of little things we left out there,” Barkley said. “We have to be better all around, in all phases. When you look at the penalties and like I said, all the little things we didn’t do, you tend to lose these football games. I have to give (the commanders) credit. They were the better team.

“We didn’t achieve what we wanted to achieve. We’re not panicking.”

The Eagles converted three of 16 third-down attempts (18.8%), while the Commanders were successful on seven of their 13 chances on third down. The Eagles’ most costly mishap on third down occurred just before the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter.

DeVonta Smith was wide open for what would have been a first down, allowing Sirianni and the Eagles’ vaunted offensive line to virtually ice the game with a 30-28 lead. But after his fall forced a fourth down with time stopped, Sirianni extended the lead. Daniels made it irrelevant.

Sirianni said the team has been aggressive in situations like this before, which explains why the Eagles opted for a passing game instead of keeping it on the ground.

“We were able to get through a lot of seasons that way,” Sirianni said a week after the Eagles held the ball for the final 10 minutes of the game in their win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. “We just couldn’t do it this time.”

After the game, Smith said the decline was “over.” There was nothing he could do about it at the time and there was no teachable moment to take from it. He was open, he called for it and the ball hit the ground.

“I demanded it,” he said. “You put it in my hands. I have to play the damn game.”

Smith’s admission of his mistake, similar to Barkley’s failure after a loss in a similar situation in a loss to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 2, gives Sirianni hope – especially given the fact that Hurts was sidelined for almost the entire game.

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The Eagles’ “sloppy” play and Jalen Hurts’ injury put Philadelphia on alert

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