The Eagles said they could learn from their first loss of the season against the Denver Broncos.
Well, we learned a lot from the Eagles’ second loss of the season Thursday night, a 34-17 beating from the last-place Giants.
For instance:
The offense is an inconsistent mess.
The defense is an even bigger mess.
The Eagles are not a good football team.
Who to blame?
Take your pick.
We’d start with head coach Nick Sirianni. He likes to say that his team is tough, detailed and together, but we’d argue that they are none of the above right now.
Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio makes the list. He said he had a good feeling about the Phillies when they were down two games to none to the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he couldn’t have had anything but a sick feeling Thursday night after the Phillies lost in excruciating fashion and his defense was carved up by a couple of rookies — quarterback Jaxson Dart and running back Cam Skattebo.
Jalen Hurts gets a huge chunk of this loss, too. After going through the first five games without an interception, his first one of the season was a game crusher.
It came early in the fourth quarter with the Eagles down 10 points but at the New York 15-yard line. The quarterback tried to get the ball to Jahan Dotson along the left sideline, but instead the football landed in the hands of cornerback Cordale Flott.
By the time Flott was shoved out of bounds by a frustrated Hurts, the Giants’ cornerback had a 68-yard return that set up Skattebo’s third touchdown run of the game.
It was Hurts’ first pick in 305 regular-season pass attempts and it was a killer.
Three other things we noticed:
The Eagles were out gained by the opposition for the sixth time in as many games this season. The Giants had 366 net yards to 339 for the Eagles.
The Eagles lost the turnover battle for the first time in 12 games as the Giants also forced a fumble in the fourth quarter.
The Eagles converted just one of nine third-down attempts while allowing Dart and the Giants to convert nine of 13.
Wide open, no connection
For the second straight week, Hurts had a receiver wide open on a deep ball and couldn’t connect.
This time, it was DeVonta Smith who got behind the Giants’ defense early in the third quarter at around midfield. Hurts’ pass traveled beyond the receiver just as it did Sunday when A.J. Brown got open down the field.
Secondary issues a primary concern
The Eagles’ defense showed up way too late for this game and by the time they got their bearings the Giants had scored on their first two possessions, thanks in large part to the impressive play of Dart and the Eagles’ poor play in the secondary.
And the Giants were without their top two wide receivers: Malik Nabers and Darius Slayton.
The debate about who should be the second outside cornerback across from Quinyon Mitchell was reopened on the Giants’ first drive when receiver Lil’Jordan Humprey, dressing for the first time this season, burned Kelee Ringo for a 34-yard gain, setting up a 20-yard touchdown run by Dart.
After the Eagles’ offense went three-and-out, Dart led a four-play touchdown drive that ended with a 35-yard throw to Wan’Dale Robinson, who slipped away from a whiffed tackle attempt by rookie safety Drew Mukuba along the right sideline.
Dart’s most impressive drive of the first half came on the Giants’ final possession when the rookie calmly led his team on a 15-play, 67-yard drive that included two third-down conversions. The first came on a 5-yard pass on third-and-four play Jalin Hyatt.
Adoree’ Jackson was in coverage on the play because starting cornerback Quinyon Mitchell had left with a hamstring injury. The Giants went right back at Jackson on the next play with Hyatt making a six-yard catch at the Philadelphia 22.
Skattebo finished the long drive with a four-yard run for a touchdown.
Detailed? Nope
Sirianni likes to talk about how much his coaching staff preaches details, but the Eagles still seem to be flagged for their share of stupid penalties on a weekly basis.
Case in point: The Eagles started their first series of the second half at their own 7-yard line after safety Sydney Brown was flagged for an unnecessary roughness penalty on a Giants’ punt.
An unnecessary facemask penalty on Byron Young on a third-and-one play led to the Giants’ fourth touchdown of the game. Skattebo already had the first down and Young just grabbed hold of the facemask, giving the Giants 15 extra yards and a first-and-goal at the 10-yard line.
An illegal contact penalty on Ringo gave the Giants five more free yards and, after a first-down run by Dart on a third-and-three play, Skattebo finished off the drive with a 12-yard run to the one that he followed up by bulling his way into the end zone on a 1-yard run. On the 12-yard run, Skattebo bowled over Eagles linebacker Zack Baun.
A fast start, slow finish for Saquon
With his documentary “Saquon” out on Prime Video Thursday morning, Barkley returned to the site of his first six seasons in the NFL and got off to his best start in a game this season.
On the first play of the game, he ran for 18 yards, marking the longest run of the season. On his second play, he ran for 13 yards. Those 31 yards were one more than he had on Sunday in the Eagles’ Week 5 loss to the Broncos when he carried just six times.
Barkley, however, stepped off the field after his second run and the Eagles failed to get another first down, resulting in a 42-yard field goal by Jake Elliott.
After those two initial carries, Barkley carried 10 times for 27 yards as the inability to get the running game going remained an issue for the Eagles.
The night was a far cry from his 2024 homecoming when Giants’ fans torched his jersey and he torched the Giants for 176 yards on 17 carries. He was the second best back on the field with the title of best back going to Skattebo on this night.
Tush push, repeat, repeat, repeat
The Eagles’ second touchdown drive of the evening was a fascinating one that included a fourth-down conversion and four straight tush pushes.
The play that triggered the scoring drive was a third-and-seven completion for 16 yards from Hurts to DeVonta Smith. That was immediately followed by another 16-yard completion to A.J. Brown and a 17-yard throw to Jahan Dotson.
Passes to Dallas Goedert and Brown set up the Eagles with a third-and-one from the 3-yard line and the Giants were pretty excited when they stopped the tush push to set up a fourth-and-1 from the 3, but the Eagles went right back to their signature play to get the first down.
Then the Eagles ran it two more times from the 1-yard line for a touchdown.
Hurts completed 5 of 5 passes for 68 yards on the scoring drive and the touchdown was his fifth rushing score of the season.
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