ARLINGTON, TEXAS — Jalen Hurts offered a wry smile in his postgame press conference.
The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback was asked after Sunday’s 24-21 loss to the Dallas Cowboys about the offensive struggles and whether or not he’s surprised by the unit’s inconsistencies.
“We’ve been here before,” Hurts said at AT&T Stadium. “We’ll figure it out.”
There’s some truth to that. Hurts, who has had five different play-callers in his six NFL seasons, has dealt with plenty of bumps in the road before. But things looked pretty bad late on Sunday.
The Eagles lost to the Cowboys largely because the offense disappeared when they needed it most. Philadelphia opened the NFC East showdown with touchdowns on their first three drives. From that point on? Punt, end of half, punt, punt, punt, missed field goal, fumble, punt.
Hurts (289 yards) and the passing game had a positive day statistically. A.J. Brown had 110 receiving yards on eight catches while DeVonta Smith had six receptions for 89 yards.
But the running game and a sense of second-half urgency were both absent. Saquon Barkley managed only 22 yards on 10 carries. And it felt as though the Eagles took their foot off the gas in the second half, with head coach Nick Sirianni and offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo opting for a more conservative approach with a big lead.
Well, what started out as a 21-0 advantage was flipped on its head. Dallas scored 24 unanswered points in a shocking comeback, leaving the Birds’ offense holding the blame.
“Overarching, we’ve got to find a way to finish the game, and we’ve got to find some consistency in what we do,” Hurts said. “Definitely a tale of two halves. But we didn’t play a complete game as a team, and today it got us.
“It’s a matter of execution, discipline and focus and what we do. Collectively, we’ve got to take a step in that. It’s been a lot of instances where it’s shown up and it’s gotten us, but we’ve been able to figure it out and will ourselves to a win. And tonight, we didn’t. We played a hell of a first half, and then we didn’t play even close enough to our standard in the second half.”
Now, Hurts and the 8-3 Eagles have to move on. They have the 8-3 Chicago Bears coming to Lincoln Financial Field for a Black Friday matchup. On a short week, they’ll need to try to figure out a way to not have the offense stall out like it has time and time again this season.
Eagles fans who watched the second half on Sunday might not be confident Patullo, Sirianni and the offense will get it sorted out. But Hurts is.
“The question now is how we respond to it. And I’ve got a lot of confidence in how we’ll respond,” Hurts said. “... We’ve got to own this one, let it light a fire in us as a team and stay together and move forward.”
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