Eagles Postgame Report: Hurts, Barkley Join The Defense In Dropping Loss To Lowly Falcons

The Eagles entered their Monday Night Football match with the Falcons prepared to play without one of their top receivers in AJ Brown.

While it shouldn’t have been too much of an issue, it evidently was for much of the first half.

The Eagles started off with Jalen Hurts deciding to take designed runs (which sucked just as much as the last year and a half) leading to a three and out. The defense forced a punt but after Saquon took four carries for 39 yards, the team took him out and Gainwell ran them into a third down. That was followed by a Jalen Hurts incompletion where he only ever looked at rookie Johnny Wilson and then a failed fourth-down conversion.

The teams each traded punts on their drives before the Eagles defense allowed a pair of passes that allowed the Falcons to put up a field goal.

Jalen Hurts made some questionable decisions once again, but his late scrambles for 48 yards lead the offense down to a scoring drive on a great touchdown catch by DeVonta Smith over the middle.

The first half then ended with another field goal by the Falcons to drop the lead by one.

Coming out of the half, the Eagles defense got it’s first sack (that wasn’t called back by a penalty) to force a field goal. Unfortunately, the Eagles turned a promising drive into their own field goal after a drop by Smith, which was also a bad throw from Hurts, that prevented the Eagles from going up by more than a field goal.

Unfortunately, the Eagles defense could have had a stop but on 4th and four a blatant hold right next to Kirk Cousins, which prevented the sack, was ignored and the Falcons were able to convert. On the next play, CJGJ botched a tackle and allowed a 41-yard catch and run for a touchdown that put the Falcons up by five.

The Eagles started a drive and got a key 9-yard grab for Britain Covey to convert on third down. A few passes off by Hurts setup a fourth and one, but the tush push came through shining once again to keep it alive. The refs called a hold for once, deciding a receiver is the only one who could do it (Johnny Wilson) and it resulted in another third-down where Saquon Barkley was tackled at the half-yard line for another first down that the Birds punched in with a sneak to take the lead back with Barkley making an incredible second effort reach to lock the two-point conversion and put his team up by three after a 9:34 drive.

A collision by Maddox and Mitchell in the secondary nearly led to a huge bust in coverage, but a brain fart by Mooney kept the Falcons behind the chain and, on fourth-and-1, CJGJ came up from his safety position with a huge hit to stop the run up the middle and turn the ball over on downs.

With the game about to be broken open, the refs decided to call the same exact hold that the Falcons had gotten away with on every other run to pull back an 11-yard run and put the Eagles behind schedule. A 16-yard pass to Dallas Goedert was what Hurts needed to do and it put the team in position to move the chains and force Saquon down the throats of the Atlanta defense. Barkley was able to burn all the Falcons timeouts, but Saquon then dropped a pass that hit him in both hands. It left the Falcons with time and just a six-point defecit after the field goal.

In just over one minute, the defense allowed the Falcons to drive 70 yards and “Big Play” Slay allowed his biggest play of the season by not covering the Falcons top receiver at all. It gave the Falcons a touchdown and a one-point lead with just 34 seconds left on the clock.

Hurts answered by stepping up to throw the ball into no-man’s land for an interception and a loss. It was a win that was turned into a loss by terrible decisions from Hurts and drops from Barkley and Smith.

The Eagles came out with the concerns from last weeks win and Hurts and company decided they would not put a single one to rest as they looked like a team who couldn’t actually execute a play when it was needed at any point at all.

Offensive MVP: DeVonta Smith

I have half a mind to say not one of these guys deserves recognition. It was Saquon until he dropped that pass that would have ended the game without the Falcons getting the ball. Of the three candidates (Hurts, Barkley, Smith), DeVonta had the least egregious of the errors and his 74 yards (especially the touchdown) were very much needed in this one – and he took a lot of hits and made a lot of adjustments to throws that were not where they should have been to make them simple throws. Unfortunately, the defense and Hurts himself crapped all over it.

Defensive MVP: Quinyon Mitchell

The rookie has been excellent. In this one his stat line came to just two tackles. He had what was almost a pick (had the receiver not grabbed one of his arms and pulled it back, it would have been) and then basically was not targeted for the rest of the game. He was a lockdown corner tonight and his name rapidly disappearing from the stat sheet (until that last drive with way-off defense) after the first test proved it.

Game Notes

• The amount of holds Atlanta got away with was disgusting. Nearly every Falcons offensive highlight has an Eagles DL being obviously held right next to the play. The Eagles got away with at least one of their own for sure (equally as obvious one, at least) but there were so many obvious ones that made the play happen that just were allowed to stand – even going so far as the refs throwing a flag on a clear hold that they then picked up and let the play stand.
• The above applied heavily to why Sweat and Williams but it wasn’t even needed for Bryce Huff, who was a big nothing burger once again. He’s been a terrible addition so far and needs to get anything at all going here.
• No idea why the QB draw is still in the book. Anyone with eyes can see Hurts has nothing on draws. He can scramble after the play, but if the play is a designed QB draw, the top result is a two-yard gain. Despite that, he continues to opt into those plays willingly.
• Grant Calcaterra, whew. Awful blocking ability. In reality, the team shouldn’t even consider him a tight end he’s so bad. He’s basically a wide receiver who stands near areas that need to be blocked and doesn’t actually get the block.
• The Jahan Dotson trade seems like it could be great with how much he was able to get open, but Hurts doesn’t appear to look his way at all unless the play is drawn up specifically to go to him. Hopefully more time in the offense will fix that, but that isn’t something Dotson can fix – Hurts needs to actually consider him as a real part of the offense so he can.
• Jalen Hurts’ terrible decisions continued tonight. Far too many balls coming out way too late, including the missed touchdown to Smith and the first touchdown to Smith which should have been thrown sooner. Jahan Dotson came open on the drive where the team turned it over on downs for what should have been a touchdown but never got a look. Even the 23-yard scramble by Hurts realistically should have been a wheel to Saquon who was open on the outside and Hurts didn’t even look that way. 
• Britain Covey in this game was an oddity. He was actually really good when called upon and had several very good plays called back for calls that didn’t affect the play at all (hello, ineligible downfield), but it might be a good idea not to design so many plays specifically for him. Perhaps that should be focused more on Dotson until Hurts actually starts looking his way. That said, the team should see more of him at receiver (and maybe Howie should get an extension done sooner than later).
• Can’t ignore the tackle by Kenny Gainwell on Hurts on that second-quarter scramble. It certainly looked like a play where the defense could easily have forced a fumble before Gainwell came in and pushed him down from being stood up.
• Johnny Wilson out on the field? No reason for it. His presence has only been a negative thing every time it gets called out – penalties or Hurts looking the way of a giant dude who is not at all open. Hopefully that’ll change in time, but there’s no need to force the rookie onto the field if he isn’t ready.
• Thomas Booker has some impressive plays. Unfortunately for him, Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts and the defense will take all the spotlight for their botching perhaps the easiest win they could have been handed right in a row.

Injury Notes

• Halfway though the fourth quarter, Avonte Maddox and Quinyon Mitchell collided on the field and Maddox left after grabbing his back. He did return on the last play of the drive.

Atlanta Falcons @ Philadelphia Eagles – September 16, 2024