Football is a cruel sport. The Philadelphia Eagles did mostly everything right on Sunday and still lost to the Los Angeles Chargers 27-24 in a dogfight at Lincoln Financial Field. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni blended run and pass plays with panache, and Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was masterful in the stretch. And yet, cruel fortune, the Birds came up on the losing end of a brawl.
As far as moral victories go, this was one for the ages. Unfortunately, the wildcard hunt doesn’t count moral victories. The truth is, the Eagles are a 3-6 football team with 8 games left to play.
Are they going to make the playoffs? Probably not.
Have Sirianni and Hurts shown enough progress to earn another year? Maybe.
Sirianni seemed to grow into his role as head coach against the Chargers. He coached with creativity and confidence. Gone were the Eagles costly penalties that plagued the first half of the season, save for the back-breaking flag against defensive end Derek Barnett. (How long must we suffer through Barnett’s miscues?) The Eagles had swagger on defense, delivering huge hits and finding the right angles to penetrate plays in the backfield. They gave up big plays, but once again, under defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, they tightened in the red zone.
Early in the game Hurts overthrew a wide open Dallas Goedert. We’ve seen this show before. But after that early misthrow, Hurts settled down and connected with a multitude of receivers, most notably rookie DeVonta Smith. The Hurts to Smith connection remains a bright spot in this otherwise mediocre season.
Jordan Howard ran with aplomb, leaving Eagles fans wondering why he wasn’t in the mix earlier in the season. Howard, a practice squad call-up, slashed and dashed his way to a memorable performance. And with Howard and the running game going, Hurts was able to showcase his arm and legs.
Hurts hit a number of deep balls. This was encouraging. And still, his passes seemed to float. Television announcers described his passes as rainbows, and that’s what they were. Fortunately for the Eagles, those rainbows landed perfectly. But one wonders if Hurts has the arm strength and trajectory to throw bullets in tight coverage.
Sirianni did what he could, but the Chargers didn’t miss a beat. The Eagles never felt out of it, but they never felt fully in it, either.
And where do we go from here? The Eagles are a scrappy team with a coach learning on the job and a quarterback making strides under a consistently voracious pass rush.
Is it time to blow up the team?
That’s the trouble with these Eagles. They give you just enough hope to hang on.
To quote a common English soccer phrase: “It’s the hope that kills you.”
