EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Jalen Hurts had no choice.
On Sunday evening, Hurts raised his hand and took accountability for his crucial interception in the fourth quarter of the Eagles’ 20-14 loss to the Jets at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. What else could he do?
“I think I had an opportunity and I didn’t do my job on the play,” Hurts said. “I don’t think I made the correct read on it, but it happens. It’s an opportunity for us to learn from it and grow.”
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Hurts threw two interceptions before that game-changing play but head coach Nick Sirianni didn’t pin either of those first two on Hurts. One was a fluky play where the ball bounced off his target and the other came after his throwing arm was hit.
But this last one? The one that led to the Eagles’ first loss of the 2023 season?
It was just all on Hurts.
Facing a 3rd-and-9 from the Eagles’ 46-yard line with 2 minutes left and clinging to a 2-point lead, Hurts stared down Dallas Goedert and, without stepping into the throw, forced an ill-advised ball into double coverage. Bad decision, bad throw. Hurts had been under some duress during this game but it looked like he had room to step up on this one and didn't.
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Hurts’ pass was picked off by Tony Adams and returned to the 8-yard line. Breece Hall punched in a touchdown run on the next play and the Jets beat the Eagles for the first time ever in 13 meetings.
The only thing Hurts definitely couldn’t do in that situation was throw a pick. It was the absolute worst-case scenario.
“I know Jalen’s going to want that play back, obviously,” Sirianni said. “I thought that was pretty much the only turnover that was on him though. We need that back in that critical time, he’s going to want that back. We want that back. If the play doesn’t work, we’re going to look at ourselves as coaches first and say, ‘Was that the right play?’ That’s part about being accountable and I know Jalen’s looking at himself in the mirror as well.”
There’s an argument to be made that the Eagles simply should have run the ball on 3rd-and-9. After all, they had already reached the 2-minute warning and even if they were stopped, they could have punted and asked their defense to get another stop. The Eagles’ defense was humming at that point.
The Eagles even had some extra time to discuss the play call thanks to the 2-minute warning. What did Sirianni and Hurts talk about?
“Just about what play to call, what we thought would be the right play in that particular case,” Sirianni said. “Listen to what [Hurts] thought, discussing what we thought, discussing what the coverage might be. We do a lot of studying of what critical third downs are and critical fourth downs. You go in with a thought, you try to discuss that thought and you just try to come up with the best play you possibly can. It was just communicating, communicating there, that’s basically it.”
Sirianni decided to put the ball in his $255 million quarterback’s hands because a first down would basically end the game.
Then disaster struck.
“You know, the worst thing that could happen, happened,” Sirianni said. “Sure, every time you’re going to think about it. I don’t think in that particular case we thought running it was the right thing.”
Even after the Jets punched in a touchdown — they shouldn’t have tried to score in that situation — the Eagles got the ball back with 1:46 remaining and two timeouts.
But then they gained just two yards on the next four plays and the 4th-and-8 snap ended up being an incomplete deep ball forced to DeVonta Smith down the field.
“Lack of execution,” Hurts said without elaborating.
The Eagles turned the football over four times on Sunday and didn’t get a single takeaway. It’s awfully hard to win in the NFL when you lose the turnover differential by four. We saw something similar in the Eagles’ loss to Washington last year in the regular season. After that loss to the Commanders in Week 10 in 2022, the Eagles rattled off five straight wins, although the next week against the Colts wasn't a good performance.
As Hurts said on Sunday night, it’s about how they respond to this loss. Hurts also said a moment like this can build character.
But why is he so confident the Eagles will respond the way he hopes?
“That’s just the mentality,” Hurts said. “I’m not going to sit here and say we’ve been here before or anything like that, but we have. I think it’s just a matter of how we respond. It starts with me and how I lead that charge. We’re just going to take it day by day, yet again. These things definitely happen.
“It’s a tough one, for sure. But it’s an opportunity for us to grow. And these things and these moments build a ton of character. If you go into it and handle it the right way, you can turn a negative situation into a positive. And that’s what we plan to do. That takes a ton of hard work, a ton of discipline and diligence and focus. Understand that Rome wasn’t built overnight. It’s a process and we’re going to trust in that process as a team.”
The thing that makes this loss and the interception sting is that Hurts had been playing really well through three quarters. Like we mentioned, those first two interceptions weren’t really on him and Hurts seemed to have a good feel in the pocket. He was making big-time throws, using his legs and looked like the 2022 version of Hurts.
But then it all went wrong and now the Eagles have a lot to work on before the Dolphins come to town for Sunday Night Football.
Just after the loss, Eagles receiver A.J. Brown said he and Hurts would watch film together later that evening or on Monday morning as they work to fix some of the issues with the offense. Brown wasn’t worried about Hurts’ rebounding after the pick and the loss.
“He’s a strong individual,” Brown said. “He’s going to bounce back regardless, man. This is small compared to what he done faced in his life. I’m not going to speak for him but I know how he’s going to shake back.”
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