The Philadelphia Eagles lost their first game of the season on Sunday as they fell to the New York Jets(3-3) 20-14 on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
Philadelphia(5-1) led 14-3 in the second quarter and led for most of the game until the fourth quarter when Jalen Hurts threw his third interception of the game that led to an eight-yard Breece Hall touchdown run.
The Eagles had one more chance, but Hurts’ deep pass intended for DeVonta Smith fell incomplete, and the Jets’ comeback was complete.
Hurts, who had won 11 straight road games, struggled on Sunday. He finished the game, by completing 28 of 45 passes for 280 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions; he added a rushing touchdown.
According to Hurts, the team did not play up to their standard.
The standard is the standard,” Hurts said. “It only rises. Today, we didn’t play to our standard. We didn’t play to our standard today. You turn the ball over as much as we did. Very unfortunate on two of them, I feel, but you just have to control the things that you can, and the objective is to play to our standard at all times and demand excellence of ourselves. And we were not today.”
It didn’t help that the Eagles lost All-Pro RT Lane Johnson in the first half; unfortunately, his replacement, Jack Driscoll, wasn’t very good.
Eagles center Jason Kelce, who set a franchise record with his 145th consecutive regular-season start on Sunday, says it’s hard to replace a player like Johnson.
One of the best tackles in the league,” Kelce said. “It’s difficult whenever you’re losing a player of that caliber, but I think there’s more than just that, and we’ve got to play better.”
Next week will be challenging as Philadelphia hosts the Miami Dolphins(5-1) next Sunday night.
Despite the loss, Hurts is confident that the Eagles will bounce back.
“It’s about how you respond,” Hurts said. “How we respond and what our mentality is moving forward. These things happen. This is the NFL. That’s a great team we played. A damn great defense we played. You turn the ball over four times you should’ve expect to win, so it’s an opportunity for us to look ourselves in the mirror and respond. I have confidence that this team will do so.”
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni added: “A lot of different guys said different things, that’s what you want out of your team. That part was a big positive because they’re holding each other accountable; they’re holding themselves accountable. I’m holding myself accountable, and so I didn’t have to really say anything. The leaders on the football team did and we’ll keep what they said tight in there.”
Philadelphia has yet to play a complete game this season, but they should have won on Sunday. However, maybe this loss will motivate this team to play better going forward.
Leave a Reply