EAST RUTHERFORD: The Eagles modest win streak of two came to a crashing halt Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium after quarterback Jalen Hurts turned in one of his worst performances as an Eagle.
The second-year signal caller threw three interceptions, went 14 for 31 for just 129 yards and finished with a quarterback rating of just 17.5 resulting in a deflating 13-7 loss to the New York Football Giants.
The loss dropped the Birds to 5-7 on the season with five games remaining.
Running back Boston Scott turned the ball over on a potential game-winning drive in Giants' territory with 1:41 left in the fourth quarter.
“You can’t turn the ball over four times and expect to win,” rookie head coach Nick Sirianni said after the game. “You lose the turnover battle 4-0, nothing good is going to come from
that.”
The Eagles could not ask for much more from its defense. The Birds held Big Blue (4-7) to 13 points and 272 yards of total offense.
Sequon Barkley rushed 13 times for just 40 yards. Daniel Jones wasn’t charged with any turnovers, went 19 of 30 for 202 yards. He was sacked once and did not throw any interceptions.
The Eagles did rush the football well again recording 208 yards on 33 carries (6.3 YPC) and a touchdown.
But turnovers turned their game plan into a train wreck.
One drive at the end of the first half pretty much summed up the Eagles day.
With 6:21 left in the second quarter, down 3-0, the Eagles took over at their own seven.
Hurts led his team on a 16-play drive to the Giants one-yard-line.
The drive was remarkable in that with All Pro center Jason Kelce was on sideline with a knee injury, Hurts and his teammates overcame two holding calls on Kelce's replacement Nate Herbig during the drive.
On third and goal at the one and eight seconds left, Hurts goes back to pass. The play breaks down and Hurts scrambles to his right all the back near the 15-yard line. Going out of bounds,
Hurts broke the Cardinal rule of quarterbacking...instead of throwing the ball away and taking the field goal, he tries to the 5-foot-6 Scott in the end zone.
Linebacker Tae Crowder intercepted the pass as the first half ended.
"On that one, I know he’s trying to make a play,” Sirianni said. “But we just gotta put it out of harm’s way right there."
Hurts took responsibility.
“We've been in the situation before where offensively we failed to get things going early,” Hurts said after the game. “You see we have success when we do that. But today I put us in a bad situation with those turnovers I had in the first half. Especially going in with an opportunity to get points before halftime. None of those (turnovers) are good by any means. It's something we have to overcome. And we will.”
Sirianni was asked about his plan coming into the game.
“We wanted try to run the ball like we were,” Sirianni said. “I think we ran the ball pretty well. We wanted to protect the football, not create short fields and be able to hit some of our play-action chunks. We obviously did one of them well. We didn’t do the other two well.”
There was plenty of blame to go around on the offensive side of the ball.
For all his miscues and off-target throws for the better part of four quarters, Hurts threw two dimes to Reagor on the Eagles final drive. Either throw, if caught, could have won the game.
Jalen Reagor dropped both of those two potential game-winning passes.
The first was an over-the shoulder catch that would have been tough, but it was surely a makeable catch for a pro receiver.
The other was on fourth down and seconds left in the fourth. Hurts put the ball right on Reagor’s hands at the goal line. He simply didn’t catch the ball. He was defended by cornerback Aaron Robinson on both plays, but Reagor had angle on Robinson both times.
“It was a good pass by Jalen,” Reagor said about the first drop. “It’s was just a drop. I just dropped a pass. It’s just plays that we’ve gotta make.”
That drive may not have been needed if ball security had been a priority on the previous possession.
The Eagles defense stopped a Giants drive at the Eagles 21-yard line. Giants Graham Gano kicked a 39-yard field goal that made the score 13-7.
With 2:54 left in the fourth, Hurts and the Birds took over at their own 30-yard line/ The drive started out well even with Miles Sanders in the sideline with a sprained ankle.
Hurts hit Reagor with a 10-yard gain. Scott gained three yards on a run off right tackle. The Hurts hit DeVonta Smith for eight yards and a first down at the Eagles 40...two-minute warning. The Eagles look like they might pull this off.
Not this drive/ Scott took the handoff and rushed four yards before getting popped by lineman Dexter Lawrence. The popped and right into the arms of strong safety Julian Love.
“It was a critical situation, critical drive and I just didn't get it done,” Scott said. “I didn't resort to my fundamentals, results in a turnover.”
The Eagles defense somehow forced a three-and-out using up just 23 seconds. But Sirianni used up all three timeouts.
The Eagles still had a chance. But a first-round pick at wide receiver was given two chances for glory and came up short.
Reagor was asked what Hurts said to him after the game.
“To just keep going,” Reagor said. “Him and the coaches. Everybody said just keep going, we've got each other's back.”
Like many of his teammates, Reagor still thinks with five games left on the schedule, the Birds can get to the playoffs.
“That's what you do in life,” Reagor said. “You have bad days; you have good days. You've just got to move forward. I still have to go practice. I still have to play next week. You can't too much dwell on it. It's me taking ownership and moving forward."
The Eagles are running out of games. “Keep going” and “moving forward only have five more rounds. *
Follow Al Thompson on Twitter @thompsoniii