The Eagles offense stalled in the second half against the Broncos, and as a result, the team notched their first loss of the season. After the game, Jalen Hurts spoke to reporters and talked about some of the offense’s missed opportunities, and took ownership over some of the struggles. He highlighted a lack of execution from a group that is not lacking capability.
“I think certain things don’t get you until they get you, and we’re obviously in pursuit of our best self and pursuit of growth, so give
a lot of credit to that team, they played an outstanding game. Executed situationally when they needed to and they won that battle. And so we have to go back and really learn from this, take ownership for the things that we can control, look into our process and our system, see what needs to be reset and what doesn’t need to be reset, and continue to press forward.”
Here’s what else the QB had to say:
On the missed deep shot to A.J. Brown
“I have to really watch the film to be able to assess that. Obviously that’s the one that you want to hit in a big moment in the game.”
Hurts later said that they took a shot, and you either hit it or you don’t, and they didn’t hit that one. He explained that they’ll watch the tape and learn from it, but acknowledged the heft of the opportunity.
“But at that moment in the game, it’s about finding a way to put the dagger in them and that definitely could have been a dagger.”
On needing to get set quicker
“I can’t tell you what the issue is. Ultimately, I can take accountability for everything and take responsibility for it all. The lack of execution and maybe lack of sense of urgency in how our operation is. And so I take the responsibility for all of it because I’m just trying to find solutions for it. Just trying to grow and learn from it and I look at this as an opportunity in itself. You play the game to win and when you don’t, you learn from it.”
The QB didn’t care to throw anyone under the bus when asked if the play calls were getting to him in enough time, and noted that it comes down to making whatever it is work.
He was also asked about Saquon Barkley’s illegal shift penalty, and the QB shouldered some responsibility for that.
“No miscommunication. From what I remember, the clock was low and on the fourth-and-six, fourth-and-three or whatever it was, he counted at the mercy of the clock. I think if we operate a little faster, get to the ball, we can maybe avoid some of that. Nonetheless, when you have a motion tagged to a play, I put that towards operation as a unit and that starts with me. So I own that. I can play smarter in that and make it work given what we’re doing.”
On the offensive struggles
“I won’t say the word out of balance. I just think we’re searching for improvement and so given what type of team we’re built to be, we have to be able to establish the run in some regard and that could look different. It may not be what it’s been, but ultimately being able to lean on the run game is important. So we just have to look into how we can improve in that area and go out there and take ownership of the things that we can control and grow from this opportunity.”
More than once Hurts mentioned that they don’t have a capability issue, and the group knows that they’re capable of, but they’re not doing those things, yet.
Other notables
- The QB kept mentioning a lack of execution when asked about the offense stalling in the second half, and about what the issues were on Sunday.
- DeVonta Smith mentioned some miscommunication leading to missed opportunities, and while Hurts wasn’t exactly sure what the WR was referring to, he noted that if something comes up on the film, they can talk about it and grow from it.
- Hurts spoke about having to shift focus on a short week, and how preparations include focusing on themselves and controlling what they can. They need to watch the film and learn from Sunday’s mistakes, assess their processes and approach, but also need to move forward.
“But I say this again, it’s not a capability thing. We just have to really stay focused on the task at hand, stay focused on the main thing, and be bought into the collective of doing that by any means necessary. So this is a great one to learn from and we will learn from it.”
