EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni implied quarterback Jalen Hurts earned a failing grade for his performance in a 13-7 loss to the New York Giants on Sunday.
“It’s never going to be an A, B, C or D if you turn it over three times, right? Obviously, he didn’t play good enough,” Sirianni said. “And we didn’t coach good enough. And it’s all of us. It’s never just one guy. We’re going to look through that tape and we’re going to have to make those corrections from that tape, but when you turn the ball over three times — again, there are different things at play there — but not a winning performance. Running the ball was good.”
Hurts entered the game with the top QBR (75.0) in the league over the previous five weeks, using his arm and legs to carve up opposing defenses. While his success on the ground (8 carries, 77 yards) continued against New York, he was 14-of-31 for 129 yards with zero touchdowns and three interceptions through the air. This marked the first three-interception game of Hurts’ career. He became the first Eagles quarterback to throw zero TDs and three interceptions against the Giants since 1990 (Randall Cunningham), according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
“Obviously he’s pretty dangerous at running the ball, and they’re finding that in their offense. We just tried to play physical and play straight up and kind of make him throw the ball, so to speak,” Giants safety Julian Love said.
“He’s very talented, but we wanted him to beat us throwing.”
Hurts suffered an ankle injury in the second half and was “a little bit hobbled at the end of the game,” Sirianni said. He was seen getting his left ankle wrapped on the sideline after limping off the field in the latter stages of the game, but indicated afterward he was OK.
Hurts has completed 60.1% of his throws with 13 touchdowns to eight interceptions through 12 games, while rushing for 695 yards and eight scores.
“I put us in a bad situation with those turnovers I had in the first half,” he said. “It’s something that we’ll have to overcome. And we will. I never question this team’s fight. I never question this team’s want-to or effort. It simply was one of those days, and we’ll learn from it as we have before. “
Hurts had the offense moving late, but the Eagles’ comeback effort ended when Jalen Reagor dropped a Hurts offering on fourth down at the 1-yard line.
“Keep your head up, see it through, keep working,” Hurts said of Reagor. “It’s the same message I’m giving myself. Not pointing figures. It’s not on Jalen Reagor, it’s not on anybody else late in the game. Put it on me.”
ESPN’s Jordan Raanan contributed to this report.
Source: www.espn.com