New York Giants linebacker Bobby Okereke (58) tries to strip the ball from Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) during the second quarter of an NFL football game, Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown and a host of injured, ineffective Eagles can only hope they bottomed out Sunday night — a 1-5 finish headed into the postseason that could spark an offseason of upheaval — in a 27-10 loss to the New York Giants.
The Eagles (11-6) earned the No. 5 seed and will open the NFC playoffs next week at Tampa Bay.
If recent weeks are any indication, it could be a short playoff run for the NFC champions. The Eagles entered the game with an outside shot at the No. 2 seed in the playoffs. They didn’t get the needed help in Washington, where the Dallas Cowboys won the game, the NFC East title and the second spot in the conference.
It didn’t matter anyway.
The first blow came when injured starters DeVonta Smith, Darius Slay and D’Andre Swift were unable to play. Fletcher Cox also sat out.
Most of the rest of the Eagles took the game off, too.
How else to explain an embarrassment of effort and execution in easily the worst game in coach Nick Sirianni’s three seasons? The Eagles had the dubious distinction of topping last week’s 35-31 home loss to Arizona as the most inexcusable defeat in Sirianni’s tenure.
With the No. 2 seed never really in reach — the Cowboys were 13.5-point favorites — Sirianni could have rested his starters and played it safe for the fifth seed.
But out the starters came, and in they went to the sideline medical tent.
Hurts didn’t seem too harmed when last season’s NFL MVP runner-up took a hard hit to the right middle finger on his throwing hand. He was rattled on an incomplete pass attempt on fourth-and-3 from the Eagles’ 48-yard line. Hurts got his finger taped and put on a glove for some warmup passes. He took off the glove…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply