Jalen Hurts Exits Early as Eagles Lose to Commanders

It’s a loss you can excuse, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t all sick to our stomachs watching it.

The Eagles fell to the Commanders 36-33 in a game where Jayden Daniels threw for five touchdowns, including three in the fourth quarter. Jalen Hurts exited with a concussion and Kenny Pickett couldn’t deliver. The defense, usually the best in the league, fell under the weight of some key injuries and poor complimentary football.

The game started off pretty much perfectly for the Eagles. After the defense forced a turnover on downs the offense stormed all the way down the field, ending in a two-yard Saquon Barkley touchdown. Washington would get a very good kick return to put them near midfield, but on the first play in the drive Jalen Carter punched out the football and Nolan Smith recovered it for a Washington turnover.

The Eagles were moving down the field again and looking sharp, but then Jalen Hurts was suddenly pulled from the game following an apparent hit to the head. Kenny Pickett would come in and hit A.J. Brown for three receptions on three targets, resulting in another Eagles touchdown.

After another Washington three and out it felt like this game could be a blowout for Philadelphia, but on the following drive, Hurts was still not on the field, meaning that Pickett had to stay. On the second play of the drive, he was picked off by Frankie Luvu. The Commanders used this momentum and a short field, as well as a pair of costly Eagles penalties, to score a touchdown of their own, making the score 14-7.

This could have really shifted the trajectory of the game, especially with Jalen Hurts in the locker room with no indication of whether or not he would return. Once the Eagles got the ball back though, Barkley calmed everything down, as he has done so many times. On the second play of the drive, Barkley ran the ball for a 68-yard touchdown. If you read the PSR preview for this game you would know that Barkley needed to average 140 yards for the final three games of the season to break the all-time rushing record of 2,105. Well, he had 109 in the first quarter alone.

Penalties were starting to mount for the Eagles’ defense in the second quarter, and it seemed as though the Commanders would be able to turn these mistakes into another scoring drive. Thankfully, this defense is unreal, and they forced the second fumble of the day on Brian Robinson at the Eagles’ own 10-yard line. It is also worth mentioning that two of the penalties were highly questionable unsportsmanlike conduct and unnecessary roughness calls on C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Jalen Carter respectively.

Prior to the next Eagles drive it was announced that Jalen Hurts was ruled out of the game with a concussion. Kenny Pickett responded in kind with a beautiful 45-yard pass to A.J. Brown. Unfortunately, this drive would stall out, resulting in the first Eagles punt of the day.

Commanders would drive 96 yards down the field to make it a one-score game again on a perfect touchdown pass from Jayden Daniels to Terry McLaurin, making the score 21-14.

The injury problems would extend beyond Hurts for the Eagles, as Josh Sweat, Jordan Davis, and Nakobe Dean would all exit for the Eagles before the half. Despite this, the defense would still be the main reason the Eagles went into the half with the lead. Gardner-Johnson had an interception on Daniels. After back-to-back threes and outs for the Eagles, this set them up with the chance to end the half with a field goal and a 10-point lead.

Jake Elliott has missed ‘em right, he’s missed ‘em left, and now on a 56-yard attempt, he’s missing ‘em short. His kick was no good and there Eagles go into the half with a seven-point lead and major questions about their kicker.

Elliott would right some wrongs in the third quarter, making a 24 and 40-yarder to give the Eagles a 27-14 lead, but his inability to hit from deep is very concerning and may have cost Philly the game.

From this point on it was pretty much the Jayden Daniels show. He would throw a pair of unanswered touchdowns to former Eagle Olamide Zaccheaus to give the Commanders a 28-27.

The Eagles responded though, and seemed like they took control of the game, kicking another field goal, Elliott’s first 50-yarder of the year, and retaking the lead. Reed Blankenship seemed to have sealed the game with an interception on Daniels with just under three minutes to go. The offense stalled again though, and a week after they bled the clock for 10 and a half minutes to end the game they were forced to kick another field goal after having possession for less than a minute.

Daniels then got the ball and showed the league that he is a star by driving all the way down the field for a game-winning touchdown with just six seconds left to go.

Heartbreaking.

Five turnovers and competent play from your backup quarterback and you still lose. Every team has a loss like this, but that doesn’t mean it stings any less when it happens to yours. It’s not a stretch to imagine that the Eagles would have won this game handily if Hurts played the whole game, but you can’t play the “what if” game in the NFL. All we can do now is hope he gets better and is able to retake the field next week against the Cowboys at home. The NFC East is still in the balance.

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