Despite a laundry list of negatives that hindered the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night, they still had a chance to win a game on the road in overtime against the Los Angeles Chargers until Jalen Hurts threw an interception on the Chargers’ two-yard line to end the game and extend Philadelphia’s losing streak to a season-high three games with a 22-19 loss.
It was the fifth giveaway on the quarterback’s ledger, an eye-popping number for Hurts, who had been so good with ball security for the majority of this season.
Here are five takeaways from the game.
Let’s start with the positives. The defense played lights out and took full advantage of a porous and banged-up Chargers’ offensive line, battering Justin Herbert, pressuring him on 68% of his dropbacks and sacking Herbert a career-high seven times.
It needed to be a collective effort up front with Jalen Carter out with his shoulder injuries, and the group of Jaelan Phillips, Jordan Davis, Moro Ojomo, Byron Young, Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt all stepped up in a big way. Hunt led the way with 2.5 sacks, while Davis and Young each added 1.5 sacks as well. Phillips forced an interception, hitting Herbert midthrow.
The defense did allow Herbert, who played with a cast on his broken left hand, to escape the pocket and pick up some crucial yards late in the game, finishing with 66 rushing yards on 10 carries, but overall, the defense had a nice bounce-back performance after giving up nearly 900 yards of offense between the losses against Dallas and Chicago.
Just ten months ago, Hurts was receiving the Super Bowl MVP trophy after leading the Eagles to their second championship in franchise history. On Monday night, he played so poorly that the thought of potentially benching him to start the second half crept into fans’ minds.
It didn’t get much better for Hurts, who finished the game with a career-high five giveaways, including two on one play, making history.
Being conservative with the football and not putting it in harm's way was the calling card for Hurts and this offense, especially this season. However, over the last two games, Hurts has turned the football over seven times. He had just seven giveaways over his previous 26 games.
The quarterback finished the game throwing 41 passes, completing just 20 of them for 240 yards, no touchdowns and four interceptions. He finished with a passer rating of 31.2 and a QBR of 27.3.
“I didn’t play well enough. I had too many turnovers,” Hurts said postgame. “We had lots of opportunities, especially when we got on the other side of the 50 and I wasn’t able to get us in the box.”
Hurts has not been good over the last month; however, he has been a proven winner since taking over the starting quarterback job, and his resume alone should allow him to have a longer leash than what critics are giving him at the moment. Is he more of a game manager than a bona fide star who can sling his way to a victory? Yes. But the Eagles have been winning with that formula for the majority of games he starts and finishes.
One of the main storylines for the bulk of the season has been the lack of targets and opportunities A.J. Brown was getting. Despite not being heavily involved during that stretch, posting just two 100-plus yard games, the team got off to a 7-2 start in games he played.
Over the last three weeks, Brown has had his best stretch of the season, hitting the century mark in each game and scoring three touchdowns with a fourth taken off the board in Monday night’s loss.
Is it just a coincidence that the Eagles are 0-3 in those games? That’s a bigger issue to dive into, but Hurts has been missing other options and not checking it down when needed.
Brown finished with 100 yards on six catches on a season-high 13 targets, but he had three pivotal drops in the game.
The first was on the first play of the game for the Eagles. Brown had a deep pass hit off his fingertips down the sideline that could have ignited the offense with an explosive play right out of the gate.
The second one was a high throw from Hurts; however, Brown had both hands on it, but didn’t come down with the ball, and it tipped in the air for one of the four interceptions from Hurts.
The last one could have potentially been the dagger for the Eagles. Hurts dropped a beautiful teardrop to Brown in the endzone, but the usual sure-handed wideout had the ball jarred out of his grasp.
“For me, it was like three plays I wish I could have back the entire game,” Brown said.
“First one at the beginning of the game, I wish I could somehow find a way to make that one. The ball over the middle, no it wasn’t perfect, but I’m more than capable to make that catch. That last one in the end zone, [the Chargers DB] just made a play at the right time.”
The drops were rather rare for Brown, who hadn’t had a dropped pass in a regular-season game since 2023.
The return man had been signed to the Eagles’ practice squad in late August, yet the Eagles trotted out Jahan Dotson and Xavier Gipson, who were recently cut up until last week. In two games, Covey, who led the league in 2023 in punt return yards with 417, already has 63 return yards on four punts. Dotson and Gipson combined for 115 yards on 11 returns.
It’s a bit surprising that Covey, who had been on the practice squad since Week 1 after not making the Rams’ roster, was not elevated to the active roster to be the go-to punt returner after the struggles Gipson had.
Covey could be an added weapon for the Eagles over the final month of the season and can help give the struggling offense better field position to start drives to try to help the struggling unit.
It has seemed as if this 2025 team always takes one step forward and two steps back during games. Backbreaking penalties, dropped passes, poor execution, and play-calling all reared their ugly heads for yet another week.
The biggest penalty in Monday’s loss was the holding call on Jordan Mailata to negate a game-tying touchdown pass from Hurts to Brown in the second quarter that would have made it a 10-10 tie. Instead, the Eagles had to settle for a Jake Elliott field goal.
Another penalty nullified a Cooper DeJean interception on the Chargers’ first possession, which would have given the Eagles the ball right around midfield. However, Ojomo was called for being offside, and the Chargers ultimately went three-and-out, pinning Philadelphia at its 10-yard line, where the Eagles punted the ball back after three plays.
On the final drive for the Eagles, a 17-yard Hurts scramble was called back due to a holding by Cam Jurgens to make it 3rd and 16. Hurts and the offense were able to overcome being behind the sticks on the ensuing play, something they have not consistently done.
The Eagles were called for six penalties for 53 yards in the loss.
Nick Sirianni stresses that his teams will master the things that don’t take skill, but this year’s team has been unable to show that is the case on a week-to-week basis.
The Eagles have four more games left in the regular season, with two at home against the lowly Raiders and Commanders and two road games at Buffalo and at Washington. The division is still in their grips, but they need to bounce back from a loss that Sirianni said “stings”.
