Postgame Report: Eagles Defense Fails To Halt Chargers

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By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor

The Eagles entered the half up following a dominant performance by the run game supported by a few good passes from Hurts mixed in with the bad.

That changed in the second half as Hurts began to hit his targets rather than airmail his passes. The result was a more balanced attack with the only unsuccessful drive being the one where Hurts tripped over Jack Driscoll’s leg and was sacked.

Unfortunately, the Eagles defense was not able to stop the Chargers even a single time, so they get yet another loss.

Once the passes began to actually reach him, Smith was able to go off, registering 116 yards and a touchdown on just five catches. He showed why he was a first-round pick once again. Get the ball to him on those routes going forward, and he should keep it up.

Unfortunately, no Eagles player really stood out on the defensive side of the ball. For every great play that someone like Davion Taylor or TJ Edwards made that would make them the MVP, there was an ugly missed tackle that allowed a drive to continue by the very same player. Considering the defense allowed points on every second half drive and that resulted in the loss, I think having no MVP is fair.

• Sticking with the run game in the first half is what kept this team ahead in the first half of this game.
• In the opening half, Hurts continued to miss wide-open targets and it has reached the point where not only are his receiving targets upset, but the ones who know him from college are also visibly frustrated. I don’t want to hear any more about “this is only Hurts’ Xth game”, the most basic task of a quarterback is to throw the ball to the open targets and if Hurts can’t do that, he isn’t the QB of the future no matter how well he performs in other aspects of the game. We started to see that in the second half of this game, but we need to see that sooner than that starting next week. He has the ability, he just needs to show the consistency before the team decides it’s too late.
• A defensive stop at the one-yard line on the opening drive may have eventually resulted in points due to the offense’s inability to gain any yardage and a resultant very good field position for the Chargers offense soon after, but it was a big result for the defense and something you want to see from a team that has essentially no real chance at the playoffs at this point in the season.
• The Eagles are now 0-4 at home.
• The Eagles secondary was banged up in this one, but the Eagles defense failed in the run game for the most part. That is particularly concerning, because if Gannon can’t get pressure or even keep the run game in check with the depth of this front, he should be fired before the season ends.

Las Angeles Chargers at Philadelphia Eagles – November 7, 2021