Postgame Report: Coaches, Hurts Lead Eagles To Another Embarrassing Loss

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By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor

The Eagles entered the half looking defeated.

Gannon had his defense perform worse in the first quarter of this game than he did in the second half of the week six game, which is a feat seeing that his personnel was almost entirely worse and that of the Bucs’ offense was absolutely worse.

Meanwhile, Jalen Hurts looked like a player who once again appeared to have never played before, missing open receivers and making poor decisions.

The coaches didn’t help with Gannon running his Chip Kelly “you play my scheme not to your strengths” mindset and Sirianni putting the ball in the hands of Hurts, the exact opposite of which is what put this team on a playoff run.

Nothing changed until the fourth quarter when the game was already over, so for all intents and purposes, Sirianni and Hurts lead this offense to a shutout with some of the worst QB play we’ve ever seen along with brutal play calling.

The fourth quarter was just window dressing for the Eagles so that it didn’t look like such a blowout.

This is a difficult one. I could chose Smith or Watkins, who both played exceptionally well, but they both need someone to throw them the ball and the Eagles stuck with the totally incompetent guy at QB. Kelce was dominant again in this one. He was called for two penalties, but one was because of an illegal hands to the face (which somehow was not noticed, but the “hold” was) and the other was a linebacker who was so weak that he fell over so easily the referees figured it had to be a hold. Kelce was dominant and he helped to show how utterly garbage these referees are and how they should be fired immediately.

Slay was strong in coverage. Unfortunately, Gannon is a moron and didn’t have him travel with Evans who promptly torched anyone else who covered him.

• A man once said, “You take you a deuce, you don’t sit there and look at it. You flush it and move on.” Hurts was the ultimate deuce in this game. Is it time to consider flushing it?
• Hurts once again came out like he had never played in the NFL. It took him until garbage time yet again to get anything going. We hear about his talent and his leadership abilities. How he’s a warrior. How he’s a coach’s son. Well after 20 starts, he has shown absolutely no improvement and somehow even less consistency. One of the things that gets on my nerves the most about him is that fans treat him like he’s a rookie or a child, but he’s had multiple offseasons with the team and more than a full season under his belt with no week-to-week improvement. Are we expected to have him come out as though he’s never played before for four years in the hopes that one day he will show some semblance of football IQ at the start of a game?
• The Eagles will have three draft picks in the first round, but if Minshew isn’t the guy and we have been shown time and time again that Hurts isn’t either, the Eagles aren’t exactly in a position to get a better quarterback.
• Gannon has multiple head coaching interviews? That’s rich. Hopefully one of those teams hires him and gets that dead weight off this team so we can watch some other team suffer under the weight of his utter stupidity and pride. He is like a defensive Chip Kelly who thinks any player will fit into his scheme and doesn’t do anything to utilize their strengths.
• On to coaching, the Eagles ran the ball three or four times in the first half. What a joke that is. Did Sirianni totally forget how this team got to the playoffs by taking the ball out of Hurts’ hands? His utter ineptitude in this game makes me glad he wasn’t in coach of the year conversation. I guess those flowers he was planting were seasonal, because they died very quickly.
• Ryan Kerrigan has been a waste of a roster spot all season and even he got some stats in this one. It’s unfortunate Josh Sweat had a life-threatening illness this week, because he would have feasted on an OL that struggled against Kerrigan.
• Kenneth Gainwell was another positive in this one, showcasing his abilities in the passing game. I’m still not sold on his rushing ability, but he has earned a spot for further consideration with that.
• Just like two years ago in the playoffs, Jordan Howard was suddenly unused in this game despite being listed as healthy. He was used a few times to block blitzes and that was it.
• Quez Watkins was open deep down the field at least three times for touchdowns. I said before the game that Hurts would probably have to connect on at least one of these to win the game. He didn’t come close to completing any of them as all of those passes were way off target whether he was under distress or not. Watkins is a guy who would easily be a #2 WR in this league if he had a QB who could get him the ball – he’s open deep regularly and he can make catches in traffic, too.

Philadelphia Eagles at Tampa Bay Buccaneers – January 16, 2022

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