PHILADELPHIA − No Jalen Hurts led to big problems for the Eagles.
The Eagles quarterback, a leading MVP candidate, missed his second straight game with a shoulder injury. Gardner Minshew didn’t play well in his place, and neither did the Eagles’ offense in a 20-10 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
Minshew’s interception returned 11 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter was the crushing blow. But really, the damage was done through a punchless first half. The Eagles didn’t get their first first down until 12 seconds remained.
Then after recovering somewhat in the second half, Minshew couldn’t convert a quarterback sneak on 4th-and-1 from midfield in the fourth quarter. Then he threw that crushing interception to Marshon Lattimore.
“Obviously, it wasn’t Gardner’s best game and it wasn’t our best game as an offense,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “Not even close, right? Gardner is capable of playing better. We’re capable of coaching better, and we are capable of playing better as an entire unit.”
The loss was damaging in so many ways, beginning with the fact that the Eagles (13-3) missed a chance to not only clinch the NFC East, but the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs, with the bye that goes with it.
The Eagles can still accomplish both goals with a win over the Giants. Or they could find themselves as the top wildcard team − and thus road playoff games − if they lose to the Giants, plus the Cowboys beat Washington next weekend.
No wonder Eagles center Jason Kelce said: “I’m not even focused on that right now. I can give two (expletives) about clinching a first-place seed right now. We gotta get a lot of things fixed. I gotta get a lot of things fixed. That’s what I’m focused on.”
Certainly, the Eagles saw the difference between Hurts, who’s a leading candidate for the MVP, and Minshew, who finished 18-for-32 for 274 yards with a touchdown and interception.
Minshew threw three interceptions in the two games in place of Hurts.
He couldn’t move the offense in the first half as the Eagles went scoreless for the first time this season. They didn’t get their first first down of the game until 12 seconds remained in the half. And when the Eagles needed Minshew to convert a 4th-and-1 at midfield with 8:32 left, he came up short on a QB sneak, a play that’s virtually guaranteed with Hurts’ ability as a runner.
“We just couldn’t get rolling,” Minshew said. “It is one of those things that you try and get that first, first-down and we kept shooting ourselves in the foot and getting in our own way. They are a good defense, too. There is not much room for error when you play a team like that.”
The miscues weren’t turnover related compared to the previous two losses, when the Eagles committed four turnovers in each. Rather, the mistakes were penalties, such as a holding call on left guard Landon Dickerson that negated Kenny Gainwell’s 28-yard touchdown run to start the third quarter.
The Eagles settled for a field goal on that drive.
Minshew’s bright spot was a 78-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Brown with 45 seconds left in the third quarter, when Brown got open deep, then brushed off his defender and ran about 35 yards into the end zone.
That brought the Eagles to within 13-10 with the fourth quarter approaching.
It seemed like a matter of time before the Eagles would overwhelm the Saints, who hadn’t come close to scoring after taking a 13-0 lead at halftime. That’s in large part due to the defense, which racked up seven more sacks and broke the team record of 62 in a season. The Eagles now have 68.
And then Minshew threw the interception that sealed the game. The Eagles took possession at their 9 with 6 minutes remaining. On second down, Minshew tried to hit Brown on a quick screen, but Lattimore jumped the play, intercepted the ball and scored.
“It was initially a press (coverage),” Brown said. “I was trying to get Gardner’s attention to look up, but he never looked back at me.”
Added Minshew: “They made a great adjustment to jump the route. I should have seen that leverage when we made the motion.”
At that point, there was 5:27 remaining, and the fans, who had already lathered the team with boos throughout the first half, starting streaming for the exits.
That’s because the Saints had the ball for 22:50 in the first half, the Eagles for just 7:10.
Still, the Eagles had a chance, even after the penalty on Dickerson negated the Eagles’ touchdown to start the second half.
Dickerson was incredulous at the penalty, when he appeared to “pancake” the player he was blocking. Left tackle Jordan Mailata said he thought the penalty was going to be on him, and that the referee simply mixed up Mailata’s No. 68 with Dickerson’s No. 69.
“I’m sitting there like, ‘Maybe you got confused with the numbers,’ Mailata said. “But (the referee) is talking to Landon … and I’m like, ‘He obviously hasn’t seen an (expletive) pancake before in his life.”
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But really, it was one in a long line of bad plays by the Eagles offensively.
“That was just bad football … offensively,” running back Miles Sanders said. “We just gotta clean stuff up before it gets real.”
It’s about to get real.
Getting a record
Fittingly, it was Brandon Graham who got the Eagles’ record-breaking sack in the first half. The sack also gave Graham 10 for the season, marking the first time in his 13 seasons that he has reached double figures.
It’s the first time since sacks became an official stat that a team has 4 players in double figures. Graham (11) joins Haason Reddick (16), Josh Sweat (11) and Javon Hargrave (11).
The Eagles need 4 more sacks to tie the all-time NFL record for a season set by the Chicago Bears with 72 in 1984.
“It felt good as far as doing something special, breaking the record, four people having double digits,” Graham said.
Almost a record
Brown’s 78-yard TD reception gave him 93 yards receiving for the game on 3 receptions, leaving him with 1,401 yards for the season. He’s just 9 yards away from breaking Mike Quick’s team record set in 1983.
Josh Sweat has scary injury
It appeared that Sweat suffered a significant injury in the first quarter. He was trying to tackle Adam Prentice on a third-and-1 from the 19. Sweat went down and banged his hands on the turf. But he didn’t appear to be moving his legs, so he stayed face down on the turf for several minutes.
A cart came on the field and Sweat was slowly lifted onto it as the entire team came over to wish him well. The Eagles announced that Sweat has a neck injury, and was transported to a local hospital for precautionary reasons. Sweat had movement in all extremities, and the team announced he was being released from the hospital Sunday night.
Hurts not only key player out
Right tackle Lane Johnson sat out with an abdominal injury. and DB Avonte Maddox with a toe injury. Neither is expected back until the playoffs. The Eagles gave the practice-squad elevation to punter Brett Kern. That’s his third and final elevation. The Eagles will have to create a spot on the 53-man roster for Kern for him to play again.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.