Eagles' Offense Gets Mostly Fs After Disappointing Loss to Giants

Week 12 Eagles grades by position after disappointing loss to Giants originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

That was ugly.

The Eagles had a golden opportunity to keep their momentum going the right way in a very winnable game against a division opponent but couldn’t do it.

Instead, they lost to the Giants 13-7 at MetLife Stadium.

Quarterback

Jalen Hurts: 14/31, 129 yards, 3 INTs; 8 rushing attempts, 77 yards

After a few solid performances, the arrow was definitely pointing up on Hurts in recent weeks. But Sunday’s game was his worst of the season. He became the first Eagles’ quarterback to throw three interceptions in a game since Carson Wentz in 2018 and the first to throw three in the red zone since Sam Bradford in 2015.

The worst interception came late in the first half on third down. Hurts forced the ball instead of throwing it away and taking points. It just can’t happen.

And I’m not even the one who is going to give Hurts his grade for this week. Nick Sirianni did it for me.

“It’s never going to be an A, B, C or D if you turn it over three times, right?” Sirianni said. “Obviously, he didn’t play good enough and we didn’t coach good enough and it’s all of us. It’s never just one guy. We’re going to look through that tape and we’re going to have to make those corrections from that tape. When you turn the ball over three times, again, there are different things at play there, but not a winning a performance.”

Hurts ran for 77 yards and he had a couple nice throws late that were dropped. But it’s tough to recover from three picks.

Grade: F

Running back

Boston Scott: 15 carries, 64 yards, 1 TD, 1 fumble

In addition to Scott’s 64 yards, Miles Sanders also picked up 64 yards on just nine carries. And Kenny Gainwell did some nice things late in the passing game, catching three balls for 32 yards. The fumble from Scott was a big play in the game when the Eagles simply couldn’t afford it.

Grade: C

Receiver

Jalen Reagor: 7 targets, 2 catches, 31 yards, 2 drops

Those two drops from Reagor aren’t the only reason the Eagles lost but catching the football late in that opportunity could have erased a lot of ugly play from the Eagles. In addition to Reagor, Quez Watkins had 2 catches for 23 yards and DeVonta Smith had 2 for 22. J.J. Arcega-Whiteside had 1 catch for 13 yards. Greg Ward had a chance for a touchdown catch and couldn’t haul it in before the end of the first half.

Grade: F

Tight end

Dallas Goedert: 3 targets, 1 catch, 0 yards

Goedert simply needs to be a bigger part of the Eagles’ game plan. He’s one of their best players and for him to finish a game with one catch just isn’t acceptable. I did notice Jack Stoll doing some nice things as a blocker but the Eagles need more production out of the position.

Grade: F

Offensive line

The Eagles really missed Jason Kelce when he needed to exit the game with a knee injury. The two penalties from Nate Herbig were costly. But when Kelce was in there, the Eagles’ OL still did a good job and the Birds finished the day with 208 yards on the ground. It’s their fifth straight game with 175+ rushing yards.

Grade: B-

Defensive line

Derek Barnett: 5 tackles, 2 TFL

The Eagles got pretty good pressure on Daniel Jones for much of that game but managed to sack him just once. This defensive line needs to start getting more sacks. But they were very good against the run. Saquon Barkley had 13 carries for 40 yards (3.1) with a long of 32. They really bottled him up.

Grade: B-

Linebacker

Alex Singleton: 12 tackles, 3 TFL, 1 PBU

One of the biggest positives coming out of this game is the play of Singleton, who rejoined the starting lineup with the knee injury to Davion Taylor. Singleton and T.J. Edwards played pretty well in this game.

Grade: B

Secondary

Avonte Maddox: 8 tackles, 1 PBU

Daniel Jones threw for 200 yards but averaged just 6.7 yards per attempt. The Eagles really could have used a takeaway in this game and got close a couple times but didn’t get one. Maddox was their best player in the secondary.

Grade: B-

Special teams

Arryn Siposs: 3 punts, 43.3 average, 2 inside 20

Siposs had a fine outing and Jake Elliott made his extra point attempt. The Eagles aren’t getting a ton from Reagor in the return game.

Grade: C+

Coaching

Eagles record: 5-7

I thought at times the Eagles got away from the run game a little too much and that was a bad idea given Hurts’ struggles. But the game plan did get them in the red zone twice when Hurts threw picks. And on defense, I thought Gannon’s plan was fine.

Grade: C-

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