jalen hurts

‘This One's On Me': Hurts Takes Blame After Eagles Blown Out by Cowboys

‘This one’s on me’ — Jalen Hurts accepts blame in loss to Cowboys originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

ARLINGTON, Texas — Jalen Hurts didn’t mince words after the Eagles’ embarrassing 41-21 loss the the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on Monday night.

“It’s on me,” Hurts said. “This one’s on me.”

Of course, Hurts didn’t lose this game on his own. There were plenty of reasons why the Eagles were thoroughly bullied by their biggest rival on a national stage. It really was a group effort.

But Hurts was undoubtedly a large part of the loss. The 23-year-old did not play well.

“Things didn’t go my way,” Hurts said. “Things didn’t go our way. It’s tough. It’s tough. All I can do is take complete ownership for how I played and how it affected the team. I gotta do a better job. Clearly.”

Clearly.

Hurts finished the game completing 25 of 39 passes for 326 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. One of his interceptions was returned for a touchdown.

After completing 77% of his passes in the Eagles’ Week 1 win over the Falcons, Hurts’ issues with accuracy have shown up the past two weeks. He completed just 52% of his passes in Week 2 and 64% of his passes in Week 3. On Monday night, he was just off on a few plays that would have been big-gainers and he again struggled with some under throws on deep balls.

No matter what questions Hurts was asked after the loss, his responses were very similar:

I need to get better.

I didn’t play as well as I needed to.

I'm going to learn from this and get better.

It’s refreshing to hear this level of accountability from the starting quarterback — he spoke using “I” and not “We.” It’s easy to see why Hurts’ teammates gravitate toward him. He was willing to take the blame on Monday night and that’s admirable.

The problem is that as refreshing as it is to hear all that, it doesn’t take away from the fact that Hurts was right. He does need to play better.

“I didn’t do my job,” Hurts said. “I didn’t do my job and we didn’t win the game. When I do my job, we win the game. I didn’t do my job.”

Head coach and play caller Nick Sirianni didn’t make it easy on Hurts either. After spending all offseason talking about building the offense around Hurts’ strengths, the game plan on Monday night was basically to have Hurts drop back and pass a million times in an attempt to keep up with the Cowboys. Starting running back Miles Sanders — healthy as an ox — had just two carries.

Hurts noted that Sanders didn’t get touches but still made no excuses for his play.

“Play calling was not an issue in the game,” Hurts said. “I was the issue in this game.”

We all understand what’s at stake for Hurts this season. The Eagles will want to know by year’s end whether or not the 2020 second-round pick has what it takes to be their long-term franchise quarterback. Fair or not, the Eagles value the quarterback position and value having an elite player in that spot. If they don’t think Hurts can be that type of player, they will have the ammo to make a move for someone they think can.

We’re just three games into this season and just seven starts into Hurts’ career. He’s still young, he’s still learning, he’s still making mistakes and showing flashes.

The good news for Hurts is that he’ll get another shot next week.

“I’m going to learn from it, and we will be a better team for it,” Hurts said. “I believe that. I truly believe that. You know, you take you a deuce, you don’t sit there and look at it. You flush it, move on. We are going to flush it, move on.”

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