Just days after they quietly demoted defensive coordinator Sean Desai and turned the play-calling over to Matt Patricia in what seemed like a desperation move, both coaches got to watch helplessly as the Eagles defense fell apart once again.
They somehow let Drew Lock march the Seattle Seahawks 92 yards down the field in just 1:24 late in the fourth quarter so he could hit Jaxon Smith-Njigba with a game-winning, 29-yard touchdown pass with 28 seconds to go.
That was enough to send the Eagles off on their long flight home with a soul-crushing, 20-17 loss — the third straight defeat for the defending NFC champs. And it once again left them⅞ wrong.
“I’ve been talking about execution all year, being on the same page, everyone being on the same page,” said Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. “We didn’t execute. I don’t think we’re committed enough.”
“That‘s three games in a row with the same stuff,” said defensive tackle Fletcher Cox. “It’s been a rough three weeks for this team.”
That’s quite an understatement for a team that came off back-to-back blowout losses against the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys, only to fold late in Seattle. It’s the first real adversity they’ve faced in the last two seasons. It’s also their first three-game losing streak since the first month of the Nick Sirianni Era back in 2021.
And the worst part for the Eagles (10-4) is they looked like they were almost out of it, that they had found their old selves in Seattle.
Even though Hurts was playing through an unspecified illness that forced him to skip the team charter and fly separately to the game, they actually looked good on offense at times.
They recommitted to their rushing attack to the tune of 178 yards. Even Hurts, as sick as he looked, ran for 82 yards and two touchdowns.
But every time it looked like the Eagles had a chance to pull away from the Seahawks, something went wrong. Like when they had a shot to take an early 14-0 lead, but blew it when center Jason Kelce was called for a false start on a usually-automatic “Tush Push” play on 3rd and 1 from the Seattle 3 in the second quarter.
That made them settle for a field goal instead.
