The Philadelphia Eagles were driving deep into Washington territory to potentially tie the game when Jalen Hurts lost the football. It was a bad fumble – one caused by Montez Sweat and recovered by Landon Collins – that Washington quickly turned into three points. They took a surprising 10-0 lead after the first quarter.
Hurts has struggled with turnovers dating back to his rookie year. He now has 29 in 28 games: 16 fumbles, 13 interceptions. Nick Sirianni was none too pleased with Hurts’ latest fumble in Week 15. The FOX TV cameras caught the first-year head coach yelling at Hurts as he came off the field. Sirianni looked pissed off and followed Hurts down the sideline, chirping in his ear the whole time.
Here’s video evidence of Nick Sirianni laying into Jalen Hurts after that costly fumble. The QB didnt like it, shaking his head in disgust. #Eagles #FlyEaglesFly
Hurts made up for it late in the second quarter when he plowed ahead on a one-year sneak to tie everything up at 10-10. The touchdown run capped an 11-play, 77-yard Eagles’ drive, highlighted by big-time grabs from Dallas Goedert and DeVonta Smith.
Goedert went into the halftime locker room with five catches for 98 yards. Hurts went 11-of-14 for 169 yards with an interception. And Miles Sanders carried 13 times for 69 yards. Jake Elliott got the Eagles on the board with a 20-yard field goal.
Tuesday night’s game was a virtual playoff game for Philadelphia. Remember, the Eagles need to run the table over the final four weeks to keep their playoff hopes alive. Beating Washington was the first step. The NFC East rivals meet again in Week 17 (Sunday, January 2). The Eagles also battle the New York Giants (Sunday, December 26) and the Dallas Cowboys (Sunday, December 9) to close out the regular season.
.@_sweat9 with the forced fumble 💥
@TheHumble_21 with the scoop 🔥
📺 » FOX | #WASvsPHI
“One game at a time, don’t think about the playoffs. One game at a time, and one day at a time,” Sirianni told reporters on December 15. “It’s what are we doing, again, to put ourselves in position to win this week. You can’t think about who we play after this. You can’t think about that we play them again in two weeks. You can’t think about the last game that we have. It’s only about this week.”
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Dallas Goedert Drop Leads to Touchdown
Hurts wasn’t the only one making bone-headed plays in the first half. Tight end Dallas Goedert dropped an easy pass prior to Hurts’ fumble, one that bounced off his heel and into the arms of Landon Collins. Initially ruled an incompletion, the play was later reviewed and ruled an interception after instant replay showed it hit Goedert’s foot.
WE’LL TAKE IT!
📺 » FOX | #WASvsPHI
The worst part of the turnover was Goedert had tons of green grass ahead of him. He probably could have taken it down the field for a touchdown, or – at the very worst – a long gainer to put the Eagles in scoring position. Instead, running back Antonio Gibson ran it in for a nifty touchdown to put Washington up 7-0 early.
Eagles Activate Jack Anderson
The Eagles activated rookie center/guard Jack Anderson off injured reserve prior to kickoff. They entered the game down two offensive linemen – left guard Landon Dickerson, left tackle Andre Dillard due to COVID-19 – so they wanted to get an extra body up on gameday. Anderson had been rehabbing from a hamstring injury. He has never appeared in an NFL game.
Philadelphia listed four players inactive against Washington: QB Reid Sinnett, CB Tay Gowan, CB Kary Vincent Jr., DT Marlon Tuipulotu. Sua Opeta started at left guard and Nate Herbig started at right guard. And the Eagles paid homage to Hall of Famer Harold Carmichael before the game.
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Nick Sirianni Rips Jalen Hurts Following Eagles Fumble: WATCH