EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown and a host of injured, ineffective Eagles can only hope they bottomed out Sunday night — a 1-5 finish headed into the postseason that could spark an offseason of upheaval — in a 27-10 loss to the New York Giants.
The Eagles (11-6) earned the No. 5 seed and will open the NFC playoffs next week at Tampa Bay.
If recent weeks are any indication, it could be a short playoff run for the NFC champions. The Eagles entered the game with an outside shot at the No. 2 seed in the playoffs. They didn’t get the needed help in Washington, where the Dallas Cowboys won the game, the NFC East title and the second spot in the conference.
It didn’t matter anyway.
The first blow came when injured starters DeVonta Smith, Darius Slay and D’Andre Swift were unable to play. Fletcher Cox also sat out.
Most of the rest of the Eagles took the game off, too.
How else to explain an embarrassment of effort and execution in easily the worst game in coach Nick Sirianni’s three seasons? The Eagles had the dubious distinction of topping last week’s 35-31 home loss to Arizona as the most inexcusable defeat in Sirianni’s tenure.
With the No. 2 seed never really in reach — the Cowboys were 13.5-point favorites — Sirianni could have rested his starters and played it safe for the fifth seed.
But out the starters came, and in they went to the sideline medical tent.
Hurts didn’t seem too harmed when last season’s NFL MVP runner-up took a hard hit to the right middle finger on his throwing hand. He was rattled on an incomplete pass attempt on fourth-and-3 from the Eagles’ 48-yard line. Hurts got his finger taped and put on a glove for some warmup passes. He took off the glove and didn’t miss a snap.
Hurts did extend his middle finger as he waited on the sideline — no doubt, Eagles fans everywhere were doing the same in the half to their televisions.
Hurts was 7 of 16 for 55 yards and one interception.
Brown’s loss could be the big one if it’s serious. With fellow 1,000-yard receiver Smith already out with an ankle injury, Brown crumpled to the ground and grabbed his right knee on the MetLife Stadium turf. The same turf where Jets QB Aaron Rodgers suffered torn a left Achilles tendon. The same turf other NFL players have trashed and urged for a change to natural grass.
That’s an argument for another day.
This week, the talk radio hot takes and social media outrage in Philly will be focused solely on Sirianni’s fate. A road playoff game. No division title. It was inconceivable after the Eagles followed a Super Bowl loss with a 10-1 start.
As the losses piled up, Sirianni stripped defensive coordinator Sean Desai of his play-calling duties. Matt Patricia wasn’t the answer. The offensive line couldn’t handle blitzes or any serious pressure. The Eagles tensed up — Brown, a co-captain, stopped talking to the media for two weeks — and they tried to put on a unified front in the locker room when pressed on dissension within the team.
But a win against the Giants could have settled nerves, soothed stomachs in Philly. After all, the Eagles had won five straight against New York and 13 of 15 overall (playoff included) and represented the only win in the December collapse.
Look up, though, and there was New York’s Saquon Barkley running for one touchdown, then another. Hurts had a pass intercepted. Marcus Mariota replaced Hurts and promptly threw an interception. Tyrod Taylor threw for 229 yards in the first half, and the Giants led 24-0.
Sirianni waved the white flag and pulled his starters. The game was lost. The season could be next.
