PHILADELPHIA -- Poor execution.
Jalen Hurts said those words five times.
"I think there's no other way to put it," he said.
The quarterback's perspective after the Philadelphia Eagles blew a two-score lead in Sunday's 24-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams gave first-time offensive coordinator Sean Mannion more grace. By attributing the franchise's first 0-for-12 outing on third down since at least 2000 to poor execution, by calling the offense's collective inadequacy an "executing thing" and not a schematic thing, Hurts tried to prevent the weight of an embarrassing loss from falling squarely on the shoulders of their fledgling system's chief architect.
"He's gonna wear a lot of this," coach Nick Sirianni said of Mannion. "There's no doubt."
Mannion wore his headset in the coaches' booth while many of Lincoln Financial Field's 69,879 paid attendees booed one of the team's worst offensive performances this century. Of the 461 regular-season and playoff games the Eagles have played since 2000, only six have had fewer offensive yards than the Eagles totaled on Sunday (172), and only two have had fewer net passing yards (68). The Eagles went 1-for-4 on fourth-down attempts, including a fatal fourth-and-goal failure when Hurts and Darius Cooper failed to connect while sitting on a 20-10 lead with 7:26 left.
Hurts also pinned that on execution -- not the play call. Watch the replay, and the pocket collapses. The receivers don't separate. The pass falls beyond Cooper's outstretched arms. Sirianni, who was caught on camera nearly calling a timeout before the snap, said he was considering a timeout because the play clock was running out -- not because he was uncomfortable with the call or the defensive look.
And the third-and-goal? Hurts took ownership of a "bad exchange" between himself and center Drew Kendall. Backup guard Willie Lampkin had subbed in as an extra H-back blocker and motioned as the lead blocker in what appeared to be a run intended for Tank Bigsby. Hurts spun into an improvised run that gained no yardage.
"I think in the end, Hurts said, "it comes back to alignment, connectedness to what we're doing and everybody executing."
What we're doing. After four games, it is difficult to deduce exactly what that is for this Eagles offense. Sirianni and the multiple players who spoke with reporters after Sunday's loss did not pin this ambiguity on Mannion, no matter how much the numbers suggest a correlation. The Eagles' -32.83 total offensive EPA is their lowest through four games since 2020 (-38.99), a disastrous year that led to former coach Doug Pederson's firing. No coordinator in the Sirianni era had totaled a negative EPA in the same span.
On one hand, the mounting injuries and absences Mannion had to manage can be considered a contributing factor.
Starting running back Saquon Barkley injured his hamstring on the Eagles' second drive and did not return. Wide receiver DeVonta Smith was ruled out Friday with a hamstring injury, compounding schematic limitations already at play with tight ends Dallas Goedert and Eli Stowers sidelined.
Then starting right tackle Lane Johnson was ruled inactive hours before kickoff due to what Sirianni called a "personal reason." Starting left tackle Jordan Mailata, who did not speak on Johnson's reasons, said the team found out when they arrived at the stadium Sunday morning.
The development thrust third-round rookie Markel Bell into the starting lineup for the first time. Starting right guard Tyler Steen said the offensive linemen were "first, making sure Lane was OK," and then, "from there, just moving on knowing that we've got a game to play today."
"It's football, it's always the next man up," left guard Cam Jurgens said. "It's tough 'cause that's one of our brothers. We miss him out there."
Meanwhile, the Eagles led 20-10 with their battered lineup. They'd also suffered a brutal loss to the Chicago Bears on Monday night at the hands of third-string quarterback Case Keenum. Sirianni would not accept injuries as a caveat.
"You could ask me that question if we had 30 guys down," Sirianni said. "I'm never going to use anything as an excuse."
The Eagles built their 20-10 halftime lead off the opportunities afforded to them by their defense and special teams units. The franchise entered the weekend as the only NFL team that hadn't yet forced a turnover. Interceptions by safety Drew Mukuba and nickelback Cooper DeJean turned into 10 points. Punter Braden Mann pinned the Rams on their own 7, and, after a three-and-out, Britain Covey's 41-yard punt return set up Hurts' first touchdown pass to Cooper.
Then came the stalling. The Eagles went three-and-out on their first two drives of the second half. Then, on fourth-and-1 at the Eagles' 38, the Rams stuffed the Eagles' infamous Brotherly Shove play. The Eagles' defense forced the Rams to turn the ball over on downs, underscoring how the Eagles were back to a familiar style of play in which they could rely on their defense to make stops.
Sirianni's decision to go for it on fourth-and-goal at the 2 emphasized this philosophy. The tenor of this 2-2 season might be different had the Eagles converted even one third down. But close wins against the struggling Washington Commanders and Tennessee Titans buried problems that would still exist even if the Eagles had escaped the Rams' late surge on Sunday.
The Eagles have struggled against the blitz this season. The Rams blitzed on all of Hurts' third-down dropbacks, according to TruMedia. Hurts was 1-for-7 for five yards. His -0.34 EPA per dropback against the blitz is the lowest of his career through four games. Steen said the Rams sent their safeties on timely blitzes, anticipating the adjustments the Eagles would make as the game went on.
"They brought some different stuff," Steen said. "They're smart, too. They get paid, too. So once they realize that we're sliding one way, they're gonna bring more to the other side."
The stagnation taxed the Eagles' defense to a breaking point. A unit playing without starting linebacker Zack Baun (concussion) and missing starting cornerback Quinyon Mitchell after an in-game knee injury surrendered 98-yard and 79-yard touchdown drives at the end of the game. Jonathan Jones, who replaced Mitchell, dropped what could have been a game-winning interception just before the Rams took the lead.
At 2-2, the Eagles find themselves at a similar crossroads to the one they experienced in 2024. Sirianni and then-offensive coordinator Kellen Moore adjusted their system to a more run-oriented approach that featured more under-center presentations. Mannion's system was supposed to leverage under-center looks similarly to support a style of play in which the Eagles leaned on their wide-zone run concepts to be the aggressor. Their 73 under-center plays through four games have totaled -20.38 EPA -- fourth-lowest in the NFL.
Call it execution. Call it the play calls. Sirianni said, "Obviously, it hasn't been good enough."
"You're trying to make sure as you find out who you are that you're playing with detail and you're playing together and you're playing with toughness," Sirianni said, listing his core principles. "And we've still got a ways to go there, and it's obvious that we're still trying to figure that out."
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
