They say all good things must come to an end, and Philadelphia Eagles fans sadly found that out on Sunday afternoon. Coming into Week 6 of the NFL season, the Eagles, along with the San Francisco 49ers, were just one of two teams who had managed to remain undefeated throughout the first five weeks of the season. But a contentious Week 6 matchup against the New York Jets brought the Eagles undefeated reign to an end that surely brought tears to the eyes of their biggest fans, highlighting flaws in what appeared to be an unbearable team that could make them susceptible in future matchups as well. Let’s take a closer look at the Eagles’ Sunday afternoon visit to MetLife Stadium and what went wrong for the Birds in their first loss of the 2023 season.
Photo Courtesy of Bleeding Green Nation
The past two weeks have arguably been Jalen Hurts’ best games of the season thus far, in which he threw for over 300 passing yards both games and completed two-thirds of his passes. He had his team in position to win early on today as well, rushing for a touchdown in the first quarter and completing a 9 yard pass to D’Andre Swift to put the Eagles up 14-3 late in the second quarter. This week though, Hurts didn’t look like the MVP-caliber quarterback Eagles fans know and love: while just two completions and twenty passing yards shy of hitting the same marks he hit these past two weeks, he additionally threw three interceptions that kept the Eagles from maintaining their undefeated record. The Jets didn’t even score their first and only touchdown until the fourth quarter after one of Hurts’ interceptions was returned by Tony Adams for 45 yards before Breece Hall ran it up the middle the remaining 8 yards. Prior to this the Eagles were up 14-12 with Greg Zuerlein hitting all four of the field goals he attempted, but that interception which led to the Jets lone touchdown Sunday out the icing on the cake for New York fans. Now the Eagles have a week to gear up for what will likely be an even tougher matchup when they host the Miami Dolphins at home next week.
Photo Courtesy of Sportsnet
This week’s loss not only hurt Eagles fans emotionally, but also in terms of their likelihood to win the this season‘s Super Bowl. While one week certainly isn’t definitive of how the rest of Philadelphia’s season will pan out, but this week’s loss to the Jets was the textbook definition of a bad loss. With that being said though, it’s easier to overcome those tough losses early on in the season than it is towards the tail end. The Eagles almost definitely weren’t going to go undefeated all season, and if anything fans and players alike should see this as a humbling experience and an opportunity to grow moving forward as the Eagles face better teams and further embark on their pursuit of the Vince Lombardi trophy.
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