Broncos stop the Eagles last play to win the game. Photo: Webster Riddick
Mistakes that led to stalled offensive drives reared their ugly head during Sunday’s game at Lincoln Financial Field.
By Chris Murray
For the Philadelphia Sunday SUN
After winning their first four games with some uneven, lackluster performances, the Philadelphia Eagles’ inconsistencies on offense finally caught up to them in an inexplicable 21-17 loss to the Denver Broncos at Lincoln Financial Field.
It was the Eagles’ first defeat since a 36-33 loss to the Washington Commanders back on December 22, 2024, when quarterback Jalen Hurts left the game because of a concussion.
You can look for a lot of reasons for this loss on both sides of the ball, but it will all come back to the fact that this was a winnable game that the Birds were in control of for about three-and-a-half quarters but couldn’t finish. The Broncos to score the last 18 points of the game.
Two minutes into the third quarter, the Eagles had taken what looked to be a commanding 17-3 lead on a 47-yard touchdown pass from Hurts to running back Saquon Barkley. At that point, it looked like the Eagles’ offense was on the kind of roll that could end the competitive portion of this game early in the second half.
Devonta Smith misses the catch. Photo: Webster Riddick
But after that score, there was nothing else from the Birds’ offense, which did more to beat itself than the Broncos ever could. It was a combination of penalties, poor execution, and lack of balance on offense.
Offensive balance, or the lack thereof, is where I’ll start. Can anyone explain to me why your All-Pro, record-setting running back, Saquon Barkley, got just one carry in the second half on a run for no gain? He finished the game with 30 yards on just seven carries. The yards he gained came in the first half.
Hurts passed the ball 38 times for two touchdowns and 280 yards. But he was sacked six times. Meanwhile, the Birds ran the ball twice, one was for no gain in the second half, and the other was a seven-yard run that was negated by a penalty.
I know folks in this town want to see Hurts connect with A.J. Brown, Devonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert for those gaudy 300-yard passing games and five or six touchdowns.
The problem with that is that you can’t do it at the expense of the one thing that put you on the road to last year’s Super Bowl.
If you run the ball enough against one of the NFL’s best pass rushes, you might slow them down to get the ball to your “diva” receivers with no problem. What happened on Sunday was that the Broncos figured out during the course of the second half that the Eagles were going to pass on just about every play, and they won those battles most of the time, which is why the Eagles scored just seven points for the rest of the half.
Broncos stop the Eagles’ last play to win the game. Photo: Webster Riddick
And then there was the lack of execution and penalties that thwarted most of the Eagles’ drives in the second half. There were times when Hurts wasn’t on the same page with his receivers.
The most glaring example of that was late in the game when Hurts overthrew a wide-open Brown, who would have walked into the end zone if that pass had been more accurate. A look at the replay also showed that Brown briefly stopped while the ball was in the air.
“From my point of view, it was a miss,” Brown said. “When I looked up, I didn’t see the ball, and when I looked back, I didn’t see the ball. When the ball was thrown, and so like I said, it was a miss.”
And then there were a couple of head-shaking penalties committed by the Eagles offense on the possession after the Broncos took their first lead of the game. On second and one from the Denver 48, Hurts hit Smith for a first down at the Denver 40, only to have the play nullified on an illegal man down the field penalty by right guard Tyler Steen.
A couple of players later on fourth and four from the Eagles 49, Hurts found Smith for a 30-yard pass play to the Denver 21-yard line. But that play was negated by an illegal shift penalty by Barkley, and that drive ended with an Eagles punt.
That play symbolized the day for an Eagles team that beat themselves better than their opponent did.
To see if they’ll do any better with their next game, tune in on Thursday night when the Eagles take on the New York Giants at the Meadowlands, starting at 7pm on Amazon Prime Video and on WIP 94.1.
Leave a Comment