WORLD OF HURTS
BIRDS’ PLAYOFF HOPES DIE IN CRUSHING LOSS TO COWBOYS
For one fleeting moment Sunday, Jalen Hurts got to hook up with DeSean Jackson on a long touchdown pass, just as they had done so many times when the pair worked out together in Tampa over the summer.
On the first play of the Eagles’ second possession, Jackson hauled in a deep pass from Hurts and turned it into an 81-yard touchdown. He beat Dallas cornerback Chidobe Awuzie, then outran cornerback Trevon Diggs to score his first touchdown since he caught scoring passes of 51 and 53 yards against Washington in the 2019 season opener.
It was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise abysmal 37-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium that brought the Birds’ playoff hopes to an end.
Of course, the f lashy
Jackson scored in style. After catching the pass and breaking away from Awuzie, Jackson teased Diggs, running across the field holding the football in his right hand before doing a somersault into the end zone to give the Eagles a
14-3 lead.
And that was it.
Jackson didn’t catch another pass. He wasn’t even targeted after that spectacular catch and run and played sparingly because, you guessed it, his gimpy ankle started to act up.
“He got sore as the game went on,” Eagles coach Doug Pederson said. “His injury got sore and sorer, so we have to be careful there. He lost a little bit of that explosiveness as the game wore on, so we had to keep him out as the game went on.”
Injuries have been the story of Jackson’s second stint with the Eagles (4-10
1). He simply hasn’t been able to stay healthy.
Jackson fractured the ring finger on his lef t hand late in training camp in 2019 but started and caught two long touchdown passes in the opener against Washington. A week later, Jackson tore a core abdominal muscle against the Atlanta Falcons. He came back briefly in Week 9 against the Chicago Bears but played just three snaps and missed the rest of the season after having surgery.
This season, a hamstring injury kept Jackson, 34, out against the 49ers, Steelers and Ravens. He returned for a 22-21 win over the Giants on Oct. 22, only to leave that game when he suffered a non-displaced fracture in his ankle while returning a punt in the fourth quarter. Before he was hurt, again, Jackson was targeted five times that day and had three receptions for 34 yards and had one carry for 12 yards.
In five games this season, Jackson was targeted 26 times and had 14 catches for 236 yards and one TD. In eight total games since his return to Philly, Jackson has been targeted 36 times for 23 receptions for 395 yards and three scores.
But even a healthy Jackson could not have saved the Eagles on this day. As has been the case all season, they made too many mistakes. The Birds were penalized 12 times for 115 yards. Eight of those penalties were against the offense, six for false starts. Three turnovers didn’t help, either, as the Cowboys (6-9) outscored the Eagles, 34-3 after Jackson’s touchdown to stay alive in the playoff race. Hurts had all three of those turnovers, tossing two interceptions and losing a fumble.
“We shot ourselves in the foot,” Hurts said. “We kind of stopped ourselves due to lack of execution.”
Yet for one brief moment, Hurts and Jackson executed a play to perfection, just as they had done so many times when they worked out together over the summer.
“It was fun,” a visibly dis
appointed Hurts said. “We prepared for that, me going out to Tampa and getting
that time in. It was fun to hit it; should have hit a few more.”