Hurts isn’t only offender in need of film session

The Eagles lost, 17-11, to the San Francisco 49ers Sunday, and Nick Sirianni immediately recited the franchise pledge, admitting he should have put his players in better position to score.

Sometimes, that’s trite. Sometimes, that’s accurate.

And Sunday, it was mostly wrong, as the Eagles were in scoring position quite often, only to fail.

For that, it was the quarterback’s turn to promise improvement.

“We had a lot of opportunities out there that we didn’t capitalize on,” Jalen Hurts said. “I think that’s plain and simple right there. We have to be consistent in our execution. I have to be consistent in my execution and operation as a field general.”

On that, there would be little immediate argument.

Not including a walk-off surrender late in the first half, the Eagles had eight possessions Sunday. One ended with Hurts scoring a one-yard touchdown and Kenneth Gainwell adding a two-point conversion. One ended in a field goal. One ended in a blocked field goal. And one ended at the San Francisco 3.

So maneuvering into scoring position wasn’t the issue.

Scoring was the issue. “It’s something to learn from today,” Hurts said. “There is a lot to learn from. They were things we could control, so that’s what hurts the most. We give credit to a good team and a good defense out there. Those wounds out there were selfinflicted.”

So it was the 49ers who deserved credit, yet the Eagles who were inflicting their own damage. Both? Who says Hurts can’t scramble out of trouble?

Hurts did rush for a team-high 82 yards, including the touchdown. But he misfired on 11 of his 23 passes, and 91 of his 190 passing yards came on one play to Quez Watkins, not that it would yield points.

Given that a week earlier in a 32-6 triumph in Atlanta Hurts was 27-for35 for 264 yards and three touchdown passes, the statistical cliff-dive Sunday invited two questions: Did the NFL just need more film to find his flaws? Or was it just one of those games?

“He made some big plays with his feet,” Sirianni said. “There is always the fine line of throwing it in rhythm and extending plays if something is not there. I thought he did a really good job. There were a couple times they did a good job covering it or they got a guy through the line, and he escaped.

“He was only sacked once, against a good rush like that. I give credit to our offensive line and credit to Jalen for getting out of that. But I’ll look at the tape.” Hurts will do the same. “It’s really just going out there and executing the play,” he said. “I think all around, it’s something we can learn from. Whether you win a game or lose a game, you’re going to walk away from that game wanting some plays back. We learn from it. And we only go up.”

At 1-1, the Eagles are hardly in crisis mode, not in the standings, not with their quarterback.

“We had opportunities,” Miles Sanders said. “We were in the red zone twice and didn’t execute. So that’s very frustrating.”

Predictably, and in a reasonable coaching approach, Sirianni absorbed much of that blame. He ordered a “Philly Special” on fourthand-goal from the 3, only to realize that some tricks only work once.

Hurts, though, demanded some of the responsibility, too, for the failure.

“I’m a playmaker out there on the field, so I want to make all of the plays,” he said. “That’s a play we didn’t make. We didn’t hit it.”

The Eagles and Hurts didn’t hit much. DeVonta Smith’s budding Rookie of the Year candidacy took a bump when he was targeted seven times but only made two catches. And other than the bomb down the right side to Watkins, Hurts had day-long trouble with his long-ball accuracy.

“I wanted to give those guys an opportunity,” he said. “On some of those, I failed to hit them. It’s something we learn from and move on.”

The Eagles are a developing program, the Niners are 2-0 and recognized as contenders. Hurts will have a long week to prepare for a Monday night visit to Dallas, where he can rebound in a hurry from a rough Week 2.

“The biggest thing was the lack of consistency and finish,” he said. “The biggest thing is just finish, finish, finish. We’ve got two games under our belt now, and on the tape we can see what we finished and what we didn’t finish.

“This game, we had to finish more than we did. We have to capitalize on those opportunities moving forward and learn from this feeling.”