Nick Sirianni didn’t just praise Jalen Hurts on Sunday afternoon. He said Hurts’ performance against the Chiefs was one of the best quarterback performances he had ever been around.
Hurts wasn’t interested in any of that.
“Look, we lost. We lost,” Hurts said. “We lost the game. Have to do more, have to do better.”
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The Eagles fell 42-30 to the Chiefs on Sunday and dropped to 1-3 on the season with three straight losses after an opening day win. Hurts played well, but it wasn’t enough.
After the latest loss, Hurts gathered the entire team in the locker room and spoke. The 23-year-old captain explained to his teammates that they can right the ship by fixing their mistakes, that their future is in their own hands.
“We are the master of our own fate and captain of our own soul,” said Hurts, paraphrasing the final lines from the poem “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley.
When the victorian era poet Henley penned “Invictus” in 1875, he likely never envisioned it would be called upon because the Eagles had three touchdowns called back for penalties and went 3-for-6 in the red zone, but here we are.
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And the message remains the same.
Hurts thoroughly believes the Eagles are fixable. He thinks they can learn from these losses and get better. If you’re skeptical, that’s understandable.
But Hurts believes the Eagles are close to turning things around.
“We are close because everything we do, we control it,” Hurts said. “We control the penalties, we control the little things. It’s all magnifying in games against good football teams and we’ve played good football teams to this point every game. And it’s magnified. So it’s on us. It’s on us to execute and do the things we need to do.
“A lack of commitment, I never questioned that about anybody. A lack of effort, I never questioned that about anybody because we are going to fight. We are going to fight. We are this close to putting it together.”
Hurts has had his ups and downs early this season but he really did play well on Sunday. Sure, he missed some throws but he completed 32 of 48 passes for 387 yards, 2 touchdowns and ran for another 47.
It just wasn’t enough.
The Eagles’ defense gave up six touchdowns and the Eagles’ offense failed to capitalize on their opportunities and keep pace.
This is clearly a team going through a transition period. They know they need to learn from this.
But that doesn’t mean these losses sting any less. And neither does praise from the head coach.
“The only thing on my mind is winning,” Hurts said. “Only thing on my mind. And that’s everybody’s mentality. There are no moral victories.”
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