Biggest Winners and Losers From the Eagles Loss To the Cardinals

Winner: QB1 Jalen Hurts. In a losing effort emerging NFL star QB Jalen Hurts threw for 388 yards and 3 TDs while running for another score. QB vs QB Hurts outdueled and outplayed QB Kyler Murray which is a huge accomplishment. Let’s go beyond the stats. Hurts does not play like a rookie. he has poise beyond his years, is unphased by the NFL stage, and is a natural leader. Jalen Hurts is the future for the Eagles at QB. He is a true franchise QB. The Eagles are very lucky to have him and are even luckier that they have their QB1 on a cheap rookie contract for three more years and two more games (maybe more is Wahington falters) for the remainder of this season as well. The Eagles will not have to spend a season rebuilding thanks to Jalen. They simply need to surround him with a little bit more talent. With Jalen Hurts at the helm I am confident the Eagles will be very serious contenders in 2021.

Winner: WR Alshon Jeffery. Alshon Jeffery was left for dead by many fans, experts, and beat writers. Against the Cards, he had several impressive catches one of which was highlight-worthy and vintage Jeffery. I was mocked last week for putting Jeffries in this category. I won’t be this time. He kept the Philadelphia Eagles in this game with spectacular play even when he wasn’t catching the football. He blocked well and he drew 5

offensive pass interference calls against the best CB in the NFL in Patrick Peterson which is not at all easy to do. Cutting Alshon after this season makes no sense given the cap hit that the team would take. it will be interesting to see how Alshon plays in the bird’s final two games of the regular season. if he continues to play well the Eagles could likely get a late-round pick for him. I would personally like to see Alshon Jeffery in midnight green for another season.

Winner: WR Quez Watkins. I thought Watkins was far better than fellow rookie WR John Hightower since the day he was drafted and against Arizona he proved me right. He made the most of his limited snaps with 3 catches for 49 yards including a beautiful catch and run down the sideline for a TD to get the Eagles back into the game in the second quarter. He is not a weekly starter at WR however he can be very effective in certain packages. Get the ball to this kid in space and on deep routes and good things will happen. Thing WR Greg Ward in his prime. Not a starter but highly effective in certain packages.

Winner: WR Greg Ward Jr. When the much-maligned Wentz was still the starting QB I had a few doubts regarding Ward’s future as the team’s slot WR. Insert Jalen Hurts and now all those doubts have been erased. Greg Ward Jr. now has 3 TD catches in 2 games with Hurts at the helm and his chemistry with Jalen Hurts has been fun to watch. If Ward faces an injury I could see Watkins playing very well in his stead until he returns as well.

Winner: Eagles HC Doug Pederson.  QB1 Jalen Hurts allows Douggie P to call any play he wants. Hurts has saved Doug’s job as the Eagles HC. He was never a problem. Carson Wentz was..at least for this particular offense.

Loser: QB Carson Wentz and his future in Philadelphia. Look, Carson Wentz is simply done in Philly. He will get another chance to start for another team in the NFL. It’s all about the scheme fits and he just no longer runs the west coast offense well at all. He was once a great talent with or without a good O-Line however ever since he tore his ACL two seasons ago vs the Rams he doesn’t have the escape ability he once possessed. He now needs a top 10 NFL O-line to be successful. Hurts plays well for the Eagles with or without much help for his offensive lineman.

Loser: Eagles Offensive Line: Yes, They have had the most depleted O-Line group in NFL history. Yes, They have had to use an NFL Record 14 different O-line combinations. That being said they were still facing a good but not great D-Line and allowed QB Jalen Hurts to get sacked 5 times against an average maybe borderline good Cards D-Line a week after they allowed zero sacks to the NFC’s best D-Line. The Eagles do need to draft a WR, and a DB or two…but they should go O-line earlier than most fans would like. If WR Ja’maar Chase out of LSU is not there when the Eagles are on the clock they must draft an elite OL.

Loser: The Eagles Secondary. Philly came into this game without CB1 Darius Slay and FS Rodney Mcleod who’s a stud and is sadly now on IR. That said any defensive backfield combination giving up 399 yards through the air is simply unacceptable.

Loser: The Eagles playoff chances for 2020. The birds need to win out which is possible and I would even say likely. Unfortunately, they also need the Washington Football Team to lose out which would also be possible if they were not being spoon-fed a matchup this upcoming Sunday against a terrible Carolina Panthers squad. The Jets did just beat the Rams…so miracle? At least the Philadelphia Eagles didn’t go down without a fight since they finally benched Wentz in favor of the vastly superior talent in QB Jalen Hurts.

Loser: Any Pennslyvania Team going far in the NFL playoffs in the postseason: The Eagles have just a hail mary chance of getting into the postseason as of now. The Pittsburgh Steelers however have already clinched a playoff spot in the AFC. After a rather embarrassing loss to the 2-10-1, Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football which is now Blitzburghs third straight defeat after starting out 11-0 causes serious doubt in my mind that they can win another game this season let alone a playoff game. Two weeks ago I thought they were going to the Super Bowl this season. The NFL can certainly be a strange game. Could a switch at QB also ignite a spark for the Steelers? It’s possible but they don’t have a talent like Jalen Hurts on their roster and were not giving him up! He’s our QB! Could Joshua Dobbs do just enough? It is possible but honestly highly unlikely. They won’t win in the postseason with Big Ben at the helm.

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