Nick Sirianni, young staff outcoached again in Eagles' loss

Published Sep. 28, 2021 4:47 p.m. ET

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Nick Sirianni’s impressive coaching debut in is the rearview mirror.

Sirianni and his young staff were outcoached and the Philadelphia Eagles were thoroughly outplayed in a 41-21 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night.

After routing Atlanta in Week 1, the Eagles (1-2) have lost two in a row with a daunting schedule upcoming.

Sirianni criticized his own play-calling after last week’s 17-11 loss to San Francisco. His game plan against Dallas was even more questionable.

Jalen Hurts didn’t have a chance staying behind an offensive line that was missing two starters and lost a third yet the second-year pro making his seventh career start was asked to take deep drops and consistently throw from the pocket instead of using his speed to move around.

“We knew they were an explosive offense and we wanted to push the ball down the field,” Sirianni said.

The Eagles abandoned their run game — Miles Sanders and Kenneth Gainwell combined for three carries — and relied on Hurts, who rebounded from two costly interceptions in the first half and threw two late touchdowns.

“This one’s on me,” Hurts said. “I take responsibility for how this game went.”

Hurts wasn’t solely to blame.

His coach didn’t put him in position to succeed. The defense couldn’t stop Dak Prescott and the Cowboys’ high-powered offense. The team again committed too many penalties.

“Whenever you’re beat like that it’s on everybody,” veteran center Jason Kelce said. “Losses like that don’t happen because of one guy.”

WHAT’S WORKING

Hurts had his best success throwing to tight ends Dallas Goedert and Zach Ertz. Goedert caught two passes for gains of 38 and 28 yards. Ertz had four receptions for 53 yards and one touchdown.

NEEDS HELP

The run defense struggled against Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard, who combined for 155 yards on 28 carries for a 5.5 average. Defensive coordinator Jonathon Gannon employs a two-deep scheme that forces linebackers to make plays.

STOCK UP

Hurts’ marketability is rising. His jersey sales soared after a stellar performance against Atlanta in Week 1 and Eastbay announced Monday that Hurts is the first ambassador for the brand’s performance apparel line that will launch this week.

“As a kid, I got the magazines, I got the catalogues so for me to be on the cover, it’s such a blessing,” Hurts said of appearing on the front of the September issue.

STOCK DOWN

Rookie wide receiver DeVonta Smith had less than 30 yards receiving for the second straight week. He fell down on a route that turned into a pick-6. He couldn’t hang onto a tough catch over the middle on third down in the third quarter and caught three of his six targets.

INJURED

Left guard Isaac Seumalo will miss the rest of the season after suffering a Lisfranc injury. The Eagles already were without three-time Pro Bowl right guard Brandon Brooks, who is out with a chest injury, and left tackle Jordan Mailata, who sustained a knee injury late last week. ... Safety K’Von Wallace was placed on injured reserve with a separated shoulder.

KEY NUMBER

13 — The Eagles committed 13 more penalties, raising their season total to 35. This team isn’t good enough to get away with that many penalties each week.

“We have to take care of that. That’s just us being disciplined and we have to get back to work and get better at that because that’s obviously unacceptable,” Sirianni said.

NEXT STEPS

The Eagles host former coach Andy Reid and the two-time defending AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs (1-2). Reid, who has more wins than any coach in Eagles history, is 2-0 against Philadelphia.

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Follow Rob Maaddi on Twitter at https://twitter.com/robmaaddi and his work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/robmaaddi

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More AP NFL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL

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Dak Prescott

Miles Sanders

Dallas Goedert

Isaac Seumalo

Tony Pollard

Zach Ertz

Ezekiel Elliott

Jason Kelce

Brandon Brooks

Jordan Mailata

Philadelphia Eagles

Dallas Cowboys