Jalen Hurts: We have to intensely control the controllables

The Eagles’ decision to throw a pass on third down from the Falcons’ 10-yard-line with less than two minutes to go in Monday night’s game was a shocker to many people, but quarterback Jalen Hurts didn’t focus on that part of the play in his postgame press conference.

Hurts said that “it’s not a matter of expectations, it’s just a matter of executing what’s called” and that the Eagles failed to do that because Saquon Barkley dropped Hurts’s pass to the flat. The Eagles kicked a field goal to extend their lead to 21-15, but the Falcons drove for a game-winning touchdown after a kickoff gave them the ball on their 30-yard-line.

Second-guesses of the play call are not hard to find and it’s not hard to find questions about why the Eagles didn’t go for it on fourth down after the drop, but Hurts continued to focus on what the team could have done better on the field. Barkley’s drop was followed by a defensive dud and Hurts said his postgame message to the team was to make sure they are doing everything in their power to control games.

“Keep pressing forward,” Hurts said, via a transcript from the team. “Keep your head up at the end of the day. We have to intensely control the controllables. I think when I look at this game, there are a lot of things that we could have controlled fundamentally in our details. The little things that we just didn’t take advantage of. And so that’s this opportunity for us to learn from it. I think we’ve taken big steps in terms of coming together as a unit and need to continue on that journey and learn from this. I think it’s a great test for us.”

Good execution can bail out poor planning, but the Eagles weren’t able to pull that off on Monday night and they’ll have to regroup in time to face the Saints in Week Three.