The Eagles won their ninth straight game on Sunday and they clinched a playoff berth for the fourth straight season, but it wasn’t all smiles in the locker room after the 22-16 win over the Panthers.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts threw for 108 yards in the win and the team netted 83 yards in the passing game once the yards lost on four sacks were taken away from that total, which made it unsurprising to hear wide receiver A.J. Brown say that “passing” is something the team needs to improve on. Brown had four catches on four targets and told reporters in the locker room that it is “tough” to get in rhythm when the offense isn’t doing much through the air.
Wide receiver DeVonta Smith also had four catches and shared what he thinks needs to happen for the Eagles to achieve better results.
“Being on the same page,” Smith said, via audio from the team. “Thinking the same. Seeing the right signals. Just going out there and making it work.”
Hurts said he would “just say no” when asked if there should be conversations about being on the same page at this point in the year and said that the desire of Brown, Smith and anyone else to be doing more is a natural one.
“It isn’t about solving anything,” Hurts said, via the team. “Everybody has a reason to want more. It’s a fair desire of being in fullness to where we can be because we’ve done it before. Just got to build, got to progress. Have to find a way to come together and come and synch as a unit and play complimentary ball.”
The good news for the Eagles is that their issues in the passing game haven’t stopped them from piling up wins, but it is something they’ll need to figure out in order to finish the job.
