Jalen Hurts, second in the MVP voting last year, had one of the worst games of his career Sunday night. It played a significant role in the Philadelphia Eagles’ 20-14 loss to the New York Jets.
San Francisco had lost earlier in the day, which made Philadelphia officially the NFL’s last unbeaten team.
The Eagles clung to a 14-12 lead with 2:00 left when Hurts made an awful throw.
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He locked onto tight end Dallas Goedert, who was running a curl and tried to drill a pass between two defenders. Tony Adams intercepted the pass and returned it 44 yards to the Eagles 8. Breece Hall scored the game-winning touchdown on the next play.
“I had an opportunity, and I didn’t do my job on the play,” Hurts said after the game. “I don’t think I made the correct read on it. It happens, and it’s an opportunity for us to learn from it.
“…You look at this game. You have so many missed opportunities and really so many mistakes as if you’re kind of giving it away.”
Hurts completed 28 of 45 passes for 280 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions. The Jets sacked him twice and hit him four times.
“We have to look at everything and fix everything,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “Sometimes, after bad losses, there is a great time for growth. That’s what our mission will be: To grow from this.”
Hurts ran eight times for 47 yards and a touchdown, but the Eagles blew a 14-3 second-half lead over the offensively-challenged Jets.
The Jets were missing four of their top six cornerbacks, including star Sauce Gardner.
“Through these first six weeks, we’ve played a gauntlet of quarterbacks. I know we haven’t gotten all wins, but we’ve embarrassed them all,” coach Robert Saleh said. “I’m just really proud of the defense and their resolve.”
Tyreek Hill speeding toward a 2,000-yard milestone
Tyreek Hill is one of the NFL’s most unstoppable weapons. He proved it again on Sunday with six catches for 163 yards in the Miami Dolphins’ 42-21 blowout win over Carolina.
It marked his fourth game of the season with more than 150 yards receiving. He’s averaging 18.1 yards per catch and has scored in five of six games.
Hill had receptions of 24, 27, 41, and 47 yards, giving him a league-leading 17 receptions of 20 yards or more. He also leads the league with eight catches of 40 yards or more.
“Being able to create memories that I can look back on when I’m done playing is always something I think of each time I play this game,” Hill said. “Every time I step on the field, I’m going to try to make it memorable.”
Hill, who had a goal of 2,000 receiving yards before the season, is on pace for 1,855 yards, which would eclipse his career-high of 1,710 in 2022.
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What makes Hill so dangerous besides his speed, quickness, and hands is coach Mike McDaniel’s scheme and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s passing.
McDaniel’s run-heavy scheme uses misdirection and motion to make defensive players tentative. With De’Von Achan out for four weeks with a knee injury, Raheem Mostert rushed for 115 yards on 17 carries and two touchdowns.
“The guy’s hungry for every opportunity,” McDaniel said, “and I think you see his will in the way he runs the ball. Around the goal line, a lot of times, the perfect play doesn’t exist, and it’s a battle of wills. He’s not a guy that a lot of people want to tackle.”
The running game is so good, and Miami has so much speed at receiver teams rarely put an eighth defender in the box. When they do, Tagovailoa goes deep. Defensive coordinators face an awful dilemma with Miami’s offense, and Hill is reaping the benefit.
After success at ‘Bama, Bryce Young searching for first NFL win
Bryce Young, 23-4 as a starter in two years at Alabama, is 0-5 as Carolina’s starter.
He passed for 217 yards and a touchdown in a loss to Miami.
The problem with being the first pick overall is you go to a bad team. There aren’t many weapons for Young with the Panthers this year, so he’s doing his best under trying circumstances.
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He was sacked four times and hit nine others but produced his second-best passing game of the year.
“Bryce was super sharp. The offense was good. We were protecting well, running the ball well, mixing it,” coach Frank Reich said. “Feeling like we should feel.”
New England Patriots end scoreless streak, which is progress
The New England Patriots’ raggedy offense ended its scoreless streak at 12 quarters. But they didn’t score enough to help coach Bill Belichick beat Josh McDaniels, his offensive coordinator for 13 years.
The good news is at least he didn’t suffer the worst loss of his career or the second worst, which is what the last two weeks have been like. This is the first time Belichick, who has coached the Patriots since 2000, has started a season 1-5 with the Patriots.
Quarterback Mac Jones was a little better this week, passing for 200 yards with an interception.
The Patriots totaled just 259 yards and averaged just 4.6 yards per play.
“Couldn’t quite make enough plays here tonight,” Belichick said. “Had our opportunities and just need to do a better job here and really just about every area. Any one of the number of things could have made a difference. We just need to coach it better, play it better, execute it a little bit better. That’s really the story again.”
P.J. Walker is the latest in the Cleveland Browns’ QB carousel
P. J. Walker, who began the week on Cleveland’s practice squad, became the Browns’ 36th different starting quarterback since 1999.
The Browns haven’t had a franchise quarterback since Bernie Kosar in the 80s, but it’s been for a lack of effort.
The Browns have used top-five draft picks on Tim Couch (3rd overall in 1999) and Baker Mayfield (1st overall in 2018). They’ve used first-round picks on Brady Quinn (22nd overall in 2007), Brandon Weeden ( 22nd overall in 2012), and Johnny Manziel (22nd overall in 2014).
And that doesn’t include the king’s ransom they spent to acquire Deshaun Watson from Houston.
Walker played because Watson was out with a bruised rotator cuff. He completed 18 of 34 passes for 192 yards and two interceptions, but he did enough to help the Browns beat previously unbeaten the San Francisco 49ers, 19-17.
Jake Moody missed a 41-yard field goal as time expired that would have given the 49ers the win.
“He battled,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said after the game. “He’s going to tell you he wishes he had a couple of plays back like all quarterbacks do. That’s kind of what we talk about. We’re striving for perfection, but it’s hard to attain it.
“But he made some throws. He made some plays. He ran the show. So that’s what he does. He’s a battler. He’s a tough kid.”
Last season, in one of his five starts for Carolina, Walker guided the Panthers to a 21-3 victory over Tom Brady and Tampa Bay.
Walker, released by Chicago during the preseason, signed with the Browns and spent his first month running the scout team as the No. 3 quarterback behind Watson and rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson.
“We are all here for a reason. They’re a great football team.,” Walker said. “And for us, it’s just go out there and battle. We ain’t going to bow down to nobody, and that’s it.”
Christian McCaffrey closes in on record feat
Christian McCaffrey scored a touchdown for the 15th consecutive game, putting him three shy of the NFL record of 17 held by Lenny Moore, but it wasn’t enough to beat Cleveland.
He tied O.J. Simpson and John Riggins, who are each in the Hall of Fame. As is Moore.
McCaffrey scored on a 13-yard shovel pass, picking his way through three defenders before heading left and sprinting into the end zone.
He finished with 43 yards on 11 carries and three catches for nine yards. But he left in the third quarter with an oblique injury. The Browns’ top-rated defense did a good job of keeping him under control.
Rookie QB C.J. Stroud continues to win over Texans
C.J. Stroud continues to separate himself from Bryce Young and Anthony Richardson as the best rookie quarterback.
Stroud, the second player taken in the draft, is not only putting up numbers, the Texans are winning.
The Texans won for the third time in four games, even though Stroud passed for a season-low 199 yards and threw his first interception of the season. The Texans have already matched their win total of last season after beating the Saints 20-13.
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“When the game was on the line, and we needed it most, guys stepped up,” Houston coach DeMeco Ryans said after the game. “It’s tough to win in this league, but it was awesome to see the way our guys grinded it out and the way they stepped up right there in the end.”
Jean-Jacques is an NFL Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter. He’s the author of Coach Prime: Deion Sanders and the Making of Men.