Eagles Wilt in Fourth Quarter, Suffer First Loss Of Season

PHILADELPHIA – The Eagles cruised through three quarters. Then came the speed bump.

The Denver Broncos scored two touchdowns in the final quarter and converted a PAT pass to take a one-point lead with 7:36 to play in the game.

The Eagles beat themselves with two costly penalties from there, when Tyler Steen was illegally downfield to negate a first down, and, a play later, Saquon Barkley never got set, an illegal shift foul that spoiled a 30-yard catch from DeVonta Smith to the 20. The Eagles punted, and with a poorly booted 24-yard ball by Braden Mann, the game was kicked away, too.

The result was an 21-17 loss, knocking the Eagles from the ranks of the undefeated. Now 4-1, the Eagles will try to get back in the win column in just four days when they travel to North Jersey to play the Giants on Thursday.

Denver took over with five minutes to go and the Eagles couldn’t make a stop. The Broncos got a field goal with 1:11 to play, and made the Eagles burn all their timeouts on the drive.

Philly did get a stop on third-and-one near the 30, but Zack Baun was called for an unneccesary roughness penalty when he dived on the ballcarrier.

The Eagles had two shots from the 29-yard line in the final 10 seconds to pull out the win, but Jalen Hurts threw incomplete twice, though a final Hail Mary in the end zone had a shot, but Smith couldn’t corral it.

The loss snapped Hurts' streak of 18 straight games that he had started and finished, and the Eagles are now 20-2.

Thoughts From Eagles First Loss Of Season

We're liking this start to the second half pic.twitter.com/mIEOgqVDhW
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) October 5, 2025

-Hurts appeared to suffer a calf injury in the second quarter. He was seen a few times on the sideline using a massage gun on it.

-Hurts’ 19 pass attempts in the first half were the most he has had this season in one half. That’s a byproduct of not being able to run the ball with much success. The Broncos did a good job of bottling up the quarterback in the run game. He carried just twice for three yards. Perhaps it the Denver defense of Hurts’ calf that limited him.

-The quarterback still hasn’t thrown an interception, and he threw for a pair of scores – 2 yards to Dallas Goedert and 47 to Barkley. Hurts ended 23-for-38 with 280 yards and a passer rating of 100.8. He did, however, overthrew a wide-open A.J. Brown late in the third quarter from over 50 yards away that would’ve opened the Eagles’ lead to 24-3 with the PAT.

-Jihaad Campbell had a career-high in tackles with 11. His previous high was eight against the Rams. Baun led the way with 12.

What About Saquon Barkley?

-DeVonta Smith had his first 100-plus receiving game of the season. He finished with eight catches on 10 targets for 114 yards, including a 52-yard catch on third-and-16 that resulted in the Eagles' only touchdown of the first half, which ended in Philly’s favor, 10-3.

-It was somewhat encouraging that Saquon Barkley had his longest run of the season, carrying it 17 yards on a drive that ended with a 31-yard field goal to even the game at 3-3 at the end of the first quarter. It’s a start, I suppose, but he had an NFL-record seven touchdown runs for more than 60 yards last year. When will he get his first such run this year? Or will he get one at all? He finished with 30 yards on six runs.

-Landon Dickerson suffered an ankle injury late in the first quarter and did not return. Brett Toth took his place.

The three-time Pro Bowl left guard could benefit from some down time. He has been playing banged up since the start of the season. It may be difficult for him to play just four days from now in New York against the Giants.

More NFL: Dallas Goedert Touchdown Helps Eagles Take 10-3 Halftime Lead Vs. Broncos