Eagles Stock Report After Rams Collapse: How Offense Is Affecting Jalen Hurts' Future

What looked like a story of perseverance turned with a Nick Sirianni gamble with 7:32 left in the game and the Eagles leading the Los Angeles Rams by a 20-10 margin.

Oct 4, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) snaps the ball against the Los Angeles Rams during the second half at Lincoln Financial Field. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

PHILADELPHIA - What looked like a story of perseverance turned with a Nick Sirianni gamble with 7:32 left in the game and the Eagles leading the Los Angeles Rams by a 20-10 margin.

Instead of taking a chip shot Jake Elliott field goal and extending the lead to 23-10, Sirianni went for the kill shot. Philadelphia's problematic passing game came up empty leaving the door for a talented but underachieving Rams team, which took the momentum shift and sling-shotted it to 14 points over the final 7:26, culminating with a tremendous Kyren Williams 7-yard run with 70 seconds remaining.

The collapse ruined a storybook ending in which the Eagles' lost three of there top stars. Right tackle Lane Johnson was ruled out 90 minutes before the game due to a personal matter while running back Saquon Barkley (hamstring) and All-Pro cornerback Quinyon Mitchell (knee) were lost to injury. Philadelphia had also come in knowing it would be without star receiver DeVonta Smith (hamstring) and All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun (knee).

Six days ago the Eagles could do nothing to stop Case Keenum during an ugly loss to the Chicago Bears. On Sunday, Philadelphia made the reigning MVP and future Hall of Famer Matthew Stafford looks like a third-string quarterback for most of the game, stunning the overhyped Rams for 53 minutes of football.

You have to play 60, though.

A mistake prone LA offense, featuring two interceptions by Stafford and two mind-numbing personal fouls calls that wiped out positive plays was complemented by an awful special teams performance and a defense without Myles Garrett and Aaron Donald that allowed just enough big plays to falter.

Aesthetic football has rarely been the Eagles thing in the Sirianni/Jalen Hurts era but winning has and no other number proved that more that Sirianni's personal record of 4-0 against the highly-regarded Sean McVay.

That formula almost worked again until it didn't

THE BULLS

Oct 4, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Darius Cooper (80) celebrates with teammates after catching a eighteen-yard pass for a touchdown thrown by quarterback Jalen Hurts (not pictured) against the Los Angeles Rams during the second quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Turnovers: The Eagles defense forced their first turnover of the season on the Rams' first drive when a ferocious Jonathan Greenard rush resulted in a Drew Mukuba interception. The takeaway drought marked the second most defensive snaps before the first turnovers for a Vic Fangio unit since 2016. The longest came in 2019 when Fangio was the head coach in Denver, which did not have a defensive takeaway until Week 5 that season.

The idea that turnovers come in bunches was boosted later when Cooper DeJean hauled in a no-look Stafford pass that set up the Eagles to steal a late touchdown right before halftime. Winning the turnover margin only goes so far when you're outgained by a 415 to 172 margin.

Coop! - No, not that Coop. DeJean certainly played well and is starting to come out of his early-season funk but Darius Cooper was the one receiver Hurts seemed to trust without Smith and Dallas Goedert. The 2025 undrafted free agent saved Hurts from an interception by high-pointing the football over Quentin Lake for one TD, and then uncovered in the back of the end zone for the second consecutive week for No. 2.

Jake the Make: Jake Elliott looks back to the old Jake Elliott. He's 2-for-2 outside of 55 yards so far this season. Overall he's now 4-for-4 on FGs on the season and hasn't missed an extra point.

Being Bold: While Sirianni will take plenty of heat, the analytics argue that the Eagles would have only needed a 13% chance to convert the fourth-and-two that kickstarted the Rams. The value of leading by 13 vs. 10 is negligible and actually would have given the Rams far better field position on the subsequent kickoff with the goal of two touchdowns only clearer for Los Angeles.

THE BEARS

Third-downs: The Eagles were a dismal 0-for-12 on high-leverage downs and dating back to Chicago, they've failed to convert their last 17 tries on third down. Sirianni noted everything is contributing but the hear is growing on the idea of hiring a first-year offensive coordinator with no play-calling experience.

The Tush Push: Philadelphia failed on a fourth-and-one tush-push attempt despite super-charging it with the presence of Willie Lampkin to push Hurts. The Eagles should transition to spreading out opposiing defenses who are now plugging the A-gaps and allowing the powerful Hurts to pick and choose.

The pass rush: Greenard provided some juice early but at the end of the day the Eagles had just one sack by Nolan Smith and are on pace for just 17 sacks this season.

Right-Handed: Hurts has always had a propensity to flush right when in trouble and that default setting is only increasing. The Eagles' QB1 is flushing right on his dropbacks 16.7% of the time through four weeks, according to SumerSports. That number was 11.9% last season, 12.8% in 2024, 10.5% in 2023 and 10.4% in 2022.

Blitzkrieg: Hurts was just 5 of 15 for 46 yards when blizted by the Rams. The lack of effiency was glaring and it's been consistently bad so far this season. This was Hurts second-lowest EPA performance against the blitz out of the 89 games where he was blitzed at least five times. Week 1 was his sixth lowest EPA performance and Week 3 was his ninth lowest per SumerSports.

Make sure you bookmark Philadelphia Eagles on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns, and so much more!