October 05, 2026
Eric Hartline/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Jalen Hurts' point of view of third downs on Sunday against the Rams.
In their loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles went 0 for 12 on third down. Was it poor execution? Play calling? Scheme? Players? Coaches? Let's look at each third down play and try to figure out where it all went wrong.
These are in chronological order.
— PV2014 (@PV__2014) October 5, 2026
Wicks settled into an open area of the Rams' zone defense, and Hurts didn't see it. Hurts got decent protection here, with Cam Jurgens losing slowly to Kobie Turner (91).
— PV2014 (@PV__2014) October 5, 2026
Jurgens gets manhandled by Turner, and Bigsby has nowhere to go.
— PV2014 (@PV__2014) October 5, 2026
Under center, play action, extra protection, only two receivers run routes. I think the concept of this play is to sneak Cooper through the line of scrimmage and then hit him down the field, but when he's bumped off his route by Quentin Lake (37) he's cooked, and Dontayvion Wicks is surrounded by three Rams defenders. I don't love the design of this play, particularly on a high leverage 3rd and 2.
The Eagles did convert on the ensuing 4th and 2.
— PV2014 (@PV__2014) October 5, 2026
Lemon was open, but Hurts had no chance here to get him the ball, as the Rams' blitz was on him in a blink. The Rams send three rushers at Markel Bell, and he blocks none of them, not that it would have mattered if he did block one of them. Meanwhile, Cam Jurgens, Drew Kendall, and Tyler Steen all block the same guy, which is comical thing that can happen and makes for funny screenshots when defenses draw up zone blitzes that work as intended.
Credit the Rams' blitz scheme for confusing the Eagles' O-line. But also, protection assignment breakdowns like this did not often happen under Jeff Stoutland.
— PV2014 (@PV__2014) October 5, 2026
The Rams send 6, and try to put Bell in a bind again. Bell blocks Braden Fiske (55) initially, and then lets him go to pick up Kamren Kinchens (5) off the edge. Hurts gets away from Fiske, and then Kinchens, and throws the ball away. Lemon was open on his crosser, but well after the blitz got home. Where are the hots?
— PV2014 (@PV__2014) October 5, 2026
Another Rams blitz. I like this route concept on 3rd and 5. Wicks and Lemon push up the field and take defenders with them to some degree, with Ertz filling in behind them, and against a 190-pound slot corner. This should be a first down, but Ertz gets nothing after after the catch against a DB he outweighs by 60 pounds.
There was actually a penalty on this play, on Bell, for lining too far off the ball, which the Rams accepted, making it a 3rd and 10.
— PV2014 (@PV__2014) October 5, 2026
Oh hey, another blitz that beats the Eagles' OL. Kendall has no chance of blocking Turner. He needs help here from Steen, who is blocking Fiske. Turner comes free, as does a looping Byron Young (0), who meet at Hurts, and quickly. Hurts somehow escapes and throws it away.
Shipley was wide open for a potentially huge gain on the left side of the field, but with no reasonable expectation that Hurts could have spotted him the ball — much less actually getting him the ball — with two Rams all over him.
— PV2014 (@PV__2014) October 5, 2026
Shocker, the Rams blitz again, except the Eagles block it up well enough this time.
I like the idea of this play. It's a mesh concept, with Lemon trying to legally get Trent McDuffie (22) off his path in covering Cooper. Hurts completes to Cooper, but is dragged down by McDuffie immediately, well short of the sticks. If I have a gripe here, it's that the Eagles are trying to run this against the Rams' best corner, by far.
Another gripe is that Lemon either ran his route too far up the field initially, or Cooper ran his crosser too short. You can see Lemon having to come back toward the line of scrimmage to try to distract McDuffie. Nothing looks polished.
— PV2014 (@PV__2014) October 5, 2026
The Eagles were absolutely right to trade A.J. Brown for a first-round pick, but it's plays like this where they miss him. Darius Cooper is not A.J. Brown.
— PV2014 (@PV__2014) October 5, 2026
The Eagles try snapping the ball while feigning an audible, hoping to catch the Rams off-guard. I like the idea, but, you know, that's not going to work when the play clock is at 1 (or 0, or whatever), when the defense knows you have to snap it. (And really, this could have been a delay of game penalty.)
— PV2014 (@PV__2014) October 5, 2026
Cam Jurgens is pulling from his LG spot across the formation, but Jurgens' hand hits the ball after the snap, causing a bobble. Hurts then can't hand off to Bigsby, so he tries to get what he can.
— PV2014 (@PV__2014) October 5, 2026
This is man coverage across the board, and the Rams have LB Nate Landman covering Lemon. I think it's revealing that Hurts chose to throw to Ertz instead of what should be a lopsided mismatch of a slot receiver against a linebacker. (Not that Lemon was even open.)
— PV2014 (@PV__2014) October 5, 2026
So, yes, it was all of the above. Execution, play calling, scheme, players, coaches, you name it, it was all bad Sunday on third down.
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