Jalen Hurts discusses the Eagles’ loss to the Falcons

The Eagles’ loss to the Falcons had some highs and lows for quarterback Jalen Hurts. He spoke to reporters after the game and talked about his message to Saquon Barkley, the effect of missing A.J. Brown on offense, and why he trusts Britain Covey.

Here’s what the QB had to say:

On his message to Saquon Barkley
“Obviously it’s a tough loss. We learn from it. I trust him every day of the week to make a play just like everybody else, and so we’ll be better from it.”

Hurts was later asked what the alternative was on that 3rd-and-3 play call if Barkley wasn’t open, but the QB opted not to add any wood to the fire. He reiterated that they just didn’t make the play in the moment, but he still has a ton of trust in Barkley.

When asked if that third-down play was one they repped a lot at practice, Hurts simply said, “Yes.”

On his late-game interception
Hurts explained that he was just trying to make a play down the field, and Jessie Bates made a good play to pick it off. The QB said he’ll just have to continue to prepare for those situations late in games, and put the offense in better positions to take advantage.

“I think in the end, I felt very prepared going into those moments. In that moment, it just wasn’t our time.”

The quarterback was asked if that was the play call he was expecting at that moment, and he noted that it’s not a matter of expectations, it’s just a matter of executing what’s called. He came up short in that moment.

On being without A.J. Brown
“Obviously, he’s one of the best receivers in the league. Of course he’s definitely missed, but it doesn’t change the trust that I have in everybody else to step up. I think we had, you know, guys step up in a big way. [Britain] Covey made some great plays out there. [DeVonta Smith] made plays. We just didn’t meet the moment in terms of it wasn’t for us tonight.”

As for how the workload was distributed in Brown’s absence, Hurts pointed to OC Kellen Moore, but said that he trusts the offensive coordinator as they continue to build the offense and their rapport together. Still, the QB emphasized that other guys stepped up, and while they all need to do better, ultimately he felt like they played hard and just didn’t take advantage of some of their opportunities.

On his trust with Britain Covey
“It’s just a lot of time on task working with [Britain Covey], and, you know, conversations and reps, his approach, his intentionality in what he does. And you know, he showed up for us, and we’ll need him to continue to do that. And I think the most important thing is everybody is focused and doing their jobs to help the team win. And, as I said before, to do that, you just have to learn from everything. You have to learn from your mistakes. And we will, we’ll be better from it.”

On his message to the team
Hurts told the team to keep pressing forward and to keep their heads up. He explained that they need to intensely control the “controllables,” noting there were a lot things that they could clean up from a fundamental and details standpoint in that game. The QB said that they’ve come together as a unit, and now just need to continue on their journey and learn from it all.

He later talked about how there isn’t a secret ingredient to pushing through adversity, it’s just a matter of learning from things and getting better as a result.

“I said this before and I’ll say it again, there’s no difference between, you know, the joys and the pains, the wins and the losses. It’s a matter of if you can learn from it. I think that’s the perspective that I have on this, whether it is good, bad or indifferent, we’re going to learn from our goal out there to go out there and play dominant football and win football games and do enough to win the game. Ultimately to better ourselves. Better ourselves in growth and learning from these moments. And so in the end, winning is the only thing that matters. And to win, you have to continue to learn. You have to continue to grow. And I think this team will continue to do that.”