Has Jalen Hurts seen Eagles' defense when he says they're 'this close' to winning? Why he still might be right

PHILADELPHIA – The Eagles are convinced that they're "this close" to winning, as quarterback Jalen Hurts put it, his fingers just inches apart.

And really, what else is he going to say after another game in which the Eagles couldn't stop the Kansas City Chiefs and committed penalties in an almost comical fashion?

On offense, the penalties took away three touchdowns, which is practically unheard of. On defense, Derek Barnett committed yet another personal foul penalty that gave the Chiefs a first down at the Eagles' 3. They scored on the next play.

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, meanwhile, carved up the Eagles for five touchdown passes, and the Chiefs piled up 200 yards on the ground.

The Chiefs scored touchdowns on six of their seven possessions and racked up 471 yards in all. They would probably still be scoring if time hadn't run out.

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All of which led to the Eagles' 42-30 loss on Sunday.

“Is the glass half empty or half full?" Hurts said when asked if the Eagles can be encouraged by what they're seeing. "Every opportunity is an opportunity to grow ... We will learn from this game, too. We will go clock-in this week. Turn it up a little notch in terms of our preparation."

That the Eagles can't answer that question tells you all you need to know. This was always going to be a work in progress. And a brutal early-season schedule doesn't help.

The Eagles are in the midst of a four-game stretch in which they lost last week to Dallas (3-1), and are facing both Super Bowl teams in the Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-1). The game against the Bucs on Oct. 14 comes four days after facing the Carolina Panthers (3-1).

So, yeah, 1-5 seems like a strong possibility.

But there were some signs.

Hurts threw for a career-high 387 yards and 2 touchdowns. DeVonta Smith, in his fourth NFL game, set career highs with 7 catches for 122 yards. He became the first Eagles rookie to have 100 yards receiving in a game since Jordan Matthews in 2014.

Rookie running back Kenny Gainwell, meanwhile, had 89 yards from scrimmage on nine touches.

"That's one of the better quarterback performances I've seen," head coach Nick Sirianni said about Hurts, referencing Philip Rivers and Andrew Luck as comparisons. Sirianni coached both as the offensive coordinator in Indianapolis.

Then again, Hurts called an unnecessary timeout on the first drive, overthrew an open Zach Ertz in the end zone, had an interception overturned by replay, and threw the ball well out of bounds on a fourth-down play late in the game.

But that's nitpicking.

Still, Sirianni only had to look across the field to see a performance that was better. Mahomes was 24 of 30 for 278 yards with 5 touchdowns and a passer rating of 131.0.

Eagles cornerback Darius Slay called Mahomes "already a future Hall of Famer in Year 5."

The Eagles certainly did their part in making Mahomes look that way, just like they did last Monday night with Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who had a passer rating of 143.3 in Dallas' 41-21 win.

It doesn't help when the Eagles can't stop the run, either, giving up 360 yards on the ground in the last two games. The Eagles also allowed 40 or more points in consecutive games for only the fourth time in team history.

There doesn't seem to be much of a plan on defense. The Eagles adjusted their coverages, and Mahomes still picked them apart, much like Prescott did the week before.

Just wait until Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady gets his chance.

"Any time a team runs for 200 yards on you, you know you've got to look at the coaching first," Sirianni said Monday, referencing himself and defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon. "There were some tough conversations in the defensive room (Monday) morning ... We feel like we're taking the right steps to (improve).

"But it's no secret. We need to make sure we stop the run on first and second down."

And has anyone seen Fletcher Cox? The six-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle didn't record a sack or tackle against the Chiefs. For the season, Cox has four tackles and no sacks. He counts for $13 million against the Eagles' salary cap this season.

Sure, Cox draws much of the attention from the opposing offensive line. That in part has enabled fellow defensive tackle Javon Hargrave to get five sacks in the first four games.

But it's not like Mahomes was under much pressure Sunday, and Sirianni said the linebackers have to take advantage of the openings created by the attention paid to Cox.

That hasn't happened either. 

All of which means the Eagles' offense has to be close to perfect. And that's still a work in progress.

The Eagles had three penalties that negated touchdowns, costing the Eagles 15 points. You can do the math to decipher those penalties were costly in a game the Eagles lost by 12 points.

“We are close because everything we do, we control it," Hurts said. "We control the penalties, we control the little things. It’s all magnifying in games against good football teams.

"So it’s on us. It’s on us to execute and do the things we need to do."

Hurts could have had the game of his life, but the Eagles still weren't going to win because of a porous defense.

"We're just trying to get in that win column," Slay said. "That’s an important column, and I need to get that (losing) taste out of my mouth. It tastes nasty, so go find something, get some orange juice spray down there."

That's a start, anyway.

Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.