Eagles backups shutout by New England Patriots, 35-0

Tonight’s loss to the New England Patriots was difficult to watch for even the most die-hard fans. Just ahead of kickoff, Jalen Hurts was ruled out with a non-COVID illness joining numerous other starters like Lane Johnson, Fletcher Cox, and Darius Slay. Without the Eagles having a majority of their starters, the New England Patriots dominated all night en route to a 35-0 shutout. 

Participation Update: QB Jalen Hurts will not be playing tonight due to an illness.

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) August 19, 2021

Now wins and losses don’t matter in the preseason, but there were not a lot of positive things to take away from tonight’s loss. Things got off to a rough start when Nate Herbig sent a snap flying over Joe Flacco’s head, resulting in a Patriots TD a few plays later. The backups on the offensive line weren’t horrible and looked solid in the running game. The only negative standout was Matt Pryor, who was dismantled on the backside and got caught holding.

Joe Flacco didn’t give Eagles fans much reassurance in the situation that Jalen Hurts were to go down with an injury. Flacco took forever to work through his progressions and make numerous bad passes. While Flacco was bad, Nick Mullens was once again worse. In the second half, Mullens only threw for 27 yards alongside an interception, his third in two games.

.@DeVontaSmith_6's first catch in an Eagles uniform!#NEvsPHI | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/DrnXBn7epo

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) August 20, 2021

DeVonta Smith had a good amount of targets in his preseason debut, grabbing two receptions for 19 yards. Smith was targeted two other times, but the passes were inaccurate and difficult to catch. J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, Travis Fulgham, and Quez Watkins were all targeted once, but there were no receptions between the three.

Philly’s backup defense was torn to shreds by Mac Jones and Cam Newton, who combined for over 240 yards in just 28 pass attempts. The Patriots had three times as many yards as the Eagles tonight, 480 to 163. Jonathan Gannon will have a lot to go over in the film room, with the Eagles’ defense missing numerous tackles on every single play.  Philadelphia will finish up their preseason next Friday on the road against the New York Jets.

Mandatory Credit: The Daily Journal