Philadelphia Eagles: Jalen Reagor literally dropped the ball

Welp, they did it again.

After a few sweet wins fueled by a strong, dynamic run game, the Philadelphia Eagles marched into the Meadowlands with a .500 record well within reach and went on to turn in an absolute stinker.

Jalen Hurts was really bad. Maybe he read a bit too much into his own hype, maybe he just had an off day, but when you throw three picks on 31 attempts with only 129 yards to show for it, it’s going to be incredibly hard to win any game regardless of the situation.

Sidebar: A lot of people are giving Hurts flack for his endzone pick right before the half. Personally, I think some of the blame should be placed on Nick Sirianni for not kicking the field goal, but I digress.

But no one, nooo one is going to own this loss more than the other Jalen, Jalen Reagor, as he dropped two touchdowns on the final drive to ice out the drive and lose it all.

Jalen Reagor shouldn’t be starting for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Over the past three weeks, Jalen Reagor was targeted six times. Not six times per game, mind you, six times total, one in Week 9, two in Week 10, and three in Week 11.

That production is bad but understandable. Reagor hasn’t had it so far this season for one reason or another, and sliding him down the target hierarchy made sense even on a roster with very few offensive playmakers.

So why, dare I ask, did Reagor receive seven(!) targets in Week 12, including two on the final drive? Why, when the game was on the line, did the Eagles call plays where Reagor was a top option, especially when you know Jalen Hurts had a bad habit of keying in on his first read?

The first play on that fateful drive made sense… sort of. There wasn’t a lot of time left on the clock and Reagor does have the speed needed to stretch the field, even if Quez Watkins is undoubtedly the better deep threat. While Hurts’ pass wasn’t perfect – it sort of bounced on his helmet- Reagor not only didn’t catch it but actually swatted back and created an opportunity for yet another interception.

Oh yeah, did I mention that Reagors’ eyes were closed right when the ball was within his catch radius? Yeah, I would imagine that’ll be hard to live down.

From there, the Eagles continued to move the ball as best they could, but when the game was on the line and the team was within striking distance of the endzone, Hurts went back to Reagor, and once again, the catchable ball hit the ground.

7-13 game, 5-7 Philadelphia Eagles.

Now, after the game, Nick Sirianni mentioned that it’s his job to unlock Reagor’s game and get him involved. That’s all well and good, but why experiment with a clearly struggling receiver on two of the most important plays of the game? Why not let Reagor have his screens and sweeps in the second quarter and turn to either DeVonta Smith – who asked Sirianni about his lack of targets on the sideline – or Dallas Goedert in crunch time? I mean, the latter is arguably the team’s best mismatch weapon, and he only got one target in the second half, period.

When Reagor has the same number of targets as Smith and Goedert combined in a very important, winnable division game, Philly, we might just have a problem.

Week after week, it’s becoming harder and harder to give Jalen Reagor the benefit of the doubt. Removing the Justin Jefferson factor for a second, Reagor has occasionally flashed on a really good play, that isn’t the problem. The problem is you have to wade through a whole lot of ugly to get to it. In practice that’s fine but in a clutch situation, maybe use Reagor’s speed as a decoy instead of the focal point of a two minute offense the Philadelphia Eagles surely practice every week. Moving forward, it may be best for all parties involved to take a step back and reevaluate Reagor’s role, all the while giving opportunities to other players to prove their mettle… just not at the end of the fourth quarter.