1-1 at the end of Week 2! After a solid 34-29 win against the Green Bay Packers in Week 1, the Philadelphia Eagles faced disappointment with a narrow 22-21 defeat against the Atlanta Falcons. The game’s main spotlight-stealing moment, however, was when the referee flagged Eagles QB Jalen Hurts for spiking the ball and ended up giving away a crucial penalty. Although the reason behind Hurts’ actions wasn’t clear at first, later he explained himself and his decisions.

In the post-game interview, Hurts said that he didn’t know spiking the ball would get him flagged by the referee. The 26-year-old QB said, “I didn’t know I would be flagged for this. So if I knew then I wouldn’t have probably done it.” When asked if there was any particular impetus for that type of outward emotion, Hurts said, “Honestly, I wanted the stadium to feel me. You know, it was one of those games where we needed everyone. And by everyone, I mean all three phases, every seat that was filled in that stadium in the link. I think it got us a good spike of energy. We came up short, but we’ll have another here opportunity soon to shake everything up”. 

Things were quite fluid, and the referees found themselves in a tough spot during this game on Monday at the Lincoln Financial Field. In the seventh minute of the second quarter, Hurts attempted to run a ball and secured a first down. This play pumped the QB, and he spiked the ball hard onto the ground. The referee instantly threw a penalty marker on the ground. The Eagles were dumbfounded. They initially assumed that the referees stopped the clock because of a false start before they announced the real reason.

Later, the referee mentioned that as Jalen Hurts spiked the ball while the game was still in motion; it resulted in a 15-yard penalty. However, this didn’t matter much for long. As in this same drive, Hurts threw a 7-yard bullet to DeVonta Smith to secure the Eagles‘ first touchdown of the game.

Jalen Hurts’ post-game talk garners appreciation from Nick Sirianni

Following a dramatic 22-21 loss against the Falcons, Nick Sirianni didn’t feel the need to put up a speech himself after listening to Jalen Hurts’ post-game interview. According to Sirianni, Hurts touched on all the points that he wanted to talk about in his speech. So after hearing the QB, he didn’t address the team separately.

During a radio appearance on the 94WIP Morning Show, Sirianni said, “Jalen is an awesome leader. I’m sitting there looking through what I was going to say after the game. He spoke from his heart. I thought his message was right on, dead on. We’ll always keep in-house things in-house, but at the end of the day, Jalen talked about the details. I just thought he was spot-on with what he said. His passion was awesome. When a player is saying everything that you would say, there is no reason for me to speak afterward. Man, that was perfect.”

Eagles looked right on track to win the game as they reached the red zone just two minutes before the end of the fourth quarter. They lost a game-sealing opportunity when RB Saquon Barkley dropped a pass that would’ve surely been a first down. After the Falcons got back the possession, they were six points behind the Eagles. Falcons QB Kirk Cousins constructed a six-play, 70-yard drive along with a go-ahead seven-yard touchdown pass to Drake London. This allowed Atlanta to come swooping from behind and seal the win at the Lincoln Financial Field.

As they get further into the season, Sirianni and his boys will try to get over this disappointment and return to winning ways. Next week, the team will face the in-form New Orleans Saints at the Caesars Superdome.