They were there. That’s the thing. Were they there in abundance? Maybe not. But this was the postseason. And the throws it takes to win playoffs games were there to be made.
There was Quez Watkins with a step on man coverage, about to clear the top of the defense with nobody between him in the end zone. There was Jalen Hurts, looking some other way. There was DeVonta Smith flashing into the end zone with one defender on him. There was Hurts, oblivious to that defender, delivering an underthrown interception on a plate.
Set aside all of the other things that went wrong in the 31-15 loss to the Buccaneers that ended the Eagles’ season on Sunday. The penalties, the fumbles, the injuries — all of these are perfectly fine reasons to come away thinking that they weren’t winning this game regardless of how their quarterback played. The problem is that you could have taken those things away and the result would have been the same.
