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The Eagles did not escape MetLife Stadium unscathed following their 27-10 loss to the New York Giants in their season finale.
Safety Sydney Brown suffered what is suspected to be a torn right ACL on his first special-teams snap while attempting to tackle Giants punt returner Gunner Olszewski, a source confirmed to The Inquirer on Sunday. Sirianni confirmed on Monday that Brown is out for the season shortly after the rookie announced it himself on Instagram.
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“Having gone through that as a college football player having to be out for an entire season, that’s tough,” Sirianni said. “And so my heart breaks for them. I have sympathy for them because I know how hard that is when you want to be out on the field with your brothers playing, and you can’t be because your body won’t let you. That really is a tough thing.”
The Eagles also saw a number of players get banged up throughout the night. Quarterback Jalen Hurts injured his middle finger on his throwing hand in the second quarter by jamming it on a Giants rusher while attempting to make a pass. Hurts visited the medical tent and got his finger taped up, but he returned to action on the following Eagles possession and stayed in the game until the Giants pulled away with a 24-0 lead. Then Sirianni opted to sit a number of starters, including Hurts.
A source confirmed to The Inquirer on Monday that Hurts did not fracture his finger on the play. Now he has an extra day of rest built into the schedule for the week with the Eagles taking on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild-card round next Monday. Sirianni lauded Hurts for his toughness and willingness to go back in the game against the Giants despite the injury to his right middle finger.
“This guy has played through a lot of different things and hats off to him because … I don’t want to say anyone can play when your body feels good, but it’s when your body’s feeling the way I know all our guys are feeling, and particularly Jalen, the fact that they played through those things speaks to how tough they are, and Jalen is right there at the top of the list [in] how tough he is,” Sirianni said.
Sirianni was optimistic about Hurts’ status for the first round of the playoffs given his franchise quarterback’s fortitude.
“We’ll see as the week progresses, but I know he’s going to be sore,” Sirianni said. “There’s no doubt about that, and I know that finger is going to get stiff and he’s going to have to go through hard work to make sure that he’s ready to go. But I have no doubt that he’s going to do everything he can do to do that, and that he’ll be able to play through his bumps and bruises because I’ve seen him do it.
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“I’ve seen him do it over and over and over again. And you guys can ask him more about that question when y’all talk to him, but man, I can’t say enough for how tough he is, and he’ll do everything he can do to play and play at a high level this Monday night.”
Wide receiver A.J. Brown also went down with a right knee injury early in the game as he fumbled after a reception. A source told The Inquirer after the game that Brown’s knee injury is not believed to be serious. Additionally, right guard Cam Jurgens was ruled out of the contest with an eye injury. The Eagles were already without wide receiver DeVonta Smith going into Sunday night as he recovers from a mild ankle sprain suffered against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 17.
Sirianni said on Monday that he’s “hopeful on everybody” regarding their statuses for the first round of the playoffs.
“Obviously, bummed that Cam and A.J. had to come out and we obviously missed DeVonta [on Sunday],” Sirianni said. “We need all hands on deck to do the things we want to do. We’ll see how the week progresses.”
Olivia Riener:
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