The Eagles’ offense and quarterback Jalen Hurts might have started slowly Thursday night against the Washington Commanders, but the lowlight of a sluggish first half came via an unlikely source.
That was standout kicker Jake Elliott missing a pair of first-half field goal tries. Then to make matters worse, as the Birds were finally gearing up their offense in the fourth quarter and took their first lead, Elliott missed an extra point, leaving the Eagles with only a two-point lead at the time.
To the Birds’ credit, they engaged the magnificence of Saquon Barkley to score two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter, and the defense squelched a would-be scoring drive in the end zone on a fourth-and-2, and the Birds were on their way to a 26-18 victory in the battle for first place in the NFC East.
While this win will leave positive vibes everywhere around him, Elliott knows he has a lot of work to do before the Birds next play on on Nov. 24 against the Rams in Los Angeles.
Elliott came into the Linc Thursday having made 12 of 15 field goal tries, and all 23 of his point-after attempts this season. After missing first-half tries from 44 and 51 yards, he’s now 14 of 19 on field goals, including zilch-for-3 from 50-plus yards. And he also has that one missed PAT try to ponder.
“When I’m hitting the ball well, I’m confident, and right now, I like the way I’m hitting the ball for the most part,” Elliott said. “Obviously, tonight’s frustrating. But I’m just going to double down on what I’ve been doing and that’s all I can really do right now.
“The first two actually didn’t feel that bad. The frustrating one for me was that extra point later. I really wanted that one back.”
Making this somewhat remarkable is that only a year ago, Elliott made 30 of 32 field goal tries for a sterling 93.8 percentile. He missed only three field goal tries the year before that, and in 2021 hit on 30 of 33 (90.9%).
In 2017, 2018 and 2020, he missed five tries in each of those seasons. He’s already missed five through 10 games this year.
“Sometimes it happens. It’s uncomprehendable,” Elliott said. “I’ve got to go watch the film, take a look in the mirror and figure it out, and figure it out fast. I still feel really confident in myself. I feel like I’ve been hitting the ball really well this year. I don’t want to overemphasize one game, I just want to go back to the process and figure it out.”
Asked if he ever had a season like this one on any level, Elliott, 29, said, “Not that I can recall off the top of my head.
“I definitely have had games where I’m frustrated with myself and didn’t hit the ball great,” he added. “But I’ve always been able to figure that out and bounce back, and that’s what I expect from myself.”
On all three missed kicks against the Commanders – Elliott did hit on two short field goals and two point-after attempts, however – he hooked the ball. That isn’t the usual flight plan for Elliott’s booming boots.
“I usually hit a couple of balls in the net, feel the thump, and when I feel that I know the ball’s going to go straight,” Elliott said. “It’s uncharacteristic for me for sure (to hook kicks), so I’ve got to go take a deep dive and figure out what is happening. I’ll take the weekend, take a dive into it and fix it as fast as possible.”
No matter how long it takes for Elliott to straighten his kicks and himself out, he knows he’ll have support in his efforts.
“I’ve got all the confidence in Jake in the world,” said lineman Lane Johnson. “I’ve been with him for numerous years, and nobody works harder at their craft, nobody does better at their craft and nobody’s more disciplined toward himself than Jake. Moving forward, Jake Elliott has been the man, will always be the man, and we’re here for him.”
