Jalen Hurts mum on the second half; A.J. Brown only tweeted. What’s going on with the Eagles’ Jekyll and Hyde offense?

TAMPA, Fla. — Jalen Hurts didn’t want to answer questions about the second half.

He played nearly flawless quarterback in the first half of the Eagles’ 31-25 win over the Buccaneers and was asked about his performance when he seemingly could do no wrong.

“Execution,” he said, was the reason the offense had far by its best 30 minutes against a Todd Bowles-coached Bucs defense. And he gave the same response — although with just the one word — when asked about what went wrong in the final 30 when he failed to complete a single throw.

He preferred the next question, though, which was about his two touchdown passes to tight end Dallas Goedert.

“There you go,” he said to the reporter.

But at least Hurts spoke. Both of his top two wide receivers weren’t available in the visitors’ locker room at Raymond James Stadium. A.J. Brown declined an interview request, while DeVonta Smith was nowhere to be seen.

Brown did offer a few postgame tweets. The second was from the gospel of Mark, chapter 6, verse 11: “If you’re not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw. Don’t make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way.”

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It was unclear exactly who Brown’s message was directed at, if anyone at all. His earlier tweet — “I Love yall with all My heart” and a heart with a bandage emoji — wasn’t sent long after he shook a reporter’s hand and said, “I’m about to walk out of here.”

But Jesus’ instruction to his disciples on how to respond to rejection as metaphor for how Brown felt after he caught just two passes for 7 yards on Sunday? That was pointed at someone or someones internally with the Eagles, two sources close to the receiver said.

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Brown saw the ball come his way nine times — more than double any other of Hurts’ targets. But few of the passes were catchable. Hurts couldn’t hit the side of a bus in the second half as all eight of his attempts fell incomplete.

Hurts was hardly the only Eagle to falter on offense in the second half.

“We obviously didn’t play good there — running game, passing game, it was everything,” coach Nick Sirianni said. “You can’t single out one.”

Many fans outside the team have focused their ire about the Jekyll and Hyde offense on first-year coordinator Kevin Patullo. He, aside from right guard Tyler Steen, is the only new cog in the operation. But Patullo has been in Philly since Sirianni’s start.

He seemingly looked the genius in the first half coming off last week’s second-half turnaround against the Rams. The Eagles leaned on the pass, dropping back Hurts 20 times vs. eight called runs. They had built-in answers for Bowles’ blitzes. And the quarterback and the offense executed, as Hurts said.

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He threw for 130 yards and two touchdowns on 15-for-16 passing. Even his one incomplete throw — a downfield shot to Brown — had purpose. Hurts also ran for 42 yards, including a 29-yard scramble that set up the first score.

“That’s pretty darn good,” Sirianni said of his quarterback’s first half. “And then the second half, we didn’t coach well enough, we didn’t play well enough in the second half. We were able to hang on for the win because the defense was able to get us some turnovers.”

The Eagles certainly have plenty to be proud of after opening the season 4-0. Playing in hot Tampa has been a thorn in their sides dating back to 2021 when they lost in a wild-card playoff. Last year, they came down here in Week 4 and got spanked and fell to 2-2.

It forced changes on both sides of the ball, most notably shifting away from Hurts and the passing game to Saquon Barkley and the run.

“I think we were in a good place at 2-2 last year,” Hurts said. “We had a lot of opportunities in front of us. I think we’re in a good place now. No different because we have a lot of opportunities in front of us. …

“You guys may look at the record and be a hound for negativity in some regard, but regardless of where you are, when you’re just early in the season, you’re still searching to try and elevate and play to a standard of execution.”

Hurts has often played to that standard. And even when he hasn’t, he has found a way. He’s now won 50 of his 70 regular-season starts. The Eagles haven’t lost a game he has started and finished since the 33-16 loss to Tampa Bay a year ago.

“You can be on top one day and at the bottom the next,” Hurts said when asked about his success in the last calendar year, which, of course, included a Super Bowl win. “This game is very humbling.”

And that could explain the Eagles on Sunday, and maybe even their first four games this season. They’ve been on top with good stretches and impressive halves. They’ve also had humbling moments of undisciplined, mistake-prone play.

But they keep winning. The concern is that, like 2023, winning ugly will catch up to them. Left tackle Jordan Mailata sounded that alarm last week. But he sang a different tune after the Eagles got the Bucs monkey off their collective backs.

“Points never lie,” Mailata said. “I was proud of how we were. I’m not concerned about last week anymore. Concerned about this week. I thought we played a great first half. Now we’ve got to find ways to extend drives in the second half. But, man, what a hell of a game we played today.

“That was a great team. The Bucs — they’re not bums. And winning games down in Tampa is a big deal, because we haven’t. … We’ve been humiliated. We’ve been on that side of the ball.”

The Eagles have a much better defense than they did two years ago, not to mention a better coordinator in Vic Fangio. They also got another seven points from special teams when a blocked punt was returned for a touchdown to open the scoring.

And they seemingly solved their offensive woes in the first half. The play-calling was imaginative. Goedert’s first touchdown came off a fake Tush Push with a flip to the tight end from 2 yards out.

“I was really happy we got that called,” Goedert said. “I think we put it in about four years ago, maybe five, when the staff first got here and it worked to perfection.”

He scored later on a shovel pass. And the second half did feature another offensive touchdown when Barkley scored after a Bucs fumble — on another Tush Push deke.

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But the Eagles went three-and-out on five of their first seven drives of the second half and had just 19 net yards until the last series that ended with a run-out-the-clock safety. The Eagles didn’t look like they could block, pass, catch, or run.

Hurts was sacked twice, once when center Cam Jurgens fired a snap over his head. He took another hit on a scramble and needed a second to collect himself. It just got worse. He should have been intercepted when he forced another throw to Brown, but Bucs cornerback Jacob Parrish dropped the ball.

Was it Patullo’s play-calling? There were a few head-scratchers. Was it Sirianni’s conservatism? The Eagles didn’t turn the ball over, but they also had few explosive plays. Was it Hurts? He looked discombobulated by Bowles’ pressures. And was it everyone else? Brown and Smith had just four combined receptions.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. You can’t play that poorly and it be just one person or thing.

But defenses are making a more concerted effort to stop Barkley and that has placed more of the onus on the passing game. Overall, Hurts’ decision-making has been sounder. He has made good reads and throws. He’s protecting the football.

In the last three weeks, though, he has had periods when he couldn’t see the field or was gun-shy. And in those same games, he’s had periods when he’s looked unbeatable. It’s been the damndest thing.

But even if Brown’s tweet was directed at Hurts, it’s going to take everyone on offense to become more of what they showed in the first half than the second half. Luckily, Fangio’s defense bailed them out. And that’s OK, too.

Hurts was less terse when asked about that unit.

“From a complementary standpoint, you can ask for more in the first half,” Hurts said. “We just have to put it together as a team, and that’s something that you can learn from, and that’s something that will be fixed.

“But we’re finding ways to win and that’s what it comes down to in the end.”

And there’s plenty to be said for that.