Philadelphia’s regular-season finale against the New York Giants on Sunday was almost meaningless as far as the Eagles’ playoff positioning was concerned. Philadelphia needed the unlikely outcome of the Dallas Cowboys losing to the Washington Commanders to move from a wild-card qualifier with a game at the NFC South champ to the NFC East winner with a home game in the first round of the playoffs.

But with the Eagles reeling after four losses in the previous five games, Philadelphia went with its starters in hopes of getting back on track before the postseason.

It could hardly have gone worse. Dallas drilled the Commanders 38-10. The Giants, the only team the Eagles have beaten since the end of November, jumped to a 24-0 lead. And Philadelphia wide receiver AJ Brown left with a knee injury, safeties Sydney Brown and Reed Blankenship go hurt, too, and quarterback Jalen Hurts sustained a finger injury.

“He came back in and played,” Philadelphia coach Nick Sirianni said of Hurts. “He’s tough as heck. After he got hurt, he came back in and ripped it.”

But asked about Hurts’ availability for the first-round game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Sirianni said: “We’ll see. I haven’t even talked to the trainers yet or the medical staff.”

Hurts said the middle finger of his right hand “popped out” when he hit the raised hand of a pass-rusher while throwing the football.

“Taking it day-by-day at this point,” Hurts said. “A very unfortunate, crazy thing. I never experienced anything like that.”

After a trip to the sideline medical tent, Hurts kept playing without missing an offensive snap. But after Hurts was intercepted by former Alabama teammate Xavier McKinney with 1:28 left in the first half, Sirianni pulled the quarterback and several other starters. Marcus Mariota finished the 27-10 loss at quarterback.

“When we went down 24-0, it obviously wasn’t going the way we wanted it to go,” Sirianni said. “I wanted to get the chance to rest some guys. Look, I told you guys we went out there to play and to try to get ourselves going and also not knowing what was going to happen in the other game. I was doing a little bit of scoreboard watching, and I think at that time, the Dallas game was close, but our game was a three-score game and we hadn’t moved it very well. They were up 24-0, and that’s why I made that decision at that point.”

Eleven games into the season, the Eagles had the NFL’s best record a 10-1. Philadelphia will take an 11-6 mark to Tampa.

“It’s always another opportunity,” Hurts said. “It’s about taking advantage of the opportunity. Do I think we’ve done a good job of doing that? No. Not as of late. But that takes complete ownership of every individual doing that. Now it’s about finding that deep in our souls and figuring out ways to win. …

“The beautiful part about it is you got an opportunity in front of us to take advantage of that. Regardless of if you fell down five times before, it’s about how you get up for the sixth one. And so we got to respond as a team, and everybody understands that.”

Hurts completed 7-of-16 passes for 55 yards with no touchdowns and one interception and ran for 4 yards on two carries before departing on Sunday.

Hurts finished as the runner-up for the AP NFL Most Valuable Player Award last season as the Eagles won the NFC championship. Hurts has more passing yards, more touchdown passes and more rushing touchdowns in 2023 than he had in 2022. But he also has thrown 15 interceptions after having six last season. Five have come in the past four games.

Hurts said Philadelphia has the same opportunity this postseason that it had in last year’s playoffs.

“As a team, we have everything in front of us,” Hurts said. “The opportunity’s in front of us, and it’s about seizing that moment. Nothing else really matters – not anything of the past, not any record, not any past wins or losses. It’s all 0-0 now, and the objective is a win. …

“I truly believe this team is more than capable of taking advantage of what’s in front of us. You got to do the work, and you got to do what you need to do. All you need is a crumb; all you need is an opportunity. We’re going to put all hands on deck to do that. This is simply win or go home. Nothing else matters.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.