It was Jalen Hurts’ worst game of the season to date, and it didn’t matter.
But the fact that Sunday’s performance marked the Eagles’ third-year quarterback’s least productive performance of the first month of the 2022 season speaks volumes about Hurts himself and the offense he’s playing in.
Hurts threw his second interception of the year in the 29-21 win over the Jaguars but still averaged a decently high 8.2 yards per attempt and scored an audacious touchdown.
Entering Week 4, the Eagles were 10th in the Football Outsiders Offensive DVOA and fourth in the Overall DVOA, the site’s overall efficiency measure.
Then they rushed for 210 yards against the Jaguars.
Have they been outrageously effective in racking up those yards? Not exactly. 4.2 yards per attempt as a team. Still, the Eagles were confident in their running game, leaning on it to the tune of 50 rush attempts, which was only the third time in the last five years that a team had made at least 50 runs in one. only regular season competition.
But the Eagles’ ability to rush more than four yards per run over 50 carries should scare the rest of the NFC. Mind you, the Jaguars came into this matchup with Philadelphia fourth (!) in defensive DVOA. It wasn’t the porous Jacksonville defense we’ve grown accustomed to over the vast majority of the past decade.
And overall, the Eagles’ offensive front is cruising. They’ve paved ways for Miles Sanders, Hurts and Co. and allow the seventh-lowest pressure rating in pass protection (28.7%), accounting for Hurts’ off-the-cuff tendencies, which typically result in at least a few more presses. by competition.
The skill group is also thriving. Of the 32 receivers with at least 15 catches on the season so far, AJ Brown is second in yards after catching per reception (his specialty) at 6.8. Devonta Smith has 266 receiving yards as the Eagles’ No. 2 receiver, and Dallas Goedert is in the top 10 among tight ends at 240.
Guess who’s third in the NFL in rushing? Yeah. Miles Sander.
It’s a complete and really complementary group that we have in our hands here in Philadelphia. But you’re probably wondering where Hurts is in its development?
Now, it would make perfect sense to assume, because Hurts is the quarterback, and we all agree that the quarterback is the most vital aspect of any offense (and team), that he has to play at a level elite. Last week I posted a thread on twitter on this very subject.
Hurts is still growing. He’s not one of the elite quarterbacks right now. But – and this is important – just like last season, Nick Siranni’s staff have done a spectacular job of rolling out an incredibly hard-to-slow schedule.
Take for example, this simple junkyard to Sanders, which offers a clear trail to rack up extra yardage. Two receivers on the right side of the formation, running verticals, and the veteran sent off on an angled route directly to the space freed up by the receivers sprinting down.
The throw was far from perfect, but given Sanders’ momentum and all the open space on the right side of the court, this checkdown was set for a big win.
Due to their ability to slash the ground, it feels like the Eagles slant play action is there every time. And Philadelphia ran it successfully many times against the Jaguars. Linebacker handling gives Hurts an easy read and throw over the middle. Brown is top of the screen on this piece.
Sirianni and his team smartly tapped into Hurts’ athleticism, giving him plenty of deployment opportunities with options layered right in his line of sight, as this Brown completion shows here. Notice how Goedert is available running a nearly parallel route to Brown below.
Hurts saw Goedert covered, moved his eyes to the next level and found his superstar receiver for a big play.
That’s all well and good, but the anticipation element of Hurts’ game isn’t quite there yet. Against the Jaguars, there were at least two clear signs of that.
The first came on a deep comeback led by Brown. At the start of the game, it was apparent that Brown would be open after reaching the top of his road rod and working football again. Instead, Hurts waited and waited and waited for Brown to stand on the field, wide open, before delivering the ball.
No, this throw doesn’t need to be done with mad anticipation, but if you watch again, you’ll probably notice a freakish little hitch in Hurts’ delivery. The throw must, at the latest, be made at this moment. This was not the case and fell incomplete.
Then later in the game, after drifting straight out of the pocket, Hurts glanced down the field and called on Devonta Smith to execute a turn in a scramble drill. There was an underhand cornerback hiding below, but Hurts himself and his dump option lured that cornerback downhill.
Just when that happened, Hurts had to throw the soccer ball. You will notice more hesitation, another hitch and another pass break.
Of course, those are just two plays from Hurts’ first month of the season. He also has six “great throws” by PFF metrics (tied for third in the league) and has a tiny 1.2 “turnover-worthy play” rate, which has only been beaten only by Tom Brady for four weeks. It’s almost as if Hurts knows that given the strength of this Eagles offense, ball safety is even more critical than normal.
He’s right in that assessment of this Philadelphia offense, which is currently 5th in expected points added (EPA) per game, behind only the Chiefs, Bills, Dolphins and, bizarrely, the Seahawks.
And if Hurts’ maturation continues, the Eagles will be essentially unstoppable offensively.