Eagles' failure against blitz doesn't bode well for playoff success

[time2rock]

Eagles' failure against blitz doesn't bode well for playoff success

The Eagles simply couldn't handle the blitz in Week 18, which doesn't bode well for success in the wild card round.

By Dave Zangaro • Published January 9, 2024

 

Jalen Hurts gets blitzed more than just about any other player in the NFL and the Eagles on Sunday were facing a defensive coordinator known for heating up quarterbacks.

So it wasn’t a great sign in Week 18 when the Eagles looked like they had never seen a blitz before.

It was bad.

"Obviously anytime you don't handle the things like that the way you should, that's always going to start with me and putting them in positions to make plays,” head coach Nick Sirianni said on Monday. "And (there are) so many different ways that you can handle the blitz. There's many different things that you can do.

"And, the ones that we chose to do yesterday, they weren't good enough and so that's going to be on me. Because it starts with the plan that we put together and so it wasn't good enough yesterday. We have our ways that we're going to fix it. We have our ways that we're going to move forward with it. But, yesterday, I'm 100% going to take that on what it looked like yesterday.”

While Hurts could certainly handle some of these situations better, he didn’t get much help from scheme or play-calling in this game. The troubling thing is that dealing with the blitz has been a problem with this offense, with this quarterback dating back to 2021. Sometimes it’s OK; other times it’s a disaster.

And in the final regular season game of their third year together, it was a glaring issue.

Hurts didn’t play very long on Sunday before the Eagles were getting blown out and Sirianni pulled his starters. But here’s a look at Hurts’ numbers from that game when he was blitzed by Wink Martindale’s defense and when he wasn’t, via ProFootballFocus:

Not blitzed: 5 dropbacks (26.3%), 2/4 passing, 14 yards

Blitzed: 14 dropbacks (73.7%), 5/12 passing, 41 yards, 2 sacks, 1 INT

This season, Hurts was blitzed at the second-highest rate in the NFL among full-time starting quarterbacks, seeing extra pressure on 38.7% of his dropbacks. The only starter who saw more pressure was Packers quarterback Jordan Love, who was blitzed on 39.2% of his dropbacks as a first-year starter.

Teams are clearly incentivized to blitz Hurts because this offense doesn’t seem to have adequate answers for it. And you can bet on seeing a ton of extra pressure from Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles, who has been long known for his aggressive defenses.

Just two teams blitzed at a higher rate than the Bucs this season, according to ProFootballReference advanced stats:

Vikings: 47.3%
Giants: 42.2%
Buccaneers: 37.9%

And even though the Eagles picked up a nice win over the Bucs in Week 3 down in Tampa, that was clearly Bowles’ plan against Hurts earlier this season. The Buccaneers blitzed Hurts on 75% of his dropbacks in that game. That’s the highest blitz rate from the Bucs in a single game all season, ahead of the 71% against Brock Purdy in Week 11. So the Eagles made an already high-percentage blitz team blitz even more.

Of course, it didn’t really work in Week 3. The Eagles pulled off a 25-11 win. But these Eagles, in general, are a much different team than they were back in late September. These Eagles have lost five of six games entering the playoffs.

Hurts on Sunday night was asked if he has enough answers built in against the blitz.

"I just don’t think we executed it well enough,” Hurts said. "I think there are opportunities on both ends, we didn’t execute it good enough so obviously, we’ve got to get better from that and do a good job of that when it comes in the future.”

Here’s a look at Hurts’ stats this season with and without the blitz:

Not blitzed: 61.3% of dropbacks, 220/327 (67.3%), 2,367 yards, 15 TDs, 7 INTs

Blitzed: 38.7% of dropbacks, 132/211 (62.6%), 1,491 yards, 8 TDs, 8 INTs

If you think back to the wild card playoff game between the Eagles and Buccaneers back in 2021, Bowles blitzed Hurts on exactly half of his dropbacks in that game and Hurts threw two interceptions on those plays. The Eagles lost.

If the same thing beats Hurts and this Sirianni-led offense two years later, it would be completely maddening.

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/eagles-failure-against-blitz-doesnt-bode-well-for-playoff-success/557281/

[UK_EaglesFan89]

Sirianni, BJ, Stout and Hurts best get their act together if they want any chance on Monday against the Bucs. Tampa are going to go blitz heavy because they know so far we've had no answer for it so they better get thinking and planning for how they handle it.

[birdman#12]

High school coaches know how to respond to blitzes.  

 

[MisterGreen]

The way to neutralize a blitz is to design plays that get the ball out quick. This offense is primarily bubble screens and bombs down the field. Pretty much why we're so bad against the blitz.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

19 hours ago, MisterGreen said:

The way to neutralize a blitz is to design plays that get the ball out quick. This offense is primarily bubble screens and bombs down the field. Pretty much why we're so bad against the blitz.

And yet the "plan" against the blitz seems to be for Jalen to make 1-2 guys miss and then it will open things up. And whilst that is not good planning it is "fine" if that is like the exit route if your plan breaks down.