Are Eagles opponents tricking Jalen Hurts and the offense?

Jalen Hurts is killing the blitz. Teams are blitzing him at high rates anyway. And then something changes...

By Geoff Mosher
PhillyVoice Staff

Eric Hartline/Imagn Images

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) is sacked by Denver Broncos linebacker Nik Bonitto (15) at Lincoln Financial Field.

Why would anyone ever blitz Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts? For years, Hurts has been among the NFL's best at carving up blitzes, with his arm and legs.

Sending extra defenders at Hurts typically leaves 1-on-1s for any of A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert, or even Saquon Barkley, as evidenced by the Barkley's 47-yard touchdown catch Sunday against the Broncos' extra-man pressure. 

Blitzing Hurts also often creates extra running lanes for the Super Bowl champion to run through. So why are teams blitzing Hurts at an unusually high rate again this year, and why does it appear to be disrupting the Eagles' offense more than usual even though Hurts remains among the sport's elite at beating these pressure schemes?

Before we come up with an answer, let's look at where Hurts ranks among NFL QBs in terms of blitz rate and success, per Next Gen Stats:

Only Chargers QB Justin Herbert has more dropbacks against the blitz this year than Hurts, but Herbert's completion percentage (64.4), passer rating (94.1), and EPA (+3.1) against the blitz aren't nearly as good as Hurts'. Hurts is also succeeding against the blitz despite being the NFL's most pressured QB, with 31 total pressures against him.

Compare that to Hurts' stats against coverage (four-man rush) this season:

Obviously, Hurts' dropbacks, total yards and TD passes are going to rank low; he just hasn't faced many four-man rushes on his dropbacks this year. Those aren't the concerns compared to his very low rankings in passer rating, completion percentage and EPA.

It's pretty obvious from the data that Hurts is excelling against the blitz and struggling when teams drop seven into coverage. It almost doesn't make sense that any defensive coordinator or play caller would send the house at Hurts early and often, and yet that's exactly what Eagles opponents are doing. 

In Week 4, Bucs head coach Todd Bowles came after Hurts on 12 of his 31 dropbacks, a 39% rate. The Broncos went after him 15 times on 38 drop backs, also a 39% rate.

And despite Hurts going 21-of-24 for 196 yards and four TDs against the blitz in the past two weeks, the Eagles have still endured offensive droughts, with Hurts failing to complete a pass after halftime against the Bucs and leading four consecutive three-and-outs spanning the third and fourth quarters against Denver.

The hunch here is that there was a method to the madness of both opponents. The common bond between the Bucs and Broncos is that both teams severely cut down their blitzing in the second half. The Bucs blitzed Hurts just once after halftime while the Broncos threw the majority of their pressures at Hurts before the Barkley touchdown on the first drive of the third quarter.

One trend that showed up on tape is that even when the Bucs and Broncos stopped throwing blitzes, they still showed blitz prior to the snap before dropping into a coverage, basically showing Hurts one picture before the snap and a completely different one after the snap.

For those disguises to work, Hurts has to actually believe the blitz could be coming, which could explain why Hurts saw so many first-half blitzes against both teams.

Here are just two of many examples – one against the Broncos, one against the Bucs – of the defense either showing blitz but dropping into coverage, or of a disguised four-man rush that changed the picture for Hurts after the snap.

None of the play callers will come out and say it, but it seems pretty clear that coaches who are confident in their team's resolve are willing to let Hurts beat them early for the chance to disrupt the Eagles' offense as the game lengthens. The Broncos and Bucs were both playoff teams last year and off to good starts in 2025.

This doesn't seem like a great strategy for a team that's not skilled in playing from behind or has limited firepower, so it'll be interesting to see what the 1-4, Malik Nabers-less Giants will have planned Thursday night.

https://www.phillyvoice.com/are-eagles-opponents-tricking-jalen-hurts-and-offense-blitz-data-pressure-nfl-analytics-stats/