Eagles coaches still embracing Hurts’ superpower

[time2rock]

Eagles coaches still embracing Hurts’ superpower

 

BEREA, Ohio — When Jalen Hurts broke free from the pocket and was eventually the victim of an egregious late hit in last Friday’s preseason opener, head coach Nick Sirianni said he liked the decision to leave what looked like a clean pocket.

No one was open, Sirianni said.

"I think that people think like, oh, we left the pocket early, and the protection was good,” Sirianni said. "Well, sometimes nobody is open. And sometimes the defense calls a good play and it's not a good look in the coverage.”

Sirianni’s point is that it’s easy to see a clean pocket and think Hurts shouldn’t flee. But if his receivers are covered, he can’t just become a statue in the pocket. Eventually, he will get sacked.

Hurts has the unique ability to create with his legs.

And the Eagles never want him to lose that.

"That's one of his superpowers is that he can get out on the move and create plays, and we don’t want to take that away from him,” offensive coordinator Shane Steichen said. "So, when guys are covered, let's go create the big play on the move.

"He did a heck of a job of that on the first play. We don't want to take that away. Like I said, sometimes guys are going to be covered. Don't stand there; he's a great runner, we’ve all seen that, and he's going to make big plays that way.”

Obviously, Hurts is never going to make the right decision all of the time. And he’s been criticized plenty during his career for making the wrong decision. Sometimes he does leave the pocket too early.

Hurts says his decisions to take off or not just come down to instincts.

"Yeah, I don’t want to make it more than what it is,” Hurt said.

It’s really a balancing act, though. Because in order for Hurts to take the next step in his career, he needs to improve as a passer. And sometimes that means not taking off at the first sign of trouble.

But the fact remains that when Hurts does leave the pocket, it makes defenses change what they want to do. Lane Johnson said some teams alter their pass rush, telling their ends not to break contain for fear of Hurts’ escaping.

It puts defenses "in a bind,” Steichen said.

"Because scrambles are hard to defend,” Steichen continued. "They have to plaster on defense and find guys and then if we work to scramble or that’s how we are and we get to our spots, that stuff is hard to defend. Because when the play breaks down, their coverages from a defensive standpoint, they change.

"They’re like, ‘We’re playing this coverage -- here is four, we’re in three and all of a sudden it's scramble, boom.’ Now it’s like, ‘I’ve got to go find my guy and get on him’ because there’s going to be big voids in there when you scramble.”

Once Hurts leaves the pocket, the responsibilities of his teammates change. Sometimes the linemen are the last to realize the play is breaking down. Johnson said if the play is on his side, he stops blocking to avoid a holding call and watches the show.

The receivers have a more active role. Their job is to keep running to give Hurts targets. The Eagles practice scramble drills quite often.

"Just run around,” A.J. Brown said when asked how they practice them. "Simple, just run around. I can’t give too many details. But mostly you just run around, run to a spot.”

Hurts tries to find them. Or he runs.

The stressful part for a defense is trying to stop both.

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/eagles-training-camp-2022-embracing-jalen-hurts-superpower

[UK_EaglesFan89]

So I do like of agree with Sirianni. It is very easy for us to look at a situation and say the QB should have done this or that, or shouldn't have done this or that. Context really is the key. 

That said, we know Hurts can use his legs and he shouldn't stop doing that as it is one hell of a weapon. But can't he at times use his legs to buy time? Rather than using his legs to gain the yards, buy time for receivers to get open. I think that's something Hurts could do better.