Will Jalen Hurts boom or bust in improved Eagles offense?

[time2rock]

Will Jalen Hurts boom or bust in improved Eagles offense?

The Philadelphia Eagles went all-in this offseason with key additions on both sides of the ball. They brought in A.J. Brown to play alongside DeVonta Smith at wide receiver, a move that should help quarterback Jalen Hurts.

Hurts started the final four games of his rookie season, completing barely over 50% of his passes (69 of 133) with five touchdowns and three interceptions. He then entered last season as the Eagles' starting quarterback, completing 61% of his passes for 3,144 yards with 16 touchdowns and nine interceptions while rushing for 784 yards and 10 scores.

The third-year quarterback is hoping to build on that with his new weapons on offense, but will he?

Danny Parkins and Andrew Fillipponi discussed the range of outcomes for Jalen Hurts this season on Audacy’s "1st & Pod” NFC Preview episode.

"This is another one of these situations where I go into something with my Andrew Fillipponi, just blinders on, in-a-vacuum take on a team and I’m like I just don’t believe in Jalen Hurts,” Fillipponi said (17:25 in player above). "I just don’t see him as ever becoming a top-tier quarterback.

"And then all these small football people start polluting me and I just get beaten down by it and I just eventually say I give up, and they’re another one of those teams for me. I just had too many people who I trust say they are going to be the best team at the line of scrimmage in the entire NFL and it’s not even close,” he continued. "I look at Philly’s division and I think if you’re telling me they have the best offensive line in the NFL and they add Jordan Davis to the best defensive line in the NFL? I think they’re gonna win nine or 10 games in the NFC East no problem with that formula.”

Fillipponi isn’t alone in his thoughts regarding the Eagles quarterback.

"Same thing on Jalen Hurts. Coming out of ‘Bama, I was like not a pro. The only reason this guy’s getting a shot is because he won big games at Alabama with seven other NFL players on his offense,” Parkins said.

Fillipponi was quick to point out that Hurts got benched in one of those big games, too.

"I was very anti-Jalen Hurts. But then, same thing, you listen to people, you read about it,” Parkins continued. "You’re like OK, one of the youngest rosters in the NFL, but who are their veterans? Lane Johnson. Jason Kelce. Darius Slay. Some of the most respected people in the NFL. Oh, who’d they add? A.J. Brown. Oh, A.J. Brown’s awesome. And now I’m like, is Jalen Hurts going to throw for 4,000 and rush for 1,00? You know what I mean? Is that all of a sudden on the table?”

In 19 career starts, Hurts has thrown for 4,205 yards and ran for 1,138. In a 17-game season with the offensive weapons the Eagles have, that may be possible.

"I also think that – ‘cause Sirianni switched in the middle of last year. He tried to throw the ball with Hurts, it didn’t work, then they went super run-heavy against a bad schedule and they made the playoffs,” Fillipponi said of the Eagles finishing 6-1 down the stretch. "And it was kind of like your Bears team the year before where they feasted on cupcakes and made the playoffs that way.”

That decision to switch things up gives Fillipponi some confidence in Sirianni and the Eagles, but not necessarily in Hurts.

While Parkins wondered about Hurts’ upside this year, Fillipponi took a trip down the other path.

"The coach showed an ability, to me, to adapt. Just like John Harbaugh did when he went with Lamar Jackson,” he said. "Maybe the delta here is 40%, tops. I think with A.J. Brown, they might get to a point where they go to Minshew this year if Hurts can’t throw the ball the way they want him to. That’s my prediction. I think that could happen. I think that’s in play.”

Gardner Minshew II started two games for the Eagles last season. He went 20 of 25 for 242 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions in a Week 13 win against the Jets. He then struggled a bit against the Cowboys in Week 17 with the Eagles resting most of their starters.

"It’s a fascinating team because the roster’s awesome and they’re clearly making all-in moves for this year,” Parkins said. "But I agree, Hurts is still a wild card.”

https://www.audacy.com/national/sports/will-jalen-hurts-boom-or-bust-in-improved-eagles-offense

[weko]

We scored 38 points vs the Lions and Hurts only completely 1 pass to a WR not named AJ Brown.  And that was for 7 yards.  Smith didn't catch a ball.

He has to see the WHOLE field better and he has to read thru progressions before taking off and running.  Not sure he's improved much, if at all, off of this game

[UK_EaglesFan89]

3 hours ago, weko said:

We scored 38 points vs the Lions and Hurts only completely 1 pass to a WR not named AJ Brown.  And that was for 7 yards.  Smith didn't catch a ball.

That's definitely a concern. It was a theme during TC and it continued today. They need to get Hurts to go through his progressions and they need to find ways to spread the ball. Teams are going to take AJ away and then what?

[weko]

5 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

That's definitely a concern. It was a theme during TC and it continued today. They need to get Hurts to go through his progressions and they need to find ways to spread the ball. Teams are going to take AJ away and then what?

Exactly right.  Teams will double AJ all game.  Then what?

[Cochis_Calhoun]

17 minutes ago, weko said:

Exactly right.  Teams will double AJ all game.  Then what?

Then, and this is just a guess, he'll throw to someone else?

It wasn't a passing game for the ages but it was a tough game in a loud stadium and he made some good tight window throws, he even threw a decent deep ball.

Derek Carr's stat line against the Chargers looks pretty similar, #1WR and TE getting the vast majority of the yards. Cousins threw to Jefferson for 184 yards and apart from that only one guy broke 30 yards, is the Vikings board panicking that Cousins isn't spreading the ball enough?

It's one game.

[pgcd3]

2 hours ago, Cochis_Calhoun said:

Then, and this is just a guess, he'll throw to someone else?

It wasn't a passing game for the ages but it was a tough game in a loud stadium and he made some good tight window throws, he even threw a decent deep ball.

Derek Carr's stat line against the Chargers looks pretty similar, #1WR and TE getting the vast majority of the yards. Cousins threw to Jefferson for 184 yards and apart from that only one guy broke 30 yards, is the Vikings board panicking that Cousins isn't spreading the ball enough?

It's one game.

There are a lot of people on this board who are in grief over the victory.

They care more about being right than the team winning

[dawkins4prez]

The Lions offense will emerge as one of the better ones in the NFc and the defense is sorely lacking talent.  Factor that into all your overreactions today.

[dawkins4prez]

9 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

That's definitely a concern. It was a theme during TC and it continued today. They need to get Hurts to go through his progressions and they need to find ways to spread the ball. Teams are going to take AJ away and then what?

Brown's performance will open things open for Smith & Goedert going forward.  They haven't even thrown to Watkins yet.  Sanders & the Oline looked great.  I'd be really bullish on the Eagles offense right now.

[time2rock]

33 minutes ago, pgcd3 said:

There are a lot of people on this board who are in grief over the victory.

They care more about being right than the team winning

Indeed.  It seems there are more than a few fans rooting against Hurts.  I try to be open minded as much as possible ... I acknowledge there are quite a few areas in which he needs to show improvement but also recognize the possibility is there for him to make improvements in his game (many here don't as it relates to the latter).  Whether it will be enough to believe he can lead this team for the foreseeable future ... time will tell.  

[pgcd3]

6 minutes ago, time2rock said:

Indeed.  It seems there are more than a few fans rooting against Hurts.  I try to be open minded as much as possible ... I acknowledge there are quite a few areas in which he needs to show improvement but also recognize the possibility is there for him to make improvements in his game (many here don't as it relates to the latter).  Whether it will be enough to believe he can lead this team for the foreseeable future ... time will tell.  

The 'experts' are mourning the loss.  There's an obvious bias against Hurts. All they see is the flaws and don't recognize the accomplishments. He runs too much in key situations I think but some guys take sacks or throw picks.  There are maybe 10 QBs who pass the bar they set but they call him a RB at QB as if that isn't charged statement.  

[time2rock]

19 minutes ago, pgcd3 said:

The 'experts' are mourning the loss.  There's an obvious bias against Hurts. All they see is the flaws and don't recognize the accomplishments. He runs too much in key situations I think but some guys take sacks or throw picks.  There are maybe 10 QBs who pass the bar they set but they call him a RB at QB as if that isn't charged statement.  

Mourning the win.  

Completely agree with everything else.  

[pgcd3]

Just now, time2rock said:

Mourning the win.  

Completely agree with everything else.  

I meant to say that 😂

[UK_EaglesFan89]

58 minutes ago, dawkins4prez said:

Brown's performance will open things open for Smith & Goedert going forward.  They haven't even thrown to Watkins yet.  Sanders & the Oline looked great.  I'd be really bullish on the Eagles offense right now.

Only if Hurts sees the field better... If he doesn't then things won't open up for anyone. 

[dawkins4prez]

17 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Only if Hurts sees the field better... If he doesn't then things won't open up for anyone. 

I dunno I see a punishing running game that will have teams keeping an extra guy in the box and a WR demanding double coverage.  Seems like that 2nd read is gonna be really easy to make.

[birdman#12]

Sirianni and the offensive coaches have GOT to get Hurts to be looking downfield when he is forced from the pocket.......he starts tucking the ball 3-4 yards behind the LOS......that's when he could do a ton of damage.  

[UK_EaglesFan89]

1 hour ago, dawkins4prez said:

I dunno I see a punishing running game that will have teams keeping an extra guy in the box and a WR demanding double coverage.  Seems like that 2nd read is gonna be really easy to make.

Didn't happen much yesterday though. I do think Hurts has a habit of just taking off. He knows he can make plays with his legs so that's in the back of his mind all the time. 

[jsdarkstar]

Hurts needs to do a better job of spreading the ball around to his WRs not named A.J. Brown. Hurts did miss other open receivers at times. 

I noticed last night Dak was forcing the ball to Lamb because he had no one else to throw to. I don't want Hurts to get locked in with tunnel vision like that. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

43 minutes ago, jsdarkstar said:

Hurts needs to do a better job of spreading the ball around to his WRs not named A.J. Brown. Hurts did miss other open receivers at times. 

He does yeah. He needs to go to his second and third read at times. I hope that will come as the weeks go by. Yesterday could have been a little bit of rust. And he was by no means bad Yesterday. 

[time2rock]

1 hour ago, birdman#12 said:

Sirianni and the offensive coaches have GOT to get Hurts to be looking downfield when he is forced from the pocket.......he starts tucking the ball 3-4 yards behind the LOS......that's when he could do a ton of damage.  

Agreed.  If he can learn to use that mobility while in the pocket to create throwing lanes instead of just tucking and running, that's going to be huge.  

[UK_EaglesFan89]

23 minutes ago, time2rock said:

Agreed.  If he can learn to use that mobility while in the pocket to create throwing lanes instead of just tucking and running, that's going to be huge.  

Yeah feels like at this point though that's a big ask.

[time2rock]

31 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Yeah feels like at this point though that's a big ask.

I don't know ... so hard to make any kind of evaluation from only 1 game.  Especially when the OL was playing like trash (in particularly early on when defenders were getting into the backfield early and often and Hurts was running for his life).  I think there were a lot of things he (and the rest of the team) worked on but really didn't get to put them all together due to limited time on the field together.  I think this whole thing is a work in progress.  I said before the season started that I was cautiously optimistic and I remain in that mode even after seeing quite a few problematic areas yesterday.  If those problems are still rearing their ugly heads in week 6 and beyond then I'll become more concerned/frustrated.  

[birdman#12]

1 hour ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Yeah feels like at this point though that's a big ask.

Well, it's one of those development things that have to be worked on......defenders aren't stupid.....they see when he tucks the ball 4 yards behind the LOS that he'e running.....now, he's been gaining nice yardage.....but when a QB breaks the pocket, it becomes chaotic downfield, and somebody is open OR heading to an open spot.  Which leads to another thing Hurts has to work on.....throwing a receiver open.   

When Russell Wilson was in seattle, he was a master once he was forced from the pocket......ALWAYS kept his eyes downfield, because he knew he could do more damage throwing the ball than running.  Hurts could do the same thing.  One other thing i didn't see, was a RB safety valve in the flat.....maybe I just missed it, but a dump off to a RB could be productive.

It was the first game......some of these things take a few regular season games to emerge....because you can't do them in the offseason....you need live play.  

[pgcd3]

50 minutes ago, birdman#12 said:

Well, it's one of those development things that have to be worked on......defenders aren't stupid.....they see when he tucks the ball 4 yards behind the LOS that he'e running.....now, he's been gaining nice yardage.....but when a QB breaks the pocket, it becomes chaotic downfield, and somebody is open OR heading to an open spot.  Which leads to another thing Hurts has to work on.....throwing a receiver open.   

When Russell Wilson was in seattle, he was a master once he was forced from the pocket......ALWAYS kept his eyes downfield, because he knew he could do more damage throwing the ball than running.  Hurts could do the same thing.  One other thing i didn't see, was a RB safety valve in the flat.....maybe I just missed it, but a dump off to a RB could be productive.

It was the first game......some of these things take a few regular season games to emerge....because you can't do them in the offseason....you need live play.  

He seemed to show promise on some of those fronts when passing to AJ