Jalen Hurts led Eagles to win despite Nick Sirianni’s questionable coaching

By Ryan Gilbert

 

The Philadelphia Eagles clawed their way to a 17-16 win in Indianapolis on Sunday to avoid losing two straight games after an 8-0 start. Instead, they improved to 9-1 on the season and remain the only team with fewer than two losses.

Jalen Hurts threw for 190 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for a game-high 86 yards and a score. The quarterback was able to get it done when it mattered.

James Seltzer and Eliot Shorr-Parks of the Audacy Original Podcast "Go Birds” talked about Hurts’ play despite some questionable coaching decisions by head coach Nick Sirianni and offensive coordinator Shane Steichen.

"He was the best player on the field when they had to have him be the best player on the field,” Seltzer said (7:09 in player above). "And that doesn’t matter nothing if you know what I mean.”

Hurts has been in the MVP conversation for weeks now and added another notch in his belt with the game-winning drive on Sunday.

"I also put a lot of it on Steichen and Sirianni. I thought they were awful (on Sunday). Third and two, Kenny Gainwell, that’s your play? And then you do it with Boston Scott later? It was consistently the wrong play calls in the wrong spots,” Seltzer said.

"Jalen wasn’t perfect today, it wasn’t his best game ever or whatever, but they were down double-digit points going into the fourth quarter and he gave them two big drives where he was easily the reason they moved the ball down the field on those drives. That matters to me, you know what I mean, more than the bad performance early in the grand scheme of things.”

The Eagles only scored 17 points, which isn’t great considering their record and opponent, but Hurts did what he could.

"I didn’t think he was bad today,” Shorr-Parks said. "Like there weren’t missed throws. There weren’t bad decisions. He didn’t put the ball in harm’s way. I guess all I mean is 17 points from the offense is not good enough, and he’s the quarterback, he touches the ball on every play…

"I don’t think there are many quarterbacks that they win if it’s not Jalen Hurts, right, just some of the plays he made with his legs,” Shorr-Parks continued. "And this is why I do think quarterback win-loss is such an important stat. The dude just doesn’t lose games. 9-1 on the year now,” Shorr-Parks said.

Sirianni also didn’t do Hurts any favors.

"To get the win despite what his coach and head coach did to him as an offensive play caller was also incredibly impressive,” Shorr-Parks said. "Sirianni and Steichen were the two worst Eagles (on Sunday). It wasn’t Hurts. It wasn’t Gannon. It was Sirriani and Steichen.”

A win is a win for the Eagles as they moved to 9-1 on the season. Next up is a date with the Packers on Sunday Night Football this week.

https://www.audacy.com/national/sports/jalen-hurts-led-eagles-to-win-despite-nick-siriannis-questionable-coaching

 

The playcalling and the offense in general has been lacking creativity.  And I hope Sirianni is starting to notice......The eagles have a lot of weapons and they're just not using them well.  There is no good reason this offense isn't cranking out 28+ points a game.  

They have a multi threat QB, a very good group of RBs, 4 very good WRs, a very good offensive line and, when Goedart is healthy, a top 5 TE.  They should have defenses on their heels all the time.  

They need to use more motion, misdirection, and get everybody, including the RBs, involved in the passing game.  Steichen needs step up his game plan because the eagles are boring right now and they're simply not scoring like they should be.

I’d give Steichen another week to see if he bounces back, because the playcalling was just fine up until the BYE. But if the offense struggles again this weekend, then it may be time for Siri to take over the playcalling again. 

On 11/22/2022 at 9:15 AM, birdman#12 said:

The playcalling and the offense in general has been lacking creativity.  And I hope Sirianni is starting to notice......The eagles have a lot of weapons and they're just not using them well.  There is no good reason this offense isn't cranking out 28+ points a game.  

They have a multi threat QB, a very good group of RBs, 4 very good WRs, a very good offensive line and, when Goedart is healthy, a top 5 TE.  They should have defenses on their heels all the time.  

They need to use more motion, misdirection, and get everybody, including the RBs, involved in the passing game.  Steichen needs step up his game plan because the eagles are boring right now and they're simply not scoring like they should be.

Exactly right...spread the ball around more

On 11/22/2022 at 2:15 PM, birdman#12 said:

The playcalling and the offense in general has been lacking creativity.  And I hope Sirianni is starting to notice......The eagles have a lot of weapons and they're just not using them well.  There is no good reason this offense isn't cranking out 28+ points a game.  

They have a multi threat QB, a very good group of RBs, 4 very good WRs, a very good offensive line and, when Goedart is healthy, a top 5 TE.  They should have defenses on their heels all the time.  

They need to use more motion, misdirection, and get everybody, including the RBs, involved in the passing game.  Steichen needs step up his game plan because the eagles are boring right now and they're simply not scoring like they should be.

 

3 hours ago, weko said:

Exactly right...spread the ball around more

It baffles me how they didn't make more use of Pascal and the running backs out of the backfield with Goedert out. Lots of weapons, Hurts is playing well and is a threat to run. Enough of these draws to Scott/Gainwell.