Can the Eagles Offense Fly in 2021?
Nothing about Jalen Hurts’ path to the NFL indicates he should be the Eagles starting quarterback in 2021.
Coming out of the draft, many analysts thought he was too short, his arm wasn’t strong enough, and he wasn’t a good enough pocket passer to be anything more than a backup in the NFL. He wasn’t a first round pick, and despite his “limitations” as a passer, he managed to kick a $128 million quarterback out of town en route to earning his starting role.
The questions surrounding Hurts didn’t stop after he secured his starting spot either. His job security, limitations as a passer, and lackluster supporting cast all came up as reasons why he was destined to fail in Philadelphia. Many predicted the Hurts-led Eagles would be one of the worst teams in the league in 2021, but it’s clear no one inside the Eagles locker room shared those beliefs.
We’re only two games into the season, but this Eagles team is already all in on Jalen Hurts. The locker room follows his lead, the coaching staff loves him, and he’s slowly but surely getting the city of Philadelphia to believe in their football team once again.
There might not be a city in the world that appreciates an underdog story more than Philadelphia, and their new QB1 appears ready to overcome the odds once again.
In limited action with the Eagles last year, Jalen Hurts showed flashes of brilliance. Certain areas of his game needed refining, but his athleticism, accuracy, and poise served as evidence that he could be a starting quarterback in the league one day.
Anyone who’s ever been around Hurts has praised his leadership and off the charts work ethic. Many have said no one in the Eagles locker room works harder than he does, and it appears he worked with intention this offseason to clean up some of the faults in his game.
Through two games in 2021, Hurts has shown a great command of the Eagles’ offense. His timing looks smooth, he never looks panicked, and his ability to improvise oftentimes leads to greatness. Athleticism and accuracy are two of Hurts’ biggest strengths, and it appears he’s working with a head coach who wants to tailor his offense around these skills.
Last year, Hurts was operating within Doug Pederson’s offense that was designed for Carson Wentz. When Wentz was benched during the Packers game in week 13, Hurts didn’t let the lack of personal touch slow him down. He made the most of his opportunity and showed enough promise to earn himself a starting spot in 2021.
The Eagles organization is hoping that first year head coach Nick Sirianni can foster an environment capable of taking Hurts’ game to the next level. If Sirianni is successful, it wouldn’t be the first time we saw a coaching change prove beneficial for the young quarterback.
Rewinding back to his college days, Hurts was a successful quarterback at Alabama, but he wasn’t viewed as anything more than a late-round NFL prospect until he transferred to Oklahoma. Upon putting on a Sooners uniform for the first time, the narrative surrounding Hurts as a draft prospect quickly became more optimistic.
Hurts’ fit within head coach Lincoln Riley’s scheme quickly proved to be a match made in heaven. Riley is one of the more innovative coaches in the NCAA, and his modern spread offense complemented Hurts’ skill set perfectly. In his lone season with Riley, Hurts finished second in the Heisman vote, posted the best numbers of his career, and led the Sooners to a College Football Playoff appearance.
Since being hired in January, new Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni has preached building an offense that aligns with the strengths of his players. He didn’t come in with a rigid scheme in mind, but instead he opted to learn what Hurts and the rest of the offense do best and work around their skillsets.
Just two weeks in, we’re already seeing the Sooner offense get sprinkled into the Eagles’ offensive attack. RPOs and zone-reads appear to be staples of this new-look offense, and it’s clear Sirianni and his staff want to unlock the same Jalen Hurts they saw dominate at Oklahoma.
Sirianni arrived in Philadelphia by way of Indianapolis where he most recently served as the Colts’ offensive coordinator. Last season, Indy’s starting quarterback was Philip Rivers — a guy who could make any throw imaginable, but avoided leaving the pocket and playing on the move at all costs.
If we’re strictly talking play styles here, Rivers and Jalen Hurts couldn’t be more different. While Sirianni surely brought some of his coaching philosophies and schemes over from Indianapolis, he couldn’t run the same offense and expect to find success in Philadelphia.
While Hurts is adjusting to a new offense and scheme in Philadelphia, it’s important to remember the man calling the plays is learning on the fly as well. Sirianni is a first year head coach and a first year play caller who’s still learning how to best utilize his quarterback’s unique skill set.
The adaptability Sirianni has shown so far with his offense thus far has been admirable. He understands the strengths and weaknesses of his team — specifically Hurts — and he’s stuck to his word by building a scheme around their unique talents.
While Hurts may be the heartbeat of this offense, the soul of this group is the hog mollies up front. The Eagles possess one of the better offensive lines in the league, and they believe their 5 guys are going to win the battle in the trenches every single week. It’s no secret that offensive linemen love to run the football. To highlight the strength of this group Sirianni has the Eagles running the ball at the 6th highest rate in the league (49.2%) and averaging the second highest yards per carry (5.4).
While the offensive line has played a massive role in this team’s success on the ground, the focal point of this Eagles run game is… you guessed it… Jalen Hurts.
Through two games this season, Hurts has been the team’s leading rusher. In addition to the yards he’s picked up himself, the threat he poses with his legs has opened up additional running lanes for the team’s top two backs — Miles Sanders and Kenneth Gainwell. If the run game can keep clicking, the quick screens, RPOs, and play-action passes that this offense seems to love will only become that much more effective.
While building the offense around the strengths of this team has been an area of emphasis for this coaching staff, another key factor has been what this group isn’t doing. It appears Sirianni is not only catering to his players’ strengths, but also making sure to avoid their weaknesses.
While Hurts has looked good as a passer to start the season, it appears that area of his game may still be a bit limited. Take a look at where Hurts has thrown the ball through his the first two games with Sirianni:
For whatever reason, Hurts has completely avoided the middle of the field so far this year, and clearly favors throwing to his right. While a large portion of this tendency can be attributed to Hurts himself, it appears the coaching staff is intentionally moving him right. You can see below, his rush attempts follow a similar pattern:
A large part of this tendency is due to scheme, but it’s a chicken or the egg question— is the scheme dictating where Hurts goes with the ball, or is Hurts’ style of play dictating Sirianni’s play calling?
On the optimistic side, this tendency could simply be a result of the spread style offense Sirianni wants to run. The intention of any spread-based scheme is to “spread” the field wide and stretch the opposing defense horizontally, thus opening up the middle of the field. If defenses want to shut down Hurts, they’ll have to creep closer and closer to the sidelines and risk exposing the heart of their defense.
If Miles Sanders’ run chart is any indication, this is exactly what Sirianni wants to do:
While the theory behind the Eagles’ spread offense is sound, they’ll need to prove they can make defenses pay over the middle if they want to find long term success. If they can’t counterpunch and attack the middle of the field, defenses will quickly adjust by denying the outside and in turn shutting down the entire offense.
If the affection Hurts and Sirianni are showing towards the sidelines is a response to a weakness in Hurts’ game, this Eagles team will be in trouble when defenses catch on.
It wasn’t long ago that Mitchell Trubiski looked like a starting caliber quarterback in Chicago before defenses realized he couldn’t throw going left. Once the league caught onto this trend, defenses quickly adjusted and Trubiski went from being a potential franchise quarterback in Chicago to serving as a backup in Buffalo.
I’m not saying Hurts is going to turn into Trubiski — he’s a better athlete and a more accurate passer — but I am saying there’s precedent in the NFL of defenses taking advantage of a quarterback’s tendencies. If Hurts can’t force his opponents to cover the entire portion of the field, life will become immensely more difficult for this Eagles offense.
When watching the Eagles, it appears Hurts’ progressions are somewhat limited and he’s oftentimes only working with half the field on a given play. This strategy makes sense considering Hurts is a relatively inexperienced passer at the NFL level. Reading the entire field is a tough task for an NFL quarterback, and the ability to do so effectively comes with experience.
The lack of an offseason in 2020 paired with Hurts’ spot behind Carson Wentz on the depth chart meant he entered year two with barely more experience than an incoming rookie. Throw in an entirely new coaching staff and a brand new offensive scheme, and the learning curve for Hurts this year is a steep one.
My hope for Philadelphia is Sirianni is easing Hurts into his offense, and as the two get more familiar with one another we’ll see this offense evolve throughout the season. For now, I can’t help but feel this Eagles offense is operating with training wheels on. If they want to take their play to the next level, Hurts will need to give defenses more to account for on any given play.
Following the Eagles week 2 loss to the 49ers, Eagles All-Pro Center Jason Kelce had a quote that summed up this team perfectly:
“It’s never positive when you lose, but it’s all correctable” — Jason Kelce
Given the inexperience of this Eagles team, there will likely be a lot to correct over the course of the season.
The 49ers defense presented a tough task for Hurts and the offense in week 2, and they’ll have an equally daunting task waiting for them in week 3 when they head over to Texas for a Monday night showdown with the Cowboys. The Cowboys’ defense doesn’t pose the same threat as San Francisco’s, but their offense can light up scoreboards in a hurry and force Hurts and the Eagles to try and keep up.
There are a lot of questions that still need to be answered about this Eagles team, but a primetime game against a division rival might be the perfect place to start getting some answers.
