Legit QB

Nick Foles will forever be a special part of Eagles history. He led the team to their first Super Bowl win in 2017. He also won a playoff game in 2018 and started a playoff game way back in 2013. The most amazing part of all that is that Foles was never the projected starter for those seasons. Injuries to Michael Vick (2013) and Carson Wentz (2017, 2018) put Foles on the field.

You have to go back to the Donovan McNabb days 2000-2009 to find the Eagles going to the playoffs with their franchise QB. Vick did start the wild card game in 2010, but he had started the season on the bench before having a breakout year. Wentz started the wild card game in 2019, but only lasted a handful of plays until Josh McCown took over and gave us everything he could…except points.

When you have your franchise QB healthy and playing well, it makes all the difference in the world. You don’t hope you can win games. You expect to win them. At the least, you know you can win them.

I loved the 1995 and 1996 Eagles. They played great defense, ran the ball well and won some crazy games. But they had Rodney Peete and Ty Detmer at QB. When they faced Troy Aikman and Steve Young, the Eagles lost. The gap at QB was too much to overcome. There were gaps in plenty of other spots as well. I would talk myself into those Eagles teams winning, but that was based on hopes, lucky bounces, miracle catches and stuff like that. It just wasn’t reality.

Life changed when Donovan McNabb showed up in 1999. He took over as the full time starter in 2000 and the Eagles made the playoffs the next five years, including four straight trips to the NFC Championship and one to the Super Bowl. When you have a QB, you can win in the postseason.

Now the Eagles have Jalen Hurts. He’s healthy and playing at a high level. That means this team can make the Super Bowl. This team can win it all. We don’t know if that will happen, but it can.

A year ago we didn’t know if Hurts was the answer. He led the Eagles to the playoffs, but did not play well. The Eagles lost to the Bucs 31-15. They had fallen behind 31-0 before a pair of late TDs made the score look better than it should have. The Eagles trailed 17-0 at halftime. Hurts was 11-19-88 with an INT. WRs had 41 of those yards. Ugly game.

#Bucs Mike Edwards picks off Jalen Hurts. pic.twitter.com/MmXen9WbrH

— NFL Unlimited (@NFLUnlimited) January 16, 2022

Think about Saturday. The Eagles led 28-0 at halftime. Hurts was 12-17-118 with a pair of TDs. He completed a 40-yard pass to DeVonta Smith on the second play of the game.

The Eagles certainly have more talent than they did a year ago, but the biggest improvement is the play of Hurts. He was an effective starter in 2021, but he had serious limitations as a passer. Hurts worked his butt off in the offseason to improve. His mechanics look worlds better this year. It wasn’t just about work ethic. He got good coaching and listened to those coaches. Nobody ever questioned Carson Wentz’s work ethic, but he did struggle with accepting criticism and working on his weaknesses.

Hurts is the son of a coach. He’s got thick skin. Rather than fighting criticism, Hurts listens and learns. That mindset combined with his work ethic and natural ability to give the Eagles a franchise QB.

It might get them a Super Bowl.

*****

The Eagles have a special offense. They were 3rd in the league in points and yards and offenive DVOA.

They had more rushing yards than anyone else in the Top 10 in the league in scoring. There were only four teams in the whole league who ran for more yards. None of them had more than 19 TD passes. The Eagles had 25.

The Eagles had 363 yards rushing one week and 386 yards passing the very next week. They aren’t just versatile. They are special. Hurts finished the season with a passer rating of 101.5. As a team, the Eagles averaged 4.6 yards per carry. Keep in mind that they had a lot of kneel downs and also led the league in QB sneaks or that number would be even higher.

Beyond the numbers, I feel like the Eagles lead the league in making defenders confused. They have a good scheme. They have a dominant OL. They have talened skills players. And they have Hurts, a QB who can run and throw. He also is really good at making reads on RPOs. That gives the Eagles a lot of options on a lot of their plays. They put defenders into a bind. Then they exploit those defenders.

All season long I’ve wanted to do a segment/demo on this @eagles offense
-5 plays become 20
-best #’s/angles/leverage for OL in #NFL
-the QBs operation

And what’s the best way(s) to try “slow it down”
Touchscreen Tuesday with @realrclark25 with some @mspears96 & @laurarutledge pic.twitter.com/FLSwiGojVZ

— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) January 24, 2023

The Niners have the best defense in the league. It will be fun to see how the Eagles attack them. The coaches have had some of their gameplans against good defenses. The Eagles will have a chance to show just how good this offense is.

*****

If you want to read a great piece on the Eagles QB sneaks.

The Eagles ran 32 QB sneaks this season (the most since 2000, when trumedia data starts. likely an all-time NFL record) League avg: 8.6
With Hurts, they convert 93.3 percent!
I spent the last 3 weeks obsessing over how the Eagles exploit this play: https://t.co/GQAko5owkc

— Kalyn Kahler (@kalynkahler) January 17, 2023

*****

Zach Berman wrote a good piece Hurts and QB coach Brian Johnson.

"The thing that never really gets talked about is how smart Jalen is," Eagles QB coach Brian Johnson thought of Jalen Hurts earlier this season.

So he told Hurts he is not a "dual-threat" QB; he's a "triple-threat" QB.

More on @TheAthleticNFL: https://t.co/lzHRocxkYx

— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) January 24, 2023

*****

Brandon Graham is a terrific player. He’s also endlessly entertaining.

https://twitter.com/NFLFilms/status/1617986310870044672

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