Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

More on Hurts

Posted September 16th, 2023 | 1 Comment »

Jalen Hurts final game in 2022 was a spectacular performance. He was near perfect in the Super Bowl and probably should have won MVP. That set sky high expectations for 2023.

Hurts is off to an erratic start in 2023. Not bad, but not what we expected. This is fine. Defenses adjust to good QBs. It is then up to the coaches and the QB to adjust to the defenses. Patrick Mahomes had some struggles when defenses started playing a lot of 2-high looks. He adjusted and was great last year.

Give Hurts and the coaches time to figure things out.

Let’s also keep some perspective. Hurts has looked good at times. His TD to DeVonta in the opener was a perfect pass on the move. That was a great throw. Hurts was good against the blitz on Thursday.

Against the blitz on Thursday, Eagles QB Jalen Hurts completed 8 of 11 passes for 153 yards and a touchdown (145.1 passer rating). When the Vikings didn’t blitz, Hurts completed 10 of 12 passes for 40 yards and one INT (45.8 passer rating).

Hurts has struggled with decision-making more than anything. Defenses have given him a lot to look at and Hurts has had a tough time making good reads and decisions. That will get sorted out. I was highly frustrated on Thursday when he took a pair of sacks with the Eagles in FG range. Just throw the ball away and kick the FG. That mistake put the game in danger. Nick Sirianni preaches the importance of situational football. Hurts should have known that the one thing he couldn’t do was take sacks.

Sirianni and his staff built a scheme that maximized Hurts and his abilities. Defenses spent all offseason studying that and coming up with ways to handle the Eagles. That’s a huge compliment. Nobody is spending an offseason figuring out how to shut down Daniel Jones. Defenses were genuinely worried about Hurts. He seemed to have an answer for everything. Coaches figured out they had to come up with new and creative ideas.

The Eagles have smart coaches. Hurts is a smart QB. They will figure some things out. The Eagles adjusted in the opener and threw the ball more effectively in the second half. On Thursday the coaches leaned on the run game. They have figured out ways to win even with the offense not playing as expected.

This isn’t like the Wildcat that Miami unleashed in 2008 and it was largely solved in 2009. That was a gimmick that caught people off guard. The Eagles offense last year had huge games running and throwing. They could be explosive and efficient. I’m curious and excited to see how things play out after this.

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Fun nugget for the day…the Eagles have more wins than the Giants have points.

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Jalen Carter got the hype in the offseason, but Jordan Davis is reminding people just how good he can be.

Davis leads the team with 1.5 sacks. He’s 6th in tackles and also has a couple of TFLs. He’s clogged running lanes in both games and been really disruptive.

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Let’s not forget how critical this guy has been.

https://twitter.com/JClarkNBCS/status/1702690422496096472

Elliott has a chance to be the best kicker in Eagles history. David Akers has longevity over him now, but Elliott is a good long distance kicker and a weapon for the team.

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This is the anti-Miles Sanders. I don’t want to slander him too much, but he was frustrating because he wasn’t patient enough and left a lot of yards on the field. Swift went 28-175-1 in his first real action as an Eagle. Sanders had a career high of 144 yards last year. Swift showed you in one game how a RB with patience and vision can thrive in this scheme and behind this OL.

I know a lot of people are excited to see Kenny Gainwell this year. I think Swift showed on Thursday that he’s the guy with the highest upside and should be the feature back.

On the flip side, Rashaad Penny only had 3 carries for 9 yards. There is no question at this point that the coaches are down on him. Penny might be needed this year so let’s not write him off just quite yet, but he better start working his butt off in practice and find little ways to impress the coaches.

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https://twitter.com/JClarkNBCS/status/1703051244334407805

Ugh. Hate that for Avonte. He seems like such a good dude, but just can’t stay healthy. This could be the end of his time with the Eagles.

Mario Goodrich is adequate as a backup, but the team might need to look around to see if there is a good nickel corner on the market.

James Bradberry practiced in the slot at times and could move in there. That would open an outside spot for Josh Jobe. The Eagles have a few days to figure out what they want to do.

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Eagles Survive, Now 2-0

Posted September 15th, 2023 | Comments Off on Eagles Survive, Now 2-0

The Eagles on on Thursday, making them 2-0. That’s great. Jalen Hurts and the offense were wildly inconsistent again, which is not so great.

Talking about the Eagles right now is complicated. There were times last night when they looked dominant. They ran for 259 yards. Kirk Cousins took a beating, with 10 official QB hits. They led 27-7 and the game was on the verge of being a blowout.

Didn’t happen. Injuries to the back seven made the defense vulnerable to the passing game. When Cousins wasn’t on his backside, he was shredding the defense. He threw for 364 yards and 4 TDs. The Eagles just couldn’t put Minnesota away.

The Eagles will get some players back so you feel like the defense will improve. The bigger concern right now is Hurts and the offense. They were expected to be a dominant unit. Hurts was expected to play like a star. After two weeks, Hurts has 363 passing yards and 2 TDs, 72 rushing yards and 2 TDs. There is nothing remotely special about those numbers.

What happened?

The first two opponents had all offseason to plan for the Eagles offense. Bill Belichick and Brian Flores came up with creative schemes that took away Hurts as a runner. They also are keeping DBs back and forcing the Eagles to play small-ball. That requires Hurts to be a pocket QB. He needs to make quick reads and throw the ball short and intermediate.

Nick Sirianni wants chunk plays. Hurts wants chunk plays. They don’t always have the patience to matriculate the ball down the field (as the legendary Hank Stram would say).

Last night Sirianni or Brian Johnson quit trying to force things and just went with the running game. Over and over. The Eagles ran the ball. D’Andre Swift was brilliant, going 28-175-1. That was the best game of his career. Swift was brilliant at reading blocks and then bursting up the field. He also ran through arm tackles.

Give the Eagles OL a lot of credit. They didn’t play well in the opener. They were much better last night, especially when the coaches focused on the running game. They got movement and gave the RBs room to run.

It was great that the Eagles came up with an answer like that last night, but you can’t always just turn into a college team from 1971. The Pats and Vikings had creative defenses that gave the Eagles fits. Other teams will try to copy their ideas. The coaches didn’t have much prep time for the Vikings so we didn’t get to see a lot of adjustments from the opener. They now have 10 days to come up with solutions before facing the Bucs in Week 3.

Hurts and the coaches will study the tape to see what he did poorly and where he needs to improve. He just hasn’t looked comfortable so far. He drops back and it feels like he’s quick to bail. Teams are rushing him creatively so Hurts isn’t finding good running lanes.

Decision-making is a major problem. Hurts INT came when he forced the ball into coverage. He took a pair of sacks late in the game that cost the Eagles a FG and put them in a position where they could lose. Hurts says all he wants to do is win, but those plays were key mistakes where he was careless. You can’t have that. He’s got to play smarter. He did that last year and the offense was a juggernaut. He’s clearly frustrated and it has lead to sloppy play.

I think a week of practice will help Hurts and the offense. They just had walkthroughs with the short week leading up to TNF. That’s not great for solving problems.

It is absolutely fair to be concerned about Hurts right now. This offense is built around him. If he’s not playing at a high level, the offense is going to be inconsistent. I don’t think this is a case where defenses have solved him and he’s going to fade, but he has to show he can overcome the defenses that are being thrown at him. Hurts hasn’t done that so far.

The key was for the Eagles to get through the first two weeks at 2-0 and then to have time to identify problems and finally to have the time to solve them. They did accomplish that.

The defense just needs to get some dudes back. The middle of the D was going to be an issue with the projected starters. When injuries forced backups into those roles, things got worse. You can see real potential in the defense. I’m optimistic that this group will get it going sooner rather than later. Josh Sweat was awesome last night.

It is hard to make too much of the coaching on either side of the ball because of the short week. We’ll get better answers on that after Week 3.

I am concerned about Nick Sirianni making one horrible decision last night. The Eagles had just scored a TD and were up 33-21. I yelled at the TV about going for it. Sirianni kicked the extra point to make it 34-21. What the heck was that? A 13-point lead doesn’t do you any good late in the game. Go for 2. You’re either up 12 or 14. 12 is still a two-possession lead. Go up 14 and you feel really good. Critical mistake for a coach who is normally really good at managing game situations.

Minnesota scored late to make it 34-28, but didn’t get the ball back until the final seconds. Thankfully that just led to a long incompletion.

It was a lot of fun to see the Eagles run the ball like they did. Consider me a Swiftie after that performance by D’Andre. He was so good. Kenny who?

The Eagles have issues to fix and now they’ve got time to fix them. Don’t lose sight of the fact they’re 2-0. That’s critical when you consider that Dallas and SF will be battling for the top spot in the NFC. The team was able to find a way to win even when they didn’t have their A-game.

The players need to get some rest and get healthy. The coaches will be grinding over tape so that the offense we see in Tampa will look a lot different.

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