After watching the Philadelphia Eagles' offense look downright bad in 2023, with then-offensive coordinator Brian Johnson seemingly unwilling to throw the ball across the middle of the field despite having a certified YAC machine in AJ Brown, one of the most exciting developments of the summer has been the absolute dominance of Jalen Hurts as the unquestioned QB1 running the show during training camp.
Despite playing in a new offensive scheme with a new center shotgunning him the ball in Cam Jurgens, Hurts has been operating like a true technical, picking apart Vic Fangio's defense with ease while setting a new Eagles camp record for the most consecutive passes without an interception along the way.
Asked about what he's seen from Hurts so far in camp in his media session with reporters on Saturday, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni celebrated Hurts for his impressive play against Fangio's defense, as taking what the defense gives you efficiently is elite quarterback play in 2024.
“Yeah, what I've seen is like that can go a couple different ways, right? That can go where he's not taking risks, but I don't see it that way. I see him pushing the ball down the field and taking the plays that are there, and when the play he wants is not there, he's checking it down. So, he's playing really good football,” Sirianni told reporters on Saturday.
“And so that's a product of him. He's taking what the defense is giving him. That's good quarterback play, right? Good quarterback play, the quarterback play I get so excited about is, ‘Hey, we have this shot on, or we have this intermediate chunk on, and they didn't give it to you, and then we take a checkdown for 10 yards.' That's awesome football.
“That gets me more excited than sometimes the big wild plays. That's just the development of a quarterback and making plays, and so that's what he's done.”
Interesting stuff, right? Well wait, it gets even better, as Sirianni has even more to say about how Hurts' summer success could lead to even bigger success this fall, as success in practice can only create good habits for when the real bullets start to fly.
Nick Sirianni wants Jalen Hurts to win the turnover battle
Continuing his comments on Jalen Hurts and his preseason success, Sirianni let it be known that while he's proud of Hurts for turning in a great camp, what will truly define the OklaBama product's success in 2024 will be his ability to translate that success over to the regular season, as winning the turnover battle will largely define the success of Moore's offense in 2024.
“I think he's just had a great camp in that, of taking care of the football. We put so much emphasis on winning the turnover battle. I don't know if you guys know, I went over this with the team the other day, but in the past three years – 2021, 2022, 2023 – when we've won the turnover battle, we're 20-1. We were 6-1 in '21; we were 10-0 in '22; and I believe we were 4-0 last year, which that — ours are even higher than the league average as far as just the turnover battle,” Sirianni noted.
“And so we put so much emphasis on that, but you put so much emphasis on that without trying to — explosive plays are important as well. Jalen has just done a really nice job of delivering the football where it needs to go and making great decisions with the football. Man, I couldn't be more happy with where he is right now, and look forward to him having another good day tomorrow.”
To Hurts' credit, the Eagles' QB1 really hasn't been an interception magnet as a pro, with 2023 marking the first time in his NFL career that he logged double-digit interceptions. Still, even if Hurts did put up 15 ints last fall, he was only picked off on 2.8 percent of his passes, which is a career-high but hardly on par with Jameis Winston's prime in Tampa Bay.
If Hurts can throw the ball effectively and efficiently, taking what opposing defenses give him without trying to force anything, it will only lead to more success for the Eagle's offense overall, as if defenses have to account for elite game management from Philadelphia's QB1, it will open up the run game for everyone. Factor in an improved touchdown-to-interception ratio, and who knows, maybe Hurts could be back in the MVP conversation once more after falling off in a pretty major way last fall due to the overall ineffectiveness of Philadelphia's offensive product.
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