As the fireworks went off at Lumen Field after a wild Seattle Seahawks comeback victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, it was clear that the now 10-4 Eagles were stunned. Getting ballgame’d by Seattle’s backup QB Drew Lock while Eagles star Jalen Hurts threw a game-ending INT on a boneheaded play didn’t exactly inspire confidence. However, when Hurts was asked about what was wrong with the team this year, he offered one word:
#Eagles QB Jalen Hurts mentions he doesn’t think the team is ‘committed enough’ right now.
When asked what he means: “Commitment. I don’t have a dictionary on me now.”
An eye-popping answer…pic.twitter.com/iscJpkukcm
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 19, 2023
Yikes.
Now, as an objective viewer of the Eagles (specifically the offense) this year, I would offer up a better word than commitment to explain what the Eagles need: intentionality. It feels like this year’s offense for Philadelphia lacks the ability to string things together and build off of what makes their offense great. Last year, offensive coordinator Shane Steichen did such a great job of finding what works and continuing to hammer it. Whether that be the run game, the RPOs, using Jalen Hurts as a battering ram, the intention behind it was to break opponents over the course of 60 minutes. However, it wasn’t just spamming Stick Draw all the time and praying it works. Things were tied together, concepts flowing into each other well.
If you look at the stats behind the offense, nothing immediately jumps out when asked what’s different. They were never a big motion team, they run a lot of RPOs and are almost exclusively an 11 personnel team:
However, the offense has felt more like a slog this year, and in all facets of the game they’ve turtled into a college-style offense: spread the defense out with bubble screens and deep shots, and hit them with inside zone and QB run game. While yes, that sometimes works in the NFL, the margins are so much thinner because everyone is just as fast and just as strong. The Eagles are at their best when they can force you to be wrong in every aspect of the game. You wanna play light boxes because of their RPO and passing game? They can hammer you in the run game behind a dominant OL and a QB who is a major plus one in the run game. If you want to slide someone into the box to stop the run, they can beat you to the outside with two ballers at receiver and skill position talent.
While that talent is still there, it feels more like the offense has reduced itself to just calling the bubble screens and go routes, limiting their offense to taking most of their shots at the least efficient parts of the field. While the run game can displace linebackers so often, they only attack side to side in the passing game. In 2022, it felt like the Eagles could hit on a glance RPO and force you to be wrong. I bet you can imagine it now: Hurts sticks the ball in the belly of the RB, causing the LBs to fly up because of how good the run game is, and BAM! Hurts throws it over the LBs’ head to AJ Brown or Devonta Smith over the middle. The Eagles were constantly forcing you to be wrong and attacking you in different ways, but this year it just feels like a slog.
Because the only RPOs Philadelphia really throw now are the bubble screens and slide routes, linebackers can sit on the run game and have the nickel defender run out to the edges of the defense. That conflict is no longer there for this offense, and it’s reduced what the Eagles are best at.
This has taken a toll on Hurts, who last year was in the midst of developing into an all-around QB who could scare teams with his deep ball efficiency and his battering ram running style. Last year, Steichen was able to marry concepts he liked the most with developing his eyes over the middle of the field, and it resulted in almost winning MVP. This year, that marriage over the MOF has been lost, and Hurts just doesn’t trust what he sees.
Everything is a screen or a deep pass, and it’s made their passing game so inefficient. That, combined with a slight downtick in efficiency running the ball (OL injuries will do that) have turtled this offense into a slog. Take Hurts’ 2022 passing chart from PFF, for example. 176/220 on passes between the numbers, and much more efficient across the board.
Now, in 2023: 130/165, a paltry number compared to where Hurts was last year.
Time is running out for the Eagles to fix it, thought. Are they in the playoffs? Yes, going 10-1 over the course of the season will do that. However, to beat the 49ers or even the Cowboys, the offense is going to need a come to Jesus meeting about the inefficiency and lack of intention behind the offense, something that may not change given where we’re at in the season.
