Eagles Film Analysis: All-22 offense takeaways from the Jets game

It’s time to talk about a loss for the first time all season. This is a tough one to take, so buckle up. Before we get into it, I do have some good news. I am joining BGN Radio and will have a weekly All22 podcast with Shane Haff, which I am really excited about. So if you want to check out my British accent and hear more in-depth analysis, please listen!

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Offense

My positivity in a lot of this article might surprise you... I really do not think the offense was bad overall. Mistakes and injuries on the offensive line just ruined them. Jalen Hurts was really good for 3 quarters, and he was brilliant outside of structure all game. This was one of the craziest throws you will see this season. Hurts has a defender hanging off him and still puts this ball in the perfect position for AJ Brown. This is a crazy throw!

As well as being impressed with Hurts out of structure, the Eagles added some new wrinkles to the offense that I really liked and I think they can build on in the next few weeks. Putting DeVonta Smith in the backfield is a lovely touch, and I think he could do better here. Maybe I’m harsh though? Quincy Williams does really well to stop him from breaking free because if he separates here and avoids the tackle, this will end up being a big gain.

The Eagles' use of the Pony personnel package (2 running backs) was probably my favorite part of the whole game. My only criticism was that I wanted more and I felt like the Eagles could have come back to this look later. This is just a beautiful play and it’s so hard for the defense to stop. I love seeing AJ Brown in motion too because this play just confuses the hell out of the defense and you can see the secondary scrambling around trying to figure out what is going on. More of this, please!

You don’t really need me to tell you that Jack Driscoll didn’t play well after he replaced Lane Johnson. I thought the disappointing thing from the all22 wasn’t that he struggled in pass protection, but that he also struggled in the run game. He had a few terrible reps like this one below, that totally ruined the play. The sad thing about this one is that if he makes the block and the Eagles score, we are all talking about how cool the unbalanced line is. Instead, we are moaning about Boston Scott losing 7 yards on a run.

I didn’t show the clip where AJ Brown slowed down on the deep route because the broadcast did a good job of showing it. It’s easy to moan about AJ Brown because he does take the odd play off, but he’s a superstar. A legitimate superstar. He was fantastic in this game. I’ve seen some comments this week about the Eagles forcing targets to him this week which I find absolutely absurd. The Eagles should be forcing targets to him! He’s a star.

I know the rushing numbers look bad, but I think the Eagles bailed on the runs too early in this game. They tried running up the middle in the first half and got nowhere, but they had some success in the second half running to the outside. One thing I find a little odd about Brian Johnson is that when something works, the Eagles don’t always go back to it again. This outside zone toss worked brilliantly (Pony package again!), so why not try it again later on? I know you don’t want to be predictable but I wish we saw this again because the Jets were winning when the Eagles tried to run it up the middle.

This play is tough to watch. It’s just so easy. Everything is perfect, except for the catch. You don’t need any analysis here, there's nothing to say. It just sucks. The Eagles made so many mistakes in this game and I still find it unbelievable they lost this game. If you just watched the game and didn’t know the score, you would think the Eagles won it comfortably.

As if the drop wasn’t bad enough, Hurts gets sacked the very next play. Overall, I think Brian Johnson called a good game but I found the lack of adjustment to Lane Johnson’s injury pretty poor. Driscoll could not live with the Jets pass rush and he badly needed help in this game. The Eagles didn’t adjust and asked Driscoll to survive on an island and he just couldn’t do it. Hurts was under a ton of pressure in this game and it’s very rare you see the Eagles’ offensive line get beaten up but, the Jets’ defensive line won this matchup. If Hurts wasn’t such a good athlete, there would be more talk this week about how bad the Eagles’ offensive line played.

I had no idea live how good this play was by Hurts, and how poor it was from Kenneth Gainwell. He can’t drop this on 3rd down. Hurts immediately faces pressure but somehow survives and makes a perfect throw on the run. I have commented in the past on Hurts needing to be better throwing the football when he escapes from the pocket, and he was certainly better in this game! He had to escape a lot and he kept his eyes down the field and made a number of good throws. This has to be caught.

I had a few people tweet me and say I was being too positive about Hurts in this game. Listen, I can only comment on what I saw. Until the last couple of drives, I thought he was very good. Yes, I know the Eagles lost and Hurts threw a terrible interception. But I am telling you, go and watch the game again and try and tell me Hurts played poorly. He was good for the majority of the game but wasn’t good enough at the end. You can criticize Hurts for his play at the end, but he played well enough to win the game before the final few drives if it wasn’t for a number of mistakes from others.

This is a fascinating play to break down. Hurts is just a tick late, and it causes the interception. He needs to throw this with anticipation and a little earlier to prevent the hit from causing the interception. However, from an offensive design point of view, the Eagles are asking Driscoll to survive on an island for too long. If the Eagles want to continue to run slowly developing plays down the field they are going to need to provide help to their backup offensive line. I don’t think this interception is a ‘bad’ play by Hurts, and it’s easy to blame Driscoll, but he simply wasn’t good enough to hold up in pass protection. Despite all of that, let’s be honest, it’s also a lucky play for the Jets. This ball ends up exactly where the Jets defender is. Sigh.

AJ Brown is so good. This is a fantastic catch, and it’s also a pretty good throw despite maybe leading Brown slightly out of bounds. People can moan about the Eagles’ offense being simple at times but when you have AJ Brown, sometimes you don’t need to make things too complicated.

Right, let’s get negative. This is just terrible and Hurts will know it. I don’t want to speculate on what happens here, but I think Hurts just flat-out misses the linebacker drop into coverage and thinks he has Dallas Goedert open. It’s just a terrible, terrible decision and it cost the Eagles the game. I have been positive about Hurts throughout this article, but he would be the first to admit that this play ruined all of his good play and cost the game. The only positive about this play is that it is so uncharacteristic for Hurts. He never makes plays like this, especially with the game on the line. I am willing to put this down to a one-off, so I am hoping I don’t need to talk about another terrible interception again for a while. This is brutal.

Sadly, Hurts didn’t make up for his mistake and didn’t take the shot deep to DeVonta Smith on 4th down when he had him open. I don’t like the concept or the spacing, but you can’t really criticize the offensive coordinator too much when your 2nd best receiving option gets free down the field. Hurts just has to let this rip and I don’t know why he hesitates, but it meant he had no chance to complete this. Hurts really did not end this game well, but I still don’t think it’s a cause for concern and I think he played a lot better than people think.

Quick notes

• DeAndre Swift was another big part of the offense in the receiving game, which was great to see. I didn’t show any clips but he had a few really big catches.
• Is it time to talk about... DeVonta Smith? I don’t think he had a good game and I wasn’t just talking about the drops. He had a few plays on the outside where he couldn’t separate against press coverage either. I expect him to bounce back, but the Eagles can’t keep relying on AJ Brown alone to carry this receiving corps.
• I think Brian Johnson calls some really nice plays, but I still don’t see any real sequencing to his game plans. The Eagles’ offense still feels a bit random, and I don’t think he has helped Hurts find a rhythm in any game this season.

Lastly, please go and check out the podcast this week and let me know what you think. Thank you for checking these articles out or I wouldn’t have the opportunity, so it is very much appreciated!