Eagles News: Jalen Hurts has the NFL’s worst success rate on plays outside of the pocket

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The Hot Read, Week 4: When Josh Allen Is Clicking, the Bills Are Unstoppable - The Ringer
Let’s talk about the offensive side of the ball, where Jalen Hurts is off to a terrible start. His success rate of 39 percent is eighth worst among all starting quarterbacks, below such players as Howell, Justin Fields, and Desmond Ridder. On plays outside of the pocket, where Hurts should be good, no quarterback has a worse success rate—that includes both throws and runs. Hurts is seventh in scramble rate but 26th in EPA per scramble this season; last year, he was sixth and ninth, respectively. Using the eye test, it’s not hard to see why Hurts is struggling as a runner. Hurts seems far more cautious around contact now than he did last season. Perhaps it’s a coaching point, a reaction to Hurts’s shoulder injury from last season—the Eagles did invest in Hurts by giving him a massive second contract, and protecting him from injury is protecting the future of the franchise. But Hurts’s willingness to play through contact—his strength in the pocket, his tackle-breaking as a runner—was a huge part of his success last season. And this year, it feels like it’s just … gone.

Eagles vs. Commanders: 8 winners, 4 losers, 5 IDKs - BGN
Kenny Gainwell gained just 14 yards on his four carries for a 3.5 average. That’s the same average he has on the season with 32 carries for 111 yards. His seven receptions have produced just 32 yards for a 4.6 average. Gainwell is very fortunate that Lane Johnson jumped on his fumble to allow the Eagles to kick a field goal to go up seven points in the fourth quarter. Are we really sure Gainwell is the second-best running back on this roster? Among 34 running backs with at least 32 carries, only seven rank lower than Gainwell in success rate. Gainwell ranks 53rd out of 56 running backs graded by Pro Football Focus this season (minimum 20% snaps played). Could be good to get Boston Scott more involved when D’Andre Swift isn’t in the game.

NFC Hierarchy/Obituary: Week 5 edition - PhillyVoice
14) Cardinals (1-3): Remember when Jonathan Gannon defenses gave up over 80 percent passing to five quarterbacks during the 2021 season? Well, that tradition is alive and well in Arizona. BROCK PURDY: 20/21.

Valuable Win - Iggles Blitz
Compare that with Sunday. The Eagles fell behind 17-7. They rallied back to take a 24-17 lead. Washington didn’t lay down. They battled right back. Sam Howell played the best game of his young career. He led Washington to the tying TD. Jalen Hurts got the ball back with 3:20 left. He marched the Eagles 57 yards for the go-ahead TD. Howell had another answer left and led the Commanders down for the tying TD. Once in OT, the Eagles defense finally got the stop they needed and then Hurts led the offense on the winning drive. There is no doubt that the defense must improve, but you should be happy about Hurts and the offense. They had answers when they were needed. And there weren’t any fluke plays or generous officiating that made the difference. There were some impressive throws on those drives. Various skill players stepped up and made key plays. That should translate well to future games and tough situations.

The First Read: Biggest challenge facing each division leader at quarter mark of 2023 NFL season - NFL.com
Can the Eagles continue to find their offensive rhythm? Philadelphia looked more like itself offensively in Sunday’s 34-31 overtime win over Washington, which is a positive sign for the future. Quarterback Jalen Hurts threw for 319 yards, A.J. Brown had 175 receiving yards and running back D’Andre Swift continued to look like a great addition to this offense. That wasn’t the case in the first couple weeks of the season, when the Eagles started slowly, and Hurts wasn’t overwhelming opponents in the same fashion he did last year. It’s clear now that there will be some growing pains with this version of the Eagles, especially with Brian Johnson replacing Shane Steichen as offensive coordinator. What isn’t in question is whether they have the ability to be as good offensively. They’re undefeated and still looking to play their best football. They’ll be fine.

Amazing numbers from Jake Elliott, Nick Morrow and A.J. Brown in Roob’s Eagles Stats - NBCSP
5. The Eagles are the first team in 25 years to open a season 4-0 the year after losing the Super Bowl. The 1998 Packers are the most recent team to do that. In all, 11 teams have gone 4-0 after losing a Super Bowl, although the Eagles are only the fifth in the last 42 years. Six teams have opened 5-0 after losing a Super Bowl, most notably the 1972 Dolphins – who went 14-0 – and the 1975 Vikings, who opened 10-0 and are the most recent NFC team to play in a the Super Bowl a year after losing in the Super Bowl. The 1981 Eagles opened 6-0 after losing to the Raiders in Super Bowl XV in New Orleans.

Spadaro: Offense can feel it coming together - PE.com
They can feel it coming together. A team that is averaging 29.5 points per game in its four wins is looking for even more and they know it’s coming. Patience, hard work, the pursuit of greatness. The Eagles want this offense to continue to grow, to become more consistent, to – as impossible as it sounds – score a touchdown on every drive. While everyone acknowledges that there is “a lot to clean up,” as Head Coach Nick Sirianni said after Sunday’s overtime win against Washington, the team belief is that the best is yet to come and that defenses are going to have to prepare for the Eagles’ attack from all angles. “It’ll look different every time we step out there,” quarterback Jalen Hurts said after throwing for a season-high 319 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday. “Whether a 300-yard passing game, a 300-yard rushing game, a 150-yard rushing game by D’Andre (Swift), or a DeVonta Smith day, Dallas Goedert’s day, A.J. Brown’s day, that doesn’t really matter to me. I think winning is the only thing that matters.” The Eagles are 4-0, one of only two unbeaten teams (the 49ers are the other) in the 32-team NFL. They’ve been through a bit of a gauntlet in the four wins, as each week has presented new ways to finish on top. The offense has scored a lot of points (fifth most in the NFL), the running game ranks second in the league (165.3 yards per game), and the total yards per outing (392) is fifth in the league as well.

Washington Commanders Vs. Philadelphia Eagles (Game 1) - Studs and Duds - Hogs Haven
Emmanuel Forbes - It was a VERY rough game for the rookie cornerback who was continually torched by A.J. Brown. Brown collected nine receptions for 175 yards and two touchdowns (both which came against Forbes). [...] Tug-Boat Ron - The dud goes to Rivera for not going for two at the end of regulation. The Commanders had all the momentum there and that was the right time to try to end the game by converting the two-point conversion. His “excuse” was his guys were “gassed”. Well guess what - if your guys were gassed, I bet that defense you just drove down the field against was too! He OFFICIALLY loses the name Riverboat Ron.

Sean McVay: Matthew Stafford (hip) “should be good to go” - PFT
After Sunday’s overtime victory over the Colts, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford said he’ll play on Sunday, against the Eagles. On Monday, the man in charge of the team chimed in. “We’ll be smart with him, but he should be good to go,” coach Sean McVay said, via Stu Jackson of the team’s official website. “He’s a stud, and obviously we saw him gut through that yesterday. Definitely took a good shot there. But we feel like he should be good to go.” McVay added that he doesn’t expect Stafford to be limited in practice this week. McVay added, “We’ll see.”

Rams begin 21-day practice window for Cooper Kupp and this rookie edge rusher - Turf Show Times
Kupp has been on injured reserve since before Week 1 after re-aggravating a hamstring injury that he suffered during training camp. Since putting Kupp on IR, the Rams have been eyeing Week 5 as his potential return and after elevating him into the 21-day practice window, everything remains on track. It’s worth noting that this doesn’t mean that Kupp will play in Week 5 or that the Rams will activate him. Technically, the team has 21 days to decide if Kupp is ready. However, moving him into that window is a positive sign.

Cowboys vs. Patriots: The good, the bad, and the ugly from Week 4 - Blogging The Boys
THE BAD - Rico Dowdle’s hip injury. Rico Dowdle exited Sunday afternoon’s game against the Patriots with what has now been diagnosed as a bruised hip. It’s unknown how much amount of time he will miss, but any time could be a significant blow to Dallas’ offense. He has formed a really good one two punch playing behind Tony Pollard this year and just so happens to be their best pass protector as well. While Deuce Vaughn is a great feel-good story, he isn’t ready to step in as the RB2 if Dowdle is forced to miss some time. The Cowboys could turn to several options, like elevating Malik Davis from the practice squad. or maybe getting Hunter Luepke more involved in the running game. The Cowboys could also go outside of the organization if they had their eye on a free agent or do something via trade if they are worried long-term. Hopefully none of that will be necessary as Dowdle hasn’t even been ruled out for this week yet.

Giants-Seahawks ‘things I think’: Giants’ season on the brink of disaster - Big Blue View
I think it is is flabbergasting how bad this Giants team looks. This is a team that won a playoff game a season ago and — on paper — fields a superior roster. It is a team whose head coach won Coach of the Year honors a year ago and whose overall coaching staff was lauded as being outstanding. It is a team that had resilience as a hallmark of its surprisingly successful season. Yet, this team is playing like the 2017 Ben McAdoo or 2021 Joe Judge Giants. It is a coaching staff that has made a number of questionable decisions, both involving personnel and in-game. Being outscored 77-9 over the first halves of four games, and the atrocious, undisciplined why in which the Giants played with 11 days to prepare for Monday is something the coaching staff needs to answer for. The resilience of the 2022 team has, to this point, been nowhere to be found. [...] Still, the Giants have road games coming up the next two weeks against the powerhouse Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills. This Giants’ season is stunningly on the verge of being over before even half the games are played.

NFL mock draft 2024: First projection of new season with Chicago Bears owning top-2 picks - SB Nation
With the first quarter of the NFL season almost in the books, we have a pretty good feel for which teams are truly going to contend for a Super Bowl and which teams will be pinning their hopes on the NFL Draft in April. The pretenders are being separated from the contenders, and that’s setting up for some interesting possibilities come draft time. Since most fans of certain bad teams in the NFL at this point are beginning to look at mock drafts (cough cough Chicago), let’s throw our names into the pot here as well. We put out a preseason board the day after the 2023 NFL Draft. This is our first updated projection since the new season began. The Chicago Bears lead the way with the top two picks in the draft. Find more analysis after the table.

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