Eagles-Panthers Film Review: Jalen Hurts didn’t play well but this offense has greater issues than just the quarterback

Well, this was a tough one. The Carolina Panthers have been much better lately, so I wasn’t too surprised. The Philadelphia Eagles’ run game was pretty simple, and I feel like everyone has a lot of questions about Jalen Hurts and the passing game, so I’ll be focusing on that this week.

This is a long one. Buckle up.

Right, before we get into it all, just a big-picture thought. The Eagles passing game does not need to be exceptional right now. I don’t even think it is trying to be. You can philosophically argue about whether a team can win a Super Bowl with a below-average passing game, but right now, this team is not trying to light it up by throwing the football. This team has an elite run game and an outstanding defense. The passing game needs to not get in the way and turn the ball over. If you look at Jalen Hurts, he had 30+ pass attempts in Weeks 1-4. Since the bye, he hasn’t had 30 attempts once. As A.J. Brown said after the game, it can be hard to get into a rhythm when you don’t throw it very much. We can be critical of the passing game, and I will be today, but the Eagles have won nine straight. Winning is the aim. The offense is doing enough to win, whether you like it or not.

Now, the film.

It didn’t take long to get into the Jalen Hurts discourse. I’ve seen this discussed a lot already, so let’s give my take. I don’t come down strongly on either side, so I’ll weigh up both arguments. As always, context is very important.

The argument for throwing it to AJ Brown: AJ Brown is open when Hurts hits his back foot so he could have alerted to this. The play is a 3-level stretch concept, and the Panthers’ deep cornerback Jaycee Horn jumps the intermediate route. Hurts should be able to see this by the time he hits his back foot and could throw it deep to AJ Brown. This could have been an explosive play.

The argument for the checkdown: This is the very first throw of the game. That gives you very little time to get into any rhythm. Hurts will not expect Horn to jump the intermediate route as you would expect him to take away AJ Brown deep. Hurts has been criticized for not getting through his reads quickly enough previously, so he does a good job getting through his progressions. A 3-level stretch play is not designed to go to the vertical guy unless there is an ‘alert,’ which I think you could argue there is here, but it’s not immediately obvious.

My take: I want Hurts to take the deep shot. I think Horn is trying to catch Hurts out, and by the time he hits his back foot, he could have made this throw. Do I think it’s an egregious error? No. Would I like him to be a little bit more aggressive? Yes. Who thought I would have written that a few months ago?!

I won’t touch on the running game much at all in this one. To summarise, the Eagles killed the Panthers’ defense by running counter over and over again, with some simple zone stuff mixed in occasionally, too. This was one of the most creative calls of the night, and I wish the Eagles had Saquon Barkley on the field because I’m convinced he scores on this one.

I’m going to be critical of Hurts in this game. I already have been. But please, anyone who thinks the passing game’s struggles fall solely on his shoulders is not watching every play. So many design issues in this game were unrelated to the play of Hurts. The Eagles tried to hit a few deep shots off of play-action in this game, and nearly every time, there was an issue with the Eagles’ pass protection. When you are throwing the football about 20-25 times a game, you cannot afford to have multiple plays that are blown up by bad pass protection. The issues in pass protection happened more than once and you can’t blame the quarterback for it.

I know I said I wouldn’t talk about the run game much, but I had to include this one. If anyone tells you that Saquon Barkley is only excelling this year because of the Eagles’ offensive line, show them this play. Barkley is playing at an incredible level.

Watching the TV copy, this play looked like an awful play by Hurts. It’s obvious that DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown were both wide open on the quick slant, so why didn’t he throw it? The All22 shows you that Hurts did see Smith was open and was about to throw it straight to him. Unfortunately, the blitzing linebacker jumped in Hurts’ throwing window, so he had to pull the football down.

Let’s get nerdy for a second. This is an example of a design issue, in my opinion. Smith and AJ Brown both run slants at a very similar depth. If Hurts hits his back foot and realizes he can’t get it to AJ Brown, where else should he go with the football? AJ Brown has already made his break. If AJ Brown was running a deeper slant or a deep in, Hurts could potentially reset his feet and make the throw. But there’s nowhere else for Hurts to go once the linebacker takes away the throwing window.

Here’s another design issue. It’s not a ‘bad’ play; I just don’t see much creativity for a 3rd and 7. Do we need Johnny Wilson out there? Does this passing play stretch the defense horizontally as well as vertically? Are there receivers crossing each other to try to cause traffic and potentially make it easier for one of them to separate? It’s basically a deep shot to AJ Brown, which is well covered (for all the talk around AJ Brown this week, it’s fair to point out that the Panthers’ defense covered him very well at times), and then a bunch of isolation routes where no one gets open. AJ Brown should be the answer against man coverage, but a few weeks ago, everyone was moaning that the Eagles were taking these low-percentage shots to AJ Brown down the field on 3rd down! He isn’t really open here. This would be a low-percentage throw.

Blame the quarterback all you want, but there isn’t a lot he can do here on 3rd and 7 except for throw it up to AJ. This concept isn’t good vs. zone coverage. The pass protection is fantastic, and Wilson eventually uncovers, but he drifts towards the football, whereas Hurts throws this ball up the field. The minor details matter. I’d like to see the receiver the Eagles spent a 3rd round pick on get this chance to win on 3rd down.

What was I saying earlier about issues in pass protection when running play-action? This stuff can’t happen on a team that doesn’t throw the football a lot. Negative plays kill this offense because a run-first offense will not succeed if the quarterback is sacked frequently. Luckily, Jalen Hurts bails out the offense with a ridiculous scramble. If we are going to show all the negative Hurts plays, we have to be fair and say that he bailed the offense out a few times, too.

This is a weird one to look at. It seems pretty clear that Hurts should throw it to AJ Brown on the slant because he’s wide open, but his drop doesn’t time up with that route, which suggests that DeVonta Smith could be the primary read here. I’ll be honest: I am happy to break down plays and try to comment on what I see, but I’m going to struggle to be too critical when the Eagles run a successful play and score a touchdown. There’s other stuff that I’m worrying about, not this one. I’m unsure what else to add without being in the room and knowing how this is coached.

This is one where I would like to see Hurts be aggressive. This is a tough throw to AJ Brown, but he could make it. AJ Brown is an elite receiver who should be given chances to win even in close man-to-man coverage. However, from a design perspective, once again, I’m struggling. Nothing else is open after Hurts decides not to throw it to AJ Brown. I’m unsure why Johnny Wilson is left into block for so long, but by the time he releases out, Hurts has already left the pocket. The timing feels off. Despite being critical of the timing, this is an example where you can be critical of Hurts for not being aggressive enough.

I’m also sick of the 2nd read being a deep comeback. The comeback is on the same level as AJ Brown’s route and it’s a timing throw, which makes it so difficult for Hurts to get back to this once he turns down AJ Brown. Again, I think he should rip this to AJ Brown. However, I still have issues with the design.

The Eagles have had a lot of success running Mesh over the past few weeks, and the Panthers were ready. The Panthers’ secondary played well, and you have to credit them and criticize the Eagles. You could argue that the backside dig is open here, but when has Hurts ever been able to rip the ball backside on a dig? Is that a route that plays to his strengths? It’s also slow to develop, and by the time the dig uncovers, Hurts is already under pressure. Once again, it’s another design that feels like Hurts has nowhere else to go once his primary read is not open. The Mesh point on this play also feels weird. The two receivers crossing should be really close together to create traffic, but they aren’t here. AJ Brown ends up running back into a defender with outside leverage. I’d like the Eagles to give AJ the flexibility to cross the middle of the field, depending on the leverage of the defensive back. The Panthers came prepared.

Here’s another example of Counter. I wanted to post this because I think the Eagles’ passing game is not taking advantage of how good the running game is. They should be running more stuff from similar looks to take advantage of the running game. I’ll get into what I mean later on. Here’s a great example of Counter Bash where Hurts mobility helps Barkley.

The Eagles have been outstanding against the blitz this year. Worryingly, they were not good in this one.

This is a classic example of an offense not prepared. The Eagles call 3 vertical routes on 2nd and 2 to try and take a deep shot down the field. That’s fine. But you can’t run this when the cornerback comes on a blitz. There has to be a hot route here. A sight adjustment. You are giving the quarterback no chance to succeed here. This is really poor design, and the Eagles once again screw up in pass protection. This is not necessary on 2nd and 2. I am all for being more aggressive. This was not the right time for that.

I’m sure I’ll get criticism for not being critical enough of Hurts. I am not saying he played well—he did not. But this offense has greater issues than just the quarterback’s play.

I’ve criticized Hurts for being too passive, but here he turns down the checkdown, which he probably should take, and bails for a 35-yard gain to get the first down on 3rd and 10. I am a huge believer that you need a mobile quarterback in the modern NFL who can create when the play breaks down, and this is an example of Hurts just making a play. It might not be a 35-yard pass down the field, but it counts for the same.

This play is hilarious. We have all gone full circle when we are all going mad at Hurts for eliminating his reads too early. Playing quarterback is hard. On the game’s first play, I criticized Hurts for processing things too quickly. Sometimes, if a quarterback is trying to speed up their process (which has been a criticism of Hurts in the past), then they can start processing things too quickly. I think he eliminates his reads too quickly here and should stay to the left side, where AJ Brown is open again. I can only assume that he thinks the defense will pass off these routes or he simply has to throw it to AJ Brown. But this should absolutely be thrown to AJ Brown or DeVonta Smith here. I don’t know why he doesn’t throw this.

Despite the fact that he absolutely should have thrown it to the outside, I can’t lie. It’s refreshing to see Hurts get back to the middle of the field and hit the tight end in the middle of the field. This is the type of play that we should be excited about! This is an area of his game that he’s been lacking. However, because he turns down the open receiver, this play feels negative. What a strange world we live in.

Personally, I find it too hard to be ultra critical when I see the quarterback throwing touchdowns. As I said earlier, I have other issues to worry about. But I don’t know what he’s looking at here.

I’m going to talk about this a lot more as it will be my Concept of the Week because I think there’s so much more the Eagles could run off the counter run game. The Eagles’ passing game does not take advantage of how dominant the run game is. It’s weird.

Even the good plays don’t work more than once, though. I’m not sure why AJ Brown doesn’t run this route properly. It’s a little odd. Hurts should just throw the ball away here and cannot take this sack. This is dumb. He should know that throwing the ball away and receiving an ineligible man down-the-field penalty (1st-and-15) is better than taking the sack (2nd-and-19).

Let’s end here. This is a lovely throw and catch. It’s a little infuriating how often the Eagles run comebacks, but I don’t mind doing it when you can isolate AJ Brown one-on-one by lining up alone as the X-iso. It just feels like nothing is easy for the Eagles in the passing game. Everything shouldn’t need to be this hard.

TLDR: the passing game is not good enough. Hurts wasn’t good enough. But he was not the only reason. There are so many things that can get better. It’s too easy to blame one individual for the flaws with the passing game.

Good news: the Eagles have the talent to turn this around. Keep the faith in the passing game. This was the worst game throwing the football in a while, but hopefully, it’s the catalyst for improving this offense.

Thank you for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to comment below and ask any questions. If you enjoyed this piece, you can find more of my work and podcast here.