Eagles' Ball Security Has Been Special
PHILADELPHIA - Since the turn of the century, only four NFL quarterbacks have led their teams to 6-0 starts while producing 12-or-more touchdowns with two-or-fewer turnovers.
One is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame – Brett Favre – and two others are no-brainer first-ballot selections that will join Favre in Canton when eligible: Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.
The final one is the 24-year-old, second-year starter of the Eagles, Jalen Hurts, who is putting together a magical 2022 season so far.
Through six games, Hurts is 123 for 184 throwing the football for 1,514 yards with six touchdowns and two interceptions while adding another 293 yards on the ground in 77 carries with another six scores without losing a fumble.
Statistics, especially in the NFL due to smaller sample sizes, can often be manipulated to fit a narrative and avoid context.
This particular nugget was not offered as some kind of foreshadowing for Hurts’ future but to make you understand just how rare the young signal caller’s efficacy has been in the 2022 season.
The manner in which Hurts has taken care of the football while also producing explosive plays, the so-called double positives per Philadelphia’s coaching staff, defines winning football.
During Nick Sirianni’s Monday press conference after a 26-17 win over Dallas, the coach was asked by SI Eagles Today about Hurts’ ball security and he said that his QB has been even better than the numbers indicate, pointing to a poor screen call in traffic for Kenny Gainwell against Jacksonville that turned into an interception.
“We made a mistake in the Jacksonville game,” Sirianni said. “Like I told you, to me, Jalen has two picks by stats, but if the coaches could get a pick, I would get the pick for the one that went off Kenny's hands. That's on me. I didn't feel great about that play quite yet and the timing of that play, and I put the ball at risk on that one.
“I wish I had a stat for that.”
With a plus-12 turnover ratio, the Eagles are lapping the rest of the league with the No. 2 teams currently at plus-four.
“A lot of fumbles come from strip-sack fumbles,” said Sirianni. “As you can see, Haason Reddick has done this year and Brandon Graham and what they've done there. So that’s helped by having really good tackles in Lane [Johnson] and Jordan [Mailata] and Jack Driscoll coming in and playing good minutes, and Andre [Dillard] being ready to go.
“So that's where that comes in. It’s truly a full team effort”
The coaching staff has also tirelessly pushed the fundamentals of ball security. In fact, at a recent practice, Sirianni felt a ball security drill was a little lax and lit into his team.
“It's the emphasis of the fundamentals of ball security that we preach on a daily basis,” he said. “Okay, so we preach it on a daily basis. We talk about it on a daily basis. If you're carrying a ball around our facility, we don't care who you are, we'll tell you that it wasn't good enough.
“... You can't be around this facility and not be coached about how the ball is. Ultimately, the player has to go out and do it and the guys that have touched the ball the most for us.”
At every Eagles practice you’ll see assistant head coach/running backs Jemal Singleton punching at the football with boxing gloves like an Air Force heavyweight and behind that will be offensive coordinator Shane Steichen punching at it again with another boxing glove fashioned to a long stick.
In some ways, turnovers are the ultimate outlier in football, something that isn’t predictable or consistent but that doesn’t mean the Eagles will stop trying to eliminate as much of the randomness as possible.
Make no mistake about it, it's those just players making unbelievable plays with the ball in their hands with supreme ball security.
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
