Eagles Offense Delivers with A.J. Brown Playing Decoy
PHILADELPHIA - Training camp for A.J. Brown has been a perpetual rush hour, the equivalent of this reporter trying to swim upstream from South Jersey to King of Prussia for a radio hit during drive time on the Schuylkill Expressway.
There's always traffic.
In a cameo appearance during Friday night's preseason opener against the New York Jets, though, Brown, the Eagles' high-profile offensive offseason acquisition, tried on the new hat of decoy as Jalen Hurts spread the football around in a brilliant cameo that finished 6-for-6 for 80 yards and a 22-yard touchdown pass to Dallas Goedert for an NFL-labeled perfect passing rating of 158.3.
The Eagles built a 14-0 lead but the reserves couldn't hold up from there in what turned into a 24-21 setback.
There is no 158.4 rating in this league so head coach Nick Sirianni had a little fun with one reporter putting Hurts' movement skills under the microscope.
"I have to watch the tape, but he has had a good feel of staying in and hanging in there and making the throws when he needs to make them, and he did that tonight," said Sirianni. "I thought Jalen did a good job of – [jokingly] he was 6-for-6, perfect quarterback rating and you are questioning one of his decisions to escape the pocket?
"I think that’s kind of funny. I just thought he did a good job of staying in the pocket when he needed to stay in the pocket, making plays that way and escaping when he needed to escape."
The opening drive, which overcame two penalties from the offensive line, started with a Hurts staple, escaping out of the pocket to the right before firing downfield to Quez Watkins for a big play, in this case, 28 yards.
Then came the complimentary pieces, a quick dump off to Miles Sanders for 12 yards, followed by a check down over the middle to backup tight end Jack Stoll for six more.
A Lane Johnson false start stunted the momentum a bit before Hurts went back to Watkins and Sanders. A 12-yard scramble for a touchdown was taken off the board by a Jordan Mailata hold, which means little to Hurts, who simply tossed a 22-yard score to Goedert.
What isn't in the gamebook, though, was Brown's presence as the star receiver created space for Goedert by drawing the secondary's attention.
Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown discuss things vs. Jets
USA Today
Just like that the Eagles' key offensive players were done for the night and after 10 days of practice in which Brown got a steady stream of action, some observers were scratching their head as I-76 at 5 p.m. turned into the driving during the pandemic for the WR1.
"It was really Jalen going where the coverage took him," Sirianni said. "We have an idea where the ball might go based off the coverages teams play, but that's the beauty of the offense. You want to put the guys in position to make plays, but that doesn't necessarily mean the defense is going to play what you thought every time.
"We like getting everybody involved. There is no doubt. Just makes you harder to defend. But, yeah, it was nice to see [Hurts] spread it around early."
There is no game-planning in the preseason so this was a natural and positive ecosystem for Hurts. The young QB simply delivered the ball to the options the defense was giving him.
"I’ve always talked about the trust to have with everyone on the field," Hurts said. "So just going through my progressions, doing my job.
"Let the playmakers make plays.”
As for his good friend Brown, Hurts was self-assured.
“It didn’t go his way tonight," the QB said. "It’s okay. He’ll get his."
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Sports. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talker Jody McDonald, every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube.com and JAKIBSports.com. You can reach John at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
