Forget Carries, it's Process over Result with Eagles and Jalen Hurts
PHILADELPHIA - Definitions are everything in life and that brings us to 17 vs. two in Philadelphia.
The first number is what critics point to when saying Nick Sirianni and Shane Steichen put Jalen Hurts in harm’s way when one of the MVP candidate’s 17 rushing attempts in Chicago on Sunday resulted in a sprained right shoulder during a 25-20 win over the Bears.
Two is how many designed runs Steichen called by the Eagles’ in-house interpretation, according to Sirianni.
“Really at the end of the day we had two plays that were called runs for Jalen, and he actually, you asked me about it, he checked to those two, and then there was one other one, he checked the two and then there was one called run and the rest were zone reads,” the head coach explained on Tuesday.
The real contextual number is in between the extremes, of course, and Sirianni is fond of saying “a wise man avoids all extremes."
That said, one of Sirianni’s tells is getting into the weeds when a criticism hits home and he did that with Hurts and the number of runs.
It’s fair to point out the two “runs” Hurts had in victory formation and the QB sneaks in which there are decades of injury data to prove that is not a dangerous play. Ideological extremists, however, avoid context like the plague so anything that brings down the 17 number is going to be ignored in order to fit the preferred narrative.
On the other hand, Sirianni erasing zone-reads with the idea there is no guarantee Hurts is running the football on those plays ignores the obvious in that the coaching staff is well aware that their superstar QB will be carrying at times is based on when that Steichen call reaches Hurts’ ears.
If the edge player being read crashes by definition, Hurts is supposed to pull the ball from the running back.
More so, it was evident early on that Bears coach Matt Eberflus, a close friend of Sirianni from their Indianapolis days, instructed his edge defenders to crash with the intent of getting physical with Hurts, something the Eagles coaching staff could have realized and tweaked to simple inside-zone runs as the adjustment.
Sirianni’s better take in the whole debate involved process over results, along with Hurts’ unique skill set.
“For us to be the explosive offense that we want to be, Jalen is a very good passer, and he's shown that he's become a better passer each game that he plays," the coach said. "But he's also in the MVP race, which in my opinion he's played better than anybody in this league so far this year, and he's in that MVP race because of his dual-threat ability.
"With his ability to not only do what he's been doing passing the ball but also what he's been doing running the football.”
Football is a dangerous sport.
Former Eagles tight end Zach Ertz once noted that the injury rate in is 100% if you play it long enough.
Furthermore, you can’t legislate those injuries. Everything you do when it comes to nutrition, training, practice schedules, playing time, and play-calling can be unraveled by the randomness of injuries.
Control what you can control is perhaps the most common of the 1,001 NFL cliches you hear every week for a reason – it’s good advice.
Remember the Eagles’ goal, which is to win Super Bowl LVII, and you’ll start to understand the plan.
“We're always going to think about his safety first, and I know you guys are probably like, well, he got hurt. Well, he also ran for (157) yards against Green Bay, and I get it, sometimes it's a result-based thing,” said Sirianni. “Well, he didn't get hurt that one, he's our MVP, oh, he did get hurt, what are you guys doing?
“I get that. I get that that's going to be part of the scrutiny, and I understand that.”
So what’s the response to that scrutiny?
“We are who we are as an offense, explosively, scoring-wise, all those different things, because Jalen can do so many things, both running the football and passing the football,” said Sirianni.
Plainly stated, when Hurts is healthy, nothing changes moving forward.
In many ways former 76ers executive Sam Hinkie broke Philadelphia, creating a litany of fans who always think about the future first. For the Eagles, the championship window is open and it’s about the moment.
“What the benefit of zone read is we have this great offensive line, but I was always taught you win games on the front side and you win big ones on the backside,” said Sirianni. “The backside wins, it was really as easy as this: Front side wins games, backside wins championships.
“... That is a huge part of our success in the run game. A huge part. Sometimes we're not even running zone reads, sometimes it's just the threat of Jalen to potentially pull. That's a strength of our offense that we have to continue to have if we want to be successful.”
-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 "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
