Offense is More Than Just Jalen Hurts' Powerful Legs, and It's Hard to Stop
PHILADELPHIA – Like a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, Jalen Hurts showed off his legs against the Packers.
What a sight to behold.
Layered with muscle that allows him to squat 600 pounds – and is there another QB in the NFL who can do that? – those legs were on display for the nation to see in a primetime game on Sunday night.
If Hurts was doing this back in the days of Elvis Presley, TV wouldn't be allowed to show the Eagles QB from the waist down. Too much wiggle.
Hurts may have lost a head-to-head matchup with one of the game’s GOAT’s in last year’s playoffs, that being Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady, the Eagles QB went toe-to-toe with another of the game’s GOAT’s, this one Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers and won a shootout, 40-33.
This Eagles offense can beat you in a lot of ways, ways that don’t involve just Hurts’ legs.
It's not always going to operate smoothly, but, in the end, the Eagles have 10 wins.
They scored 17 points and beat the Colts in Week 11.
They just find a way.
To wit:
- A.J. Brown’s three first-half touchdown catches in a win over the Steelers, the same game in which Hurts threw a career-high four TDs passes.
- DeVonta Smith’s eight catches, 169 yards, and one TD in a win over the Commanders, with 156 of those yards and seven catches coming in the first half.
- Dallas Goedert’s 100 yards receiving and one TD in a win over the Texans.
- Miles Sanders’ 134 yards rushing and two touchdowns in a win over the Jaguars and his 143 yards and two touchdowns in a win over the Packers.
There's more to Hurts in this hard-to-defend offense, but the QB makes it all go, and it’s not just his legs that make it happen.
It’s his decision-making in the RPO game.
It’s him knowing when to stay in the pocket to try to make a play and knowing when to take off running.
And it’s his arm and accuracy, with a completion percentage pushing 68 a year after completing 61.3% of his throws.
“I mentioned often the importance of being able to attack teams in different ways,” said Hurts. “I feel like for us as a football team, as an offense, it’s like your favorite steakhouse, your favorite restaurant – 5-star, boujee restaurant you like to go to. You have your steak of the day, your selection of the day. For us, we can kind of do it all as you know.
“I think that has helped us a lot, being able to be diverse. At the end of the day, I’ve made myself clear that the most important thing is winning. That’s what we came out here and did (Sunday night) regardless of how it looked. We just want to win. I just want to win and get it done.”
Hurts is in full command of the offense, in just his second year as a starter, but also in his second consecutive year with head coach Nick Sirianni, offensive coordinator Shane Steichen, and, even deeper behind the scenes, quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson.
“You never want to be one-dimensional in anything,” said Sirianni after the win. “I think we've shown we can win throwing the football. I think we've shown we can win running the football offensively.
“That's important because in the playoffs you have to do both. When you want to go where you want to go, you got to be able to do both. You want to win big games, you’ve got to do both.
So that's important. So, to win big games you have to be able to run and throw the ball and can't be one-dimensional. I think that's what we've been able to do.”
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
