Have the Eagles found their offensive identity after pounding the Bengals? Jalen Hurts says he’s been pushing for it

CINCINNATI — There’s a yin and yang, a balance between the light and dark sides of the force — whatever the phrasing — that coexists in football.

Coaches have long sought to strike this balance — between enforcing your will on the opposition and responding to whatever designs the competition has presented on offense or defense.

Through the first five games of the season, the Eagles didn’t quite seem to know how to accomplish either, especially on offense. Critics who favor the former approach suggested that they lacked an identity, or at least a successful one.

Coach Nick Sirianni countered that his offense must, first and foremost, be adaptable. And despite the Eagles winning with a more varied and balanced attack in the last two games — most notably on Sunday in an impressive 37-17 victory over the Bengals — he fought back against the notion that his offense has found its identity.

“‘Identity’ gets overblown. I really believe that,” Sirianni said after the game. “Like what’s the identity? I’ve told you guys this a bunch, our identity is play with great detail, our identity is to play physical with toughness, and our identity is play together.

“And everything else changes week to week.”

But quarterback Jalen Hurts, who had easily his best game of the season at Paycor Stadium, said that sometimes the Eagles just need to play to their offensive strengths no matter how they’re being defended.

And that, in the specific question posed to Hurts, may include more of the quarterback under center.

“I think when you’re able to be the imposer, that says a lot about what you are offensively,” Hurts said. “There are multiple ways to impose, right? You can do that from the gun. You can do that in the pass game. You can do that in the run game, the action game, whatever it is, as long as you’re in full control.

“And so, I think that’s more so the mentality that we’re trying to develop and I’m trying to push, to be honest, it’s about what we do, not about what anyone else does.”

» READ MORE: Eagles grades vs. Bengals: Offense clicks with Jalen Hurts at his best and Saquon Barkley going over 100 yards

Either way, the cause was the Eagles offense finally clicking in both the air and on the ground, and the effect was the Bengals being unable to keep pace. A game that was tied, 17-17, late in the third quarter flipped when Hurts hit wide receiver DeVonta Smith in the end zone for a 45-yard touchdown vs. quarters zone coverage.

Vic Fangio’s defense contributed, as well, getting a fourth-down stop and forcing two turnovers in the second half. But the Eagles offense exploded for 27 points and 244 yards in the second half. The only thing that slowed it down was when one of Hurts’ cleats came off his foot early in the fourth quarter.

“I hate that we had to burn a timeout on that one,” Hurts said. “I had a double knot. Usually when I wear a low-top Air Jordan, I got to tie them up real tight so I can have good ankle support. I tied it up so tight I could not take the knot off.

“So had to go ‘Jalen Two Shoes’ for a bit.”

Hurts’ self-given nickname might not stick, but an offense that had more plays from under center, more pistol shotgun, more play-action — and, yes, more running — may have to be the formula considering the Eagles’ personnel and the quarterback’s early-season struggles.

And there’s nothing wrong with that, despite owner Jeffrey Lurie’s aversion to that kind of football.

“I think when you’re able to run the ball effectively, it opens up so much,” said tackle Lane Johnson, who called the offense “constipated” just three games ago. “First of all, it wears down the interior defenders, weakens the pass rush, puts the backers in a predicament. So the more we can effectively run block and set up play-actions, it just opens up everything.”

All told, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore called 38 run plays to 21 passes. A double-digit fourth-quarter lead and five Tush Pushes contributed to the imbalance, but it was clear from the jump that the Eagles weren’t going to forget about running back Saquon Barkley.

Hurts dropped to throw 12 times in the first half, while Barkley and backup Kenneth Gainwell had 10 carries for only 38 yards. Film study will reveal more, but it appeared as if the Bengals were intent on stopping the run early on with heavy boxes and linebackers closer to their front.

Wide receiver A.J. Brown said defenses have been playing the Eagles differently with Barkley in tow.

“I think so. I think you got to try to stop the run,” he said. “He’s playing incredible. He’s running the ball really well. So I definitely think it plays a factor.”

But Hurts and his receivers hadn’t been able to take advantage as much as they wanted to through the first six games. Before the bye, it was turnovers that plagued the quarterback. He had avoided giving the ball away in the first two games after the break, but Hurts was still missing reads and holding the ball too long.

He was again shaky on the Eagles’ first two possessions and nearly threw an interception on a third-down checkdown to Gainwell. But something clicked from that point onward. Hurts completed 13 of his final 13 passes for 200 yards and a touchdown.

» READ MORE: Jalen Hurts, in mismatched shoes, outduels college rival Joe Burrow as Eagles win third straight since the bye

The Bengals’ Joe Burrow, meanwhile, threw a costly fourth-quarter interception. Two years ago, Hurts was in the elite quarterback conversation with Burrow and a few others. One strong game isn’t going to offset his recent struggles, but he clearly took pride in besting a colleague.

“That’s the league,” Hurts said. “I have standards for myself, as well.”

But having Barkley, who finished with 108 yards on 22 carries and went over the century mark for the fourth time this season, as more of a focal point should take some off the burden off Hurts’ shoulders.

The same goes with having him involved in the run game, one of the reasons why the Eagles had so often been in the shotgun. No one is saying the plus-one quarterback run game should go away. A few less Tush Pushes, particularly near the goal line when Barkley would love to eat, could go a long way, too.

But a more economical use of Hurts in the run game could pay off in dividends. Hurts had several designed rushes that were productive, including a 9-yard draw in which he juked a defender with his patented crossover and a 7-yard touchdown run off zone read.

“I think the more multiple you can be as an offense,” Hurts said, “the more unpredictable you’ll be.”

Through the first five games, Hurts was in the shotgun more than any other quarterback. The Eagles had him under center on only 10% of their plays during that span, and that included the Tush Push. But he was under Cam Jurgens 22% of the time last week vs. the Giants and was up to 36% this week.

It helped set up the occasional play-action, but sometimes it just meant — with two tight-end sets and Ben VanSumeren at fullback — that Hurts was handing the ball off to Barkley and the Eagles were daring the Bengals to stop them.

“The identity of this team is physical, and that’s what we’re going to try to play by each week is physical,” Sirianni said. “When you say physical, that doesn’t mean you have to run it every time. You run it, you pass it, you can be physical in both aspects.”

But one hand must feed the other.