Jalen Hurts can stumble all he wants. This Eagles offense, with Saquon Barkley, is the best in team history
The Birds led by Barkley delivered a historic, 34-point outing despite their $255 million QB's three turnovers and 80.3 passer rating, which has become his norm. Incredibly, that might be OK.
The Eagles made ignominious history last week, and not just because they won the first NFL game ever played in the Southern Hemisphere. For the first time since 1995, the offense alone scored at least 34 points in a game in which it turned the ball over at least three times.
Before Friday, Eagles teams that gave the ball away at least three times had scored at least 34 points in nine games over the last 29 years, but each of them needed the defense or special teams to score a touchdown for them.
What does this mean?
It means Jalen Hurts has a profound margin of error.
It means mediocrity at QB, while not ideal, might still be good enough
The Eagles have turned the ball over three times in a game 95 times since Andy Reid installed his quarterback-centric offense 25 years ago, in 1999. They are 30-64-1 in those games (all numbers generated by profootballreference.com’s Stathead engine).
They are 1-0 in 2024, despite Hurts’ two interceptions and fumble against the Green Bay Packers in Sao Paolo.
Why? Because the rest of the offense is so good.
It’s tempting to fret over Hurts’ spotty performance in the opener. I did, and I do, though I believe he’ll tear up the visiting Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football.
However, since he agreed to his $255 million extension before the 2023 season, Hurts seems to be locked in the hero-ball loop that doomed Carson Wentz’s career.
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Maybe we should be a bit more understanding of Hurts. After all, he was playing in a foreign country in the NFL’s second game of the year with a new offensive coordinator and a rebuilt offensive line and had not played a single snap in a preseason game.
On the other hand, maybe the NFL has discovered the method to throttle Hurts, a dual-threat QB who hasn’t been particularly threatening running or throwing the ball lately. If that’s so, the Eagles are well-situated to win either coincidentally to Hurts, or even, as they did against Green Bay, in spite of him.
» READ MORE: The Eagles may have a new-look offense, but their success still hinges on Jalen Hurts protecting the football
A.J. Brown is the team’s best player, and the best receiver in franchise history. He had five catches for 119 yards and a 67-yard touchdown.
DeVonta Smith led the team with seven catches, gaining just 84 yards, but every one of them was a precisely run route, and the last two earned fourth-quarter first downs that set up the clinching field goal.
They are the best receiving duo in the NFL, depending on how you regard the Cincinnati Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. They are the Eagles’ best receiving duo in history, no matter how you regard the rest.
Saquon Barkley also might be the best running back in franchise history; certainly, with due respect to LeSean McCoy, Barkley’s the best since Ricky Watters in the mid-1990s. Barkley accounted for 132 yards and three touchdowns on 26 touches. His effort alone was historic: The only two Eagles in history with that type of all-around production in a single game were Brian Westbrook and Wilbert Montgomery, who each did it twice.
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According to Pro Football Focus, Dallas Goedert last season ranked far and away as the No. 1 pass-blocking tight end (79.4 grade) with at least 50 catches (some of these guys essentially are extra linemen and do nothing but block).
What about the offensive line? Can it be as good as it has been after the retirement of Jason Kelce? And the resultant move of Cam Jurgens from right guard to center? And the resultant insertion of former New York Jets tackle Mekhi Becton at right guard?
Maybe.
The PFF analysts credited Jurgens with a 74.2 pass-blocker grade in the opener; Kelce finished 2023 with a 72.6. Becton finished with a 73.8 overall grade, which was Jurgens’ second-best score at right guard last season, when he averaged 63.
It’s not as if Hurts did nothing well. He threw a pair of lovely TD passes, finished with 278 passing yards, had a couple of tough first-down runs, and scorched the Packers’ blitz. Still, he finished with a passer rating of 80.3, his 11th sub-90 rating in his last 18 regular-season starts. That’s more than half the time.
It also was the fifth time in his last 18 starts that the team scored at least 34 points — but the first time in a 34-point game that his rating had been sub-90.
Maybe, with all this firepower, it never needs to be higher than 90 again.