Eagles film review: Breaking down the factors behind Jalen Hurts’ turnover problems

Going into the bye week, the turnovers that have plagued the Eagles offense so far this season were on the top of Nick Sirianni’s list of things to investigate further.

When assessing the bleak negative-6 turnover differential the team has in four games which ranks 30th in the NFL, Jalen Hurts emerges as the main culprit. The defense has managed just two takeaways, but Hurts’ seven turnovers (four interceptions and three fumbles) is the second-most of any player in the NFL. Even after staying idle this weekend, Hurts still leads in the league in Pro Football Focus’ turnover-worthy play metric with 11 such plays as well.

“That will be something that we really dive into on a bye week this week and spend a lot of time on that,” Sirianni said on Sept. 30. “Again, I’ve told you guys that it’s not sustainable that we’re minus-6. That’s not a sustainable stat.”

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What might Sirianni and the rest of the coaching staff learn about Hurts’ turnover-prone start to the season? Let’s review the film ourselves to find out:

Watching each of Hurts’ turnovers along with some of his turnover-worthy plays, there are a handful of common themes that fall squarely on his shoulders rather than a confluence of factors.

The most common denominator is Hurts pressing the issue down the field in either late-game situations or when facing third-and-long. In the season opener against the Green Bay Packers, Hurts threw his first interception of the season targeting a tightly covered DeVonta Smith while he worked up the seam. Even on third-and-15, it was a dubious attempt from Hurts considering the traffic in the middle of the field and the field position the Eagles faced deep in their own territory.

Hurts had a similar interception later in that same game, this time out of structure on a scramble drill. Facing third-and-13 in the red zone, Hurts worked to his right and saw A.J. Brown shake free late in the end zone.

Throwing while rolling out, Hurts’ throw was a tick late and lofted in the air rather than being driven to Brown, giving Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander time to recover and intercept the ball.

The sequences serves as examples of the cardinal sin of throwing in the middle of the field late in the play. They also show Hurts’ tendency to press the issue at times out of structure. It’s worth noting Hurts’ 3.1-second average time to throw is the third-longest in the NFL this season and is more than a quarter-second longer than his average during his MVP-caliber 2022 season.

That level of pressing hasn’t been limited to just third-and-long situations, though. A few of Hurts’ turnovers have come in late-game situations on early downs, including his game-sealing interception against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 2.

With first-and-10 from their own 43-yard line and 27 seconds remaining, the Eagles called a shot play to Smith on a deep out against a lone deep Atlanta safety. Such a coverage would suggest Smith could find space on the outside, but a twist stunt from the Falcons’ defensive front resulted in pressure at Hurts’ feet as he threw. His pass sailed as a result, floating in range for the middle-field safety to react in time for the interception. Although external factors played into the result, the late-game turnover still falls on Hurts for putting the ball in harm’s way.

The combination of protection breakdowns and Hurts struggling to locate threats in the pocket has also been a theme for a handful of his turnovers this season.

Against the Saints in Week 3, Hurts was loose with the ball as he rolled out to his left. New Orleans defensive end Carl Granderson chased Hurts down from behind and tripped him enough for Hurts to lose the ball, resulting in one of his three fumbles lost this season.

A similar sequence played out against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the Eagles facing first-and-10 late in the third quarter.

Saquon Barkley picked up a blitzing Lavonte David in the A-gap to slow his momentum breaking into the pocket and blocked him behind Hurts. After sidestepping David, Hurts moved up in the pocket and starting his throwing motion toward an open Grant Calcaterra downfield, but David had shaken free from Barkley by then to strip-sack Hurts.

Considering that Barkley has been solid in pass protection this season, it’s difficult to put the fumble entirely on Hurts. Still, he’s far from absolved either due to the lack of urgency in the pocket. Especially considering his turnover tally to that point, it’s hard to give him the benefit of the doubt.

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There are at least two of Hurts’ turnovers that he can be mostly absolved of.

His first lost fumble of the season came on an early snap from Cam Jurgens operating out of the silent count at Corinthians Arena in Week 1. The film shows Jurgens didn’t wait for Mekhi Becton to tap his side on Hurts’ signal to snap the ball, resulting in the turnover due to Hurts not expecting the snap.

Hurts also shares a large portion of the blame for his lone interception against the Saints with others as well. Facing third-and-8 in the red zone, the Eagles sent Smith out on an in-breaking route that resembled the one he ran a week earlier against the Falcons for a touchdown. New Orleans safety Tyrann Mathieu was sitting on Smith’s route as a result, and the receiver didn’t do enough to shield the incoming pass attempt from Mathieu, who came up with the interception.

It’s fair to acknowledge Hurts put the ball into a tight window against a proven safety, the play call and the route didn’t do him any favors.

Even with the couple of giveaways not squarely on Hurts’ decision-making, his turnover-worthy play tally tracked by PFF shows his current numbers aren’t misplaced.

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So what constitutes a turnover-worthy play? Hurts’ near interception against the Packers qualifies. One play before getting picked off by Alexander, Hurts was fortunate not to throw a pick-six targeting Jahan Dotson on a bubble screen jumped by Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon.

Another came against the Buccaneers, when Tampa Bay cornerback Jamel Dean jumped a stop route to Dotson to come up with a near-pick that was originally ruled as an interception but was overturned because Dean didn’t complete the catch to the ground.

Add Hurts’ two fumbles that were recovered by the Eagles, and Hurts’ turnover-worthy play total starts to make sense.