Devin White’s release, Jalen Hurts’ turnover issues, and more are discussed in Gameday Central Extra

On the first edition of Gameday Central Extra, Eagles beat reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith discuss Devin White’s release and what went wrong during his time with the Eagles, Jalen Hurts’ turnover issues, and the Eagles’ slow starts. Here are some highlights and clips from the conversation …

So how did the Devin White signing go so wrong for the Eagles?

EJ: The Eagles are kind of late to the party when it comes to off-ball linebackers in free agency. That’s obviously a position that they had to address. And again, they kind of missed out on that first wave or two in free agency. And listen, Devin White when you looked at him as a free agent, when you looked at the potential fit that he would have with the Eagles, I think you can understand the swing that they took, but you understand the risk that they took there as well.

» READ MORE: Devin White release puts the onus on Eagles LBs Nakobe Dean, Zack Baun to hit their stride

My read on this is at this point is that, you know, the emergence of Zack Baun helped them kind of mask this mistake that they made in free agency. But listen, let’s make no mistake about it, this was a mistake in free agency, you know, this was a miscalculation.

Jalen Hurts’ turnovers have become a cause for concern. What’s going on?

Olivia: Another big issue that the Eagles need to address going into the second quarter of their schedule is — and Nick Sirianni talked about this, too — is Jalen Hurts’ turnovers. He currently has thrown four interceptions this season, which is tied for third-highest quantity in the league among quarterbacks.

When you look at kind of the entire body of work, you know — Nick Sirianni spoke about this, too — not all turnovers are exclusively on the quarterback. However, because he is the quarterback, because the ball is in his hands, he’s going to be scrutinized the most.

EJ: A lot of the fumbles have happened that way. Whether it’s, you know, with Jalen rolling out with the ball in one hand and getting, you know tripped up against the Saints or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fumble. I’ve heard people say that the Bucs fumble maybe isn’t solely on him. Saquon Barkley was trying to pass protect against Lavonte David.

Honestly, I think the context matters there. Lavonte David is an All-Pro linebacker. You can’t expect Saquon Barkley, as good as he’s been, to hold up in pass protection against a linebacker that good. So I understand why Hurts wanted to get the ball, you know, Grant Calcaterra was open down the field. But I think that that’s another case of decision making and pocket awareness. Not knowing that the guy is behind you.

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

The Eagles have yet to score in the first quarter of any game this season. Can they figure out what’s causing their slow starts and get it fixed?

Olivia: The biggest areas that they need to focus on going into this upcoming weekend and going into the second quarter of their season is the fact that they’ve had so many slow starts. … The first quarter has been a really tough time for the Eagles. They’re the only team in the league right now that has not scored any points in the first quarter, which is pretty staggering to think about. They’re opening drives, in particular, are really just, I mean, disaster. It’s been really difficult to see the fact that they just haven’t been able to get into a rhythm in any of their drives.

Only picking up one first down through four of those opening drives. I think they have 12 net yards of offense across 13 plays. So something right now isn’t working, isn’t clicking. It certainly does not help that the Eagles did not have all three A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Lane Johnson this past week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

» READ MORE: The Eagles offense has sputtered to start every game. Kellen Moore aims to tune it up.

Obviously, Brown has missed the last three games, too. I don’t know if it’s as easy as a fix as just getting those guys back. I think it will help, but Kellen Moore already said it’s going to be a big focus of his, this past bye week, to dig into things and try to figure out exactly what went wrong.

On the first edition of Gameday Central Extra, Eagles beat reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith discuss Devin White’s release and what went wrong during his time with the Eagles, Jalen Hurts’ turnover issues, and the Eagles’ slow starts. Here is the full video of the conversation between Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith, followed by some highlights from the show …

So how did the Devin White signing go so wrong for the Eagles?

EJ: You know, I think it starts with the offseason evaluation. And when you when you’re trying to figure out where this went wrong, you know, the Eagles are kind of late to the party when it comes to off-ball linebackers in free agency. That’s obviously a position that they had to address. And again, they kind of missed out on that first wave or two in free agency. And listen, Devin White when you looked at him as a free agent, when you looked at the potential fit that he would have with the Eagles, I think you can understand the swing that they took, but you understand the risk that they took there as well.

» READ MORE: Devin White release puts the onus on Eagles LBs Nakobe Dean, Zack Baun to hit their stride

You know that he came from a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense that is led by Todd Bowles, a really good defensive coach. Obviously, the head coach there. Now, you know, if you follow the favorite, Todd Bowles. And I do think that there’s a little bit of a red flag. So, you know, my read on this at this point is that, you know, the emergence of Zack Baun helped them kind of mask this mistake that they made in free agency. But listen, let’s make no mistake about it, this was a mistake in free agency. This was a miscalculation.

Jalen Hurts’ turnovers have become a cause for concern. What’s going on?

Olivia: I think another big issue that the Eagles need to address going into the second quarter of their schedule is — and Nick Sirianni talked about this, too — is Jalen Hurts’ turnovers — his turnovers, his interceptions, his fumble. He currently has thrown four interceptions this season, which is tied for third-highest quantity in the league among quarterbacks. And then, of course, five fumbles, tied for first place, and then three fumbles lost.

When you look at kind of the entire body of work, you know — Nick Sirianni spoke about this, too — not all turnovers are exclusively on the quarterback. However, because he is the quarterback, because the ball is in his hands, he’s going to be scrutinized the most.

According to Pro Football Focus, 6.7% of Hurts’ passing attempts have been turnover-worthy plays. And that’s a subjective stat, but EJ, I know you took a look at every single one of those turnovers and handful of those turnover-worthy plays to see exactly what the root cause, if anything, might be. At least something to kind of chalk up exactly why Hurts has been turning the ball over.

When you look at those plays, what did you learn through that?

EJ: I think there are definitely some common denominators. I know that that’s not necessarily the nature of a common denominator, is that you can have multiple of them, but I think a lot of them came down to two different things. The first one being a risk taking, sometimes out of structure of the play, sometimes within the structure of the play, but just decision making and risk taking. A couple of the early ones. If you think about the two interceptions against the Packers, I would say both of those are just Jalen trying to do too much.

The first one, trying to throw the ball to DeVonta Smith on a third-and-15, I believe it was, and you know he’s not open. He’s running you know up the seam in the middle of the field, and he’s tightly covered, and there’s a safety over the top. That’s just a case of Jalen being a little bit overly aggressive, trying to make something happen in a situation where there might be a little bit of pressing because it’s third and long.

» READ MORE: Sielski: Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts had ‘great moments’ together. Can their confab save the coach’s job?

His interception later in that game to A.J. Brown, kind of the same thing. Throwing in the middle of the field late is never something you want to do as a quarterback. He didn’t really step in and throw. He floated it. That’s another thing that I noticed watching them back is a lot of his interceptions are kind of the result of not being able to step into a throw, whether it’s pressure or because he’s rolling out.

The interception against the Falcons you know a week later was also an example where he wasn’t able to step into the throw, he’s throwing the ball to DeVonta Smith, who is tightly covered. So I definitely think risk taking in high-leverage situations is something that is you know a common thing with the Hurts interceptions. Honestly, it’s probably the most concerning one because you want your quarterback to be able to deliver in those instances, whether it’s third and long, whether it’s late-game situations, game-winning drives, that’s where you want your quarterback to be at his best. You want him to be the most decisive and discerning with where he’s going to go with the football. Hurts has struggled there at times this season.

I think the other category that really comes up is pocket awareness and protection breakdowns. A lot of the fumbles have happened that way. Whether it’s, you know, with Jalen rolling out with the ball in one hand and getting, you know tripped up against the Saints or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fumble. I’ve heard people say that the Bucs fumble maybe isn’t solely on him. Saquon Barkley was trying to pass protect against Lavonte David.

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

Honestly, I think the context matters there. Lavonte David is an All-Pro linebacker. You can’t expect Saquon Barkley, as good as he’s been, to hold up in pass protection against a linebacker that good. So I understand why Hurts wanted to get the ball, you know, Grant Calcaterra was open down the field. But I think that that’s another case of decision making and pocket awareness. Not knowing that the guy is behind you.

There are some external factors. There are some things that Hurts can’t control like Cam Jurgens snapping the ball to him when he’s not ready, is a good example. And that interception against the Saints, I think you put a little bit of that on DeVonta Smith.

So there are times where the turnovers aren’t solely on Hurts. For every one of Hurts his turnovers that maybe aren’t solely on him, there’s a turnover-worthy play that he was fortunate to not have on his record. So I think that his turnover numbers are deserved.

I think that it is going to have to be a mentality shift to a certain degree Hurts. I think, especially in those big moments, you don’t want him to force the issue. The offense has enough talent that he shouldn’t have to force the issue in those situations.

The Eagles have yet to score in the first quarter of any game this season. Can they figure out what’s causing their slow starts and get it fixed?

Olivia: To me, in my opinion, the biggest areas that they need to focus on going into this upcoming weekend and going into the second quarter of their season is the fact that they’ve had so many slow starts. … The first quarter has been a really tough time for the Eagles. They’re the only team in the league right now that has not scored any points in the first quarter, which is pretty staggering to think about. They’re opening drives, in particular, are really just, I mean, disaster. It’s been really difficult to see the fact that they just haven’t been able to get into a rhythm in any of their drives.

» READ MORE: The Eagles offense has sputtered to start every game. Kellen Moore aims to tune it up.

Only picking up one first down through four of those opening drives. I think they have 12 net yards of offense across 13 plays. So something right now isn’t working, isn’t clicking. It certainly does not help that the Eagles did not have all three A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Lane Johnson this past week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Obviously, Brown has missed the last three games, too. I don’t know if it’s as easy as a fix as just getting those guys back. I think it will help, but Kellen Moore already said it’s going to be a big focus of his, this past bye week, to dig into things and try to figure out exactly what went wrong. So that’s what I’m most curious to see, how the Eagles respond this upcoming week against the Browns.

The Eagles play in Week 6 against the Cleveland Browns. Join Eagles beat reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith as they dissect the hottest storylines surrounding the team on Gameday Central, live from Lincoln Financial Field.