Eagles QB Jalen Hurts is finding balance between taking care of the football and hitting explosive plays

Going into the bye week, Jalen Hurts led all quarterbacks with 11 turnover-worthy plays, a metric from Pro Football Focus that accounts for passes that have a strong likelihood of getting intercepted and snaps that demonstrate poor ball security. Among them were four interceptions and five fumbles (three lost) through four games.

Two weeks later, Hurts has cut his turnover-worthy plays down to zero.

The fourth-year starter is one of 10 qualifying quarterbacks out of 29 who have taken at least 18 dropbacks in the last two weeks (Hurts has had 48) and have yet to make a turnover-worthy play. Even so, Hurts made a pair of big-time throws in that span, which PFF defines as a pass with great timing and ball location that is generally thrown farther down the field and into a tight window.

One day after the Eagles’ 28-3 blowout victory over the New York Giants, in which Hurts went 10-for-14 for 114 and one passing touchdown, Nick Sirianni emphasized the importance of finding the sweet spot between playing clean football and still being aggressive.

» READ MORE: Eagles-Giants takeaways: Philly Dawgs, Quinyon Mitchell show the future is now for the Birds defense

“You’ve got to be able to take care of the football while still being explosive,” Sirianni said on Monday. “And that’s why the quarterback is who he is. How important he is to the football team. Because it does. It takes, hey, we’ve got to be able to take receivers that are open downfield while also not wanting to force it.

“I think that’s just the repetitions of the different plays that he … the plays that he sees vs. all the different looks that he can get. So you want to take what they give you. Sometimes that’s more risk than other times. But I think that’s just playing the quarterback position, is constantly taking what they give you. Do they open the things up down the field?”

On Sunday, Saquon Barkley and the run-blocking unit were the most explosive elements of the Eagles’ offense. In his return to MetLife Stadium, Barkley rattled off three massive gains (55, 41, and 38 yards) that contributed to his dominant, 176-yard day on the ground (including a 3-yard rushing touchdown).

Even though Hurts only completed 10 passes on 14 attempts (21 dropbacks), he wasn’t afraid to let the ball fly when the opportunity presented itself. On fourth-and-3 from the Giants’ 41-yard line, Hurts connected with A.J. Brown on a “go” ball down the left sideline for a touchdown. Giants cornerback Nick McCloud was left one-on-one in coverage against Brown, a gamble that Hurts was willing to take.

» READ MORE: Jalen Hurts has given the Eagles just what they’ve needed lately: a calming, stabilizing presence

Now, the Eagles lead the league with 10 plays of 40-plus yards, including six passes and a league-high four carries.

“The definition of our explosive plays are 20 [yards], give or take,” Sirianni said. “I won’t get into all of our specifics there. But give or take, around there. So to create one that’s double that, even puts your chances of scoring up even more. So constantly want to be able to create those. We have the players to be able to create those.”

Brown’s touchdown was one of three successful fourth-down attempts made by the Eagles on Sunday. The other conversions included a Hurts red-zone scramble on fourth-and-2 and a Hurts Tush Push touchdown on fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line.

» READ MORE: Eagles stats: Saquon Barkley’s top speed, defensive domination highlight blowout win over Giants

Each of their fourth-down attempts on three separate drives led to a touchdown. The Eagles have converted 71.4% of their fourth-down attempts this season (No. 7 in the league) and 70.8% of their attempts over the last three years (No. 1). Of course, the Tush Push has played a role in the Eagles’ success rate. Still, as shown on Sunday, Sirianni has been willing to go for it on fourth down depending on the situation, even if the Eagles are multiple yards away from the first-down marker.

“You’re constantly thinking about how you score touchdowns, how you score touchdowns, how you score touchdowns, and you’re [p—] when you’ve got to kick a field goal,” Sirianni said. “That extra down gives you a lot to be able to do that. You’ve got to have faith in the guys to be able to do that. So it’s been a big key to our success these last couple years is that success on fourth down, turning three points into seven points.”

On the flip side, the Eagles struggled on third down on Sunday, going just 1-for-13. They’ve now converted on just 34.6% of their third-down attempts this season (No. 23 in the NFL). While Sirianni suggested that the team views some of those unsuccessful attempts differently if the offense converted on the ensuing fourth down, he still admitted that the Eagles must become more efficient on third down.

“I always will start with us,” Sirianni said. “Did we put them in position to succeed and did we execute? Always going to go in that order. Some thoughts that we had after we looked at it, some different thoughts of protections, some different thoughts of route concepts, some different routes of one-on-ones that we’ll experiment with as we continue to move forward.”

The Eagles placed John Ross, the 28-year-old wide receiver, on the practice squad injured list on Monday. In turn, the Eagles filled his spot on the practice squad by signing Tariq Castro-Fields, a 25-year-old cornerback who played his college ball at Penn State.

Castro-Fields, who was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the sixth round of the 2022 draft, has appeared in a total of 12 NFL games with the Washington Commanders and the Carolina Panthers, primarily on special teams.

While at Penn State, Castro-Fields played in 52 games across five seasons (30 starts). He registered 138 tackles (including 10 for loss), three interceptions, 25 passes defensed, and a forced fumble.