The Eagles escaped Foxborough with a 25-20 ugly road win over the Patriots in Week 1, but many folks are coming away from the game slightly concerned about what they saw.
Joe DeCamara and Jon Ritchie both agree that their biggest takeaway from the Eagles' Week 1 game was that Jalen Hurts is playing football "differently."
"The biggest takeaway is Jalen Hurts is playing football differently. He's playing differently," Ritchie said on Monday's 94WIP Morning Show.
"Guys, I really hope I'm wrong about this," DeCamara said. "Here's the biggest thing that stood out to me. Sirianni, and probably Howie together, are trying to have Jalen Hurts run a more traditional passing offense to protect him physically, as I think they should, as you know as I've told you they should. But he actually really struggled with it. They moved largely away from the bread and butter of how Jalen Hurts played college football and how he played pro football the first two years...And they said alright Jalen, big contract now, big expectations. We want you to be the guy that plays for 12 to 15 years and so we don't want you taking those linebackers head on nine times a game. And you can tell right from the beginning, by the way, when he did have a chance to run he got down.
"I was shocked by how much Jalen Hurts struggled in the passing game, in light of the fact that they put more on his plate in a traditional passing sense and he didn't seem up to it."
Hurts completed 22 of 33 passes for only 170 yards and 1 touchdown in the game, taking three sacks and rushing nine times for 37 yards. After a 16-0 first quarter lead, the Eagles were outscored 20-9 in the final three quarters.
"To a large extent, let's be real—especially in the final 45 minutes of the game or whatever," DeCamara said. "To a large extent, the New England Patriots outplayed the Philadelphia Eagles."