Jalen Hurts’ legs are a blessing and a curse for the Eagles.
Sunday’s Week 1 38-35 victory over the Lions doesn’t happen without them. Hurts ran 17 times for 90 yards, including every kind of back-breaking play a mobile quarterback could inflict on an opponent: Turning long third downs into first downs, avoiding sacks and pressure, getting into the end zone, and sealing the game with a fourth-down conversion.
But those runs were too often a product of a mistake-filled offensive execution, performance, and coaching, and put the 24-year-old in harm's way.
Unlike last year, this wasn’t a game in which Hurts used his legs to bail himself out of his own pocket mistakes or inability to read a defense quick enough. This was a case of Hurts bailing out his coaching staff and offensive line, a unit that fared far worse in pass protection than the one sack in the box score would lead you to believe.
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Center Jason Kelce and head coach Nick Sirianni both acknowledged those facts after the game.
“He bailed us out numerous times. There were numerous blitz pickups that we needed to get corrected. That’s the benefit of having a guy with such versatility. When you have a team being as aggressive as the Lions were and you don’t have it picked up just right or blocked just right, whatever happens, to have a guy that can go off schedule, that is tremendous,” Kelce said.
Sirianni said Hurts had “complete control” of what was happening on the field, and added: “His legs were huge. What an unbelievable thing to have as a coach.’Oh we called that and it didn’t work?’ He made it right.”
Hurts’ legs are the crutch for this Eagles offense. In a perfect world, it wouldn’t strike me as a concern. We’re talking about an outstanding young athlete that has years of his best left to offer.
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But the NFL isn’t a perfect world. It’s far from it, especially for runners who take shots. Hurts was hit hard (and late) several times on Sunday. He took the kind of hits running backs take. Except he ran the ball more than most running backs do in games in this era of the NFL. If Hurts continues to run at the rate he has since becoming the Eagles starter, his Eagles future simply won’t be as bright as every fan hopes.
Since taking over as the starting quarterback in Dec. 2020, Hurts has started 20 games. His rushing numbers (202 carries, 1,146 yards, 15 touchdowns) are elite. We’re watching one of the great rushing quarterbacks in NFL history. At this pace, Hurts will finish the 2022 season with over 2,000 career rushing yards and 25 rushing touchdowns. Only 14 quarterbacks have reached both of those marks for an entire career. Hurts could do it in less than 40 starts.
But look at those carries.
Over 10 per game is egregious, and leads to too many hits to the head, neck and legs. We’re talking about a player that missed time with a high-ankle sprain that needed offseason surgery last season. If the remedy was simply for Hurts to stay in the pocket and read the defense for longer, natural progression would do the trick.
But Week 1 showed troubling signs about Hurts’ mobility and why it's become a crutch for the coaching staff and offensive line. Hurts didn’t bail from the pocket on the first drive; he avoided free rushers. Hurts didn’t tuck-and-run instead of throwing; he read the box correctly and executed read options to perfection. And when the game was on the line, the Eagles best short-yardard runner, Hurts, was asked to push the pile to seal a win.
Hurts is unique, with elements of Steve McNair and Cam Newton in his game.
That’s a blessing, considering both players were league MVPs in their careers. But it’s also a crutch the Eagles can’t continue to lean on for long.
McNair was constantly banged up, and it affected his play. The same can be said for Newton. If Hurts continues to run at the pace he has, injuries or bumps and bruises will follow. Concussions are likely. A sore neck or throwing shoulder, leading to poor mechanics and erratic throwing, feels inevitable.
Hurts played at a B+ level in Week 1, and recovered exceptionally well from an 0-for-5 start throwing the ball. His legs and chemistry with A.J. Brown won the game. In toal, Hurts’ 64.3 QBR was the eighth-best by any quarterback across the league in Week 1. The center and coach are right: He bailed them out, and it led to a win.
But if the Eagles want Hurts to be his best late in what should be a promising season and to become the long-term answer at the position, he needs to be asked to run less before it's too late.
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