The Eagles escaped with another win on Thursday night, beating the Vikings 34-28, but it was far from perfect and the 2-0 Birds have Joe DeCamara and Jon Ritchie a bit conflicted on how to feel.
"This is so rare for me to say as a talk show host, I honestly, I actually don't know where to start," DeCamara said at the beginning of Friday's 94WIP Morning Show. "On one hand I could say alright they're 2-0 and here are the good things. Like they freakin' ran the ball down the other team's throat. That was amazing and I really appreciate the adjustment. You know, Brian Johnson has taken a lot of heat. I actually think a lot of it is unwarranted...I appreciate the adjustment Nick Sirianni and Brian Johnson made saying, 'We're just going to run the ball down the other team's throat.' Guys, the reason they made that adjustment is one of the biggest negatives of last night—Jalen was really bad in the first half...He was a disaster in the first half, a disaster!"
"I think it's very basic where to start," Ritchie said. "48 carries amazing! 259 net yards rushing is incredible, but 48 carries is not amazing when you're doing it because your offense can't function in any way for most of the game doing anything else. Jalen, 2.9 yards per carry, that's not good enough. Defenses are focusing on stopping that pull read and that's an issue. He took too many hits, yes, that's uncomfortable."
Hurts was 18-23 with just 193 yards passing, one touchdown and one interception. Through two games, although both wins, Hurts is averaging just 181.5 yards passing, 36 yards rushing while committing two total turnovers and taking seven total sacks.
"Jalen Hurts, when it is a regular drop back and there is some pressure—I am not going to say an enormous amount of pressure, he bails!" DeCamara said.