Did the Philadelphia Eagles fix their offense, or did the Eagles shine because they played the Las Vegas Raiders? It isn’t an angle that got a ton of burn this week, but you can best believe Nick Wright asked the question. Oh well… It’s the City of Brotherly Love, and these are the Eagles. This comes with the territory.
At least no one’s asking about whether or not Jalen Hurts should be benched. Thankfully, those conversations have evaporated, for a week anyway. You know what? The more we think about this, the more we begin thinking. Who better to lead this franchise in this town?
Philadelphia burned out a Hall-of-Fame coach, Dick Vermeil, and in this era where athletes are super-sensitive and can’t stand criticism, who else can handle the City of Brotherly Love’s demanding nature?
Hurts made history in Week 15, again. Still, his dissection continues. This time, it’s a continuation of the X’s and O’s discussion. The desire to see him play under center more often is a discussion that continues to pick up steam.
If the math is correct, Hurts has only been sacked twice while playing under center. When he has gone to the air out of the formation, he has tallied a 125.2 passer rating.
Look past the stats and use the eyeball test. The theory makes even more sense. Philadelphia’s offense is more efficient and more effective when operating under center. The sample size is much smaller than what we’ve seen from the Birds in the shotgun formation.
Nick Sirianni spoke with the media on Tuesday. He believes Hurts will be successful regardless of the formation the offense lines up in and employs.
“I think he can be very successful and efficient any way he needs to go and play. Whether that’s the gun, whether that’s in pistol, whether that’s under center, he’s shown the fact that the ability to be able to win and be efficient with everything from all different levels. Whether that’s on the move, whether that’s slightly on the move, whether that’s a drop back and right in the same area, I just think he’s been efficient throughout [the] course of his career and everything that he goes through… Of course he hadn’t done a lot of that in college, but he’s just somebody that’s going to continue to work hard at everything. He works hard at everything that he does and loves this game of football and puts everything into it. Anything that he’s doing, he works really hard at. Obviously, this is no exception.”
Keep those antennas raised. This discussion isn’t going anywhere, but let’s be frank. After seeing an offense this loaded and talented struggle so much this season, Philadelphia isn’t in any position to be stubborn or turn a blind eye to something that clearly works. This could be one of the elixirs for what has been ailing Jalen Hurts, Kevin Patullo, and the rest of the team.
This article originally appeared on Eagles Wire: Eagles’ Nick Sirianni weighs in as Jalen Hurts questions grow louder
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