Eagles-Jaguars Film Review: Another outstanding game from Jalen Hurts

Right, I’ll get straight to the point this week. I don’t want to waste time breaking down Nick Sirianni’s fourth-down calls in this game. Other people know this stuff better than me, and I prefer to get to the schematic stuff. I am a big fan of aggressive head coaches and always will be. I struggle to criticize Sirianni’s aggressiveness, but I struggled with some of the decisions in this one. I hated taking the PAT off the board when the Eagles had already kicked it to go up three possessions. I was fine going for it on 4^th and 1 but disagreed with the play call. The tush push is much easier in the middle of the field than on the goal line. Anyway, enough of that, let’s get to the film. The film is fantastic this week.

Offense

The first touchdown of the game is a fantastic call. The Eagles used a lot of motion in this game, and this is one of the benefits. The motion brings the single-high safety down to cover Jahan Dotson. I can’t be sure, but I imagine Jalen Hurts is told to pick a side here, and he goes to the right, which is the right decision based on the Jaguars’ coverage. I am pretty sure Saquon Barkley is running a choice route here, which means he can go in, out, or vertically, depending on the coverage. Barkley correctly reads that there is no deep coverage due to the tight end running a post route, so he goes vertical. Hurts reads it perfectly, and delivers a great ball to the corner of the endzone. Barkley runs a great route and also makes a tough catch over his shoulder that a lot of running backs could not make. Is there anything Barkley can’t do?

Watching this game live I became a little frustrated with Jalen Hurts taking sacks and thought he held onto the ball too long. However, after watching the all22 I’m less concerned about this. I enjoyed Kellen Moore’s game plan this week, but he still has these frustrating calls with a number of short curls that don’t give the quarterback an easy option. It’s easy to blame Hurts for these sacks, but he doesn’t have an easy option when you see the receivers.

I didn’t post the other sacks, but I put this out.

I mentioned the use of motion earlier, which is a great example. We haven’t seen AJ Brown in motion much this year but we saw it a lot in this game. This is an excellent way of helping AJ Brown win on an out route. With this motion, you would usually see the receiver run a crossing route, and the Jaguars defender is probably expecting this. This is a great design, a great throw, and a great route. Good football all around.

I could have written an entire essay about the Eagles’ run game. It was dominant. The offensive line was fantastic, and Saquon Barkley looks incredible. The Eagles ran well from the shotgun, from the pistol, and from under center. They ran both zone and gap concepts well. There were no weaknesses. The pistol is great as it enables the threat of Hurts in the run game. Just look at the impact Hurts has here despite the fact he doesn’t keep it. I mentioned last week that I would be tempted to keep Tyler Steen at right guard but Mekhi Becton was outstanding in this game. Maybe Jeff Stoutland knows what he’s doing?! Becton looks too big to be a guard, but his power in the run game is phenomenal.

One of the things that impressed me about Hurts in this game was his ability to get through his progressions and to his checkdown quickly. Sometimes, on 3rd down, he can be too focused on making an incredible play himself rather than giving others the chance to do something in space. This play by Barkley is only possible because Hurts gets him the ball in space and within the play’s timing.

I don’t really know what to say about what Barkley does here. It might be the most impressive thing I’ve seen on a football field in terms of pure athleticism. It’s absolutely absurd. He’s a complete physical freak, and he’s improved this Eagles offense. Who said older running backs decline with age?

Hurts had some really impressive runs in this game, too. This was my favorite one, but he had another one where he saw the blitz coming and managed to run around him. In the modern NFL, I want a quarterback who can make plays like this. There are not many quarterbacks who can make this play. He makes the right decision here, getting out of the pocket quickly, and I prefer it when he gets upfield quickly rather than dance around. Hurts doesn’t make that many great throws out of structure, and there’s an argument that he should focus on scrambling quickly upfield when he gets through his progression rather than rolling to his right to extend the play.

I thought Hurts was a mixed bag when it came to the middle of the field in this one. He had a couple of overthrows to AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith, but I thought he was more willing to throw over the middle in this game. This is a very simple play, but it was good to see. It’s a simple Hi-Lo concept where Hurts draws the linebacker up by staring at Smith and throwing it behind him. This is a simple play that we haven’t seen enough from this offense the past few years.

This game had some utterly ridiculous plays. This was the best catch of the game. The Eagles use a lot of pre-snap movement to try and disguise the 3-level stretch, but the Jaguars cover it well. In the end, Hurts decides to give his guy a chance (which is surprising considering he hasn’t trusted Dotson before), and Dotson repays his faith. This is an unbelievable catch. Sadly, I wasn’t too impressed with Dotson’s route running in this game, and I think he struggled to get off press coverage a few times. You can see he’s playing on the line of scrimmage here, but I don’t think that suits him. The play’s timing is off because of the press coverage, but when he gets past the cornerback, he does show some vertical speed. This is a ridiculous catch.

My favorite run play! This will have to be my concept of the week. This is QB Counter Bash. I’ve already written about Counter this year, but this is my favorite variation. This gap scheme run often works well against 5-man fronts because there is less emphasis on getting to the 2^nd level. Hurts is reading the EDGE defender, and he correctly keeps it, and the offensive line does a fantastic job. The run blocking in this game was fantastic. I know the Eagles don’t want Hurts taking too many hits, but I think Hurts’ mobility has to be part of the run game to make this offense exceptional. As long as Hurts avoids big hits, I am fine with running this play a few times a game.

I’ve got my order wrong here, so I apologize. I meant to post this one earlier. Anyway, this was the 4th and 3 from earlier in the game, and it’s quite an interesting play to analyze, so I decided to keep it in. The Eagles ran a variation of this play a few times in this game. Earlier in the game, we saw AJ Brown use this motion to fake the crossing route and run an out route instead. This time, AJ Brown does run the crossing route. This is excellent sequencing by Kellen Moore. The Jaguars cover it reasonably well, but AJ Brown eventually separates. I don’t know how the Eagles are coached to run this play, but I think you can argue that AJ Brown and Hurts are not on the same page. Normally, on a crossing route, you would expect the receiver to cross the face of the defensive back to prevent him from undercutting it. However, AJ Brown doesn’t do this and drifts up the field. I think this is because he is expecting Hurts to throw it to the back corner rather than a standard crossing route. Sadly, Hurts doesn’t step into his throw properly, and he’s off balance, which results in an underthrown ball. I like the play call on 4^th down. This is a case of poor execution.

Here’s another example of QB Counter Bash. This time, Hurts decides to hand the ball to Saquon Barkley, but the EDGE defender plays it well. Sadly for the EDGE, playing it well isn’t good enough to stop Barkley. Barkley runs around him, and the defender’s reaction is hilarious. The poor guy can’t keep up with him.

However, Barkley made a big mistake on this play. Barkley cannot go out of bounds here 1 yard short of the 1^st down. This is not the first time he’s done this. The Eagles failed to pick up the yard and ended up turning the ball over on downs. This is not all Barkley’s fault, but he really has to pick up the 1^st down here.

I don’t know what on earth this play call is. This must be removed from the playbook immediately. The Jaguars don’t fall for it and still keep five men in coverage. The Eagles come out in 13 personnel to try and fake a run or a QB sneak, but it doesn’t work. The Eagles never sneak it from this look, so it feels like a case of them trying to be too clever for their own good. The play-action fake is horrendous and doesn’t fool anyone, either. Not good.

Here’s another example of the offensive line dominating the Jaguars’ defensive line. This is also a great example of Kellen Moore and Jeff Stoutland understanding their personnel. The Eagles’ tight ends are not good at run blocking. So, run away from them! The tight end fakes a screen to the flat, which distracts two Jaguars defenders, and then the Eagles block it perfectly. Cam Jurgens and Becton have been an unbelievable duo with double teams this year. They repeatedly move defensive linemen like they do here.

We finally got the deep shot off-play action! The Eagles have been setting this up for weeks, and it finally landed at a crucial time. This is just a simple post-corner route by DeVonta Smith, and he destroys the deep safety. Hurts makes the perfect throw, and it’s a huge play. We take for granted how consistent Hurts is with these down-the-field throws.

This has been a long one, but there’s so much good stuff to talk about from this game. This is another incredible play. DeVonta Smith runs a fantastic route, and Hurts delivers another great throw. Smith had to step up after AJ Brown went out with an injury and he delivered here. This is the type of play that deserved to win the game. There’s a lot of talk about the Eagles being overaggressive at times, but no one was complaining here when Hurts took the deep shot on 3^rd and 22. What a play!

That will be all for this week. This was another outstanding game from Jalen Hurts, and he’s put together a nice run now. I told you not to panic too much after the first few games! The Eagles didn’t score as many points as they should have, but I thought the scheme took another step forward this week. Kellen Moore is looking good.

Thank you for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to comment below and ask any questions. If you enjoyed this piece, you can find more of my work and podcast here.