What a fun season this is. The offensive film from the Philadelphia Eagles’ win over the Los Angeles Rams isn’t perfect, but the running game was unbelievable. There’s a lot to get into this week. Let’s go.
Offense
I thought Jalen Hurts had another solid game. It’s a little hard to judge him right now because the passing offense doesn’t need to be amazing. The running game is so dominant that the passing game just has to do enough. That’s not Jalen Hurts fault! He’s doing what he’s asked to do and running the offense well. It’s hard to be a run-first team without a mobile quarterback and a quarterback who doesn’t take care of the football. Hurts is taking care of the football and his mobility is still a big part of the run game. I’m always surprised that the Eagles don’t roll Jalen Hurts out more because his accuracy on the move is very good. After watching this a few more times, I’m pretty sure this is a ‘Dash’ (aka a rollout without the play-action), which is an awesome call. I may write about this again at the end of the week for my ‘Concept of the Week’ because I’m a big fan of getting Hurts on the move.
I still don’t know what to make of Kellen Moore’s passing offense. There are certain things the Eagles do really well, but there are still far too many plays where the offense just looks poorly designed. The spacing is off here, and I do not think you can blame it on the quarterback after watching the film. The Jahan Dotson move has not worked so far, and it is becoming obvious that he needs to be used in motion because he cannot get off the line of scrimmage. Jalen Hurts’ mobility bailed out some poor calls in this game, and without him,m there would be some serious question marks over the design of the offense.
The biggest talking point from this game was the Eagles’ play in the red zone. I am not as negative about it as some after watching the film. I have often called for the Eagles to run the ball in the red zone, so I can’t be hypocritical and now say that I think they had the wrong idea. Despite the run game being outstanding, they couldn’t get it going in the red zone for one reason or another. When the Eagles threw the ball in the red zone, they were very successful in this game, and I think they should have thrown it more. Jalen Hurts’ ball placement is usually outstanding, but he just gets this one wrong. All top quarterbacks will occasionally miss a throw, and we don’t need to go mad, but I just wanted to show this to prove that some of the designs were good. It wasn’t all bad. This play is a fantastic example of how our late shift can confuse the defensive rules, and the combination of 4 receivers on one side and the late shift confuse the Rams’ defenders.
I’ve been asking on Twitter, but nobody seems to have a great nickname for the Cam Jurgens and Mekhi Becton duo. They deserve a nickname. Landon Dickerson is normally left to block by himself, which means that Jurgens and Becton are responsible for combination blocks (where two linemen double-team a defensive tackle, and then one climbs to the second level). Considering this is their first season playing next to each other, it looks as if they have been playing together for years because the film is so good. Jeff Stoutland deserves a lifetime contract because I cannot explain just how good the Eagles’ offensive line was in this one. Saquon Barkley is the best back in the league and is phenomenal, but this offensive line is balling out, too. The Eagles’ run game is so diverse, and it feels like there is nothing this offensive line can’t do.
Despite mentioning how good the offensive line is, Barkley is playing out of his mind. He might win MVP. He’s the best player on the field every single week. The combination of vision, burst, and balance is out of this world. Just look at this rep! He presses the hole quickly and sets up the linebacker perfectly. There are a lot of running backs that have the vision to see this gap opening up. There aren’t many backs who have the athleticism to make this move and keep their balance. He’s absurd.
This was another design that I’m not a big fan of. I feel like AJ Brown is almost just running clear-out routes in some of these plays and isn’t really an option, which I find absurd. I would get him in the slot more in the red zone and try different ways of getting him the football. Luckily for Kellen Moore, Hurts was fantastic at extending plays in this one. He did a great job keeping his eyes down the field and found Barkley in the flat.
What was I saying about AJ Brown in the slot? This is a simple design, but it targets your best receiver. This isn’t an easy throw, but the placement of Hurts’ ball is excellent. In hindsight, it’s easy to say, but the Eagles should have thrown the ball more in the red zone. However, I think Moore was slightly too slow to adjust. Hurts had another excellent out route to AJ Brown later in the game, where the ball fell incomplete. However, the Eagles also had a 3rd down in the red zone where they just threw a go ball to Johnny Wilson, who, unsurprisingly, couldn’t bring it. I found that play really frustrating.
This run is absolutely nuts. Seriously, this play is a joke. This is outside zone from the pistol with Johnny Wilson running split flow (almost playing as a tight end, which is interesting). Barkley does a good job getting vertical quickly and following Landon Dickerson, who looks unbelievable here. What makes Barkley special is the vision to see Britain Covey cracking down and then burst to make a move to the outside and accelerate out of the cut. That acceleration is ridiculous. This is the visual definition of ‘shot out of a cannon’. Running backs with heavy workloads will often slow down as the season goes on, but Barkley just seems to be getting better and better.
There has been a lot of talk this season about Jalen Hurts’ inability to throw to the middle of the field. Well, Hurts has been really good at throwing over the middle of the field the past few weeks. This may have been his best game with throws over the middle of the field. I love this one. The great thing about this play is that it pushes back against so many narratives against Hurts. This is Hurts throwing to the middle of the field from under center with a receiver coming in motion. This is an excellent throw from Hurts because he has to move the linebacker with his eyes to create a throwing window. This is a big-time throw.
What else do I need to say? When was the last time an Eagles’ screen pass worked? Seriously, last year? I can’t think of one this season. It is bizarre that this team can’t run screens well because they have several playmakers and one of the most athletic offensive lines in the league. Hopefully, this is a sign that we might see some more of them!
I’m unsure if this is a coincidence, but when the Eagles ran a Trap play last week, Kenny Gainwell was the running back, and he was again this week! Credit to Gainwell; this is a really good run. I can’t comment on every single offensive lineman on every play, so just watch Jordan Mailata on this one. Every single lineman had a ridiculous play this week. The group is so talented and so well-coached. It’s beautiful—the angles each lineman takes and the gaps they create are something we should not take for granted. Stoutland is incredible.
I mentioned Jalen Hurts throwing over the middle of the field earlier; well, here’s another one! Whatever you think of Kellen Moore’s passing game right now, you cannot deny that his work to improve the Eagles’ offense against the blitz has been nothing short of exceptional. Jalen Hurts seems to know exactly where to go with the football every single time the defense blitzes. He hits his back foot and throws the perfect throw to AJ Brown right on time. My only criticism of Hurts and the offense is that they don’t make enough of these throws! It’s almost like they wait for a blitz to throw it short and on time. They should be doing more of this!
MVP!
The Rams were not playing light boxes in this game and allowing the Eagles to run. They were stacking the box. The issue with stacking the box against Barkley is that it just takes one poor angle or one missed tackle and Barkley can take it to the house. Defensive coordinators don’t like sitting off the ball and giving up 5-6 yards a carry but I think that is how I would play the Eagles. You can’t be too aggressive because they seem to have a long touchdown run every single week. It’s insane!
This was a fun one. This weekend’s game against the Baltimore Ravens will be the toughest test of the year, but I’m excited to watch and break it down next week. Go Birds!
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.
