Eagles-Steelers Film Review: Be careful about doubting Jalen Hurts

Man, what a performance. This was dominant. I’ve been pretty consistent in my analysis all season long. This Philadelphia Eagles offense (especially the passing game) has not been perfect, but there’s enough good stuff every week to keep me believing. This week against the Pittsburgh Steelers was a big step forward, though. Let’s go!

Offense

Who else knew it would be a good day after this throw? What a beauty. We haven’t seen many ‘Stick Nod’ routes this year, but that doesn’t mean Jalen Hurts can’t throw it! This felt like a statement throw early. The Eagles’ offense came out passing the football and had a lot of success. It was interesting that the Eagles came out in Empty, and it felt like they used Empty a lot more in this game. Hurts makes this look easy! I’m pretty sure Hurts is reading the off-ball linebacker #6, and when he drops to the weak side, you have 2v3 on one side and 3v3 on the strong side, so Hurts immediately gets his head back to the strong side. His processing was excellent all game.

I love going down the field from empty; you just have to hope the pass protection can hold up as it does here.

This is a fantastic play by Kenny Gainwell, but it is only possible because of how quickly Hurts gets through his reads and checks it down. YAC has been a quarterback statistic for a long time, and this throw summarizes why. Gainwell has become an excellent option on 3rd down for the Eagles, and he’s a useful player to target in space.

Did you read last week’s ‘Concept of the Week?’ If you did, you will know why I was so happy to see this one! If not, here’s why…

I want the Eagles to establish the run and marry those run concepts into the play-action/RPO scheme. There is so much more the Eagles could do. I would like to see the Eagles start making these easy for Hurts and try to make their passing game complement the run game. I’ll be watching the Eagles’ passing game this week to see if they start making things easier for Hurts and linking the passing game to the run game’s success. It should be an easy way of improving the efficiency of the passing game.

The Eagles only ran one of these plays I can remember, so I won’t take a huge victory lap. However, if you are reading Kellen Moore, how about running a couple more this week?

This was a great call for this week because the Steelers sold out to stop the Eagles’ run game. I watched Nick Sirianni’s post-game press conference, and he mentioned that the Eagles didn’t deliberately come out and throw the ball more this week because of AJ Brown’s comments. I believe him. There was no way the Eagles could run the ball all over this Steelers’ defense because they played a lot of heavy boxes to stop the run. This had to be a pass-first game plan. The Eagles game plan was the right one this week. It doesn’t mean every week will be like this!

Another snap from Empty! As you guys may know, I have a Patreon where you can support my work and also join a discord with like-minded Eagles fans. I am not a stats guy, but we have a function where you can request stats from my co-host, Shane Haff, who will respond. I was curious about the Eagles’ use of empty in this one, so I popped a question in the chat. This was his response!

So, it turned out the film doesn’t lie. The Eagles were fantastic from Empty this week. The Eagles’ game plan wasn’t dramatically different in the passing game this week, but they definitely threw from Empty more. I could summarize the Eagles’ passing game in 2 simple sentences this week…

1. Man coverage = throw it to AJ Brown.
2. Zone coverage = throw it to DeVonta Smith / check it down to Kenny Gainwell.

Obviously, I’m being facetious here, but it’s sort of true. When Hurts saw man coverage, he went to AJ Brown. Who was outstanding in this one. The Eagles went back to some one-on-one shots to AJ Brown, and they worked. This can be frustrating and look simplistic when it doesn’t work but I have never had a problem with this, and I still don’t. It wouldn’t be my favorite call on a key 3rd down, but these plays are not 50/50 balls. AJ Brown is so good.

I don’t love play-action throws where you only have one receiver running a route. But that one receiver is AJ Brown, who might be the NFL’s best receiver currently. So, maybe it’s not such a bad call after call. Either way, I like being more creative in the Red Zone and targeting your best receiver. It sounds wise to me!

With the exception of last week, the Eagles’ improvement against the blitz this year has been nothing short of astounding. This was a team and a quarterback whose entire offense crumbled because they couldn’t throw against pressure. Kellen Moore has fixed it. The Eagles’ offense knows exactly where to go against the blitz, and Hurts has carved up the blitz all season long. This week was no different. The Steelers kept sending cover-1 blitzes, and Hurts said thank you very much. He knows exactly where to go with the football, and AJ Brown was too good to stop in one-on-one coverage.

This was one of my favorite calls of the night. This looks nearly identical to the play the Eagles ran on DeVonta Smith’s touchdown last week vs the Panthers. Great offenses don’t call different plays every week. Great offenses dress up the same concepts repeatedly to confuse defenses but keep it simple for the offense. The Eagles usually have Smith running the out route (as they did last week), but here they have him come inside after the motion. The Steelers’ defense plays this pretty well (they Banjo the two receivers and pass them off well), but the spacing and design of the play is too good to stop. This is exceptionally well executed. Hurts does a great job with his ball placement and throws it around Minkah Fitzpatrick well. Good ball. Great play call. I love it!

I don’t know if anyone else noticed this, but it felt like Hurts was trying to escape up the field more this week rather than running to the side. I noticed it a few times. Here’s another example of a play that refers to my summary earlier…

2. Zone coverage = throw it to DeVonta Smith / check it down to Kenny Gainwell.

Hurts did take a few sacks and the passing game wasn’t perfect, but this is an excellent Steelers’ pass rush and a top defense. Hurts had 0.35 EPA per play and 17.1 Total EPA. That’s outstanding. I said last week that I thought the overall design was a big issue, as well as Hurts. I think he took the criticism personally. I’ve criticized Hurts a lot in the past, and he always seems to prove the doubters wrong. I would be careful about doubting Hurts. I think he is a mentally tough dude who thrives off pressure.

This was my favorite throw of the game. It may look simple, but it’s awesome. Let’s explain why.

The Steelers were blitzing 6 quite frequently in this game. I showed you an example of this earlier. They show blitz, and Hurts has to expect pressure. I imagine his hot route was the slant to DeVonta Smith on the right side. However, the Steelers drop both off-ball linebackers and only rush 4. This takes away the right side as the slant is running straight into the linebacker, and the Eagles only have 2 receivers against the Steelers’ 4 defenders. However, they are 3v3 at the top of the screen. Hurts eliminates the two main routes and immediately checks it down to Gainwell in space before the off-ball linebacker can make the tackle. Yes, this is an excellent play by Gainwell. Yes, he could have been tackled before the first down marker. But this is excellent processing and quarterback play by Hurts. Sometimes, you have to process quickly and give your guy a chance to make a play. That’s what Hurts does here. I’m a massive fan of this one.

Empty formation. Man coverage. Throw it to AJ Brown. Football doesn’t have to be complicated, does it?

The Steelers’ defensive scheme relies on their outside cornerbacks being able to play man coverage against the opposing outside wide receivers. This plan has worked. The Steelers came into this game as the 3rd best defense in ‘Dropback EPA per play allowed.’ That’s good. Guess where the Steelers’ defense ranked this week in the same metric? 27th. That’s the AJ Brown impact. It’s easy to criticize the Steelers’ defense for continuing to play single-high man coverage, but this is what they have done all season long! AJ Brown was simply too good for their outside cornerbacks to handle. He ran some outstanding routes, and his route running doesn’t get the credit it deserves because he’s so big and fast. He’s big and fast but also a crafty route runner.

We have reached play 11, and I haven’t posted a running play! To be honest, there wasn’t much to show. It wasn’t great, but the Eagles kept plugging away, forcing the Steelers to take it seriously. The Eagles’ running game made throwing the football easier this week. I do not doubt that teams will start to respect the Eagles’ passing game more moving forward, which will probably open up some light boxes in the run. This offense is too talented to stop when it’s playing in rhythm. I was glad that even though the passing game was working, the Eagles didn’t completely stop running the football. Saquon Barkley nearly broke this one.

We had to end with another throw. Here is Hurts processing things well and creating a throwing window to DeVonta Smith over the middle of the field. I really enjoyed this offensive performance, and it was great to see the passing game get back on track. Maybe AJ Brown’s comments did make a difference. I think the Eagles simplified a lot of things and got back to basics, which allowed Hurts to get into a rhythm early on. I enjoyed this one, and I hope you did too!

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.