BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - AUGUST 09: Jalen Hurts #1 of the Philadelphia Eagles warms up before the preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium on August 09, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland.
A big issue for the Eagles offense last season was dealing with the blitz. When teams blitzed them, they had no clue how to handle it. Some of that was on the coaches not giving them the right tools to handle the blitz, i.e. a complete lack of hot routes in the playbook. But it also fell on Jalen Hurts not being adept enough at recognizing the blitz, and reacting to it.
So will that be different in 2024? Has this team, and Jalen Hurts, learned how to handle the blitz? Or will this season be a repeat of last year where the Eagles have no answers?
Jalen Hurts Dealing With the Blitz In Camp
(Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
On Wednesday, Tim McManus joined The Best Show Ever after the Eagles’ last practice of training camp, and he shared a sequence he saw at practice that should encourage Eagles fans.
“They are in a two-minute drill. Hurts rushes up to the line of scrimmage and he has a hut that that gets the defense to commit as if he was about to snap the ball. It showed the blitz. Very quickly he reset. He called out an audible. And in exactly where that blitz was coming he threw a flare out to a running back that went for a sizable gain.
Why is that important? Well, we know they struggled big time against the blitz. Now we’re seeing that he’s got some answers, that he has a strategy when he’s up to the line of scrimmage. Get to the line quick. Do some hard counts, so the defense has to commit, see where he needs to go with the ball, and then execute it. I mean that’s huge if that’s able to carry over, given what we know about the struggles from last season in that particular area. So we are seeing, I think, a maturity out of Hurts.“
All of this falls right in line with everything we have heard about Jalen Hurts in training camp. He looks like a more decisive, efficent, QB.
Last year’s offense did not give him much to work with. There were too many long developing plays, that do not exactly give you many options except running for your life if you get blitzed. Simply giving him better tools, will likley help Hurts a ton when teams do blitz.
(Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
But this is more than just that. Hurts is doing the little things to force the defense to show the blitz. He is also recognizing that, and attacking where they are blitzing from. That, like Tim McManus said, is the sign of a more mature QB.
He was not good enough last year. It is not all his fault, but he certainly is not resolved of blame for the offenese’s struggles either. He fell back into bad habits. But one thing we know Hurts is for sure is a hard worker. If a flaw in his game can be fixed, he will work until it is fixed. It seems clear from what we are hearing out of camp that he worked hard on how to handle the blitz in the offseason.
Doing it in a actual game, where he can actually be hit and the stakes are real, is different. He has been playing against this defense for weeks now, he should be comfortable dealing with them. The real test will be when he is up against a team that loves to blitz. But fans should be encouraged by what we are hearing out of camp.
Dylan MacKinnon is The Digital Content Coordinator For 97.5 The Fanatic. he has been an Eagles, Flyers, Sixers, and Flyers fan his whole life. He graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelors in Journalism. Dylan has worked at the Fanatic since 2016, starting as an Intern, moving to the Street team, and eventually was hired as an Associate Producer before settling into his current role in the Digital Department. You may hear him referred to on-air as "The D-Train."
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