Jalen Hurts Needs To Take More Risks Throwing The Ball
Early in the season, Jalen Hurts had a major turnover issue. He had 7 through 4 games, 4 of which took potential points off the board. It was a problem, but since the Bye Week, he seems to have fixed it. Hurts has turned it over twice in this 9 game-winning streak, with both coming in the win over the Cowboys. But he he now being too protective of the ball?
In the past 4 weeks, Hurts has attempted only 3 passes of over 20 yards. He attempted 30 in the previous 8 games. From nearly 4 deep passes per game, to under 1 per game. He attempted 0 against the Panthers.
When he has attempted them this year, he has been very good. He is tied for the lead league with 7 TDs of over 20 Air Yards. His rating of 103.9 is 6th among actual starting QBs. But forget the stats, just watch him throw the deep ball, and you can see how good he is at throwing it. When he targets Brown or Smith downfield, the pass is often placed perfectly.
But for the past 4 weeks, they have not attempted that. Devonta Smith was out for a couple of those games and was clearly limited vs the Commanders. But you had AJ Brown, and in the past, Hurts has been more than willing to throw it up to Brown, and trust him to make the play. Now something is preventing that, and it has led to Brown being publicly upset with the Eagles passing attack.
Is Jalen Hurts Not Taking Enough Risks?
So why have they gotten away from it? The Best Show Ever tackled this topic on Monday, and they think Hurts needs to be more willing to take risks. No turnovers is obviously great, but sometimes you need to roll the dice if you want to have an explosive passing game.
Tyrone: “I think Jalen Hurts is being too careful with the football because they were talking too much about turning it over.”
Ricky: “Because what happens, he doesn’t turn the ball over. They win games.”
Sylvana: “He’s not even having turnover-worthy plays.”
Ricky: “Yeah, but that’s what happens when you have a couple of games where you’re not turning it over. You’re not going to go for that 50-50 shot anymore.”
Tyrone: “Well, the problem with that is. Now. It’s upsetting guys in the locker room. (Brown) doesn’t want check-down plays. He wants chunk plays. Chunk plays by definition are riskier. And I think against the Steelers for the harmony of the locker room, Sirianni has to go to Kellen Moore and Jalen Hurts and say let it rip. If he doesn’t do it, you might beat the Steelers. But now you’re going to have guys get disgruntled. Now you’re going to have guys acting up.
It is not that the passing game can’t be explosive. We have seen it be explosive this season. Hurts, Moore, or whoever is responsible for the lack of plays down the field, just needs to be willing to take that risk.
Josh Allen is a guy who has played with some reckless abandon in his career. He reigned it in a bit this season, but he is still letting it fly. He has 5 interceptions, but he is also pretty unanimously considered the MVP as of now. Hurts needs to be less afraid of an interception, and more willing to let it rip.
That is not an excuse to play dumb. But if Brown is in 1 on 1 coverage, and streaking downfield, I dont think throwing it his way, even if the coverage is tight, is playing dumb.
You can play smart without being scared. That is what the Eagles need to do more of. This offense has been great, but at some point, you will need the passing game to put up big numbers. Based on what we have seen, they are capable of it, but they need to try to accomplish it.
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