The Philadelphia Eagles entered the 2023 season with a potent offensive attack led by quarterback Jalen Hurts. Their 10-1 start hid issues that eventually reached the surface during a late-season collapse. The regression of their starting quarterback unquestionably played a major part.
The Eagles must properly acknowledge and address concerns about Hurts moving forward. Reports continue to emerge about his shortcomings on and off the field.
The simplicity of the Philadelphia offense under Nick Sirianni and Brian Johnson is also under fire in NFL circles. When the Eagles fail, the city of Philadelphia reacts with vehement disappointment and the demand for change and improvement. The immediate aftermath of a playoff disappointment makes outsiders think the sky is falling on one of the most successful organizations in the NFL.
Jalen Hurts didn’t come close to meeting expectations in 2023, but how much blame should he shoulder for the disappointment?
“I think truly every year demands a new version of a person, a new version of leadership, and I think this year has taught me so much in terms of the many blessings and lessons that have come with it. The first thing you do is you look yourself in the mirror and you look at what you could’ve been better at, how you could’ve led better, how you could’ve executed better. Those (are) all things that internally light a fire in me.” -Jalen Hurts
Analyzing the performance of an NFL quarterback in a single season requires careful scrutiny of a variety of facts. League broadcasts might simplify wins as a quarterback stat, but the convenient narrative doesn’t tell the full story.
Game breakdowns, statistical measures, careful examination of inside reporting, and consideration to the overall circumstances of an organization contribute to the success and failure of even the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
Regression As A Runner
Nick Sirianni pushed back against the idea that the offense wouldn’t utilize Hurts as a runner in 2023 because of concerns about his long-term health on a lucrative contract.
“We didn’t pay him more to do less.” -Nick Sirianni
The offense didn’t demonstrate Sirianni’s words well. The RPO game didn’t keep defenses guessing the same way it did in 2022. Hurts lacked the same agility as a runner that previously made him a dangerous weapon on the ground. He also showed a tendency to slide in front of opposing defenders with less hesitation in 2023.
An early-season knee injury affected Hurts in the running game. Even medical professionals and individuals with inside knowledge will struggle to pinpoint the subjective extent of how much that type of injury limits an offense.
Is it possible that he returns healthy in 2024 and solves a lot of the issues? Yes, but it’s tough to absolve Hurts or the Eagles just based on that explanation.
The Eagles looked out of sync in the RPO game when Hurts needed to make quick decisions with the option to hand off to his running backs.
They finished fifth in the NFL in third down conversion rate in 2023. However, the success of the “Tush Push” skews the statistics significantly. Success rate statistics don’t paint an accurate picture of Hurts on the ground because the notorious short yardage play moved the chains so often.
Hurts deserves his fair share of credit for his power style in the trenches. The Tush Push isn’t an offensive formula that will lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl though. The success of the play also skewed his average yards per carry (YPC), which dropped from 4.6 in 2022 to 3.9 in 2023.
The declining performance on third down conversion rates late in the season represented the offensive problems well. The issue bottomed out when the Eagles failed to convert on a single third down in the postseason.
The Effect of Coaching
The lack of creativity in Nick Sirianni’s offense became a major talking point locally and nationally by the end of the season. The Eagles showed an overreliance on vertical routes without enough effective ways to disguise their plays before the snap. The simplicity was most obvious during the playoff loss in Tampa Bay.
The struggles make it more difficult to identify the extent of Hurts’ regression and the coaching factor. While coaching unquestionably played a part, Ben Solak pointed out that offensive flow comes from a marriage of offensive system, offensive design, and player execution.
The offensive system worked in 2022 with a similarly simple approach that relied on pure talent. The success of the offense in 2022 and the struggles in 2023 with a similar approach indicate that the lack of execution from the starting signal-caller played a major part, regardless of whether it was the root cause.
Jalen Hurts couldn’t handle the blitz with poise in the pocket, especially late in the season. Too often, he let problems in blitz protection push him out of the pocket too quickly and throw the ball out of bounds.
Tim McManus reported that Hurts, Brian Johnson, and Nick Sirianni never fully aligned on their idea of what the Philadelphia offense could be.
