Remember last year when the entire fanbase ripped Carson Wentz to shreds because he tried to make play after play happen that wasn’t there? Well now Wentz is gone, and it seems the fanbase still can’t figure out what they want in a QB.
Jalen Hurts has been very good through two games as the Eagles starting QB. It hasn’t been perfect, but he has shown everything he has needed to, to prove to the Eagles front office that he should be the face of the franchise going forward.
Following the team’s 17-11 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the fanbase has been up in arms about the Eagles losing a winnable game against a perennial playoff team when healthy.
People have tossed blame around, and while most of yesterday’s loss should go to HC Nick Sirianni, people bizarrely have picked this time to start throwing Jalen Hurts under the bus.
Missed Throws
Newsflash for Philadelphia sports fans:
QB’s are going to miss a few throws a game. It happens to all of them. Lamar Jackson had a ton in Sunday Night’s win of Kansas City. Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady, the two best QB’s in the game today, have missed plenty of throws already this season.
It’s okay.
Jalen Hurts missed a few targets in yesterday’s loss, and was late on a few others. He struggled downfield as he was demanded to make the same deep throws over and over. There’s sense in denying it, it wasn’t the best game played by a QB, but it also wasn’t god awful.
It was pretty average. And average was good enough to keep the team in the game against a good 49ers team.The Eagles squandered three scoring chances yesterday.
One TD was called back because the Eagles receivers are too easy to manhandle down the field. Another was a blocked FG attempt. And then there was Nick Sirianni losing his head with three bizarre play-calls on 1st and goal from the one yard line.
That’s not on Jalen. The 49ers are a very well-coached team. You take 17 points off the board like the Eagles did on Sunday, and you’re begging to lose.
Turnovers
“bUt NiCk, HuRtS’ fUmBlEd ThE bAlL yEsTeRdAy”
True. But what was worse? The fact the Jalen Hurts “fumble” literally went right into the arms of the TE that blew his assignment? Or the fact that the Eagles thought having Jack Stoll block Nick Bosa was a good idea?
Jalen Hurts has played mistake free football for the first two weeks of the season. He hasn’t really made any decisions that weren’t legit options.
After a year that saw Eagles QB’s lead the league in turnover-worthy plays, that’s definitely a win for the franchise.
Hurts has made very solid reads through two games. They haven’t been perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But they haven’t left fans questioning their own existence like last season.
The Eagles are asking Hurts to be a game-manager to start and he’s clearly doing that. No turnovers for the Eagles offense through two games is definitely a positive early on.
R-E-L-A-X
Through two games, I think it’s pretty obvious Nick Sirianni is trying to manager Hurts in a way that almost looks like he’s being handcuffed on offense. This is part of the growing pains for a rookie coaching staff, and definitely something that will change later in the season.
Hurts has been very solid, and has exceeded my expectations for him through two games, as has been the case for the outlook of the entire team!
With big games against Dallas, Kansas City and Tampa Bay on the horizon, it’s important for the Eagles to allow Hurts and even Sirianni to grow together. There’s going to be growing pains. There are going to be calls and decisions that make no sense.
Remember, the Eagles went 4-11-1 last year. This year is all about building for the future, not getting back to the Super Bowl.
Andy Reid’s first year was a 5-11 improvement. Doug Pederson went 7-9 his first year.
McNabb only played a handful of games in 1999. Carson Wentz was up-and-down in 2016.
Let Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni go through these pains. They’ll be better in the long run for it.
Photo by David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire
