This is going to be a long week, perhaps the longest of the Philadelphia Eagles‘ season so far. It will feel longer than the bye week. It’s undoubtedly going to be more stressful.
At least the week off came after a win. Sheesh. Doesn’t that victory over the New York Giants feel like it was last season? Next on the regular-season slate is a trip out west to tackle the Los Angeles Chargers.
The goal is a simple one. Stop the bleeding and put another check in the win column, but lately, there have been questions. How is Philadelphia going to win if the defense can’t carry them?
Sure, we’ve seen the offense cook. It just hasn’t been consistent enough, especially lately, but the Eagles were often fortunate. The defense was so good that it didn’t matter if Jalen Hurts and company couldn’t hold up their end.
Eagles QB Jalen Hurts answers the tough questions about Philadelphia’s offense.
We’ve seen the special teams unit bail the Eagles out. We’ve seen the offense struggle. We have also seen Jalen Hurts notch a perfect passer rating for only the third time in franchise history.
If that seems like it was long ago, it’s because it was. It can still serve as evidence. Despite things being broken, we can see that Hurts has that kind of performance in him.
The talent is certainly in there, but we can’t be so blind as to ignore the issues. Following Philadelphia’s second loss in six days, Hurts spoke with the media. He didn’t dodge. He answered all of the tough questions, every single one of them. That includes his theory on why the offense has looked as inconsistent as it has for as long as it has.
“[It’s] a combination of a lot of things. Ultimately, you look inward first, and I see it as how the flow of things has gone for us this year, and being practical about that. I can’t turn the ball over, so the ultimate goal is to go out there and find a way to win. That’s been a direct correlation with success for us being able to protect the ball, and so that really, really killed us.”
The offense isn’t in sync, and that’s scary, given there are only five games left in the regular season. Philadelphia should be hitting its stride. Instead, they have shifted to ‘reverse’.
“It’s not ideal. It’s not something that you desire, but going off of how the flow this year is going, it’s kind of similar to my response last week and saying ‘no’ of any surprises of where we are. It’s just a matter of picking ourselves up, and continuing to press forward, and staying together in it, and being committed to it.”
So, what’s wrong with the rushing attack? Don’t worry. Hurts shared his thoughts on that, too.
“I know there’s some that we all want back in the run game, just from an overall execution standpoint, and I can’t point to one thing and say, ‘This is what it is.’ Ultimately, we just have to take advantage of our opportunities when they are there. There can be a ton of different opinions on what or why, but when the opportunity’s there, you have to strike and we can’t let the things get us that have almost gotten us. They’re getting us now. So, we have to definitely regroup and reassess and find ways to eliminate the things that have held us back.”
When asked about his relationship with Kevin Patullo, he said they were “Going out there and trying to find ways to move the offense down the field”, that they were trying to “put points on the board”. When asked directly if he trusted the oft-criticized offensive coordinator, he said that he did, that he has confidence in his team “when they’re collaborative”.
Then, there’s what was once an unstoppable play. Philadelphia’s infamous Brotherly Shove isn’t yielding the results that it once did. We used the word ‘sloppy’ after the aforementioned win over the Giants, but in Week 13, Chicago ripped the ball out of the Giants‘ hands to force a turnover.
“I was hoping that [forward progress] was stopped, but it wasn’t. It was kind of similar to the New York [Giants] game except that they just didn’t blow the whistle as soon. That’s not to point the finger at anyone else. I mean, I have to hold onto the ball. It definitely presents itself as an issue and it always has. It’s just never gotten us and so today it got us and it’s something that we and I need to tighten up.”
Tightening up is always welcome. Having no answers in Week 13 isn’t. It’s beginning to feel like the honest answer is that the Eagles may not have any. Fingers are crossed that we’re all wrong about that.
This article originally appeared on Eagles Wire: Jalen Hurts tackles top questions facing Eagles’ struggling offense
