Philadelphia Eagles fans are in a panic because the Birds have lost three games in a row and the team is having problems with both its offense and its defense. The Eagles just lost 20-17 to the mediocre Seattle Seahawks, who aren’t a very good football team. They were able to only score 17 points against a below average Seahawks defense.
Even though they drove down for a touchdown on the first possession of the game, the Eagles offense wasn’t able to create big plays on the drive. They were able to go down and score because they were able to convert 3rd downs consistently. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts did a good job early in the game of getting the ball out of his hands quickly and it allowed him to start off picking apart the Seattle secondary on 3rd and long. Unfortunately, he couldn’t keep it up through out the game.
Hurts was getting the football to his wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonte Smith on out routes and curl routes. He was getting the ball to his tight end Dallas Goedert. Unfortunately, the young quarterback struggled when Seattle started playing more man-to-man coverage than the three deep zone. For some reason, Hurts wasn’t seeing the field very well. He wasn’t reading the secondary coverages that he was facing. He was holding the ball and scrambling rather than throwing the football to the open receiver.
This isn’t the first time, but for some reason Hurts is not making good decisions with the football and because of it the offense is really struggling. Many times he’s coming to the line of scrimmage with his mind already made up about where he’s going with the football and that’s one of the main reasons that the offense isn’t having the success they had a year ago.
Many times Hurts doesn’t give the receivers time enough time to run their routes and get open. He takes off and runs before giving them a chance to run their routes and they’re starting to get frustrated. There are times when the offensive linemen are blocking the pass rushers and the pocket is clean, but Hurts panics and takes off even though he’s not under pass rush pressure.
This is a very frustrating time right now for everybody on the offensive side of the ball because Jalen is the key to the offense in both the running game and the passing game. Let me say it again, many times Hurts doesn’t give the receivers time enough to run their routes and get open.
In the Seattle game, there were times when he was under no pressure, but he decided to take off running to his right or to his left. Many times there are receivers running wide open, but he’s not seeing them.
The Eagles offensive problems start with Hurts but they don’t end there. The offensive line which has been touted as the best in the league isn’t playing like it. The Birds running game isn’t dominant like it was a year ago. Many times the Birds struggle to finish drives in the red zone because the running game stalls. Defenses have made it a point to stop Hurts from running, which mainly means the Run Pass Options (RPO’s) and it’s severely hurt their running game. They’ve got to get the running going again.
Even future Hall of Fame center Jason Kelce made a mental error by moving up the football and getting a five yard penalty, when they were in the red zone and it ended up probably costing the Birds four points because they ended up with a field goal rather than a touchdown.
Turnovers have been the downfall of this offense for much of the season. They had been able to overcome for most of the season, but it’s caught up with them in the last three games. Unfortunately, Hurts has been the main problem with 12 interceptions and five fumbles.
