Over the summer, fans of the Philadelphia Eagles were greeted with near-daily reports of how efficiently Jalen Hurts was throwing the ball during training camp, how many days in a row he went without throwing an interception, and how great his supporting cast looked against Vic Fangio’s defense, with everyone from Johnny Wilson to Britain Covey, John Ross, and even Parris Campbell – pre-injury – making plays against a secondary that couldn’t tackle – ironic, I know.
And yet, through the first four weeks of the season, that hasn’t been the case, with Hurts turning over the ball regularly, his supporting wide receiver cast outside of AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith struggling to do much of anything, and his time to throw ranking 32nd in the NFL behind darn near every single other quarterback in the NFL.
What gives? Did the Eagles change their strategy heading into Week 1? Is Hurts and/or Nick Sirianni overruling Kellen Moore’s offensive strategy at the line or over the headset? Or has Hurts truly regressed as a processor, with the one-time MVP candidate struggling to read the field before being taken down by the rush? Asked this question by reporters ahead of the bye during his weekly media session, Moore let it be known that he still feels good about Hurts as his QB but that the Eagles need to use the bye week to focus on running their offense more efficiently.
“Certainly, part of the bye week process as far as us of what are we doing well, what can we improve on, and really focus on how we can move forward. Pass game-wise, find completions, all that good stuff. It starts with how we design it, how we call it,” Moore told reporters. “We have some great opportunities to grow. It’s exciting because we get four weeks of evaluation and a little chance to reset and then put our eyes forward. We know we’ve got some really exciting, positive opportunities we can grow from.”
So, you may wonder, how can the Eagles put Hurts in a better position to succeed moving forward? Well, Moore had plenty to say on that concept, too, as he has a plan to get Philadelphia back on track moving forward.
Kellen Moore wants to better sequence the offense for Jalen Hurts
Asked if Hurts needs to get the ball out of his hands faster in order to make more decisive decisions, Moore said no, noting that he believes his QB1 is doing a good job of executing what is being called, even if it hasn’t always been working.
“No, I think Jalen’s doing a really good job handling this thing,” Moore noted. “For myself, it’s about sequence, when we call the plays, allow ourselves to grow there. I am really excited with where we can take this thing.”
In Week 4, the Eagles were demolished by Baker Mayfield because the Buccaneers’ QB largely outthrew Philadelphia’s defense, with the former first-overall pick getting the ball out of his hands quickly while picking up yards as Tampa Bay worked their way down the field. If the Eagles learned anything in Week 4, it should be to get the offense moving quicker, too, as if the team’s first and second reads aren’t open, why isn’t Hurts either checking the ball down to someone underneath or running for a few yards in order to get to second-and-seven instead of second-and-10? That strategy has turned Jayden Daniels into the talk of the NFL and Kliff Kingsbury into a hot 2025 head coaching candidate; why can’t Moore and Hurts take a page from that winning strategy?
