The Bigger Problem: Jalen Hurts’ Play or Nick Sirianni’s Play Calling? (10/21/21)
The Eagles are off to a 2–4 start, and there is a lot of blame going around on who is the main culprit to this rough start.
The two main culprits have been the play of young quarterback Jalen Hurts, and the play-calling of first-year head coach Nick Sirianni.
The question remains, who has been the larger issue for the Eagles throughout the first six games of the season?
Jalen Hurts
After a stellar outing the first week of the season against the Falcons, Hurts has struggled, and that’s putting it lightly.
Ever since that game, he has thrown five touchdown passes to four interceptions. He has a completion percentage of 57.7%, and a quarterback rating of 78.8, those are below average stats.
Hurts has had trouble finding his playmakers. At the end of the first half against the Panthers, the Eagles were driving down the field, and Hurts didn’t look down the field, as Quez Watkins was wide open, which would’ve resulted in a touchdown had Hurts thrown the ball to Watkins.
When the offense runs RPO’s (Run-Pass Option Play) for Hurts, the play usually ends up in Hurts running the ball and going nowhere with it. That shows that he is not a confident enough passer, and to be a franchise quarterback, you have to be able to throw the ball and do it effectively.
If these issues contain to rear their ugly head, then it would be smart for the organization to either look for a quarterback in the upcoming draft, whereas of right now they have three picks within the top ten, or they can trade for a superstar quarterback such as Deshaun Watson or Russel Wilson.
Nick Sirianni
The Nick Sirianni has not gotten off to a good start, and for good measure. His play-calling has been subpar, and he refuses to run the ball to his lead running back, Miles Sanders, which has been the result of a non-fluent offense.
Sanders has shown to be one of the best young running backs in the league, but yet he is only 32nd in the league in carries with only 57. Hurts has only run the ball four fewer times, and he has compiled more rushing yards than Sanders.
When Sanders has gotten the ball, it results in him running for big plays, as he is averaging 4.7 yards per carry.
Sirianni is ruining the development of Hurts. Rather than have an offense that’s predicated to the run game, he is forcing Hurts to constantly throw the ball every play, even when he doesn’t have the greatest arm in the world.
Every game, the offense runs screenplay after screenplay, which has made the offense predictable and makes it easier for opposing defenses to game plan against.
The offense has featured a lot of short passes, which has been the result of Sirianni not letting Hurts be able to stretch the field and find his receivers ten to twenty yards down the field.
If this type of play calling continues, and the offense doesn’t improve as a result of it, then expect Sirianni to be a “one-and-done” coach.
