Through the first seven weeks of the 2022 NFL season, the Philadelphia Eagles stood alone as the league’s only undefeated team. They did so with one of the NFL’s best run games, a defense has drastically improved in 2022, and the occasional smart throw from third-year quarterback Jalen Hurts. When Hurts was throwing the ball through Week 7, he wasn’t often doing it to create explosive plays. That was okay, because the offense run by head coach Nick Sirianni and offensive coordinator Shane Steichen was creating explosive plays in the run game, especially out of 11 personnel — one running back, one tight end, and three receivers.
NFL offenses are re-setting the pace by running out of passing personnel
Per Pro Football Focus, Hurts had attempted just 13 passes of 20 or more air yards through Week 7, completing six of those passes for 256 yards and a touchdown. Those 13 deep attempts ranked 30th in the NFL, right down with guys like Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan. Hurts’ six deep completions ranked 24th, between Baker Mayfield and Kirk Cousins.
So, the Eagles knew their paradigm: Create body blow after body blow for a strong start to the season. That said, at some point, Hurts was going to have to cut loose. Not only to keep his team on a Super Bowl track, but to help Hurts establish himself as the team’s total franchise quarterback. No such quarterback needs to be hidden by the system around him. In addition, there was the need to validate on the field the first-round pick given to the Tennessee Titans for receiver A.J. Brown this offseason. Brown certainly had the skill set to take deep passes to the house.