Category: Eagles

How the Eagles can win with Gardner Minshew at quarterback

The Eagles will have to beat the Cowboys with Gardner Minshew at quarterback. Here’s how they can do it.

The 2022 Philadelphia Eagles are the NFL’s best team. They have a 13-1 record, with their only loss as an odd misstep against the Washington Commanders in Week 10. The offense is explosive, diverse, and just about impossible to stop. The offensive line is the NFL’s best, and it isn’t particularly close. The defense has come around in 2022, especially the pass rush and coverage. And third-year quarterback Jalen Hurts has gone from a big maybe in 2021, to unquestioned franchise quarterback in 2022.

This team hasn’t faced a lot of adversity this season, but they’re about to get a dose of it. Hurts suffered a sprained throwing shoulder in Philly’s 25-20 win over the Chicago Bears last Sunday, and he won’t play in this Saturday’s crucial matchup against the Dallas Cowboys. So, it’ll be Gardner Minshew at the helm. In 2021, his first season with the Eagles, Minshew completed 41 of 60 passes for 469 yards, four touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 104.8. He might have starter potential on a team with a less-defined quarterback situation, and he’s one of the NFL’s best backups, so that’s nice.

Minshew had run the scout team in practice throughout the season, which didn’t give him reps with the number-one guys, but it did allow him the opportunity to deal with the Eagles’ first-string defense — a defense that currently ranks seventh in DVOA, and second in the NFL against the pass, behind only the Denver Broncos.

“We’re all doing our jobs getting ready to play this game and we have full confidence in each other,” tight end Dallas Goedert said this week. “Gardner will do his job. He’s the man. We all love him. The best way we can support him is to play our best and that’s what we’re preparing to do. Nothing changes.”

Well, some things will change. But how can the Eagles maintain their offense — or most of it — without the quarterback who has become the defining player on that side of the ball? We’ve already hopefully debunked the canard that Hurts is a “system quarterback” who’s easily replaced, so now, it’s on to the other side of the argument: How should head coach Nick Sirianni and offensive coordinator Shane Steichen arm Minshew with the best chance to take this team to 14-1 on the season?

The Eagles clinch the NFC East, the NFC’s one-seed, and home field advantage through the playoffs with a win, so it’s a fairly important question.

Jalen Hurts is the system, and the system is Jalen Hurts

Jalen Hurts is believed by some to be a “system quarterback.” What those people are missing is that Hurts defines the Eagles’ entire offensive system.

Every quarterback is a system quarterback.

No matter how you want to divide the performance of a quarterback in and around the system he’s in, and the players around him, no quarterback just goes out there and throws the ball around with no thought to all of those things. Ask Tom Brady, who has seen dips in performance when the Buccaneers go away from play-action and pre-snap motion over the last three seasons, about that.

When we say “system quarterback,” however, we generally use it in a pejorative sense, and it means that the quarterback in question relies too much on those schemes and the players around him to succeed. That quarterback is not “elite,” because he couldn’t be as successful in another situation, and another quarterback would be just about as successful in that same environment.

This is now what Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts faces. Despite a season in which he’s completed 67.3% of his passes for 8.2 yards per attempt, 22 touchdowns, and five interceptions, Hurts has been lumped into the “system quarterback” bin by a lot of people.

Hurts does benefit from the NFL’s best offensive line, and the addition via trade of former Tennessee Titans receiver A.J. Brown has been franchise-altering. But when you look at how Hurts has taken command of the Eagles’ offense, both as a thrower and as a runner, the idea that he’s a system guy who can’t transcend anything is a bit ridiculous.

Unfortunately, the Eagles may be about to find out how well they fare without the 2022 version of their franchise quarterback. Hurts suffered a sprained throwing shoulder in Philadelphia’s 25-20 win over the Chicago Bears last Sunday, and that might mean Gardner Minshew starting for the team in its crucial game against the Dallas Cowboys this Saturday.

“He is one of the toughest guys I know, and he heals fast,” head coach Nick Sirianni said Tuesday of Hurts’ recovery timeline. “He’s a freak. His body is not like – pardon me – yours or mine. I’m shaming myself there a little bit, too. His body is not like ours. He heals fast. He came back fast from his injury last year, and I will not rule him out, will not put a timetable on him, and we’ll see. We’ll see what happens this week.”

It’s clear that his own head coach thinks of Hurts as more than a replaceable cog, and he’s absolutely right. But if you don’t think that Hurts is a legitimate MVP candidate above and beyond what’s around him, the tape tells a very different story.

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Gardner Minshew delivers touching eulogy for Mike Leach

Gardner Minshew paid tribute to Mike Leach at the coach’s memorial service

The Philadelphia Eagles excused Gardner Minshew from practice on Tuesday so he could attend the memorial service for Mississippi State coach Mike Leach, who died last week, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Leach was Minshew’s coach at Washington State and the quarterback recalled how authentic Leach was.

(Warning: there is a bit of salty language at one point)

Minshew might start Saturday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys if the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts doesn’t recover from a sprained throwing shoulder.

4-Down Territory: Bad officiating, dumbest plays, Jalen Hurts — system QB? (no), Vikings’ greatness

In this week’s 4-Down Territory, Doug Farrar and Luke Easterling discuss bad officiating, really dumb plays, whether Jalen Hurts is a “system QB,” and the Vikings.

Every week in “4-Down Territory,” Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar and Luke Easterling of Bucs Wire and Draft Wire go over the things you need to know about, and the things you need to watch, in the NFL right now. With Week 15 of the 2022 NFL season in the books, there was a lot to cover!

This week, Doug and Luke discuss:

  1. 00:00 – How should the NFL solve the officiating blunders?
  2. 06:00 – What is the dumbest play you’ve ever seen at any level of football?
  3. 10:02 – Is Jalen Hurts a system quarterback and easily replaceable?
  4. 15:00 – Is there anything about this win that makes you believe more in the now 11-3 Vikings?

You can watch this week’s episode of “4-Down Territory” right here:

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Sprained shoulder could shelve Jalen Hurts against Cowboys

Jalen Hurts has a sprained shoulder and could miss the Eagles’ game with the Cowboys

The cushion the Philadelphia Eagles have in the NFC East and overall conference playoff race could come in handy this weekend and for the rest of the regular season.

Star quarterback Jalen Hurts threw for 303 yards and rushed for 3 touchdowns Sunday against the Chicago Bears.

He did not escape unscathed, however, as reports Monday said Hurts suffered a shoulder sprain against Chicago.

The injury is not considered serious but … he could miss Saturday’s NFC East rivalry clash with the Dallas Cowboys. And he could miss the following game.

The Eagles have the luxury of being cautious with Hurts because they are 13-1 and have a three-game lead over Dallas in the division.

The closest team to Philly in the battle for the No. 1 spot in the NFC playoff race is Minnesota, which is 11-3.

Gardner Minshew is Philadelphia’s backup quarterback.

X-rays were reported to be negative for the injury, which is believed to have been suffered in the third quarter.

Hurts has thrown for 3,472 yards and 22 touchdowns. He has rushed for 747 yards, 64 first downs, and 13 TDs.

 

Jalen Hurts’ 3 rushing touchdowns lift Eagles to 13-1

Jalen Hurts’ 3 touchdown runs improved the Eagles to 13-1

The Philadelphia Eagles got a trifecta of touchdown runs from Jalen Hurts on Sunday at Soldier Field and downed the Chicago Bears, 25-20.

It wasn’t a vintage performance by Hurts, who threw for 315 yards but had a pair of passes picked by Chicago.

However, he made up for it with touchdown runs of 22 yards, 1 yard, and 1 yard. The final one came in the fourth quarter after a 68-yard pass to A.J. Brown.

That iced the game.

Justin Fields and the Bears closed within the final score on a 35-yard TD pass but could not get closer.

Fields threw for 152 yards and a pair of TDs. He rushed for 95 yards to reach the 1,000-yard mark for 2022.

Hurts rushed for 61 yards.

 

Justin Fields becomes third NFL QB to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season

Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields just became the third quarterback in pro football history to run for more than 1,000 yards in a season.

-Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields has some work to do as a pure passer (though perhaps not as much as his detractors believe), but there is no questioning his effectiveness as a runner. The second-year Ohio State product came into Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles with 905 rushing yards on the season, and he quickly bumped things up to over 1,000 rushing yards in 2022.

Preposterous plays such as this 39-yard run surely helped him along the way.

Fields is now the third quarterback in pro football history to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark as a runner, joining Michael Vick (1,039) for the 2006 Atlanta Falcons, and Lamar Jackson, who has done it twice, with 1,206 yards for the 2019 Baltimore Ravens, and 1,005 yards for the Ravens in the following season.

Interestingly enough, the Bears are the only team in pro football history with two quarterbacks who have run for more than 900 yards in a season — Bobby Douglass ran for 968 yards for the 1972 team, and that was the record for a quarterback until Vick broke it in 2006.

Jalen Hurts makes best, worst throws of the season on consecutive plays

Philadelphia Eagles Jalen Hurts followed what may have been his best throw of the season with what may have been his worst.

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts hasn’t done much wrong this season, which is why he’s a dark horse MVP candidate, and the franchise’s unquestioned franchise quarterback. Even if you want to get into the dumb discussion regarding his status as a system quarterback (Hint: Every quarterback is a system quarterback), there’s enough great things Hurts can do, both as a runner and as a thrower, to nix that whole thing.

Case in point was this utterly ridiculous pass Hurts completed to receiver DeVonta Smith with 7:47 left in the first quarter. The Eagles had third-and-3 at their own 39-yard line, Hurts was flushed out of the pocket to his left, and he then uncorked this banger of a sideline throw to Smith, who had vaporized cornerback Jaylon Jones with a nasty inside-out move.

That was good for 21 yards, putting the ball at the Chicago 40-yard line. Then, Hurts got a little too cute on this throw to A.J. Brown. This time, Hurts was flushed to his right, he failed to account for dropping cornerback Kyler Gordon, and it was Gordon who picked off the pass. Oof.

So… yeah. Jalen Hurts giveth, and Jalen Hurts taketh away. As we said, there have been far more good plays than bad in Hurts’ 2022 oeuvre, but that interception was a real howler.

 

Jalen Hurts visits Philadelphia HS that lost player in gang shooting

Jalen Hurts made an appearance at a Philadelphia high school impacted by gang violence

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is having an MVP-type season on and off the field.

On Tuesday, Hurts visited Walter B. Saul High School to honor the memory of Nicolas Elizalde, a 14-year-old killed in a gang shooting after a football scrimmage at Roxborough High School earlier this year. Four other players were injured.

Inquirer.com tells the entire story of Hurts’ visit.

Hurts, who was born and raised in Houston, said in an interview that since moving to Philadelphia in 2020, he has sought to better understand the obstacles and tragedies the city’s residents regularly face. Being here for the students, he said, and spending time with the Elizalde family, means a lot to him.

“Nick’s family finds a lot of value in what I do on the field,” said Hurts. “They find a lot of joy in what I do on the field, so I hold that in high regard,” he said. “It’s definitely on my mind when I’m out there playing.”

The QB who has led the Eagles to a 12-1 mark delivered a poignant and powerful message.

“You can overcome anything,” the star quarterback told them at the start of the event.

“I’m not in your shoes, I don’t go through the things y’all go through. But I want to help y’all, and be there for y’all.”

 

 

Jalen Hurts finds DeVonta Smith, A.J. Brown for Eagles touchdowns

The Eagles turn a fourth-down play into a long TD against the Giants

The Philadelphia Eagles were flying on Sunday against the New York Giants at MetLife.

Leading 7-0 already, Nick Sirianni left the offense on the field in the second quarter while facing a fourth-and-7 at the Giants’ 41.

Jalen Hurts delivered a beautiful pass to DeVonta Smith, who made a move or two and fooled the Big Blue secondary.

After the touchdown play, the Eagles led 14-0.

Hurts wanted to make sure his other elite receiver was fed, too, and he found A.J. Brown for a touchdown pass afterward that had the Eagles rolling in the NFC East matchup, 21-0.