It was Jalen Hurts' worst game of the season to date, and it didn't matter.
But the fact that Sunday's performance marked the least-productive performance of the first month of the 2022 season from the Eagles third-year quarterback is telling about Hurts himself and the offense in which he's operating.
Hurts threw his second interception of the year in the 29-21 victory over the Jaguars yet still managed a decently hefty 8.2 yards-per-attempt average and scored a gutsy rushing touchdown.
Entering Week 4, the Eagles were 10th in Football Outsiders' run-offense DVOA and fourth in overall DVOA, the site's all-encompassing efficiency metric.
Then they rattled off 210 yards on the ground against the Jaguars.
Were they outrageously efficient in accumulating those yards? Not exactly. 4.2 yards per attempt as a team. Yet the Eagles were confident in their ground game, leaning on it to the tune of 50 rushing attempts, which registered as only the third time in the last five years a team hit at least 50 rushes in a single regular-season contest.
But the Eagles' ability to rush for over four yards per carry on 50 rushes should be scary to the rest of the NFC. Mind you, the Jaguars came into this clash with Philadelphia fourth (!) in defensive DVOA. This wasn't the porous Jacksonville defense we've grown accustomed to over the vast majority of the past decade.
And altogether, the Eagles offensive front is cruising. They've paved lanes for Miles Sanders, Hurts and Co. and are allowing the seventh-lowest pressure rate in pass protection (28.7%), and that's factoring Hurts' ad-libbing tendencies, which usually lead to at least a few more pressures per contest.
The skill-position group is thriving too. Of the 32 receivers with at least 15 grabs on the season to date, A.J. Brown is second in yards after the catch per reception (his speciality) at 6.8. Devonta Smith has 266 receiving yards as the Eagles No. 2 wideout, and Dallas Goedert is in the top 10 among tight ends at 240.
Guess who is third in the NFL in rushing? Yep. Miles Sanders.
This is a well-rounded, truly complementary group we have on our hands here in Philadelphia. But you're probably wondering, where is Hurts in his development?
Now, it'd be perfectly sensible to assume, because Hurts is the quarterback, and we all agree quarterback is the most vital aspect to any offense (and team), that he must be playing at an elite level. Last week, I posted a thread on Twitter on this very subject.
Hurts is still growing. He's not in the elite tier of quarterbacks right now. But -- and this is important -- just like last season, Nick Siranni's staff has done a spectacular job deploying a scheme that's incredibly challenging to slow down.
Take for example, this simple dump down to Sanders, that provides a clear runway to amass extra yardage. Two receivers to the right side of the formation, running verticals, and the veteran back sent on an angle route directly toward the space vacated by receivers who are sprinting downfield.
The throw was far from perfect, but given Sanders' momentum, and all the open space on the right side of the field, this checkdown was primed for a large gain.
Because of their ability to gash on the ground, it feels like the Eagles slant off play action is there every single time. And Philadelphia successfully ran it multiple times against the Jaguars. The manipulation of the linebackers gives Hurts an easy read and throw over the middle. Brown's at the top of the screen on this play.
Sirianni and his staff have, smartly, tapped into Hurts' athleticism, providing him many rollout opportunities with layered options directly in his line of sight, as shown here on this completion to Brown. Notice how Goedert is available running a route almost parallel to Brown underneath.
Hurts saw Goedert was covered, moved his eyes to the next level, and found his superstar receiver for a chunk play.
All that is fine and dandy, yet the anticipatory element of Hurts' game is not quite there yet. Against the Jaguars, there were at least two clear signs of this.
The first came on a deep comeback run by Brown. As the play began, it was obvious Brown would be open after he got to the top of his route stem and worked back to the football. Instead, Hurts waited, and waited, and waited for Brown to be standing downfield, wide open, before delivering the ball.
No, this throw doesn't need to be made with an insane amount of anticipation, but if you watch again, you'll probably notice a tiny, abnormal hitch in Hurts' delivery. The throw had to, at the very latest, be out at that moment. It wasn't and fell incomplete.
Then, later in the game, after drifting right out of the pocket, Hurts peeked downfield, and had Devonta Smith running a corner route on a scramble drill. There was an underneath cornerback lurking underneath, but Hurts himself and his dump-down option drew that cornerback downhill.
Right as that happened, Hurts needed to throw the football. You'll notice more hesitancy, another hitch, and another pass breakup.
Of course, those are simply two plays Hurts' first month of the season. He also has six "big-time throws" by PFF's metrics (tied for the third-most in the league) and has a minuscule "turnover-worthy play" rate of 1.2, which has only been bested by Tom Brady through four weeks. It's almost as if Hurts knows that given how strongly built this Eagles offense is, ball security is even more critical than normal.
He's right in that assessment of this Philadelphia attack, which is currently 5th in Expected Points Added (EPA) per play, behind only the Chiefs, Bills, Dolphins, and, weirdly, the Seahawks.
And if Hurts' maturation continues, the Eagles will be essentially unstoppable offensively.
