PHILADELPHIA – The Eagles’ plan has worked great, so far Jalen Hurts is injured.
Then questions about Hurts possibly running too much surfaced almost as soon as Bears defensive lineman Travis Gipson tackled Hurts, sending Hurts’ right shoulder landing on the frozen Soldier Field ground.
Hurt was diagnosed with a sprained shoulder, and will not play Saturday against the Dallas Cowboys. The Eagles won’t have their MVP candidate at the helm if they can clinch the NFC East and the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs and also get a first-round bye.
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But it’s not as simple as telling Hurts to run less. If he did, he wouldn’t to be an MVP candidate. And he wouldn’t be as effective as a passer either.
“For us to be the explosive offense that we want to be — Jalen is a very good passer and he’s shown that he’s becoming a better passer every game he plays,” Eagles coach Nick Siriani said. “(But) he’s in this MVP race because of his dual-threat ability, with his ability to not only do what he did passing the ball, but also what he did running the football.”
And there is another aspect to this. Hurts’ run not only opens up an opportunity for him to pass, but also to run Miles Sanders, who has 1,110 yards.
Running Hurts makes it all possible. That’s because teams have to commit to Hurts’ quarterback on read options. So one less defender to stop Sanders. And that keeps the safeties closer to the line of scrimmage, and thus slower, helping the Eagles’ wide receivers in AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith.
Brown has 1,201 yards, 209 yards shy of the Eagles’ single-season receiving record. And Smith has 901 yards, just 99 yards away from giving the Eagles two 1,000-yard receptions for the first time in team history.
“We are what we are as an offense, explosive, scoring-wise, all those different things because Jalen can do so many things, run the football and pass the ball,” Siriani said.
Added Brown: “I can’t change the way he plays, but as a receiver, you don’t want your quarterback to get hit … I can’t say he needs to do this, he needs to do that. Worked so long. It was like a freak accident.”
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A closer look at how Hurts runs shows that he’s not often at risk.
Hurts rushed the ball 17 times for 61 yards against the bears. He has 156 carries this season, just 21 shy of the NFL record set by Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson in 2019. Hurts are likely to break the record if they play in their final two games. Now that seems unlikely.
Against the Bears, Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen said there were “six or seven, maybe, designed quarterback runs. He had four quarterback misses.” The other six or seven carries were pass rushes.
That seems about average for Hurts this season. A look at other games shows that the Eagles usually cause about five designated runs for Hurts per game. There are usually about four scrambles and about three QB passes per game.
Penetration is mostly Hurts running behind the line of scrimmage so hard contact is minimal. Scrimmages usually result in Hurts sliding or running out of bounds, so that’s minimal contact as well.
Some of the designed tracks also have minimal contact. For example, there was absolutely no contact during Hurts’ 22-yard TD run late in the first half against the Bears.
Sure, Hurts took some tough shots against the Bears, and he’s done it in other games. Even Hurts admitted it.
“It’s not the first time I’ve had things to overcome,” Hurts said. “Being in situations like this (with a shoulder injury) it just happens that it’s public. A few times we all had to stand up and have a lot of courage.”
No one complained when Hurts ran 157 yards on 17 carries vs. Green Bay Nov. 27, or the week before, when Hurts had 16 carries for 86 yards against Indianapolis. The The Eagles won that game 17-16up from a deficit of 10 points in the fourth quarter.
In the game-winning drive, Hurts converted a 4th-and-2 at the Colts’ 9 with 1:20 left, then scored on a quarterback draw. Again, no complaints about Hurts being in danger.
“We will always think of his safety first,” Siriani said. “I know you guys are probably saying, ‘Well, he’s hurt.’ Well, he also ran for (157) yards against Green Bay. I understand. Sometimes it depends on the result. “Well, he didn’t get hurt in that (game); he’s our MVP.”
“Oh, he’s really hurt; what are you doing?’ I understand that this will be part of the inspection.”
It goes beyond that. Look around the NFL. For every quarterback injured handling the ball, there are many others injured in the pocket. Hurts sprained his ankle last year when he was hit in the pocket.
The Eagles trust Hurts because he slides well, runs out of bounds and avoids unnecessary hits.
“I think some of them (mobile linebackers) have a natural feel for when to go down, when to slide, and (Hurts) does a good job of that,” Steichen said. “The one he shouldered, the guy just landed on top of him. The weight just fell on him. It was just weird.”
And if Hurts didn’t know how to avoid contact? “Obviously when you’re around a guy that (runs) that tone, that doesn’t have a natural feel, then you really want to study the guys that have a good feel for it.”
If they don’t feel it, don’t run them.
But when those QBs really feel and they still get hurt, sometimes that’s just football. That’s why the Eagles have a backup like Gardner Minshe just in case.
Dallas in Dallas
Of course, the Eagles can beat the Cowboys without getting hurt. They just have to do it differently for Minshe.
Minshew isn’t going to run 17 times or kick 50 yards down the field. But he will come out for control. I the return of tight end Dallas Goedert, especially in intermediate routes, which Minshew excels at, will help a lot. Brown is great at getting yards after the catch, especially on the slant.
And the Eagles have Sanders. It should be noted that Art The Cowboys gave up 192 yards at Jacksonville last week and allowed over 200 yards rushing in two other games. Of course the Cowboys have linebacker/running back Micah Parsonsbut he cannot be everywhere.
“Definitely there will be a little bit more roles, but we’ll see,” Sanders said. “We’re just going to take what the defense gives us and take it one game at a time.
But this game will be won by losses. The Cowboys have the most takeaways (26), while the Eagles are second (25). The Eagles are first in turnover differential (plus-12), while the Cowboys are second (plus-9).
It just so happens that Cowboys QB Dak Prescott has 7 interceptions in his last 4 games. And the Eagles will put pressure on him as they lead the NFL with 55 sacks. But Prescott has faced pressure before, and he also has top running backs in Tony Pollard and Ezekiel Elliott, not to mention talented receivers to rely on.
The Cowboys are second with 49 sacks, so they will also put pressure on Minshe. And they can force Minsheau to make one mistake too many.
Rating: Cowboys 26, Eagles 24
Scontact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
