Eagles Quinyon Mitchell and Jeremiah Trotter make great NFL debuts against Ravens
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni discusses the quarterback’s play against the Ravens as the rookies shine in a 16-13 win.
PHILADELPHIA – It’s almost too good to be true.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts has been through 13 training camps this summer and has yet to throw a single interception. That’s 248 passes, according to WIP’s Eliot Shorr-Parks, who tracks every throw.
Maybe the Pro Football Hall of Fame should build a training camp wing with Hurts as a charter member.
Of course, you can say it means nothing. And many have, including ESPN pundit Nick Wright. He said Hurts’ lack of interceptions showed him that Hurts wasn’t taking any chances down the field, that he was constantly checking, and that the Eagles’ defense must be really, really bad.
Wright, of course, hasn’t attended a single practice or watched a video of it. Besides, there are worse things to ask than Saquon Barkley.
And then there was practice on Saturday, where defensive coordinator Vic Fangio sent several blitzes to Hurts.
Remember, the blitz was Hurts’ kryptonite last season. ESPN first reported that Hurts was so baffled by the blitz last January that he even called former Giants defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale to ask him what made the blitz so effective against him.
Hurts threw 15 interceptions in 2023, as many as in the previous two seasons combined.
And yet there was Hurts on Saturday, passing to AJ Brown up the middle, checking to Barkley, running down the middle or just throwing the ball away.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni is keen to point out that Hurts has not thrown any interceptions over the summer. It’s worth noting that Hurts has not taken a single snap in either of the two preseason games and most likely won’t do so in the finale on August 24th.
“That (criticism) can be that he doesn’t take risks,” Sirianni said. “But I don’t see it that way. I see him driving the ball down the field and making the plays that are there. And if the play he wants isn’t there, he checks it out.”
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“So he plays really good football. That’s his thing. He takes what the defense gives him … The quarterback play that I get so excited about is, ‘Hey, we got this shot or this interception and (the defense) didn’t give it to you,’ and then we do a 10-yard checkdown.
“That’s great football. That’s what excites me more than the big, wild plays. That’s just the development of a quarterback and creating plays.”
Eagles linebacker Devin White noticed the difference in Hurts.
White played for the Bucs during the Eagles’ 32-9 playoff loss last January and was relentlessly targeted by the Bucs.
At practice on Saturday, White said the offense knew the blitz was coming, but didn’t know where it was coming from. Sometimes Hurts had trouble picking up the ball and threw it away. Other times he was on the right track and hit Brown or DeVonta Smith.
“There’s been a lot of new things thrown at him,” White said. “We’ve been putting things in on the fly and we don’t meet (with the offense) before practice. They probably don’t get a chance to go over certain things.”
“I think the main thing he does is he’s patient in terms of getting to the line quickly and he uses dummy counts to get us to take our clothes off.”
By “undressing” the defense, White meant that Hurts and the offense would rush to the offensive line and conduct a hard “hut attack” to see if a defender would give away where the blitz is coming from. White said the defense could counteract this by using a “mock disguise” and then using another blitz when the ball is snapped.
Hurts also recognized this.
“He took his time and really took the defense apart,” White said.
There is another factor that indirectly relates to Jason Kelce’s retirement. Kelce always challenged defenses and Hurts adjusted accordingly. It made sense. Kelce played 13 seasons, was named to the Pro Bowl seven times and had seen virtually every possible defensive lineup.
Now Hurts and Cam Jurgens, Kelce’s successor, are making those decisions. And that has given Hurts a bigger voice.
“Everyone is going to say, ‘Oh, we lost Kelce. Kelce was this. Kelce was that,'” left tackle Jordan Mailata said. “Jalen has taken a big step in that part of the game, in that role and leadership, making sure everyone knows their spots and everyone is on the same page and everyone knows their routes and everyone knows (which receiver) is good (against the blitz).”
Mailata was then asked what that means for an offensive lineman.
“Think less,” Mailata said. “You trust what the quarterback sees and you can just go out there and play football.”
The real test will come when the regular season begins on September 6 against Green Bay in Brazil. But for now, a training camp without interceptions is certainly better than the alternative.
Contact Martin Frank at [email protected]. Follow on X @Mfranknfl.
