Jalen Hurts gives Eagles blueprint to victory in successful first start

Rookie quarterback Jalen Hurts proved he gives the Philadelphia Eagles a path to victory in his first start, beating the New Orleans Saints.

Jalen Hurts has given life to the Philadelphia Eagles over the past two weeks, with the decision to start him in the shock win over the New Orleans Saints in Week 14 putting a defense that would have had every reason to be aggressive against Carson Wentz on its heels.

The numbers, at least in terms of the passing game, were far from spectacular for Hurts in the Eagles’ 24-21 victory, which kept their slim hopes of winning the NFC East and reaching the postseason alive.

Hurts completed 17-of-30 passes for 167 yards and a touchdown, averaging just 5.57 yards per attempt.

But whereas the Eagles offense had gone stale with Wentz under center, Hurts added a new dimension with his impact on the run game and one of Philadelphia’s most important skill-position players.

Hurts fuels Sanders success

Hurts offers significantly more upside than Wentz as a runner, his prowess in that regard reflected by his 106 yards on 18 carries against the Saints.

Yet it was the mental impact of Hurts’ threat on the ground that was more telling than his actual production. Because of his ability to rack up rushing yardage, the Eagles had to respect the possibility of a quarterback run on option plays involving Hurts and Miles Sanders.

Demario Davis did not crash down from the backside as he might have done with Wentz running the offense, and the result of the linebacker’s hesitation on a second-quarter run was an 82-yard gallop into the endzone from Sanders.

In 2020, Sanders has averaged 0.74 Rush Yards Over Expected (RYOE) per attempt, according to the NFL’s NextGen Stats. Versus New Orleans, Sanders put up 3.61 RYOE per carry.

Though pass plays were still more efficient for the Eagles in terms of Expected Points Added (EPA), which measures a play’s impact on the score of the game, the Eagles’ run-heavy approach still had a positive influence.

Per Ben Baldwin of The Athletic, Sanders’ runs averaged 0.08 EPA per play while early-down rushes resulted in an EPA per play of 0.17, superior to the 0.05 EPA average of early-down passes. The Success Rate – a metric that gauges the proportion of plays that contributed positive EPA – on early-down rushes was 50 percent.

The addition of Hurts helped Sanders harness one of his best performances of the season, but the Eagles were only able to stick to a ball-control approach because of the success of their defense.

A marked difference in pressure

As the Saints’ top-ranked defense struggled to deal with the dual-threat posed by Hurts, the Eagles’ front had no issue shutting down New Orleans’ mobile quarterback.

According to NextGen Stats, Hill was pressured on 17 of his 43 dropbacks, with the 39.5 percent pressure rate the second-highest the Saints have allowed since 2016.

Consequently, Hill (0.10) finished with an inferior passing EPA per play to Hurts (0.17), while his running plays had an EPA per play of minus 0.19.

By contrast, Hurts – per Pro Football Focus (h/t EJ Smith of the Philadelphia Inquirer) was pressured on just nine of his 34 dropbacks.

Hurts’ promotion to the starting job forced a defense that loves to attack downhill to play horizontally, as their own talented defensive front prospered against what has historically been one of the better pass-protecting offensive lines in the NFL.

Whether that is a formula the Eagles will be able to repeat down the stretch remains to be seen and the likelihood is that, as teams adapt to facing Hurts, he will have to put the ball in the air more often to prevail.

However, with Wentz under center, the Eagles rarely had a path to victory. Following Hurts’ successful first start, they at least have a blueprint they can attempt to replicate.