August 17, 2024
Colleen Claggett/For PhillyVoice
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts during the team's open practice at the Linc on August 1, 2024.
Rain poured for a bit down at the NovaCare Complex on Saturday morning, and Vic Fangio had the defense turn up the aggression dial, giving Jalen Hurts and the offense a whole lot to work through.
Here's the play-by-play of how QB1 and co. looked in practice...
• Play 1: Hurts completes a quick out to Saquon Barkley for a couple of yards.
• Play 2: From the gun, pressure forces Hurts to roll out and just throw it away.
• Play 3: Hurts lofts one up for A.J. Brown on a comeback route, but the placement was off and Brown couldn't break to get to it in time.
• Play 4: Hurts tries to dump it off quick to Barkley right off the snap, but in the pouring rain, it slips right through the running back's hands.
• Play 5: DeVonta Smith takes pre-snap motion to the right side of the field, which leaves him in space all alone to just sit and wait for the pass from Hurts for an easy few yards.
• Play 6: A false start takes the offense five yards back.
• Play 7: Brown bumps off Darius Slay in coverage and breaks to the right sideline as Hurts hits him for a nice-looking first-down gain.
• Play 8: A Kenny Gainwell run up the middle gets a couple.
• Play 9: Slay blitzes, but that leaves Smith streaking across over top, which Hurts recognizes immediately. He gets the ball to Smith, who then turns forward for what easily would have been a massive play in-game.
Set 1 results: 4/7
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• Play 10: Hurts checks down to Will Shipley for some short yardage, though with Nakobe Dean shouldering the rookie running back straight down upon the completion. Again, the defense was highly aggressive Saturday.
• Play 11: Dallas Goedert runs a flat underneath, which draws in defenders, while C.J. Uzomah runs a corner over top left all alone. Hurts sails to Uzomah for the big gain with plenty of field still ahead of him.
• Play 12: Hurts dumps the ball off to Gainwell in the flat for a quick completion.
• Play 13: Hurts checks back down to Shipley. Dean did not shoulder him this time.
• Play 14: Hurts finds Goedert on a comeback route to end the set.
Set 2 results: 5/5
• Play 15: On play action, Hurts threads one through the middle to Smith for a decent chunk of yards.
• Play 16: Hurts fakes the handoff and keeps for a run up the middle but it goes nowhere.
• Play 17: Hurts throws a screen pass to Barkley on the left side, but Barkley bobbles it and starts improvising. He circles behind Hurts all the way over to the right side of the field hoping there would be an opening, but Zack Baun got back there and touched him up for a couple-yard loss instead.
• Play 18: Hurts to Brown on a 10-yard out route pushes the ball forward.
• Play 19: Smith breaks toward the right sideline on his route, but Quinyon Mitchell stays on him and bats the ball away. More solid coverage on the Eagles' toughest competition from the rookie corner.
• Play 20: Hurts fakes the hand off and keeps, but there's nowhere for him to run as he gets stuffed at the line, though maybe with the gain of at least a yard.
• Play 21: Hurts on a slant to Brown over the middle. As automatic a play as it gets.
• Play 22: Hurts drops back, waits, then starts rolling away from pressure. He fires one to Dallas Goedert streaking toward the right sideline, but Goedert couldn't keep both feet inbounds for the completion.
Set 3 results: 4/6
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• Play 23: Pinned way back, Hurts and the offense take their time and wait to see if someone on the defense will grow impatient. They got rewarded. Jalen Carter jumped offsides and the ball got moved up five yards for some more breathing room.
• Play 24: Hurts fires a quick pass to Brown underneath Mitchell in coverage, who then spins out to break for the remaining first-down distance.
The second team gets called on for a few plays from here, but the sequence was approached as one continuous set, so we'll stay with that.
• Play 25: Hurts and the first-team step back out on 1st and 10 with the ball at the offensive 40. On play action, Hurts threads a pass to Brown on the comeback for about nine yards. Slay was on Brown in coverage and played it well, but couldn't get his hand in there in time to get the ball away.
• Play 26: On play action again, Hurts goes for Smith to the end zone along the left sideline, but it falls out of reach, with Mitchell continuing to stick to Smith.
• Play 27: An out to Smith toward the left sideline gets the Eagles a fresh set of downs facing a 3rd and 2.
• Play 28: Another out from Hurts to Smith buys the offense another five yards.
• Play 29: Barkley runs a wheel, but Hurts ends up putting the pass just out of his reach.
• Play 30: Hurts goes for Goedert on a third-down corner route, but Reed Blankenship stayed on top of it the whole way, getting his hand in the way of the ball for a pass breakup and a fourth-round situation.
• Play 31: After calling Smith in motion, Hurts scrambles around the left edge and into the open to get a first down and bring the ball down to the 9.
• Play 32: Hurts keeps on the snap and takes a couple of more yards to spot the ball at the 7.
• Play 33: Hurts goes for Goedert in the end zone by the left, front pylon, but Kelee Ringo gives little separation and swats the ball away.
• Play 34: Hurts takes the same look, but this time to Brown instead of Goedert, who easily wins the matchup against Ringo and takes in the pass. Touchdown.
Set 4 results: 6/9, passing TD
• Play 35: With time winding down in practice, the Eagles go for one more set. On the first play, Hurts keeps on play action and tries to turn the corner, but doesn't get very far. The second team gets called back on.
• Play 36: With the ball moved up to the offensive 35, the Eagles go for one more. Hurts signals Smith in motion then tries to air it out for the touchdown pass down the left sideline with Avonte Maddox sticking to Smith. There was too much air underneath the throw, however, and it falls out of reach for the incompletion to the sound of the horn. That put a wrap on Saturday.
Set 5 results: 1/1
Total practice results: 20/28, 1 passing TD
Hurts has still yet to throw an interception all camp, and stayed "sack" free all Saturday – at least from what I was reasonably able to gauge.
Teammates have been praising Hurts' sharpness and decision-making throughout, while Nick Sirianni said ahead of Saturday morning's session, that his development in the passing game isn't so much that he's playing it safe, rather that he's gotten much smarter.
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