December 27, 2021
Kate Frese/for PhillyVoice
Jalen Hurts had the last laugh Sunday after he got it together in the second half.
Because there wasn't a lot to learn from an easy 34-10 win against a professional football team actually starting Jake Fromm at quarterback, Sunday was a good opportunity to get into the classroom and both Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts offered up some advanced classes on the quarterback position.
The curriculum stemmed from Hurts missing an open receiver during his less-than-inspiring first half.
The Eagles were struggling mightily offensively before finally getting on the scoreboard with a 22-yard Jake Elliott field goal with two minutes left until intermission.
It's a footnote now that Philadelphia ran away from the hapless New York Giants in the second half, a victory that puts the Eagles in the driver's seat for the final NFC playoff spot with two games to go.
But for those who saw Dallas Goedert sitting alone in the end zone before the Elliott chip shot, it's was yet another indication that the Eagles' second-year quarterback still has plenty of work to do.
Dallas Goedert was wide open on that third down
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) December 26, 2021
Jalen Hurts had his eyes locked on Devonta Smith on that play pic.twitter.com/CudwssCDGv
Instead of finding the wide-open Goedert, Hurts checked down over the middle to Quez Watkins, who was stopped for a minimal gain.
But what's missing is the context, according to Sirianni. What hindsight doesn't offer is the goal of Hurts on the play and what he was being coached to do.
"I'll just try to explain to you as much as I possibly can without giving anything away," Sirianni said. "You alert a certain player and then your read starts somewhere else. Our alert was to Dallas versus a certain coverage."
The Eagles didn't get that coverage, however, and Hurts correctly understood that and ruled Goedert out before the ball was ever snapped.
"It wasn't that coverage, so now we read shallow to angle," Sirianni noted. "That's what [Hurts] read, so his eyes aren't there, so I'm not one bit concerned [that Hurts missed Goedert]."
Sirianni pointed out that quarterbacks just can't assume a defense in a certain coverage that takes the offense away from a particular receiver pre-snap is going to drop the coverage and fail to perform its job.
"When you give a quarterback, and you say to him — when you know their reads as a coach you don't ever get on them when he misses something like that because it's not a miss," Sirianni explained. "His eyes went here to here and Dallas is only a pre-snap read. Jalen doesn't know that they're going to bust — they busted the coverage.
"Jalen doesn't know at the beginning of that play that they're going to bust that coverage."
Once Sirianni specifically highlighted the play, Hurts himself was asked about it and gave a complete breakdown of his responsibilities.
"Well, put the play in and we’re respecting ‘seven bracket.’ So basically, [Giants DB Xavier McKinney] from Alabama, he’s bracketing [WR Jalen] Reagor and they’re playing kind of in-and-out, right? But they’re in quarters, Cover 7," Hurts said. "So, have to find the single, maybe. But in that play, what I was coached to do is go through it as a pure progression."
Hurts then explained that pure progression.
"Work the shallow to the running back coming, only throw that against a certain look," the QB explained. "My shallow popped and McKinney fell off and shot through the ball after I threw the ball, so McKinney made a really good play and they busted the coverage back-side, so he was wide open over there."
However, Hurts echoed Sirianni and noted the pre-snap read had eliminated Goedert.
"So, my pre-snap look did not give me what I wanted, to throw the corner to Dallas but definitely looking after the fact, it’s easy to say, ‘Throw him the ball,’ but you’re going to miss some like that, you know?" the QB asked rhetorically.
Some don't know but freelancing is the easiest way to fail at QB.
"As a quarterback, you want to play on schedule and get the ball out on time and try your best to do that," Hurts said. "Just trust your preparation and your reads and your progressions and you’re going to have guys that pop, but you have to try to stay on schedule and do those things.
Those [misses] happen.”
A stickler for the QB position and how's it taught Sirianni tried to explain a simple truth in the problem-solving world: a good decision does not necessarily result in a good outcome. Conversely, a bad decision does not necessarily result in a bad outcome. A decision and its outcome are separate entities but when you stack good decisions, the positive outcomes are going to outweigh the negative ones.
That in a nutshell describes good QB play.
"The [Giants] made a mistake. They were out of position on that particular play and [Jalen's decision] was the [proper] read, and so I want to make sure that everybody understands that," Sirianni reiterated.
That and the fact that Hurts didn't play well in the first half are not mutually exclusive, however.
"He didn't play his best first half and when he plays good, the offense rolls, and he did a great job bouncing back that second half," the coach noted. "... it's just not on Jalen. We didn't play good in the skill positions. We didn't play as good as we played on the offensive line. We didn't coach as good as we needed to coach in the first half. But, again, just a credit to Jalen to rebound and play a good second half, because that's what good teams do, they find ways to win."
John McMullen is a contributor to PhillyVoice.com, and covers the Eagles and the NFL for Sports Illustrated and JAKIB Media. He’s also the co-host of “Birds 365,” a daily streaming show covering the Eagles and the NFL and the host of “Extending the Play” on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com. Follow John on Twitter.
