Jalen Hurts meets his moment of truth for Eagles in the NFC Championship Game

every time, philadelphia eagles and commander of washington Both starting QBs have been injured this season. In the first matchup, rookie QB Jayden Daniels was still dealing with a rib injury and was unable to move or throw as well as before, leading to the Eagles' victory. The second time, QB Jalen Hurts left the game with a concussion, but the Commanders came back and won the game.

Both signal callers will need to be healthy when the teams meet again in the NFC Championship Game in 2025, which is what makes this game so interesting. My biggest question for the managers is how they can make QB Jalen Hurts uncomfortable in the pocket, and their chaotic defensive style could force Philadelphia out of the game. The question is, can it be done?

The Jalen Hurts discussion this year was…interesting. While he is an incredibly talented player and an automatic plus-one in the NFL's most feared run game, his passing game has felt disjointed and out of place for most of the season. . Whether you want to blame Hurts or offensive coordinator Kellen Moore for that, it's hard to overlook that the Eagles' drop-back passing game has gone off course.

This shows up big under pressure, and Hurts is a completely different QB. According to Sumer Sports, among QBs with at least 100 snaps under pressure, Hurts' EPA per play is -0.52, just one spot above QB Daniel Jones and behind Will Revis. It's not that far. He also has a meager 26.8% success rate against pressure, which is on the same level as Deshaun Watson. Isn't that amazing, Bob! This shows up on film, and the answer to this question isn't that the offense doesn't have many easy answers or that Hurts doesn't see them, it's both.

Hurts was sacked seven times against the Rams, most of them due to fake pressures that fooled Hurts and Kellen Moore. During this sack, the Rams showed a look of robbery not unlike RB Saquon Barkley's motion. Philadelphia runs a double diagonal to Hurts' left side and has a spacing concept on the right side. With everyone getting robbed and expecting a blitz, Hurts takes the snap and expects to hit WR DeVonta Smith where the blitzing LB should have been. However, one of the LBs fires a blitz, but the other one falls directly on Smith, forcing Hurts to get off it. You can make an argument that AJ Brown should have been hit on the backside of this play, but for the most part, everything is stuffed and Hurts gets the sack.

This game shows off a passer who couldn't get to the back of the play, but some concepts were just invented by the Rams. With this passing concept, there aren't many places you can take the ball. From the view of the end zone, you can see Hurts going for a return route to WR AJ Brown but misses it due to good coverage. On the front side of the concept, everything is explained. There's nowhere to take the ball and Hurts doesn't go into creative mode, so he takes the sack (Jared Verse also took out Mekhi Becton on this rep).

This stands out because the commander's defenders are not necessarily the dominant force, yet they thrive. chaos. They want their defense to make explosive plays like sacks, interceptions, and fumbles. Washington finished the regular season 12th in the NFL in sacks, but only sacked Hurts twice against Hurts and Philadelphia, and was pressured on 14 of his 40 dropbacks. Most importantly, Hearts did not give the ball back to the manager. What I found interesting when looking back at the snaps the Commanders defense played against Hurts is that they had very little pressure or game simulation to try to keep the Eagles' QB off balance. This worked in the Week 11 game when he brought in a blitz and played man coverage behind it.

Hurts took DeVonta Smith on a shallow route but decided to eat a sack instead of taking it.

To get the most out of the Hurts and Eagles passing game, there's a simple solution to all these simulated pressures. Don't put yourself in that situation in the first place. Most teams try to put that kind of pressure on obvious passing downs, but it's very difficult to do that on third and fourth downs. In the first matchup between the Commanders and Eagles when Hurts was healthy, Philadelphia had a 47% success rate and a 0.15 completion percentage. EPA per run with early down. With this offense remaining on schedule, it opens up more avenues for play-calling, but most importantly, it means we won't be in situations where we have to pass the ball.

Take, for example, the first big Saquon touchdown. At Nos. 3 and 4, the Rams will have three defensive linemen on one side and both linebackers on the other side. Hurts sees this and knows the downs and distance and checks in on the run play because it's very likely they will onslaught LA ​​with the run. Next thing you know, Barkley takes off for a touchdown.

The coaches will have to start from the front in this game and win through early downs. Defensive tackles Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne will have to play their best football after playing one of the best games of their lives against the Lions. If the Eagles can survive 2nd and 4th or 2nd and 5th, they will win the game. But which Jalen Hurts will show up if Philadelphia is forced into an obvious passing situation?