What’s wrong with Jalen Hurts? The Eagles better figure it out, and fast

Ralph Vacchiano

NFC East Reporter

There are huge concerns in Philadelphia about Jalen Hurts because of the injured finger on his throwing hand. He hasn’t thrown much since he hurt it in the season finale. And he admitted this week that “everything is a challenge when you have a finger out of place.”

The real worries about Hurts, though, pre-date the injury. And they go a lot deeper than that.

Hurts, quite simply, hasn’t looked Jalen Hurts all season long, and he’s looked even less like himself during the Eagles’ season-ending, six-game slump. He’s completed just 61.1 percent of his passes (110 of 180) for 1,161 yards in the last six games, with only five touchdowns and five interceptions. That’s a stunningly low passer rating of 77.6. And he’s only rushed for a total of 195 yards, too.

Given that, it’s no surprise that the Eagles (11-6) are on a 1-5 slide as they head into their wild-card showdown with the NFC South champion Buccaneers (9-8) in Tampa on Monday night. There are many other reasons for their struggles — like a porous defense, absent pass rush and inconsistent running game. But the biggest question for the Eagles might be the hardest one to answer:

[Read more: Buccaneers-Eagles preview: A tale of two teams heading in opposite directions]

What is wrong with Jalen Hurts?

“To be completely honest with you, I think the last couple of weeks Jalen has been playing some really, really clean football in terms of what he’s seeing, what he’s processing, how he’s looking at it,” said Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson. “We just have to continue to make the most of every possession and put ourselves in the situations where we’re not getting behind the sticks, where we’re not putting ourselves in some unfavorable situations.”

That is about as diplomatic as a coach can be, especially since the last thing the Eagles want to do is admit their $255 million quarterback is a problem, or even has regressed in any…

Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/whats-wrong-with-jalen-hurts-eagles-better-figure-it-out-fast

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Publish date : 2024-01-12 20:22:47

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