Eagles’ new quick-strike, motion-heavy offense puts Jalen Hurts ‘in control’

Ralph Vacchiano

NFC East Reporter

Every pass Jalen Hurts threw in the first few days of training camp in Philadelphia looked quick and crisp. He ran the plays fast, didn’t hesitate to find his receivers, and almost every throw was right on target. New offensive coordinator Kellen Moore said his quarterback looked “smooth.”

“You can just tell he’s in command,” Moore said. “He’s in control.”

In other words, Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles are off to a good start, six months after an unimaginably bad ending. Last season, they watched a 10-1 start spiral into a 1-6 finish. And though Hurts was far from the only reason for the inexplicable collapse, it didn’t help that he often looked lost running an offense that suddenly just didn’t work.

That’s why former OC Brian Johnson was fired and Moore was given the task of finding Hurts’ comfort level again. Moore also was asked to cast off what Eagles coach Nick Sirianni lamented was the “staleness” of the old offense. Moore is the fourth different offensive coordinator Hurts has had in his five NFL seasons, and the QB said in June that the scheme is “probably 95 percent” new.

But there are aspects of the offense that Hurts already seems to have embraced. He was given a new weapon in running back Saquon Barkley, who could add a whole new element to Philly’s run-pass option (RPO) attack and give Hurts another target out of the backfield. He’s been challenged to make incredibly quick decisions, with the Eagles borrowing the “2.3-second rule” from Moore’s time with the Dallas Cowboys to make sure their plays develop faster.

And then there’s the biggest change: Much more pre-snap motion than the Eagles have used in years. Last year, in fact, they used less motion than any other NFL team (just 10.9% of their plays according to ESPN Stats and Info). Moore’s offense, which he ran with the Los Angeles Chargers last season, used pre-snap motion 25.9% of the time.

That’s a huge change,…

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Publish date : 2024-08-02 12:41:43

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