I knows most Eagles fans stepped back after seeing the Eagles soundly beat Washington 24-8 and they say old man what a great game by Jalen Hurts and the wide receivers. They say that was just spectacular and I must admit they did play very well for the first 30 minutes, but for the second week in a row, they shut it down in the second half.
Still, they made a lot of plays to amass 22-35 for 340 yards and three touchdowns in the passing game. This is nothing to sneeze at but, they’re getting into a bad habit of playing poorly in the final 30 minutes.
Hurts did a great job of confidently standing in the pocket. He’s getting better every week of relaxing in the pocket and looking downfield without the anticipation that he’s going to need to run. This development on the part of the young QB. He has weight over his feet in a throwing position and not thinking take off at the slightest sign of pressure. I see quiet feet and a relaxed pocket passer. I think that’s one of the reasons he’s getting more accurate in each game.
Jalen did quickly abandon a number of plays in the second because he sensed a possible pressure from the Commanders pass rush. He also made a deep throw to A.J. Brown, but he brought him to far into the middle of the field and it made the throw uncatchable. He should’ve just kept Brown further down the left hash marks and it would’ve been a long touchdown and Hurts would have gone over the 400 yard mark passing for the day.
Despite that Jalen is playing outstanding football. He’s sitting in the pocket. You can see that he’s calm in the pocket. He’s relaxed. A pocket passer has to discipline his mind to assume he’s got time to get rid of the ball. His body has to be relaxed and calm as he sorts out the routes and the pass coverage.
For the third week in a row, the Birds successfully threw a tight end screen in the Red Zone. Tight end Dallas Goedert who was hurt during the game, did a great job of selling the screen. He doesn’t rush things. He sells it by faking like he’s blocking, then he slips into position. That amazing Jason Kelce gets out there first as a blocker, then the guard Isaac Seumalo cleans up everything that’s left and Goedert is off to the races. One of Washington’s defensive backs wanted nothing to do with making the tackle and Goedert went into the end zone standing up. Goedert is an amazing weapon.
I love the way that Hurts is giving DeVonta Smith chances to make plays. When he sees him one-on-one he’s putting that ball up there and telling DeVonta show us why you have a Heisman Trophy at home. He’s giving “The Bully”, A.J. Brown chances to make plays as well when he’s one-on-one. Hurts is putting that ball up there and saying go get it fellas. Smith had 8 catches for 169 yards and a touchdown. That was an average of 21.1 per catch.
I love the way he changed the play down in the Red Zone and went to Brown on a slant route. Hurts made the audible, call the start at the line of scrimmage and then executed the play for the score. That’s great quarterback play!!! That’s a quarterback who is seeing recognizing the coverage and attacking it. Hurts is playing point guard and letting his play makers make plays!!!
I’ve got to give the offensive line credit. They did an outstanding job of giving Hurts time to throw by blocking a talented defensive line one-on-one and also picking up a number of blitzes that they attempted. They give Hurts the confidence that he has time to throw downfield and I just think that the whole group did an outstanding job.
Of course you can’t say enough about DeVonta Smith and the game he played. He’s not a thick guy, but he’s showing us he’s very strong. The play of the “Slim Reaper” is demanding respect as a number wide receiver. The guy is a “Playmaker” and he’s going up getting the ball at its highest point. He runs precise routes and he catches the ball with his hands. They indeed have two outstanding number one receivers, but I can’t put Quez Watkins up there with those two. I’m sorry, they’ve got two Batmen but I couldn’t put Quez in the same league or same level as the other two. He’s good they’re great.
