Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles finished the regular season on a roll, which helped them secure a spot in the postseason. Unfortunately for them, they had to match up with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and were steamrolled in their Wild Card matchup.
Philadelphia looked overmatched from the opening whistle, as they were unable to get anything going offensively. That took them out of their game plan, as the Eagles want to run the ball, but once you start trailing by multiple touchdowns, things change and you have to start airing it out.
For the Eagles, that isn’t a recipe for success. Hurts fell woefully short as the Buccaneers’ run defense was up to the task, forcing Philadelphia into becoming a one-dimensional team.
Hurts struggled throughout the afternoon, as some garbage time stats helped his stat line look better. He finished the game completing 23-of-43 for 258 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He was sacked twice, finishing the game with a QBR of 20 and quarterback rating of 60.
Some of the blame can be placed on the coaches for the game plan that was put together, as the Eagles failed to take advantage of one-on-one opportunities. Instead, they opted for a lot of wide receiver screens and quick hitters that the Buccaneers were able to sniff out easily.
Could some of that stem from the coaches knowing Hurts would not be able to keep up with Tom Brady in a shootout? On numerous occasions, the timing was off in the Eagles’ offense as Hurts was late getting the ball to his intended receivers or just missing his target.
So, it’s worth asking; should the Eagles re-consider Hurts as their franchise quarterback? He will likely get at least one more season with this coaching staff, but it is something that the organization needs to seriously consider.
They will likely chalk some of the issues up to first-time playoff jitters. Hurts also doesn’t have a great receiving core to work with outside of DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert, so the team needs to upgrade the weapons before truly evaluating him.
But, the clock is ticking. If Jalen Hurts cannot show improvement as a passer, the Eagles will start the search for a franchise quarterback. There could be numerous veterans available this offseason, so if the right deal comes along, they very well could pull the trigger and end the Hurts experiment now.
