When you don’t have players on offense that can routinely win one-on-one matchups, you have to rely on the scheme. The Patriots might have to skate in that lane this season. But if you’re the Eagles, well, you’re living well. You can scheme it up if you choose, but mostly, when it comes to the passing game, you let your best beat their best. It worked a season ago, better than almost any Philly football team in the modern era. Nick Siranni’s team finished third in DVOA, tying the franchise’s best-ever showing in a metric that dates back to 1981.
Jalen Hurts is the point man for this show, and if we’re being real, no one was entirely sure this was possible. Hurts lost his job at Alabama to Tua Tagovailoa and transferred to Oklahoma, where the previous two QBs (Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray) had won the Heisman. Hurts didn’t, despite an excellent season. He also didn’t go number one in the NFL Draft. He went late in the second round, the 5th quarterback taken (Burrow, Herbert, Tua, and Love were the first four).
In his first year in Philly, he backed up Carson Wentz. A year later, with Wentz traded, the job was his, but it wasn’t written in stone. Hurts’ numbers were fine. They were okay. But there was no statistical evidence that he was the franchise QB everyone lusts for. No, far from it. In his first-ever playoff start, the Buccaneers dared Hurts to throw to win. He couldn’t. The organization headed into the offseason with multiple first-rounders in their coffers, knowing they could, if they so desired, move up and find someone to take Hurts’ job.
Instead, GM Howie Roseman stood by Hurts and got him a new, shiny toy: A.J. Brown. Paired with 2nd-year pro DeVonta Smith and tight end Dallas Goedert, Hurts took the leap. He completed 66.5% of his passes for 3,701 yards, 22 TDs, and just six INTs. He ran more, for fewer yards, but more scores (13 compared to 10 the year prior). But it was how he did it, with a quiet confidence, poise, and uncanny accuracy. The bigger the game, the better he performed. Culminating with Hurts trading punches with the heavyweight champ of the world, Patrick Mahomes, in the Super Bowl.
But for me, I became a believer on December 4, 2022. In my previous life, working for that company that shall not be named, I covered the Eagles hosting the Titans. Tennessee had just started to teeter. Philly, on the other hand, was soaring with just one loss. But the way Hurts operated that day had me buying all his stock. He made it look so…easy. He was at ease in the face of pressure. He put the ball where it needed to be when it needed to be there. And when he did tuck and run, whether by design or improvisationally, he did it with such control, measuring every moment. He’s not Mahomes, but he’s for real, and he’s someone you don’t just win with but can win because of.
Locally, the Patriots have chosen not to give their quarterback all they could. They’ve shopped for distressed assets - JuJu Smith-Schuster with his knee, Mike Gesicki coming off a down year, Ezekiel Elliott, trading for DeVante Parker a couple of offseasons ago - rather than swing big. Internally, they believe their system can help the players, if not star, at least perform competently. And now Mac Jones may be at the same crossroad Hurts was, except that, unlike the Eagles, the Pats don’t have a treasure trove of first-round picks to move up draft boards. Will New England’s way work? The first test comes against a team that chose another path and against a signal caller who is thriving along that once bumpy road.
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