David Murphy: Who is Jalen Hurts? Bucs offer a legit measuring stick game for the Eagles and their quarterback.

David Murphy, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Sep 28, 2024

Published in Football

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PHILADELPHIA — The question was always going to come, and it came, framed as positively as the circumstances would allow.

The answer was always going to come, and it came, with all the ambivalence you should’ve expected from a quarterback like Jalen Hurts before an opponent like the Bucs.

Going against that defense, are you eager to see how you fare?

“I’m just excited for another opportunity to play this week,” Hurts said Wednesday. “It’s a great opponent, a great challenge. We just want to go out there and give our best.”

Hurts wasn’t giving anything away, but he knows the implications. Of questions like that. Of games like this. When you talk about the Buccaneers defense, you talk about Todd Bowles. When you talk about Bowles, you talk about the man who has written the book on how to stop Hurts and the Eagles.

On Sunday, Hurts has a chance to add a chapter of his own. A little under nine months have passed since the Bucs tossed the last shovelful of dirt onto the Eagles’ early 2023 grave.

The top line numbers say that Hurts was far from the prime culprit in their 32-9 loss at Raymond James Stadium on wild-card weekend: 25-of-35 passes for 250 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions, a 100.9 quarterback rating. But he was also far from the player he had been the previous postseason, when he was nothing less than the prime reason for the Eagles’ Super Bowl run. He took three sacks, threw for just 85 yards in the second half, and oversaw an offense that failed to score on its last seven possessions.

The intervening period has offered more questions than answers, more hypotheticals than evidence, more opinion than facts. There is a long list of reasons we might expect the Eagles to look like a totally different team on Sunday than they did last postseason. A new offensive coordinator, a new offensive scheme, a new running back, a new lease on life after the doldrums that plagued the 2023 Eagles long before Tampa Bay. How much does any of it mean? How much did it mean?

Rarely does a team get a chance to prove so much so soon: same opponent, same opposing coach, same stadium, apples-for-apples, four games later.

We are going to find out a lot. About Nick Sirianni. About Kellen Moore. About the offensive line in the post-Jason Kelce era. More than anything, we are going to find out about Hurts. About how much he has learned. About how much he has grown. About how much pre-snap control he has at the line of scrimmage … and about how much that matters, for better or worse.

“I think I’m wiser, I’m older, more seasoned in some areas,” Hurts said, “and I think that helps us.”

That’s the theory, anyway. The three games that Hurts has played since the Bucs loss have done little to clarify the image in the ink.

At times, Hurts has looked like the quarterback who very nearly won Super Bowl MVP while going drive-for-drive with Patrick Mahomes. Lost in the Eagles’ last-second loss to the Falcons in Week 2 was a second-quarter touchdown drive that few other quarterbacks could author. On fourth-and-3, he scrambled 23 yards for a first down at the Falcons’ 18-yard-line. On second-and-20, he scrambled for nine yards. On third-and-11 he went for 15. Three plays later, he threaded a perfect pass to DeVonta Smith in the back of the end zone.

That, right there, was the guy.

Last week, we saw someone else. The Eagles’ first drive ended when he was sacked on third-and-11. Their second drive ended with one of the most poorly conceived end zone interceptions you’ll see. Their third drive ended when Hurts fumbled during a sack in Saints territory. The Eagles improved to 2-1 because of two big plays: a 65-yard run by Saquon Barkley and a 61-yard catch-and-run by Dallas Goedert through a Saints defense that looked like it had been raptured.

Week 4 is the end of the NFL’s first marking period. The Bucs are a fitting final exam.

The numbers tell the tale. Not that you need them to. Over the last four seasons, the Eagles lost 18 games with Hurts under center. Three of those games have come to the Bucs. Two of them have been season-enders.

Hurts in four career starts against the Bucs: 58.9% completions, 225 yards per game, four touchdowns, five interceptions, 6.43 yards per attempt.

Hurts against everyone else: 64.4% completion, 230.0 yards per game, 65 TDs, 32 INTs, 7.54 yards per attempt.

“It’s been different every time we’ve played them,” Hurts said. “Different time of the year, different moment, different offense, different approach, philosophy, if you will. I’ve got a ton of respect of him, coach Todd Bowles, and what he does. He creates a lot of great opportunities for his defense and his team. … We just have to come and execute and play clean football.”

Opportunity awaits.