A graphic flashed across the screen during Friday night’s NFL broadcast on Peacock that illustrates the uneven nature of recent Philadelphia Eagles seasons:
FIRST TEAM since 1970 with SAME HEAD COACH but DIFFERENT OFFENSIVE and DEFENSIVE COORDINATORS IN 3 STRAIGHT SEASONS
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was not close to his best against the Green Bay Packers in Brazil, but it’s hard to blame him. He’s had seven different offensive coordinators in the last eight years, dating back to his senior year at high school. Now in his fifth NFL season, Hurts has been deprived of the kind of continuity that his counterpart Friday, Jordan Love, has enjoyed with head coach/play-caller Matt LaFleur in the same amount of pro service time.
There was a critical play late in the Eagles’ 34-29 win over the Packers that could be a sign of things to come in a budding relationship between Hurts and new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.
With 2:10 remaining in the fourth quarter, and the Packers down to one timeout, Moore made a gutsy play call that helped the Eagles salt away a Week 1 win. On 2nd and 8 from the Packers 17 yard line, Moore called his quarterback’s number. Hurts delivered a strike to DeVonta Smith for a first down, effectively ending the game.
DeVonta Smith. Always reliable.
📺: #GBvsPHI on Peacock pic.twitter.com/iIw8UOZtIh
— NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2024
Moore was visibly pumped up on the sideline, and there’s no question his influence played a role in the Eagles scoring 34 points against a good Green Bay defense. It could have been in the 40s, had Hurts not thrown a bad interception in the end zone, or the team not fumbled a snap with 1 minute left in regulation at the 1 yard line.
In Kellen Moore’s debut as Eagles offensive coordinator, the offense utilized motion on 48 of 73 plays (65.8%), their highest mark in a single game since 2020.
Last season, the Eagles used motion at the lowest rate league-wide (35.1%).
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— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 7, 2024
The Eagles, overall, were not sharp on offense in this game. They had three woeful turnovers, and were fortunate it wasn’t more. The first quarter for that whole unit was absolutely brutal.
The ending, though? That’s something to take back home to Philly and build on for Hurts and his new OC.
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