Pride of Detroit
The Detroit Lions are under new direction on offense, but “5 Questions” is still being run by the same guy. This week, we had the pleasure of connecting with Brandon Lee Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation to give us some insight into the team currently at the top of the NFC standings. We got the lowdown on the drama between the Eagles and A.J. Brown, the whirlwind of changes at the defensive end for Philly including the trade deadline deal for Jaelan Phillips, and much more in the lead up to this highly-anticipated matchup between two of the best teams the conference has to offer.
Jalen Hurts has to be the most polarizing quarterback of this generation, especially for a guy who has been to two Super Bowls and won it all last year. What’s your read on his game at this point of his career and is he playing to his potential and holding up his end of the bargain on offense?
It’s been an uneven year for the reigning Super Bowl MVP.
There have been times when he’s played the best football of his entire career. The Eagles’ first half of the Buccaneers’ game comes to mind in that regard. Hurts was also looking pretty sharp in the two games before the Eagles’ Week 9 bye; he literally had a perfect passer rating against the Minnesota Vikings. At his best, he’s looked in complete control. And he’s done a really good job of taking care of the football with just three giveaways through nine starts.
Hurts had his worst game of the season in Week 6, when he was involved in two different 14-point swings. The first was when he overthrew a wide open DeVonta Smith deep for a potential touchdown. The Eagles instead had to punt, which led to a Giants touchdown drive. Hurts later threw his sole interception of the season to end what was looking like a promising scoring drive. The Giants scored again after that pick.
Hurts was uncharacteristically inaccurate against the Green Bay Packers in Week 10. He simply missed throws that he normally doesn’t struggle to complete.
So, the Eagles definitely need him to play better at times. But I’d say that the offense is letting him down more than he’s letting down the offense right now. There are times when the coaching staff inexplicably doesn’t trust him enough. Hurts has the highest third down passer rating in the NFL… and yet the Eagles were more than happy to regularly run the ball on third-and-long situations against the Packers. When the offense didn’t merely give up and actually relied on Hurts to complete third down passes, he made some really good throws.
*All told, you feel like the Eagles are going to have a pretty good chance to win the game when Hurts is starting. The Eagles are 23-4 in their last 27 games he’s started and finished. And he’s regularly played well in the very biggest games of his career, so,...
