It is 3rd and long. Long. 10 yards or more long. You have outstanding pass catchers and your QB is playing great this year. Your run game is struggling. What do you do?
If you’re the Philadelphia Eagles, you run the ball.
No team has handed off the ball to a running back on 3rd and 10+ more than the Eagles, who have done so seven times. Last season the Eagles handed the ball off on 3rd and 10+ seven times all season.
Counting stats can often be misleading, and with the third most 3rd and 10+ so far this season the Eagles have had plenty of opportunities to unintentionally pad the stat. But they hand the ball off on 3rd and 10+ 21.9% of the time, second only to the Colts at 30%. Last season they handed it off on just 11.3% of the time. This isn’t a case of it if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it: they have yet to gain a first down.
This is just a handful of plays, but is indicative of a larger problem: the coaching staff seems to not trust Jalen Hurts. They should. The Eagles passing game has been terrific on 3rd down when it’s actually used.
- Yards to go on 3rd down: 31st
- Pass rate: 30th
- Completion percentage: 3rd
- Yards per attempt: 1st
- Adjusted Net Yards per passing attempt: 3rd
Further, 37 QBs have attempted more play action passes, including JJ McCarthy, Marcus Mariota, and Brock Purdy, who have started just two games each. Hurts’ 5.0 yards per attempt is the 5th worst among QBs with multiple starts, but he has averaged at least 8.0 yards per attempt on play action in every season. He didn’t suddenly become bad at it.
Throwing more won’t solve all the Eagles problems. The offense has been awful on 1st down no matter what they do, 27th in yards per rushing attempt and 28th in yards per passing attempt.
But it will solve some problems. The run game and defense are struggling and the QB isn’t. Give him more. Give him more chances. The team is 27th on 3rd down conversions, they’ve been top 10 in every season with Hurts as a starter (and top 5 in three of them). Hurts is on pace to throw the second fewest attempts per game in his five seasons as a starter, with his lowest rate being last season, when he had multiple games with 1 or fewer passing attempt in the 4th quarter because the team was blowing out the opposition.
There’s no reason Jalen Hurts should be throwing the ball even less this year.
