The Philadelphia Eagles have undergone a lot of changes since last year’s second half of the season collapse. Fans will start seeing the impact of those changes this week.
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts arrives at Sao Paulo International Airport ahead of a game against the Philadelphia Eagles, in Guarulhos, greater Sao Paulo, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
By Chris Murray
For the Philadelphia Sunday SUN
They say that the only constant is change.
If that’s the case, the Philadelphia Eagles stand to be one of the league’s most constant teams as the 2024 regular season starts for the team on Friday night.
The Eagles will start the team’s 2024 campaign at the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo, Brazil for Friday’s season opener against a young, hungry Green Bay Packers team coming off a playoff run that almost landed them in the NFC Championship game.
Green Bay isn’t alone in having a chip on its shoulder. The Eagles are attempting to recover from the late season collapse that culminated in a devastating loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the playoffs.
The team has gone through an offseason of changes. On offense, the Birds’ new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore was tasked with rejuvenating an offense that had to replace veteran center Jason Kelce, who retired during the offseason, and get Cam Jurgens, the new center and captain of the offensive line, up to speed, and fit former New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley and former Washington Commanders wideout Jahan Dotson into the puzzle.
The success of an offense filled with weapons at the skill positions will depend upon quarterback Jalen Hurts, who is coming off a Jekyll and Hyde 2023 season. Playing most of 2023 with a bone bruise in his left knee, Hurts threw for a career-high of 23 touchdowns. Unfortunately, he also had a career-high) and interceptions (15). He also had four fumbles for a loss which pushed his turnover total to 19.
Hurts, according to several football analysts regressed from the progress he made during the 2022 season despite being responsible for winning 10 of the Eagles’ first 11 games including a game-winning touchdown run that beat the Buffalo Bills.
But Hurts had trouble passing against the blitz, completing 60 of his passes with a six-touchdown to eight interceptions ratio when he was blitzed. He reportedly called former New York Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale for advice on attacking the blitz.
Throughout training camp, the Eagles offense prioritized attacking the blitz. Eagles linebacker Devin White, who played against Hurts in the playoffs while with Tampa Bay, recently told CBS.com that the former Oklahoma star is doing a better job of dissecting the blitz.
“The biggest thing he’s doing is he’s being patient and his progression as far as getting to the line fast and using dummy counts to be able to get us to undress ourselves, White said. “That’s what’s he’s been doing a lot lately. He’s not rushing, trying to get to the ball and just saying hut.
He’s kind of been taking his time and really picking the defense apart.”
But that’s practice.
Hurts has to show he can do it consistently against live bullets, especially when teams blitz. With his weapons at his disposal, Hurts, who threw just one interception during training camp, will have plenty of opportunities to show where he is.
“I think we’ve gotten better in all aspects,” Hurts said responding to a question about handling the blitz. “There are a ton of different things we need to improve on. I think as a football team we have taken steps in the right direction and now we have the opportunity to assess where we are.”
Head coach Nick Sirianni said that this year, Hurts will have to adjust to making all the line calls now that he is without Kelce, and that part of his game will warrant the most scrutiny.
Sirianni believes Hurts is equipped to do it.
“Jalen Hurts is a player that has just continued to evolve as a player year in, year out in anything that he — you know, if he feels like there is a part of a game that he has to work on and if we feel like there is a part of a game he does, he attacks that thing harder than anybody,” he said.
Meanwhile, on the defensive side of the football, Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio has to turn around a defense that was 26th in total defense and 31st against the pass.
With the retirement of Fletcher Cox, the Eagles have revamped their defensive line with newcomers like former New York Jets edge rusher Bryce Huff who is looking to fill the void of Haason Reddick’s 11 sacks last season.
But the key to the Birds’ defense will be its front line of Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and Milton Williams along with the Eagles’ other edge rusher Josh Sweat (six sacks in 2023).
The focus will be on Carter and Davis, who both showed promise during their rookie years as run stoppers and pass rushers but had stamina issues and are going to be expected to be the anchors of the defense.
The Eagles revamped the secondary with rookie first-round cornerback Quinyon Mitchell, who will be the Eagles’ “nickel” corner when they have five defensive backs on the field.
Mitchell will no doubt help revamp a secondary that was next to last in pass coverage. Veterans like Darius Slay and Isaiah Rodgers, who played his first three years with the Indianapolis Colts and was on the Pro Football Writers Association’s All-Rookie team.
Meanwhile, the Eagles brought in safety C.J. Gardner, who started for the Eagles in Super Bowl 57. The Eagles added two new secondary coaches Roy Anderson — passing coordinator/ defensive backs, who coached in Seattle. Joe Kaspar, a member of Fangio’s staff in Miami, will coach the safeties.
During his press conference this week, Fangio said that everything went well with all the new coaches and new players during OTAs and training camp in preparation for week one.
“I think it would have been nice to have another joint practice or two to help that along to see different offenses and schematics from the opponent. But, overall, I think it went well,” Fangio said. “But we certainly have had enough to be ready.”
But are they? To answer that question, you’ll have to tune into Friday night’s game between the Eagles and Packers. While the primary way to see the game is via NBC’s streaming site Peacock, you can also catch the game on NBC-10 and on 94.1 WIP. Kickoff is at 8:15pm.
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