One of the reasons to get excited for Monday night’s game is that we thought we might see more of Jalen Hurts.

Unfortunately, we did not. The Birds’ backup QB threw a pass, handed the ball off, and didn’t do much of anything beyond that, playing just two snaps on the evening.

The Eagles do not seem to have a plan for Hurts, whom they drafted in the second round. When asked about it Tuesday morning, Doug Pederson said this on 94 WIP:

Angelo Cataldi: “Doug, why haven’t you come up with a more productive plan for using Jalen Hurts?”

Pederson: “What do you mean productive plan?”

Cataldi: “I mean a plan that, he supposedly has a very terrific skill package. We see him once or twice a game and the plays are generally not effective. Or when he throws a pass that’s complete, he leaves the game. This was a big issue on the broadcast last night. They said ‘what’s the point of putting him out there for one play?'”

Pederson: “It goes back to, I guess, talking about stability and continuity, talking about sustainability and keeping drives alive. If you recall, on his couple of plays, we had a false start on a first and ten. Now we’re first and 15 (sic). Then there was a run on first and 15 and his throw on second down, then we’re back to a third and long situation. (sic) We did that with Carson in the game. We had false starts, we had penalties on the offense and we put ourselves in (bad positions). I talk about this a lot during the week with the team. Our first down efficiency has to be better. We can’t keep putting ourselves in these 1st and 15s, or 2nd or 3rd and long situations. You can’t sustain a drive. It’s too hard. You need to be 3rd and 1 or 3rd and 2, or no third downs at all.

We do try. I sit with coach Stoutland and the staff and we come up with a plan we think is beneficial that week for Jalen. We knew going in that we were going have to throw the ball a bit more, and as we go that has to happen a little bit more with him. But it never really manifested itself to keep that going consistently. We shot ourselves in the foot too many times.”

Huh?

Alright, first of all, Hurts was not in the game for first and ten. Wentz threw a lame one-yard out to John Hightower, which resulted in 2nd and 9. Then they brought in Hurts and the false start happened, resulting in a 2nd down throw that got them back to 3rd and 8. Hurts was yanked again, Wentz was sacked, and they punted.


Second, you could argue the exact opposite of what Doug is talking about here. Why did a scenario for using Hurts more fail to “manifest” itself? Because the starting quarterback was playing like shit! So put Hurts in the game and give him a shot to get the gears moving via a change of pace and some different looks. Surely Doug did not expect to be cruising up and down the field, playing with a lead, and finding multiple opportunities do Taysom Hill things with Hurts, did he? Surely he did not think they were going to be rife with 2nd and 1 and 2nd and 2 opportunities to take shots down the field or get Hurts in the game, or get loose with the playbook, did he?

There is no plan for Hurts. If you are gonna use him, stop holding his hand. Let him throw the ball. Expand the package. If you don’t think he’s ready yet, then just leave him on the bench entirely. This is not hard.

Here’s the full audio: