Eagles

Fact-Finding Mission: Here are Five Things Doug Pederson and Jalen Hurts Can Do to Make for a Successful Sunday

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Dec 9th, 2020 · 1:36 PM EST

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The great Herm Edwards once said “you play to win the game,” but on Sunday that’s not important.

The Eagles are cooked and the season is over, therefore, as Crossing Broad’s Bob Wankel would say, we are on a “fact-finding mission” to learn as much as we can about the Birds over these last four games.

Sure, the Eagles are technically alive in the NFC East, but let’s be honest with ourselves. They aren’t going to the playoffs, and if they pull off some kind of miracle winning streak, they probably aren’t going to do anything in the postseason anyway. They are guaranteed to finish with a losing record and we can very safely say that the charade is over and we are looking ahead to next year.

In lieu of beating the Saints, this is what we want to see from Doug Pederson and Jalen Hurts on Sunday:

1. run the ball

We can’t have Hurts throwing 40 passes against a top-three NFL defense. Help him out by trying to establish some semblance of a running game. It doesn’t have to be Miles Sanders taking a beating; you can run Jordan Howard ten times in this game and at least try to make New Orleans open up a bit.

If you can’t, they’re just going to man up on the outside and tee off against Hurts, who will be running for his life in a one-dimensional kind of way. Doug might not have success establishing the run, but for the sake of his young, rookie QB, he has to try.

2. just make smart decisions

Jalen Hurts doesn’t have to throw for 250 yards and two touchdowns.

What’s more important right now is to show that he’s able to read a defense and take what’s given to him. Even if he has to check down 15 times or pull the ball and run it himself, that’s so much better than throwing to receivers who aren’t open and/or trying to play hero ball. Having a good mental showing and avoiding mistakes is more meaningful than stuffing the box score with meaningless stats. I’d rather him go 15 for 28 for 175 yards and zero turnovers instead of chucking it for 255 and two interceptions.

3. 12 personnel helps

We don’t expect Travis Fulgham and Jalen Reagor to torch Marshon Lattimore and that Saints secondary, but Hurts will have a healthy Dallas Goedert and Zach Ertz to work with. Maybe even the reliable Richard Rodgers will be on the field.

If he can hit on some of these shorter tight end routes and nail that seam/mesh concept, that’s a good starting point for a rookie quarterback without elite receivers on the outside.

4. dumb it down

Alternately, we could call this “simplifying the offense,” but they can do with Hurts what they did with Nick Foles, by making things easier and pulling college plays out of the book. RPO, zone read, etc. Maybe they have some sort of option or pistol in the playbook. He’s really good while moving his feet.

Dual threat college quarterbacks work off playbooks that are very simple and streamlined and that’s the way to go with Hurts on Sunday. Don’t complicate things and give the guy a vanilla game plan that works to his strengths.

5. make the easy throws

Carson Wentz supporters like to (correctly) point out that the weapons around him stink, but one of the things you can’t excuse is that he just missed too many open throws over the past two seasons, and often missed badly.

One of the spots where Hurts can separate himself from Wentz is by hitting these short tosses and just playing a sound mechanical game. He’s not walking into this contest with a different skill group, but if he completes these “layups” (Doug’s favorite word), then that’s more ammunition for us to point out how Carson was just not doing enough to help himself.

That’s about it. The bar is not very high, and people need to understand this. We’re not going into this game looking for Jalen Hurts to throw for 350 yards and 4 touchdowns against one of the NFL’s best defenses. We just need to see him make smart decisions, protect the football, play within himself, and perhaps show us a special moment or two.

We are on a fact-finding mission.

Edit:

Obviously losing more games results in a better draft pick. That’s another no-brainer reason why we don’t need to win again this season.