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The Eagles Went Under Center at a Season-High Percentage Against Raiders
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Kevin Patullo was asked on Wednesday about Jalen Hurts playing under center in the Raiders win. Transcribed here by Zach Berman:
“He’s done a really good job. I mean really from when we kind of started doing this early in the season, working through the Vikings game, that was a big step for him. He works extremely hard at it. You can see him even in between periods, in between special teams stuff, whatever he needs to do. He’s working on his footwork, working on the timing. He’s extremely dedicated to make sure he’s always on time and in rhythm and he’s working the under-center stuff because it is a little new. We’ve dabbled in it obviously in the past, but he’s doing a great job with it and he works extremely hard at it, so it’s been great.”
It was the most the Eagles have played under center this entire season, a whopping 45.5% of snaps, with a season-low 47% coming from the shotgun. It does include the 4th quarter numbers when Tanner McKee was in the game, but as the Sportradar chart shows, the under center numbers have increased drastically over the last four weeks:
What’s interesting is that the Birds had four-game window in which they upped their under center numbers between weeks 7 and 11. They went 4-0 in that stretch, beating the Vikings, Giants, Packers, and Lions. The caveat, of course, is that they only scored 26 points total against Green Bay and Detroit, but the shotgun numbers increased against Dallas, Chicago, and LA, and they lost all three of those games. Earlier in the season, they were running shotgun at a heavy clip and started 4-0, so go figure.
Regardless, it seems like the offense has been flowing a little better over these last two weeks, when the under center percentage increased to 22.7 in LA, and then 45.5 this past Sunday. So you’d think there’s probably something to build on here, or, if nothing else, better balance in the looks they’re showing opposing defenses. They have seemed less predictable in December and hopefully there’s a blueprint for continued success in Washington, and a repeat NFC East title.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com