How Jalen Hurts, Eagles can fix the offense for the NFL playoffs

For weeks, those of us in the NFL media space have been debating which version of the Philadelphia Eagles the 2025 squad most parallels. Is this year’s team the 2024 version, which, following a slow start, rocketed to the top of the NFL world with a win in Super Bowl LIX? Or is this year’s team a mirror image of the 2023 Eagles team that, following a 10-1 beginning to the year, lost five of their final six games to cough up the lead in the NFC East, ultimately losing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road during Wild Card Weekend?

Monday night’s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers might have tipped that discussion to the latter comparison.

Philadelphia traveled to the West Coast for Monday Night Football and lost in brutal fashion to the Chargers, by a final score of 22-19 in overtime. Jalen Hurts threw a career-high four interceptions, and the Eagles squandered a strong defensive effort in the defeat.

The loss was Philadelphia’s third in a row, dating back to a Week 12 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, and the Eagles now have a 8-5 record heading into the closing stretch of the season. There are still some positives of course. The Eagles remain the No. 3 seed in the NFC standings and would have a home game on Wild Card Weekend if the playoffs began today. They close out the season with a favorable schedule — Philadelphia plays the Raiders, the Bills, and the Commanders twice — and are still strongly favored to hold onto the lead in the division.

Still, Eagles fans are not feeling too comfortable right now.

And they are wondering what is wrong.

With the caveat that in the NFL, there is rarely one clear problem, let’s dive into what ails the Eagles offense right now, and whether it can be fixed in time for the postseason.

What is wrong with the Eagles offense?

Let’s start with the idea that a picture is worth 1,000 words.

Here is Hurts’ passing chart from Week 11, a 16-9 win over the Detroit Lions and Philadelphia’s last victory, courtesy of Next Gen Stats:

That is … not a lot working over the middle.

Certainly, there is a game-script element to this. The Lions are beat up in the secondary and relying on backups at the cornerback spots. But any observer of the Philadelphia offense would tell you that such a spray chart is rather common for the Eagles, dating back to last season.

Such as this chart from the Eagles’ Week 12 win over the Los Angeles Rams:

There is another element to that win over the Rams that will move this conversation forward. What might you remember most from that victory on Sunday Night Football? It probably was not the statline from Hurts.

But the massive game from Saquon Barkley that night, as the running back rolled off 255 rushing yards including touchdown runs of 70 and 72 yards.

Last year, the Eagles enjoyed a monster rushing attack buoyed by Barkley and an imposing offensive line. It was an offense that was fourth in the NFL in Expected Points Added per Rush with a mark of 0.09, and that ground attack reeled off 25 runs of 20 yards or more, second only to the Baltimore Ravens.

When your ground game is that explosive, the message for the quarterback is clear.

Do no harm.

That recipe worked for the Eagles last year. Hurts took care of the football, did not challenge defenses over the middle too often — where the numbers are not always in the offense’s favor and bad things tend to happen — and lived by the mantra of ending each drive with a kick, whether a field goal, an extra point or a punt. If Hurts was walking off the field as the punt team came into the game, it was ok, because if nothing else Vic Fangio’s unit would take care of things on the defensive side of the ball on the ensuing possession.

Fast forward to this season.

The explosive plays on the ground are not there this year. Philadelphia has only seven runs of 20 yards or more this year, placing them in the bottom half of the league. Their EPA/Rush has dropped to -0.01, putting the Eagles in the bottom half of the league. The explosive rushing attack that propelled the 2024 Eagles to the playoffs, and limited the risks that Hurts needed to take in the passing game, is not the bedrock of the 2025 Eagles.

In an era of the NFL where explosive plays are critical, the Eagles are trying to find new ways to generate them.

Now let’s return to spray charts from Hurts by looking at the last three games, all Philadelphia losses:

In an effort to find those explosive plays, Nick Sirianni and Kevin Patullo have put their hands on the “crossing route” dial, turned to the audience, and kept turning that dial up until the crowd reached a fevered pitch. And while he did not throw an interception in the loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 12, and his interception against the Chicago Bears on Black Friday came on a scramble drill throw outside the numbers, things changed Monday night:

This interception, Hurts’ third of the night, comes on an in-breaking route from A.J. Brown. The pass goes through the receiver’s hands, and into the waiting arms of Cam Hart.

Or take the first interception from Monday night, as Hurts tries to connect with Brown on an underneath route:

Yes, it sparked arguably the most bizarre sequence in NFL history, but it is another throw in the middle of the field that ends in disaster for the Eagles.

In their search to generate the explosive plays that are missing, Philadelphia has tried to attack an area of the field where the odds are not always in the offense’s favor. There are more bodies lurking, bad luck can play a critical role, and while the sideline often works as an extra defender, the sideline cannot reel in an interception or force a fumble at the catch point.

Along the way they have lost three games and the vultures are circling.

Where do the Eagles go from here?

So, where does Philadelphia go from here?

Eagles fans probably have an idea: Send Patullo to Alaska on the earliest flight, and just mail him his clothes.

Assuming that is not the path Philadelphia takes, what are their options?

The easy answer is less a schematic one, and more a medical one.

Their offensive line could get healthy.

Injuries have been an issue for the group up front all season long, with players such as Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, and Lane Johnson missing time. Philadelphia has relied on several different combinations up front, which has led to struggles with communication and a lack of “aggression,” as noted by former Eagles offensive lineman Jason Kelce.

“I think that these guys are very motivated to play well. I think when everything is clicking, and everyone is confident into where they’re going and what’s happening, you end up playing more aggressive. To me, again, we talked about it a little early in the show, I do see times where guys are going to the same player. I do see times where everyone’s not locked into the communication and what’s happening, and I think that causes indecision, which causes people to not be as aggressive,” said Kelce after the Week 13 loss to the Bears.

Getting their expected starting lineup back, even if just for the playoffs, would be a huge boost and perhaps lead to this offense generating more explosive plays on the ground, which unlocks the rest of the playbook.

Until that happens, however, the answers might not be found underneath, but downfield.

If you think back to last year’s Eagles offense, as the team rolled towards the postseason questions lingered about Hurts and the passing game. I know, because I asked them along with everyone else: Could this team win if Hurts had to throw more? Could he lead them back into a game with his arm?

Consider this: According to Pro Football Focus charting data, Hurts finished the regular season with an Adjusted Completion Percentage of 40.5% on throws 20 yards or more downfield last year, ranking him 25th in the league among qualified passers.

Then came the playoffs, and suddenly that number jumped up to 69.2%, ranking him second among playoff quarterbacks. If teams were going to stack the box to take away Barkley — which the Kansas City Chiefs did in Super Bowl LIX, limiting Barkley to 57 yards on 23 carries — Hurts found a way to punish them in the downfield passing game.

In their search for explosive plays Sirianni and Patullo looked underneath.

They might want to turn their attention elsewhere.

Yes, the efficiency has not been there on downfield throws this season. Hurts has an adjusted completion percentage of 40.4% on throws 20 yards or more downfield this year as charted by Pro Football Focus, ranking him 23rd in the league among qualified passers.

But eight of his touchdown passes have come on such throws, almost half of his 19 touchdown tosses. Only Baker Mayfield has more touchdown passes on such throws.

If you look at his last touchdown pass, a 33-yard completion with Brown, you can see the vision:

Chicago has seven defenders in the box with a safety inside ten yards of the line of scrimmage as well. That gives Hurts a one-on-one opportunity with Brown along the left sideline, and the Eagles capitalize with this touchdown pass.

Teams have been stacking the box to stop Barkley. The Eagles running back has faced eight or more defenders in the box 33.1% of the time this season, via NextGen Stats, compared to 20.6% from a season ago.

On those runs he is averaging just 2.3 yards per carry, a big dip from the 4.5 yard per carry average against lighter boxes.

If teams are going to keep those extra defenders in the box, the Eagles have to punish them. Again, the efficiency might not be there. But attacking downfield, rather than over the middle, might be where the Eagles want to focus.

And throwing underneath and/or over-the-middle against a stacked box is that much tougher.