Are The Eagles Overcorrecting On Offense?

The accepted narrative during the Eagles’ collapse last season was that the offense fell in love with the big play.

Aug 9, 2024; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) throws before a preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium. / Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

PHILADELPHIA - Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts has still not thrown an interception during team drills through 11 consecutive training camp practices with Tuesday’s joint session against the New England Patriots looming.

Couple that with the longest pass play without Hurts and star pass catchers A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert in the preseason opener at Baltimore traversing all of 11 yards, and the thesis of overcorrection is in play for the Philadelphia offense.

The accepted narrative during the Eagles’ collapse from 10-1 Super Bowl contender to 11-7 one-and-done playoff team last season was that the offense fell in love with the big play and too often pressed instead of taking what the defense was allowing.

A sea change followed with offensive coordinator Kellen Moore arriving to right the ship. Spring work emphasized many underneath throws and that resulted in too many interceptions.

That’s been corrected by Hurts but the emphasis on dinking and dunking has continued with the occasional shot to Brown or Smith down the field, typically in 7-on-7s where there is more space to work.

The quarterbacks in Baltimore were Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee and they were throwing to a hots of receivers who struggled to separate except slot option Britain Covey, a possession receiver.

Some in the Charm City are already fitting the gold jacket for Nate Wiggins after the first-round pick turned in a solid Deion Sanders impression when locking down Eagles' receivers Johnny Wilson, Joseph Ngata, and John Ross in short order.

“Obviously you'd love to get the ball down [field],” Moore said. “Obviously, explosives are a big indicator of successful offenses. Obviously, that's an element. But at the same time preseason games are structured a little bit different.

Eagles OC Kellen Moore / John McMullen/Eagies on SI

“But obviously we have a few opportunities, hopefully we can hit on a couple of these. We took a couple shots down the sideline, and we weren’t able to hit a couple of them.”

It hasn’t been that obvious though and there is a growing sentiment to what’s going on now is that overcorrection to what went on last season.

“I guess that’s an optical thing to look at, and I’m not doing anything I haven’t done before,” Hurts said when asked about being less aggressive in this camp. “I’m not chasing anything that I haven’t seen before. It’s just a matter of leveling up and being better than I was. 

“The goal is to always be better and take those steps. I want to go out there and be efficient, I want to go out there and obviously take care of the ball, but you want to score touchdowns. So, certain things come with a natural nature of playing the position. It’s just kind of been one of those camps. I’m not putting too much into it. I just want to be efficient as an offense and score points.”

The presumption is that once Hurts and his top receivers are together for 60 minutes the faucet will turn on and the explosive plays will come.

To a certain extent that will be the case. The quicker Moore and the coaching staff get past the overcorrection phase will smooth the transition to that end game.

MORE NFL: Eagles Vic Fangio's Assessment of Two Edge Rushers Is Not Overly Glowing