With Jalen Hurts The Juice Of The RPO Is Worth The Squeeze

No one has been penalized more than the Eagles foe Illegal man downfield penalties since Jalen Hurts had taken over as the starting QB.

Sep 16, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) runs with the football against the Atlanta Falcons at Lincoln Financial Field. / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

PHILADELPHIA - There’s a cost to doing business with RPOs when it comes to the NFL.

The run-pass option has been a strength of the Philadelphia offense since Jalen Hurts took over as the starting quarterback, and tabling it when you have a duel threat at the position would be a dereliction of duty by the offensive coaches.

But, every once in a while if you run enough RPOs, you’re going to see some yellow on the field in the form of Ineligible downfield pass penalties, something that happened three times in the Eagles’ disappointing 22-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

The idea of putting a defender in conflict is a valuable one for any offense as is the thought that if you can’t block someone (think Myles Garrett or Micah Parsons) read them.

Offensive linemen are taught to treat RPOs like running plays and if the timing is a little bit off when the QB chooses to pass, the flags start flying.

On Monday night, athletic center Cam Jurgens reached the second level like an Olympic-level sprinter, and All-Pro right tackle Lane Johnson was also caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“Some of them are on us as coaches; some of them are on a player going too fast,” head coach Nick Sirianni told Eagles on SI after the game. “We coach that, not to go too fast. But, some of them are on us in certain scenarios when we call them.”

In the end, Sirianni believes the officials got in right against the Falcons.

“It looked like they made the right call on all those,” the coach said. “It’s just hard when you can't throw that bubble screen out there when they load the box on something like that.

“We’ve got to play the rules that are there. I thought, again, like I said, the referees were right on the calls. Sometimes it was a coaching thing and sometimes a player thing.”

There is a timing aspect involved and Jurgens specifically needs to get a better feel before racing out like he's Carl Lewis but there’s only so much you can do.

It’s no coincidence that since Hurts has become the Eagles’ starting QB, no team has been penalized more for the infraction than Philadelphia.

“It’s been a little different over the years,” Hurts said earlier this week when asked about the penalties by Eagles on SI. “It seems like it’s been more aggressively called, especially in that game. So it’s something that we have to do a really good job of in how we execute it and how we prepare for those situations so we can take ourselves out of those positions.”

Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore is new to the issue because while previous QBs he’s tutored like Dak Prescott and Justin Herbert have some movement skills, it wasn’t to the point you felt you needed the RPO as an offensive staple.

With Hurts the juice of an effective RPO is worth the occasional squeeze of getting backed up five yards.

However, it can’t happen three times in a one-point game.

On Monday, the penalties called on Jurgens’ wiped-out gains of 7 and 14 yards by Britain Covey and the miscue on Johnson was on an incomplete pass.

“We've had some really good discussions. We don't want to lose that aspect of [the offense].” Moore said. “But the timing of everything and when to make those decisions and when to call those plays, I think all have critical moments. We had some really fun discussions about this that I think will help going forward.”

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