Inside the Eagles’ offensive stats: Problems against the blitz, trouble on Jalen Hurts’ runs

Going into the 2023 season, the Eagles welcomed back all but two starters on offense from the dominant squad that reached the Super Bowl. But the Eagles weren’t able to replicate that same success, leading to a late-season collapse, a wild-card playoff exit, and the ouster of offensive coordinator Brian Johnson.

On paper, the Eagles ranked in the top 10 in a number of offensive categories this season, including scoring (No. 7) and total yards (No. 8). Still, some of the underlying statistics reflect a number of struggles that characterized the team’s season offensively. Let’s take a look a two of those metrics of concern, plus one bright spot for the offense.

Quarterback Jalen Hurts faced the blitz frequently this season, just as he had in his second year as a starter. Hurts was blitzed on 38.7% of his dropbacks in 2023, according to Pro Football Focus, which ranked second in the NFL among quarterbacks who had at least 124 dropbacks. He trailed only Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love, who was blitzed on 39.2% of his dropbacks. In 2022, Hurts was blitzed on 38.9% of his dropbacks (No. 3 in the league).

The blitz doesn’t always equate to pressure, especially if an offense is able to effectively sort out the protection and create viable solutions for the quarterback in the passing game. But for the 2023 Eagles, Hurts faced pressure when blitzed at a higher rate than he did in 2022. In his second season as a starter, Hurts was pressured on 37.9% of his dropbacks when blitzed (80 of 211), according to Pro Football Focus. This year, Hurts was pressured on 43.6% of his dropbacks when blitzed (105 of 241).

Hurts was more productive as a passer when he wasn’t blitzed, so it should not come as a surprise that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers blitzed Hurts on a whopping 69.2% of his dropbacks in the wild-card game. During the regular season, when Hurts faced the blitz, he completed 62.6% of his passes (132 completions on 211 attempts for 1,491 yards). When Hurts wasn’t blitzed, he completed 67.3% of his passes (220-for-327, 2,367 yards).

» READ MORE: Four stats that define the ineffective 2023 Eagles defense

This season, Hurts was more prone to throwing interceptions against the blitz than he was in 2022. Hurts had a 1:1 touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio when facing the blitz this season (eight touchdowns, eight interceptions). Last year, Hurts threw eight touchdowns and two interceptions when blitzed. When Hurts wasn’t blitzed this season, he threw 15 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Last season, he threw 14 touchdowns and four interceptions.

Who shoulders the blame for the Eagles’ shortcomings against the blitz? How much of this falls on Hurts? The coaching staff? The protection? The receivers? Only the Eagles really know at the end of the day, and it’s on them to determine a better plan.

Last season, designed quarterback runs were crucial to the success of the Eagles offense. It was able to capitalize on that part of the game thanks to Hurts, who describes himself as a “triple threat” because of his football IQ, passing ability, andrushing talent. According to data from Pro Football Focus, in 2022 Hurts had 73 designed run attempts for 385 yards, averaging 5.27 rushing yards per attempt. That does not include quarterback sneaks (i.e. the Tush Push), scrambles, or kneel-downs.

In 2023, Hurts neither carried the ball as frequently on designed runs, nor was he as efficient as he was last year. Hurts had 59 designed run attempts for 230 yards, averaging 3.89 yards per attempt. How much did opposing defenses try to take away Hurts’ option to run the ball altogether? How much of that decrease in attempts and efficiency was by choice? On Dec. 6, three days removed from a 42-19 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, coach Nick Sirianni was asked why Hurts’ rushing numbers were down compared with the previous season (aside from rushing touchdowns).

“Just different styles of the way teams are playing,” Sirianni explained. “Sometimes the teams aren’t going to let him carry it if it’s some sort of read. Now, it doesn’t always have to be a read. Sometimes, it can be a designed run. But like I said, we always look for his protection at first and protecting him.

“If you look at the body of work, there was a stretch of time where we weren’t running him much at all. So that factors into a number when it’s 12 weeks into the season.”

The stretch of time Sirianni referred to came before the bye, namely in Weeks 7 and 8 against the Miami Dolphins and the Washington Commanders, respectively. Hurts dealt with a left knee injury in the Dolphins game that forced him to wear a brace in the second half. He ran the ball 11 times against the Dolphins, picking up only 21 yards (1.91 yards per carry). The following week against the Commanders, Hurts ran the ball just four times for 6 yards (1.5 yards per carry, his season low).

While the Eagles offense became increasingly confounding as the season progressed, the success at running the Tush Push remained constant. The Eagles scored 11 touchdowns on quarterback sneaks, according to Pro Football Focus, which was an increase by six over the total in 2022. That doesn’t include the jet sweep they ran for a D’Andre Swift touchdown in Week 8 against the Commanders off a Tush Push fake.

The Eagles were incredibly effective in short-yardage rushing situations thanks to their trusty play and the looks they created off it. They converted 91.67% of their fourth-and-1 rushing attempts (11 first downs on 12 plays), which was the best rate in the league. The Eagles were also successful at rushing on third-and-1, converting 77.78% of their attempts (21 first downs on 27 plays), which ranked second in the NFL.

On the vast majority of occasions, opposing defenses were unsuccessful in their attempts to stop the Eagles from converting or scoring on the Tush Push. In Week 15 against the Seattle Seahawks, linebacker Bobby Wagner crowd-surfed the pile in an apparent attempt to stuff Hurts.

The Buccaneers were technically successful at stopping the Tush Push in their wild-card win when the Eagles tried to run the play on a two-point conversion. Although they came up with the stop, the NFL later fined linebacker K.J. Britt $5,592 for unnecessary roughness when he yanked Hurts’ helmet backward to prevent him from breaking the plane on the play, a call that the officials missed in the moment.