Eagles stats: Moore motion, less Huff, and a head-scratching decision highlight a win over the Packers

You don’t get extra points for style. Jalen Hurts had more turnovers than touchdowns, but the Eagles made more than enough key plays to leave Brazil with a 1-0 record after beating the Green Bay Packers, 34-29, in São Paulo. Here are four numbers that help illustrate the victory.

There were two versions of Hurts on Friday night: One who was super efficient in the short passing game, and another who had good and bad moments on throws that covered at least 15 air yards.

According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Hurts completed 18 of his 22 passes that flew fewer than 15 air yards. On throws that covered at least 15 yards, Hurts was just 2-for-7 with two interceptions. Both of his touchdown throws came in that category, first when he dropped one in the bucket to Saquon Barkley on a wheel route, the other a perfect pass to A.J. Brown to open the scoring 51 seconds into the third quarter.

Hurts showed flashes of improvement in the new-look Kellen Moore offense, but also glimpses of what ailed the Eagles during their 2023 collapse.

“There’s going to be plays he wants back, but he had some really good moments as well,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said.

Hurts nearly had an interception on a short sideline throw to Jahan Dotson, the new Eagles receiver’s only target, which would have ruined a 103.2 passer rating on those shorter throws.

When the Eagles needed to put the game away, they went back to their bread and butter: Shorter throws to Brown and DeVonta Smith and a healthy enough dose of Barkley.

It was one game, one with intangibles (long travel, season opener, new offense), but the Eagles are going to need Hurts to figure out the decision making when he’s airing it out.

» READ MORE: The new Jalen Hurts is the same as the 2023 version in the Eagles’ opener, but shows glimpses of positive change

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman paid Bryce Huff more than $51 million over a three-year contract to be his team’s replacement for Haason Reddick, but the Eagles apparently also were going to ask Huff to do something he hasn’t done before: be an every-down edge.

Apparently not. Huff played just 30 of the 67 defensive snaps Friday night, fewer than Brandon Graham (32) and Nolan Smith (31).

New defensive coordinator Vic Fangio was pretty blunt as camp opened in July when he said Huff wasn’t an every-down player yet, but later said Huff had made strides to put himself in a better position to be that player.

Maybe even more worrisome was that Huff largely was unnoticeable during those 30 snaps. The Eagles offered up a mostly toothless performance from their edge rushers. Josh Sweat had a few solid moments, but the pressure on Green Bay’s Jordan Love mostly came from the interior.

Huff tallied a career-high 10 sacks last season with the Jets, the team Reddick is now refusing to report to until he gets a new contract. But Huff’s usage mostly was as a rusher on passing downs. He played just 42% of the Jets’ defensive snaps, similar to his playing share Friday night. Reddick, meanwhile, played 74% of defensive snaps in each of his two seasons with the Eagles.

» READ MORE: ‘Freak-show’ catch from Saquon Barkley was a sign of things to come in his TD bonanza in Brazil

No team utilized motion less on offense than the 2023 Eagles, who used motion on just 35.1% of their plays.

Moore’s offense is an about-face.

The Eagles sent a player in motion on a whopping 48 of their 73 plays (65.8%) Friday night, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, and Hurts was at his best when they did.

With a player in motion, Hurts completed 15 of 21 for 212 yards and two touchdowns. Without motion, Hurts finished 5 of 13 for 66 yards and two interceptions.

The touchdown throw to Barkley came on a pretty play design that sent Dotson in an orbit motion to the right side of the field. That helped free up space for Barkley on the left side of the field, and the two Eagles stars did the rest.

» READ MORE: Saquon Barkley Show saves Eagles’ putrid defense and Jalen Hurts in the NFL’s Brazilian misadventure

Does Matt LaFleur not have an analytics person screaming into his headset to help him avoid the kind of mathematical blunders that flip results?

It’s hard to believe the Packers coach was getting the right information when he decided to kick a 26-yard field goal to cut the Eagles’ five-point lead to two with eight minutes to go. It was fourth-and-5 from the Eagles’ 8-yard line, and the math says to go for it in pretty convincing fashion. According to the automated fourth-down decision bot you probably see populate your X timeline on NFL game days, the recommendation on the play was “very strong” in the direction of going for it. The Packers, according to the bot, would have improved their chances of winning by 7.1% just by attempting an offensive play, leaving out the success or failure of the conversion.

A conversion flips the game in the Packers’ favor, giving them a 51% chance of winning. The field goal going through the uprights left the Packers at just 26% to win.

LaFleur banked on the Packers getting a stop and the ball back. The Eagles, however, went to Barkley and their short passing game to seal their win. Green Bay did get the ball back, but it came at that same five-point margin, with time ticking away, no timeouts to use, and a whole field to cover.