It’s been almost five months since the Philadelphia Eagles went down in playoff flames. They couldn’t get the passing game into any kind of rhythm during a 31-15 loss. Jalen Hurts looked completely lost despite DeVonta Smith seeing a lot of favorable 1-on-1 coverage against Tampa Bay.
The Eagles’ offense couldn’t get untracked. Hurts went 23-of-43 for 258 yards while chucking two bad interceptions. Smith finished with four catches for 60 yards — most of it coming in garbage time — and the cameras caught him venting his frustration on the sideline. Troy Aikman was calling the Eagles-Buccaneers game for FOX Sports and quickly picked up on the problem. He noted a slew of “pretty simple completions” missed by Hurts who often settled for screen passes.
“DeVonta Smith has had a lot of 1-on-1 coverage. And he’s open,” Aikman said, via Josh Tolentino. “If teams defended Michael Irvin like that, he’d have 10 catches in that first half. Instead, it’s a lot of scheme for not many yards.”
Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen was asked if he heard Aikman’s criticism. He didn’t. When reporters relayed what the Hall of Fame quarterback said, Steichen attempted to explain what went wrong.
“I didn’t hear that. I think it’s just more us,” Steichen said on June 3. “We were just looking at what we were doing, and we have to improve in that area. I believe we were 12th in the NFL at 6.9 yards attempt, which is — we want to be in the top 10, and we want to continue to improve, and however we need to do that as coaches and as players, we’re going to do that.”
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Nick Sirianni Comments on Aikman’s Criticism
Head coach Nick Sirianni commented on Aikman’s thoughts about “over-scheming” following the trade for A.J. Brown. The Eagles’ newest weapon brings a reputation for winning those physical 1-on-1 matchups against elite cornerbacks. Some of it is scheme; another part of it is raw athleticism. It’s all about putting players in the best positions to make plays, according to Sirianni.
“There’s definitely a happy medium there,” Sirianni said on May 6. “You can’t just lay the ball out there and say, ‘Roll, go, you guys just go get open,’ and there’s no structure. But again, you don’t want to do too much.
“There’s definitely — we do our best to put our players in the position to make plays, and that doesn’t always mean we are trying to scheme him up to be wide open, and sometimes it’s like how do we scheme it up where he’s one-on-one in this these scenarios. That’s what we are constantly trying to do.”
Smith, of course, is no slouch in single coverage. According to Pro Football Focus, Smith scored 13 touchdowns in single coverage during his 2020 season at Alabama while earning a 98.6 grade. He also had the highest success rate in press coverage of all receivers in the 2021 draft class.
Jalen Hurts Always Thinking About Football
The Eagles have given Jalen Hurts the tools to take the next step in his development as a pocket passer. It’s up to him to keep grinding and putting in the work. Which he has done so far this offseason.
“We talked about it before, he just has a relentless effort to be great,” Steichen said. “So, every approach he takes, the offseason, he doesn’t have an offseason. He’s always on it. He’s always thinking about football. We’re always talking football day in and day out and he’s continuing to grow as a player, as a leader, every single day.
“Obviously going into year two in the system, like I said, the communication has been great with him in meetings. We’re not starting from scratch anymore.”
Eagles Coaches Respond to Troy Aikman’s ‘Pretty Simple’ Criticism