The most important Eagles development since the bye week

It’s not the only reason the Eagles are 2-0 in their last two games but it has certainly helped.

Jalen Hurts has not committed a turnover in the Eagles’ two games since the bye week. He’s not even putting the ball in harm’s way.

That’s a huge change from before the bye.

In the first four games of the season, Hurts turned the ball over seven times as the Eagles limped into the bye week with a 2-2 record. In the two wins since they came back from the break, Hurts hasn’t turned the ball over once.

“I think he’s been playing good football and taking care of the ball,” head coach Nick Sirianni said. “And we have this two-game win streak and he’s touching the ball every play so he’s a big part of that and a big reason why.”

Sometimes turnover and takeaway stats can be a little deceiving. But Hurts hasn’t just eliminated turnovers the last two weeks — he hasn’t had a single turnover worthy play, according to ProFootballFocus.

Weeks 1-4: 11 TWP 

Weeks 6-7: 0 TWP

In the first four games of the season, Hurts was leading the NFL in turnover worthy plays and the next closes players (a four-way tie) had just 7. And his turnover worthy play percentage of 6.7% was also the highest among quarterbacks with at least 100 dropbacks.

It’s worth noting that even though Hurts had 20 turnovers in 2023, his turnover worthy play percentage was 2.3%, which ranked 21st in the NFL among QBs with at least 400 dropbacks. So there were reasons to think this issue was going to self-correct.

When it didn’t in the first four games of the season, it was a worry. But the last two games of clean football have been big.

“It's just important playing a position, obviously, but just playing team football and complementary football,” Hurts said after Sunday’s win. “Every team out there really wants to defensively take the ball away, be explosive on offense, and then, obviously, take care of the ball when it's our ball. I think we're still testing our efficiency and that matters. 

“I think we're climbing in the right direction. We just need to continue to build, continue to build. Everybody knows what type of ball we're capable of playing. That's why we're held to that standard from everyone. So, the reality is, we just need to continue to climb.”

It’s pretty obvious how important it is for the Eagles to win the turnover battle. And as much as the Eagles talk about turnovers as a team stat, Hurts is the only player to touch the ball on every play. And aside from a muffed punt (when Isaiah Rodgers tossed an opponent into Cooper DeJean), no one else on the team has turned the ball over in 2024.

Here’s a look at the Eagles’ record with Hurts as a starter based on how many times he commits a turnover:

0 turnovers: 19-6
1 turnover: 14-10
2 turnovers: 6-3
3 turnovers: 1-3

The Eagles got their first win in a three-turnover game from Hurts in the season opener in Brazil and also beat the Saints when he had two in Week 3. But that’s a hard way to win.

Of course, it’s probably worth noting that Hurts has thrown his fewest number of passes this season in each of the last two weeks — 25 attempts against the Browns and just 14 against the Giants.

But it’s not like he’s not pushing the ball downfield. He’s still doing that in key moments, like the deep ball to A.J. Brown to ice the Browns game and the deep touchdown to Brown on a crucial 4th-and-3 on Sunday.

The really tricky thing is trying to maintain an aggressive mindset while also being able to protect the football. There’s a balance to strike there and it’s one of the hardest elements of playing a hard position.

“Jalen plays the hardest position in sports, in my opinion,” Sirianni said. “Where these guys are coming down there, trying to kill you and he’s got to make a split decision on where to go with the football based off of a defense that’s trying to deceive you of what they’re playing. And then have to be accurate with the throw on top of that while somebody is right in the hip of the receiver at times. Sometimes they’re open by a bunch too. 

“Again, it takes a ton of reps, it takes a ton of study and Jalen has done so much of that and he knows how important it is to take care of the football but he also knows how important it is to win the explosive play battle. That’s what we talk about each week. Hey, let’s win the explosive play battle and let’s win the turnover battle. A lot of that falls on his shoulders of being able to push the ball when it needs to be pushed and sometimes you get explosive plays.”

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