Each week, the Philadelphia Eagles win.
But seemingly each week, extra noise seeps out of the defending Tremendous Bowl champions’ constructing.
The most recent drama popped up final weekend when The Athletic reported a number of offensive gamers are pissed off with quarterback Jalen Hurts.
These unnamed gamers, in response to the report, really feel Hurts is simply too reluctant to throw into tight home windows towards zone protection, resulting in extra scrambles and checkdowns and, thus, fewer alternatives for the Eagles’ big-money extensive receivers.
“I never run away from holding myself accountable,” Hurts stated Wednesday, responding to the controversy. “I think that’s exactly what I’ve taken the approach of doing. … We’ve obviously got work to do, and that obviously starts with me.”
Though the Eagles are 8-2 and sit comfortably atop the NFC East, they rank twenty fifth in whole offense (300.1 yards per sport), sixteenth in scoring (23.4 factors per sport) and twenty eighth in passing yards per sport (184.9).
Hurts’ 269 move makes an attempt via 10 video games rank twenty third amongst quarterbacks, although he’s thrown just one interception.
After three consecutive second-team All-Professional choices, extensive receiver A.J. Brown is on tempo for 66 catches, 812 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns in 16 video games.
Fellow receiver DeVonta Smith had one catch for eight yards in Sunday night time’s 16-9 win over Detroit Lions.
“When there’s not a name on it, I don’t put a lot of credence into that,” head coach Nick Sirianni stated Wednesday.
“I don’t necessarily believe everything that’s being written. I just don’t. I’ve been around long enough to know that, so I don’t give it a lot of credence when there’s not a name. Again, just don’t fall into the trap of believing everything you see or read.”
At the least one Eagles star has been vocally public about his emotions.
On a video-game livestream earlier this month, Brown described his scenario as a “s–t show” and inspired viewers who’ve him on their fantasy group to “get rid of me.”
Brown didn’t apologize for the viral feedback when he expounded on them to the media.
“If we’re really focusing on winning and doing our job, we can’t just keep slapping a Band-Aid over the defense doing their job and getting us out of trouble. At what point are we going to pick up our slack as an offense?” Brown stated final week.
Defensively, the Eagles are permitting 20.1 factors per sport, the eighth-best mark within the NFL.
“You can’t just keep slapping a Band-Aid over that and you expect to win late in the year,” Brown continued. “It’s not going to happen.”
The Eagles endured the same controversy final season, with veteran defensive finish Brandon Graham suggesting Brown and Hurts weren’t as shut as they as soon as had been — after which apologizing for that comment — because the Eagles’ passing assault stagnated.
The distinction final 12 months was that working again Saquon Barkley carried the Eagles’ offense with the ninth 2,000-yard speeding season in NFL historical past. Barkley is on tempo for just one,125 speeding yards this 12 months.
In fact, the Eagles’ offense rounded into kind on the proper time, as Philly scored 40 factors of their Tremendous Bowl win over the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs. Hurts was the MVP of that sport, passing for 221 yards and two touchdowns whereas speeding for 72 yards and a rating.
“Last year was what it was,” Brown stated final week. “Thank you for the ring, but it’s a new season.”
The Eagles enter Sunday’s street sport towards the Dallas Cowboys as winners of 4 straight, with their final loss approaching Oct. 9 towards Jaxson Dart and the Giants.
Hurts and his receivers have a plum alternative to get proper towards a Cowboys protection that ranks thirtieth in passing protection (249.9 yards per sport) and thirty first in scoring protection (29.3 factors per sport).
The Eagles lead the second-place Cowboys (4-5-1) by 3.5 video games and already beat them in Week 1. Dallas has retooled defensively since that first assembly, nonetheless, by including Quinnen Williams and Logan Wilson on the commerce deadline whereas getting DeMarvion Overshown again from damage.
“Everybody’s gonna have an opinion, and I give a lot of respect to those things,” Hurts stated. “Ultimately, we’re all here to do the same thing, so it’s about the pursuit of that. I’ve always encouraged trying to work together to achieve that.”
