The Philadelphia Eagles have dropped their past two games. Their offense hasn't been nearly as dominant as it was last season, and new offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo continues to be under heavy fire.
A.J. Brown and Saquon Barkley haven't sounded too satisfied with their roles in the offense, and they haven't been as explosive as they were under Kellen Moore. Moreover, judging by Jalen Hurts' latest statements, they might not even have an identity.
Jalen Hurts Says the Offense Needs Alignment and Structure
When talking to the media, the former Super Bowl MVP admitted that the most recent offensive meeting had more 'alignment and structure,' which hadn't necessarily been the case in the first six weeks of the regular season:
“There is urgency. I have urgency," Hurts said, per NBC Sports Philadelphia's John Clark. "It starts with me. It starts with the direction we get from KP. We have to help each other. We have to play together as a group.”
The fact that it's taken the new offensive coordinator so long to do this speaks volumes about the state of affairs in the City of Brotherly Love. Head coach Nick Sirianni, who's repeatedly had Patullo's back, gushed about how making him offensive coordinator would give the team a sense of continuity because he had been there for years and was familiar with the personnel. Still, Hurts doesn't think the team has an identity:
“Obviously establishing ourselves, and really kind of just searching for that identity of what we want to be as an offense,” Hurts acknowledged. “I think we’ve shown a lot of different things out there. We’ve put a lot of different things on tape and we haven’t been consistent enough.”
The Eagles have stars all over the offense. They can run the football down the opposition's throats with Saquon Barkley and their stout offensive line, or they can light it up with A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert. Still, as much as it's always good to have options, teams also need an identity to build their offense around.
So far, Hurts has had a pretty modest season, throwing for 1,172 yards, eight touchdowns, and one pick while adding 195 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns. Again, that might also be a product of the team's overall lack of consistency on that side of the field.
Still, it's too early in the season to sound the alarms, and this team has more than enough time and resources to turn things around. Hopefully, it will all start on Sunday when they play the Minnesota Vikings' tough defense.