When he returned from the bye week, Jalen Hurts seemed rejuvenated, invigorated and enlightened.
“I think this was probably, I’d say, one of the most efficient bye weeks I’ve been a part of in my career,” he said.
Since then?
Three games, three wins, no turnovers.
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Since returning from the bye, Hurts has thrown 59 passes without an interception and he hasn't fumbled, either. Going back to the second quarter of the Saints game in Week 3, Hurts has thrown 122 passes without an interception, 27 pass attempts shy of his career-long streak.
All of which wouldn’t be a huge story except interceptions and turnovers were such a big problem for Hurts for quite a while.
The first four games of this season, he had six turnovers – three lost fumbles, three interceptions. Until the Browns game two weeks ago, he had gone nine straight regular-season games with at least one turnover and seven straight with at least one interception. In the span of 16 games, he had committed a total of 22 turnovers – most in the NFL during that span.
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It was a huge concern.
The Eagles are 21-16 when Hurts commits a turnover but 20-6 when he doesn’t, including 18-2 since the middle of 2021.
The four straight games without an interception match his career high. He had two four-game stretches without a pick in 2022 separated by one interception. In fact, during parts of 11 games from the Jaguars in Week 4 through the Bears in Week 15, he threw one interception in 288 pass attempts.
So you know he’s capable of this kind of efficient play. It had just been a while since we saw it.
What’s the difference?
The biggest one is that Hurts isn’t forcing the ball into traffic like he was at the end of last year and earlier this year when he was turning it over at an alarming rate. He’s making quicker decisions, sensing pressure faster and taking the safe, underneath throw if his first read isn’t there.
And he's also growing more and more comfortable in new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore's system. Moore is Hurts' fourth play caller in five NFL seasons.
Best of all, Hurts is staying aggressive while avoiding mistakes. His 8.1 yards per attempt and 69 percent completion percentage are both 6th-highest among starting quarterbacks. Only two other quarterbacks have averages that high in both categories – Jared Goff and Jayden Daniels.
And his seven completions of at least 40 yards are 2nd-most in the league, behind Brock Purdy's eight.
If a quarterback can drive the ball down the field while avoiding turnovers, that’s a dangerous combination.
Hurts has a 127.4 passer rating over the last three games, and in Eagles history only Randall Cunningham in 1992 and Carson Wentz in 2018 have also had a three-game span completing at least 71 percent of their passes with no interceptions.
And this is the first time he's gone three straight games without a turnover since Weeks 5 through 7 in 2022 - exactly two years ago.
“Jalen has just done an excellent job with the football, certainly in the last few weeks,” Moore said. “I think he's doing a really good job making great decisions while still being aggressive. He's playing at a really good level.”
Before we get too carried away with Hurts turning the corner, keep in mind that the Buccaneers, Giants, Browns and Bengals – the last four teams the Eagles have played – rank 19th, 31st, 32ndand 14th in the NFL in interceptions. The Jaguars, the Eagles’ opponent Sunday at the Linc, is 29th.
The Eagles have 10 games left and their only opponent ranked in the top 10 in the league in interceptions is the Steelers, who the Eagles face in mid-December.
Has Hurts gotten past his turnover issues? It’s still only four games. He’s got to do it over more than four weeks.
And it’s sure helped that the Eagles have run the ball so well. During these four weeks, Hurts has only had to throw 89 passes.
But it’s been a very good stretch. Going into the Tampa game, Hurts ranked 26th out of 31 quarterbacks who had thrown at least 45 passes in interception ratio (one every 25.5 attempts).
Now he’s up to 14th out of 32 qualifiers with one every 47.8.
There’s a lot to feel good about with this team right now. They’re running the ball consistently. They’re tackling much better. They’re showing signs of life rushing the passer. They even got two takeaways Sunday in Cincinnati.
But there’s nothing more encouraging than a quarterback making plays while protecting the football, and over the last month, Hurts has been doing it as well as anybody.
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