Are Jalen Hurts’ turnover issues fixable? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
At some point, it’s no longer Jalen Hurts in a slump. It’s who Jalen Hurts is.
Hurts has now committed at least one turnover in nine consecutive games, the first Eagles quarterback to do that since Randall Cunningham had a 10-game streak from Week 11 of the 1994 season through Week 7 of 1995 (he didn’t play every game during that span).
It’s not good, and it’s showing no sign of ending.
Hurts has gone from being one of the best quarterbacks in football in protecting the football to one of the worst.
Nick Sirianni was asked several times in several different ways Monday about Hurts’ worsening turnover issues – he’s got seven in four games so far this year – and most of his answers were based on the theme that turnovers are a team problem, not a single person’s issue.
This of course isn’t true.
Hurts’ turnovers have been the direct result of poor decision making on his part, either by forcing throws, being careless with the football or using poor recognition in the pocket.
They’re on him.
“I know there’s going to be a lot that’s always brought onto the starting quarterback,” Sirianni said. “Obviously, we understand that. But as a football team, I think it’s just been consistency. Offensively, defensively, it’s just been our consistency. And that’s something I’ve got to do as a head coach, is make sure our consistency is there.
“And I get it. I get that the quarterback is always going to be the guy that’s scrutinized for the fumble because it goes on him. Same thing as an interception. But there are different things that account for it. … And sometimes it is his fault. But … there are different things that account for it.
“But does he have to have that clock in his head ticking? Yeah, of course. That’s part of his job, too, as the quarterback. But there are so many different things that account for a turnover. Again, you win as a team, and you lose as a team. You turn the ball over as a team, and you protect it as a team.”
Hurts shares the NFL turnover lead with Will Levis, one more than Anthony Richardson. He’s thrown 22 interceptions in his last 23 starts after throwing 12 in his previous 25.
Since opening day last year, Hurts’ 22 total turnovers are 2nd-most in the league, behind only Sam Howell’s 23, tied with Patrick Mahomes and one more than Trevor Lawrence and Josh Allen.
Overall, the Eagles have eight turnovers – Cooper DeJean’s fumble thanks to Isaiah Rodgers is their only non-Hurts turnover. Only the Titans have more.
Their 36 turnovers over the last two years are 3rd-most in the NFL, trailing only the Browns (42) and Vikings (41).
The Eagles’ streak of nine straight games with a turnover is their longest since a 10-gamer in 2016.
They’re 31st in the NFL in giveaway-takeaway margin at minus-6, and they’ve gone 12 straight games without being plus-one or better in turnover margin, their longest streak since a 15-game stretch in 1967 and 1968.
Yikes.
The Eagles’ minus-6 turnover margin equals their worst after four games since 1977, when they were minus-8. They were also minus-6 in 1998, 2003 and 2011.
Although Sirianni won’t directly criticize Hurts for the turnovers, he does allow that if the Eagles don’t fix the issue they’re not going anywhere this year.
“That will be something that we really dive into on the bye week this week and spend a lot of time on that,” Sirianni said. “I’ve told you guys that it’s not sustainable that we’re minus-6. That’s not a sustainable stat.
“We’ve got to make sure that that makes a big change, both taking the football away as a defense and protecting it as an offense. When you go into your bye week, you study everything. You study the turnovers, you study negative plays, you study sacks, you study third down and all the different scenarios in there. You study two-minute, you study four-minute. You study everything. Everything is on the table. You study anything that you deem yourself insufficient at as an offense and defense.
“As far as the turnovers, that will be a big emphasis this week. We’ve got a good idea… but we’ll be looking at it even more in depth with the what, the why, common threads amongst players, common threads amongst plays, play types, down and distances, situations, all that stuff.”
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