It’s Week 15, but do the Eagles have an offensive identity? The last two weeks feel different. I said last week, despite the turnovers, that I was optimistic about the offense. For the first time since the bye, the Eagles looked like an offense with a clear identity rather than a collection of ideas. Yes, the Raiders suck. But I still care how the Eagles play. That’s just as important as winning the game. Let’s get into it.
The first thing that jumps out on film is how much more comfortable Jalen Hurts looks when the QB run game is treated as a key part of this offense. Early on, the Eagles go empty, motion DeVonta Smith across the formation, and pull both Tyler Steen and Dallas Goedert. Goedert doesn’t even land his block cleanly, but Hurts avoids contact and still picks up solid yardage on 3rd down. The QB run game doesn’t need perfect blocks to work. Hurts is too decisive downhill for defenses to ignore, and the offense is fundamentally less threatening when this part of his game is minimized. You can worry about hits all you want, but Hurts without designed runs is not the same quarterback. And this offense is not the same without it.
However, what makes that run more meaningful is what comes immediately after it. Instead of abandoning the look, the Eagles build directly off it. Smith motions again, Steen and Goedert pull again, and this time the Eagles fake the run to Saquon Barkley before slipping Goedert underneath on a shovel pass. This is good sequencing! Something the offense has been awful at for most of the year. Defenses are forced to respect what they just saw, hesitate for half a second, and that’s all you need at this level. When the Eagles marry concepts like this, the offense becomes far harder to play against, even without elite execution on every snap. This is good stuff.
Hurts’ deep ball also made a welcome return. I’ve missed these dimes! The out-and-up to DeVonta Smith is pure class. This is perfect ball placement. These throws are easy to forget when the offense has been as bad as it has been this year, but this is still one of Hurts’ defining traits. The Eagles should never go through a game without threatening the defense vertically outside the numbers when they have Hurts, DeVonta Smith, and AJ Brown on the roster. Stretching the field is not optional for this offense. It must always remain a foundational part of this offense.
I want to be optimistic, but I’ll pause for a couple of tweets just to make it clear I’m not entirely convinced everything is solved for good. This game did not magically fix everything. Hurts only threw 15 passes, and there were still moments where the drop-back game looked ugly. This third-down sack stood out for the wrong reasons. Live, it felt like a quarterback error. On film, it’s just bad spacing with zero answers. That’s not on Hurts. This is a play you rip out of the call sheet and never look back at. This is still an offense that cannot consistently win in pure drop-back situations, and we have yet to see if this has changed. We may not until the Bills game!
Similarly, the run game also isn’t flawless yet. I remain sick to death of outside zone with Grant Calcaterra responsible for the backside. Outside zone continues to be an issue. However, the positive news is that the Eagles were not hanging everything on this one-run concept anymore. They mixed in counter, duo, pin-pull, and QB involvement, which makes individual failures easier to live with. The under-center run game doesn’t have to be dominant on every snap. It just has to exist consistently enough to force defensive respect and open up the play-action passing game.
Speaking of under center play action… one of the most encouraging plays of the day comes off under-center play action. Landon Dickerson pulls hard to sell the run, Goedert blocks for a second or two, then leaks into space while A.J. Brown and Smith clear out the defense. This is exactly why the run game matters. It’s not just about yards per carry. It’s about creating believable deception. When the quarterback turns his back to the defense, linebackers hesitate, pass rushers slow down, and throwing lanes widen. I am fascinated by the return to under center this year. Just go and look at every top offense this year, and they are all living under center. This is something I will write about in the offseason, but passing from under center feels like a must in the modern NFL. It is not just about the running game. The Eagles must continue to throw from under center. I am convinced this has to become part of their identity heading into the playoffs. Lining up under center causes defensive linemen to expect a run, which manifests in a more limited pass rush a lot of the time, too.
However, when you do go back to the shotgun run game, it needs to look like this. The Eagles also mixed in more RPO looks that actually made a lot of sense. On this one, the structure allows Hurts to both threaten the edge and throw if the defense overcommits. This is the key distinction between useful RPOs and standard read-option run plays. Hurts isn’t being forced into a give-it-or-keep-it decision. These plays give Hurts three options on every play. I think comparing the under center game and mixing in RPOs from the shotgun is a great way of designing this offense. I hope we stick to this philosophy.
As I mentioned last week, there is also a noticeable shift in the pass concepts. The Eagles continue to move away from endless hitches and have started stressing defenses vertically and horizontally again. The data support the film!
This three-level stretch to Goedert stands out, with the tight end subtly influencing defenders before breaking outside. It’s not complicated, but it’s good football!
The Eagles did some things in this game to dictate what the defense was doing, which I enjoyed. Here, the alignment of A.J. Brown and Goedert screams zone coverage, and Hurts immediately understands to go with the football depending on what the safety does. The Raiders try to spin from single-high to two-high late, but Hurts reads it cleanly and hits the slant without hesitation. These are the easy wins that have been missing for weeks. Again, this is just good football on 3rd down.
Here’s another 3rd down successful run! The QB run game continues to show its value. On third and long, Hurts takes advantage of a two-high structure and picks up the first down with a decisive north-south run. Defenses do not want to load the box in these situations, and until they do, this call will continue to work. Predictable does not mean ineffective. I think the QB Draw should always be in play in 3rd-and-long situations.
The easiest touchdown of the day comes via improved run unpredictability. The Raiders are pinned inside, and it’s the easiest touchdown Dallas Goedert will ever have. The running game was a lot more multiple than it has been in recent weeks.
Ooft. I like this. Under center counter by pulling Cameron Latu along with Landon Dickerson is interesting. The counter run game was big in this game. This is something the offense can actually build on, rather than resetting every week. I thought Latu played pretty well, but I wanted to shout out Tyler Steen, who I thought was exceptional in this game. The Raiders suck, I get it, but it was still good to see some good performances on the interior of the offensive line this week. Lane Johnson coming back won’t hurt this run game, either…
Hurts capped the performance with another perfect throw, this time to A.J. Brown running a seam from the slot. The Eagles use heavy personnel to force base defense, isolate Brown on a safety, and let their best player win. That’s good coaching. It’s simple, aggressive, and good all-around game planning. If you read the preview, you will know that the Raiders love to play base personnel, so using 22 personnel with AJ Brown out there as the only receiving option is outstanding. Hurts deserves credit here, too. This was his best game in weeks. He was efficient, decisive, and calm. He finished with the best EPA per dropback of his career, and while the volume was low, the quality was undeniable. He silenced the critics. I’m sure they will be quick to point out how good he was in this one, and one wait for his next bad game before tweeting about him…
The Eagles might have an identity. No matter who the opposition is, I enjoyed this one. I still don’t think that the under center run game was particularly good in this one, which is still an issue, but using more under-center slows opposing pass rush, creates better play action, and forces defensive linemen to hesitate. This will improve the pass game. Hurts doesn’t need to be a classic drop-back passer for this to work. He just needs structure, deception, and balance. For the first time in a long while, the Eagles provided that.
This game doesn’t mean the offense is suddenly elite. It doesn’t erase earlier failures, and it came against a bad team. But it does matter. The Eagles finally picked an identity and leaned into it. If they stay committed to the under-center run game, keep building coherent sequencing, and allow Hurts to be fully himself as a part of the run game, this offense can reach a level that’s good enough. With this defense, that might be all they need. For at least one week, I’m feeling pretty good…
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