NFL Power Rankings Week 15: Jalen Hurts is the uninspiring anchor who could sink Eagles’ Super Bowl hopes
By many accounts, this year’s Philadelphia Eagles have the classic characteristics of a Super Bowl-caliber team.
They have an elite offensive line with approximately zero turnstiles. Saquon Barkley is an otherworldly MVP-type tailback tailor-made to take advantage of the massive running lanes such a line gives him on a routine basis. A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith comprise arguably the top receiver duo in the league. Most importantly, Vic Fangio’s defense is elite, with a young, revamped secondary setting the table for a unit that makes quarterbacks and offensive coordinators lose countless hours of sleep. That kind of defense will always give you a chance to hang around in tight games.
With all of that said, there’s a big elephant in the room concerning the NFC’s current No. 2 seed.
Is Jalen Hurts good enough to take the Eagles over the top?
This might sound ludicrous for a quarterback less than two years removed from a 374-yard, four-touchdown game in an actual Super Bowl, but Hurts has lost the benefit of the doubt. At first, in 2023, you thought the Eagles’ nonsensical coordinator changes were to blame for an alarming Hurts slump. But with the respected Kellen Moore now running the show, Hurts still looks kinda … broken. As a passer, anyway. This, despite having one of the most talented supporting casts in football.
On an expected points added (EPA) per play basis, Hurts is just 14th in the NFL. His passing success rate of 45.8 percent — which measures how many yards a quarterback gets in sequence on first, second, and third/fourth down through the air — is just 17th in the league. The worst of it is Hurts’ glaring sack percentage of 9.72 (this is a quarterback stat). Only names like Will Levis and Caleb Williams, who are both mired on some of the worst teams in pro football, are ahead of him. The only other quarterback playing for a genuine contender in the top 10 is Russell Wilson.
It’s great that Hurts is a dynamic rusher who gives the Eagles’ offense an electric element most other NFL teams could only dream of. But you have to pass well to win in the winter in this league. And you have to be a plus-passer who doesn’t make backbreaking, self-inflicted mistakes against the sticks. Full stop.
The Eagles have a roster that is good enough for a Lombardi Trophy, so Hurts might be able to take them all the way anyway. But saying he’s trustworthy as a passer for a full three or four-game playoff gauntlet where Philadelphia has no margin for error is a leap too far. He has to prove it again.
Nonetheless, Hurts’ Eagles are a focal point of For The Win’s NFL Power Rankings in Week 15. Let’s see where the entire league stands with just a month left to go in the 2024 regular season.