How Jalen Hurts is making the interceptions disappear

It wasn’t that long ago we were all concerned about how many interceptions Jalen Hurts was throwing.

It was a real problem and it was getting worse.

His 15 INTs last year were 3rd-most in the league and matched the most by an Eagles quarterback since Randall Cunningham threw 16 back in 1988. Then he threw four more in the Eagles first three games this year, including one on his second throw of the season.

At that point, Hurts had 22 interceptions in the span of 22 games going back to the end of 2022 after throwing 15 in his first 34 NFL starts.

In the span of just over a year, he had dropped from the 8th-best interception ratio in NFL history – one every 55 pass attempts – to 25th-best – one INT every 46 passes.

Ominous. Scary. Alarming.

Since then?

Over the last nine games, Hurts has thrown 202 passes and just one interception – and that wasn’t even a bad pass, just a terrific defensive play by Trevon Diggs.

And he’s moved up to 18th-best interception ratio in NFL history – up seven spots in just two months. “Just trusting my preparation and asking good questions,” Hurts said after practice Wednesday. “Trying to get a good understanding of what we’re doing and then going out there and playing.”

But not only has he avoided turning the ball over, he’s remained aggressive throwing the ball down the field.

In fact, his 9.1 yards per attempt is highest in the NFL during these last nine games, and he’s one of only nine QBs in history to go nine games while averaging at least nine yards per pass and an interception every 100 attempts or more.

That rare combination of efficiency and explosiveness has led Hurts to one of the best stretches ever by an Eagles quarterback. His 112.4 passer rating in these last nine games is 2nd-highest in the league since Week 3 (behind only Lamar Jackson), and in Eagles history only Nick Foles in 2013 has had a higher passer rating in a nine-game span.

“The (impressive) thing is he’s cut down his interceptions and he’s still being explosive as a player and that’s a very tricky thing,” Nick Sirianni said.

“Win the explosive play battle offensively and defensively and win the turnover battle You have to take risks at times to create explosive plays and at risk I mean but more so like you got to make some great throws with some great reads and all those
different things.

How has Hurts reduced his interceptions so dramatically?

The key is he’s not forcing the ball into traffic, he’s throwing the ball away when he doesn’t have anybody open, he’s running more decisively than he has in a couple years when the pocket breaks down and he’s got a running back who’s averaging 125 yards per game.

All that, plus a growing comfort level in Kellen Moore’s offense, has resulted in one interception in the last 74 days.

“He’s just playing really good football right now,” Sirianni said. “And he continues to play really good football. I mean, there’s a reason that we’re winning. And a big reason is Jalen Hurts. I think what he’s doing so well is that he’s reading the defense. He’s taking what they’re giving and when it’s not there he throws it away or he creates an explosive play with with his legs and that’s something that’s so unique to Jalen.

“He just he’s just doing all the little things, all the minut, boring details that a quarterback needs to do to have his team be successful because again, when your team’s successful, your quarterback’s gotta be doing good things, and he really is.”

Since midway through the 2021 season, the Eagles are 24-3 when Hurts doesn’t throw an interception and 27-8 overall. When he throws one, they’re 14-6 and when he throws two or more they’re 3-5.

Since Sirianni’s 2021 “roots underground” speech, the Eagles are 37-7 when Hurts throws one or no
interceptions.

“There’s things that aren’t obvious to the eye of everybody, the things that he’s doing that’s helping us win, whether that’s checks, whether that’s throwing it away when he needs to throw it away, whether that’s scrambling when he needs to scramble,” Sirianni said.

“We all see the highlight plays that he’s made, but he’s just playing really clean football and doing a great job leading this football team.”

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