Will the Hurts-Brown episode change the balance of the Eagles’ offense?

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia Eagles receiver AJ Brown couldn’t have predicted all the drama that would arise from his terse postgame comments about the passing game last week, but his decision to air his frustrations in front of the media was intentional. according to his story.

In short, he says he wanted to put everyone’s attention on the airstrike so that the problem can be remedied before it affects them again.

“I said that for a reason, honestly. Because we went to the Super Bowl [during the 2022 season] and lost. We tried again the following year. was a [10-1] record [in 2023] and there was a landslide,” Brown said, referring to the Eagles losing five of their final six regular-season games before being eliminated in the wild-card round. “And here we go again. “It’s something we can correct right now while we have the chance.”

That’s been the focus this week, now that questions about Brown’s relationship with quarterback Jalen Hurts have died down.

The sentiment expressed by key members of the passing game (namely Hurts, Brown and fellow receiver DeVonta Smith) is that the operation lacks rhythm and consistency. That can be expected to some extent, given the amount of time spent on the task relative to the rest of the league.

The Eagles have leaned on Saquon Barkley and the running game. They lead the league in rushing attempts (473) and yards (190.5 per game). The other side of the coin is that they are last in pass attempts (328) and 31^street in passing yards (180.6 per game).

The offensive approach changed dramatically during his Week 5 bye. Through the first four weeks of the season, Hurts dropped back 39 times per game on average. In the nine games that followed, that number dropped dramatically to 27 dropbacks per game.

It is difficult to argue with the results. Hurts ranked second in turnovers with seven in the first four weeks, as Philadelphia started 2-2. He has only had two turnovers since then (down to 21).^street in turnovers), as the Eagles have won nine in a row.

Hurts is playing a much more efficient ball. He has 12 touchdowns to one interception during that nine-game streak and has been sacked 23 times (2.5 per game) compared to four touchdowns, four interceptions and 13 sacks (3.25 per game) before they became heavy.

“I’ve put myself through everything it takes to win,” Hurts said. “I don’t care what it looks like. That’s my game and it’s something that people have to accept, that it’s going to look how Jalen Hurts wants it to look, but he’s going to win.”

But the Eagles are going against the grain when it comes to championship style. They are averaging 25.2 pass attempts per game this season, the fewest of any team in the league. Since 2000, there has only been one team that reached the Super Bowl that averaged fewer than 26 pass attempts per game during the regular season, according to ESPN Research: the 2005 Steelers, who won the Super Bowl that season.

Since 2015, there have been four teams that have reached the Super Bowl that averaged at least 30 rushing attempts during the regular season: the 2015 Panthers, the 2022 Eagles, the 2019 49ers and the 2016 Patriots. The 2016 Patriots were the only one of those teams to win the Super Bowl.

There will almost certainly be a time in the postseason when the running game slows down and it will fall to Hurts and the passing attack to take the win. The talent is certainly there to make it happen, but the consistency hasn’t been the same for much of the season.

Lately, Hurts has leaned sharply toward the conservative side. He has thrown for less than 180 yards in each of the last three games and ranks 31st.^street in passing yards per attempt (5.7), with only two of his 62 pass attempts traveling more than 20 yards downfield in that stretch. And yet it ranks 32nd.^{North Dakota} during that span in average time before the shot (3.24 seconds), which speaks to the sometimes clumsy and arrhythmic nature of the passing game recently.

Brown has felt the effects: He has received just one downfield target of more than 20 yards in Hurts’ last 90 pass attempts. The sequence that helped spark the frustration last week was the Eagles’ second offensive play of the game, where Hurts opted to control him rather than let him rip a wide-open Brown on the right side, an example of how Hurts has been. . reject shots. Brown didn’t have the ball his way until the final moments of the second quarter.

Brown is averaging 6.6 goals per game, up from nine goals per game in his first two seasons in Philadelphia. He boasted a 29.4% target share over the past two years, trailing only Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill; that was reduced to 19^th in the league with a rate of 22.2%.

After the Carolina game, Brown said the “pass” was the area that needed fixing on the offense and called it “incredibly difficult” to get into a rhythm as a receiver when opportunities are limited.

“Ultimately, he’s a guy that’s a competitor, he wants to win, he’s sure he wants the ball and he wants to have an impact on the game, and I respect that,” Hurts said of Brown. “That’s like all of us.”

Even amid the decline in opportunities, Brown still ranks No. 1 in the league in yards per target (12.5).

“I’m going to focus more on trying to find different ways to increase the probability of the ball getting to him,” offensive coordinator Kellen Moore said. “For us, we’re always going to evaluate how we can get it to them sooner and create those opportunities.”

Brown slammed his helmet on the sideline after a 3-pointer against Carolina and finished with four catches on as many targets for 43 yards. A similar scene played out last year during a Week 2 victory over the Minnesota Vikings when Brown, who had four catches for 29 yards in the game, became irate on the sideline and had a lively exchange with Hurts.

The following week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Brown was targeted 14 times and had nine receptions for 131 yards, the start of a record-setting six consecutive games in which he recorded more than 125 receiving yards.

Perhaps that is a harbinger of what will unfold on Sunday as the Eagles look to get their passing game on track against a stalwart Pittsburgh Steelers defense (4:25 p.m., FOX).

“I’m not saying the sky is falling with our passing game,” Brown said, “but it’s something to raise awareness, focus on, get better at the moment we have.”