Sports
Eagles QB Jalen Hurts shifts into higher gear for 2022 season
By Ralph Vacchiano
FOX Sports NFC East Writer
Every time Jalen Hurts dropped back to make a throw this summer, it was clear something was different. His teammates noticed him throwing faster. His coaches saw him making decisions quicker. Everyone thought he looked more comfortable running the offense.
That’s because he was.
In fact, the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback had to think all the way back to his teenage years to find a time when he was as comfortable as he was this summer, when he knew an offense as well as he knows the Eagles’ scheme now. It hadn’t happened since the days when he was running his dad’s offense at Clearview High School in Texas.
“This is my first time having the same play caller and same coach since I had my dad in high school when I was 16,” the third-year pro said at the start of training camp. “I think there’s a big difference in that.”
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The Eagles are counting on that as they enter what they hope will be a long and successful Hurts Era in Philadelphia. They have gone all-in on their 24-year-old starter in every way possible — from public support, such as Eagles coach Nick Sirianni wearing a T-shirt with Hurts’ face on it on the first day of training camp, to spending first- and third-round picks and $100 million on a No. 1 receiver in A.J. Brown, who just happens to also be one of Hurts’ best friends.
They have done everything they could to make it clear to Hurts and to everyone that they believe in him after his up-and-down first full season as a starter, and that they are committed to building around him long-term. But the most important thing they did is to embrace the status quo. Both Sirianni and offensive coordinator Shane Steichen are back for a second season.
And that means Hurts won’t have to learn a new scheme, new plays or new terminology for the first time in — incredibly — seven years.
“I think with anything, going into Year 2 and being in the same system for the first time since high school, there’s a comfort level right there,” Steichen said. “Then you can obviously build on that. With anything, with any offense when you’re in it for a while, you can build on it and add wrinkles, and we’re looking at doing some of those things.”
“You can see he’s a year further into it,” Sirianni said. “Decisions are being made quicker and faster each time he gets a rep at it. Just like a lot of quarterbacks in this league, they get better with their decision-making over time.”
Hurts was far from bad at his decision-making last season. He completed 61.3 percent of his passes for 3,144 yards in 15 starts, with 16 touchdown passes and nine interceptions — decent numbers while helping his team rebound from a 2-5 start to make the playoffs. He also was a dangerous dual threat, too, rushing 139 times for 784 yards and 10 touchdowns — a huge part of the No. 1 rushing offense in the league.
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But inside the numbers, there were definitely questions about some of his decisions. He was criticized for being too impatient in the pocket, wanting to quickly bail out and make a run for it, instead of letting plays develop. He rarely used the middle of the field in the passing game, which made the passing offense too low-powered and one-dimensional at times.
It all led to a general feeling that Hurts wasn’t quite comfortable. But the truth is, Hurts hadn’t had a chance to get comfortable anywhere for years. He had three different offensive coordinators in his three years at Alabama, and then another one after he transferred to Oklahoma. And then after the Eagles drafted him in the second round in 2020, they fired his head coach, Doug Pederson, after his rookie year.
That left him starting over when Sirianni was hired last year, with his sixth offensive coordinator and sixth offense in six seasons — way too much for a quarterback to experience during some important developmental years from age 18 to 23. There was no consistency with the coaching and the training he got, very little similarities in the rhythm and words of the play calls, or even the concepts of the schemes.
Now there is.
“I said this a while ago, how settling it is to have some of the same pieces moving forward into another year,” Hurts said. “I know it’s the first time I’ve had that in years. Forever. So it is exciting.”
It has been exciting for the coaching staff, too. And for them, it has been about more than Hurts having a chance to really learn their system. The coaching staff has gotten a chance to really learn about Hurts. A year ago, they were new, learning everything they could about their franchise QB from watching film and seeing him at practices in the spring. They were learning on the fly what he could and couldn’t do.
Now they know, so they spent the offseason tinkering with their scheme, tailoring it toward the things they’ve seen first-hand that Hurts likes and what he does best.
“The more you know somebody, both personally and about their style of play, the more you can adapt the plan to them,” Sirianni said. “We’re constantly learning that. Now, we have a much better understanding this year than we did last year. We have 18 games of proof of what he likes and what he tells us and a whole year of a relationship.”
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That’s huge, because as Sirianni said, “You don’t ask a receiver to run a route they can’t run. You don’t ask a running back to read a play that they can’t read. You don’t ask the offensive line to run a scheme they can’t run.” The best coaches learn their players and fit their schemes to them, not the other way around.
And that’s even more important when it comes to a starting quarterback.
“Obviously, the first thought of our mind is about Jalen,” Sirianni said, “because he has so much on his plate.”
He has more on that plate than ever, but the Eagles are convinced he can handle it now. It has made a noticeable difference. His teammates even started to notice it as soon as practices began back in the spring.
“Jalen looks really good,” tight end Dallas Goedert said in June. “Just him going through his reads, his progressions, I feel like the ball’s got a little more zip on it. He’s getting it out a little bit quicker. You see kind of a 1-2-3 throw. He doesn’t have as many hitches. He’s seeing the game faster, which is really promising.”
“He’s done a hell of a job making the right decisions,” Steichen said late in training camp this summer. “Especially in practice, going through his reads, going through his progressions very nicely. Then when he’s had a chance to make a big play out of the pocket, he’ll take it. If not, he’s doing a good job of throwing the ball away when he needs to.”
That’s the tell-tale sign of growth in a young quarterback, when he starts to learn when to make a play and when to give up. QBs start taking only the necessary chances. And with a dual-threat quarterback such as Hurts, the hope is the comfort level will make him less anxious to leave the pocket just to bail out of a play.
Of course, there’s a balance there. They don’t want him to abandon his legs entirely.
“That’s one of his superpowers,” Steichen said, “that he can get out on the move and create plays.”
What it all comes down to is this: The Eagles want Hurts, like all young passers, to make better decisions. And it is much easier to do that when a quarterback is not trying to figure out terminology and play progressions in real-time in his head. Hurts was clearly doing that last season, trying to sort out what must have been a jumble of information bouncing around his thoughts, with pieces of six offenses from six straight seasons muddling things up.
Those confusing days are over now. He has had a year-and-a-half to learn Sirianni’s and Steichen’s system, and for them to learn him. Last season was basically an experiment, for both sides to figure and sort things out. The payoff is supposed to be now.
And the Eagles, with a strong offensive line, a powerful rushing attack, and a new No. 1 receiver, have made sure Hurts has a good supporting cast around him. They feel they are loaded. The development of Hurts really feels like the last piece.
And they’re sure it’s not a missing piece anymore.
“When I showed up in the (“Hurts SZN”) hat, I wanted everyone to know that it’s ‘Hurts season’,” Brown said. “I’m excited for him, his growth. He’s working really hard.”
“I think he’s seeing the field really well, he’s building that memory bank of plays versus different coverages and knowing where to go with the football from that,” Sirianni added. “I think his decision-making process is just continuing to get better. It’s happening fast. It’s happening quickly.
“And he just keeps getting better.”
Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and the Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that he spent 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. A Long Island, N.Y. native and graduate of Syracuse University, he can be found on Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A jury in U.S. District Court ordered the NFL to pay nearly $4.8 billion in damages Thursday after ruling that the league violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service.
The jury awarded $4.7 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million in damages to the commercial class. Since damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could end up being liable for $14.39 billion.
The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses in the United States who paid for the package of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons on DirecTV. The lawsuit claimed the league broke antitrust laws by selling its package of Sunday games at an inflated price. The subscribers also say the league restricted competition by offering “Sunday Ticket” only on a satellite provider.
The NFL said it would appeal the verdict. That appeal would go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then possibly the Supreme Court.
Should the NFL end up paying damages, it could cost each of the 32 teams approximately $449.6 million.
“We are disappointed with the jury’s verdict today in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit,” the league said in a statement. “We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy, which features all NFL games broadcast on free over-the-air television in the markets of the participating teams and national distribution of our most popular games, supplemented by many additional choices including RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL+, is by far the most fan friendly distribution model in all of sports and entertainment.
“We will certainly contest this decision as we believe that the class action claims in this case are baseless and without merit.”
The trial lasted three weeks and featured testimony from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
“Justice was done. The verdict upholds protection for the consumers in our class. It was a great day for consumers,” plaintiffs attorney Bill Carmody said.
During his closing remarks, Carmody showed an April, 2017, NFL memo that showed the league was exploring a world without “Sunday Ticket” in 2017, where cable channels would air Sunday afternoon out-of-market games not shown on Fox or CBS.
The jury of five men and three women deliberated for nearly five hours before reaching its decision.
Judge Philip S. Gutierrez is scheduled to hear post-trial motions on July 31, including the NFL’s request to have him rule in favor of the league because the judge determined the plaintiffs did not prove their case.
Payment of damages, any changes to the “Sunday Ticket” package and/or the ways the NFL carries its Sunday afternoon games would be stayed until all appeals have been concluded.
The league maintained it had the right to sell “Sunday Ticket” under its antitrust exemption for broadcasting. The plaintiffs said that only covers over-the-air broadcasts and not pay TV.
Other professional sports leagues were also keeping an eye on this case since they also offer out-of-market packages. A major difference though is that MLB, the NBA and the NHL market their packages on multiple distributors and share in the revenue per subscriber instead of receiving an outright rights fee.
DirecTV had “Sunday Ticket” from its inception in 1994 through 2022. The league signed a seven-year deal with Google’s YouTube TV that began with the 2023 season.
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2015 by the Mucky Duck sports bar in San Francisco but was dismissed in 2017. Two years later, the 9th Circuit, which has jurisdiction over California and eight other states, reinstated the case. Gutierrez ruled last year the case could proceed as a class action.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Olympic team is one of a handful that will supply air conditioners for their athletes at the Paris Games in a move that undercuts organizers’ plans to cut carbon emissions.
U.S. Olympic and Paralympic CEO Sarah Hirshland said Friday that while the U.S. team appreciates efforts aimed at sustainability, the federation would be supplying AC units for what is typically the largest contingent of athletes at the Summer Games.
“As you can imagine, this is a period of time in which consistency and predictability is critical for Team USA’s performance,” Hirshland said. “In our conversations with athletes, this was a very high priority and something that the athletes felt was a critical component in their performance capability.”
The Washington Post reported earlier this month that Germany, Australia, Italy, Canada and Britain were among the other countries with plans to bring air conditioners to France.
Olympic organizers have touted plans to cool rooms in the Athletes Village, which will house more than 15,000 Olympians and sports officials over the course of the games, using a system of cooling pipes underneath the floors.
The average high in Paris on Aug. 1 is 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit). The objective is to keep the rooms between 23-26 degrees (73-79 degrees Fahrenheit). The rooms will also be equipped with fans.
“I want the Paris Games to be exemplary from an environmental point of view,” Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has said about the plans for the Olympics.
According to the International Energy Agency, fewer than 1 in 10 households in Europe has air conditioning, and the numbers in Paris are lower than that. The study said that of the 1.6 billion AC units in use across the globe in 2016, more than half were in China (570 million) and the United States (375 million). The entire European Union had around 100 million.
The Olympics mark the most important stop on the athletic careers of the 10,500-plus athletes who will descend on Paris, which has led some high-profile countries to undercut environmental efforts for the sake of comfort.
“It’s a high-performance environment,” Australian Olympic Committee spokesman Strath Gordon explained to The Post.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers seemed determined to keep playing. And playing. And playing.
The teams opened their Eastern Conference final playoff series with Florida’s 3-2 victory in four overtimes early Friday, with the game ranking as the sixth-longest game in NHL history.
Matthew Tkachuk’s goal came at the 19:47 mark of the fourth OT to end this one, which marked the 15th four-overtime game in NHL history and the longest game in franchise history for each team.
The longest game in NHL history came on March 24, 1936, when the Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Maroons 1-0 in the sixth overtime on Mud Bruneteau’s goal at 116 minutes, 30 seconds of extra play.
Florida’s previous record for longest game was 104:31 in Game 4 of the 1996 Stanley Cup final against Colorado. Carolina’s previous record was 114:47 for Game 3 of the 2002 Stanley Cup final.
The only good news for the teams is they had an extended break before this series began. Carolina closed out New Jersey exactly a week earlier, while Florida eliminated Toronto a day later.
But this game ended roughly six hours after Thursday night’s puck drop, and the teams have a Game 2 in less than 48 hours.
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
