The Controversy Of The Eagles Offense

The 2025 Philadelphia Eagles are 2-0. In addition to defeating the reigning AFC Champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, they have beaten a Dallas Cowboys team that I think is still competent, in spite of their self-inflicted wound of trading Micah Parsons. On paper, that sounds amazing and you would have to assume that the offense would likely be rolling in order to reach that record. However, you would not be entirely correct to assume so.

The Eagles are winning games and as Jalen Hurts so kindly pointed out to Chris Jones at the conclusion of Sunday’s matchup on Sunday afternoon, that is all that matters at the end of the day. However, I would be remiss to not point out some of the things I am noticing when watching their games. Firstly, Philadelphia’s passing game is very basic. While I do think Jalen Hurts is a good NFL quarterback and he is a proven winner in the NFL, he has not shown any real flashes with his arm so far this season. As reflected by his Next Gen Stats passing chart from his first two games, the Eagles are not taking very many chances. In the Cowboys game, he threw for only 152 yards and completed 2 passes (1 of which was about 10 and a half yards) that were more than 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. In the Chiefs game, he only threw for 100 yards and completed only one pass that was thrown more than 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. In each game, he attempted more passes that were behind the line of scrimmage than he did further than 10 yards down the field.

Not to beat a dead horse, but while Jalen Hurts did have a free rusher coming at him, the “deep” throw in the Chiefs game was noticeably underthrown and Devonta Smith made an incredible play to bring the ball down. With arguably a top 3 WR duo in the league, having these Eagles wide receivers combine for an average of 52 yards a game thus far is almost unfathomable. But the team is still winning. How is this possible?

In my opinion, the Eagles are one of the 3 most well-structured teams in the league on both sides of the ball along with the Ravens and the Packers. Focusing more on their offense, their run game is elite. Having Saquon Barkley is a borderline cheat code and then inserting an offensive line that features multiple players who rank at or near the top at their respective position, in front of him, makes it all the more overpowered. On top of that, you have Jalen Hurts’s ability to run the football. Hurts is phenomenal at tucking the ball and running when he doesn’t like what he is seeing down field. He is one of the faster quarterbacks in the league and is obviously one of the most physically dominant as well. But to me, the biggest separator is his ability to complete the tush push.

While the tush push is definitely a team effort, having a quarterback who is 6 '1 and 225 lbs that can squat 600 lbs and can deadlift 620 lbs makes the play that much more effective. This translates to a play that has a preposterous success rate. For context, last year the Eagles were 39 for 48 in converting the tush push into either a first down or a touchdown. That is an 81.3% success rate. There really isn’t a perfect stat to use as a reference point, but the best stat I can pull up to compare to the rest of the league would be 4th and 1 conversion rates. The league average sits around 65%, making the tush push much more successful. But it only gets better, on the 9 times that the Eagles did not achieve their desired result, they were able to successfully run the tush push 8 times directly after. Meaning all things considered, the tush push was a catalyst to a first down or touchdown a whopping 97.9% of the time, going 47/48 in total according to CBS reporter Jeff Kerr (@jeffkerrCBS on twitter. ELITE FOLLOW if you’re a Philly sports fan). On Sunday alone, the play was run 7 times, accounting for 11.7% of the Eagles total offensive snaps. The tush push has long been under scrutiny, but perhaps even more so after this week 2 victory. Multiple camera angles picked up on players moving before the ball was snapped and showed players on both sides of the ball lined up in the neutral zone, as you can see below.

To look at this objectively, while trying to put any anti Eagles biases that I may have aside, this play either needs to be correctly officiated, or it needs to be removed. Fox rules analyst Dean Blandino stated that he was “done with the tush push” and that it was a “hard play to officiate” and he is not wrong. The scrum of bodies makes it very difficult for refs to see what is happening in real time. The play is rightfully still being used by the Eagles since the league voted to allow the play to remain legal, and the refs are not throwing flags for early movement or improper positioning, but something needs to change.

At the end of the day, the Eagles will still be wildly successful even if the play gets removed. The Eagles had a 91.9% conversion rate on QB sneaks in 2021 before they introduced the tush push. Jalen Hurts will still dominate in that area no matter what. It just remains to be seen if the team would be as aggressive and confident in calling that play. Moreover, in their last 19 games, they are 18-1 with 39 takeaways and only 8 turnovers. That is a winning recipe in itself. The Eagles are still an incredibly talented team from top to bottom and removing one play won’t change that. Although, I would be curious to see how it affects the rest of their offense. Right now, if the Eagles know they are in a short yard situation, they will either move the chains or get a touchdown. That means Jalen Hurts does not have to be as aggressive and just needs to protect the ball and play conservatively. He does not throw the football over the middle of the field and limits his shots deep. While some might say it is because he is not a good quarterback or doesn’t have the skills, I would argue that he just doesn’t have to be, so he chooses not to, as we have seen his arm much more on display earlier in his career. It’s the same reason why the Eagles have only completed 3 passes beyond 10 yards this year (6 attempts), but have run 9 tush push plays. Philadelphia is dinking, dunking and running their way to smart, conservative wins. As much as I don’t like it, they won’t stop until something or someone makes them.