PHILADELPHIA -- Jalen Hurts is never one to discuss his improvements, even if the results are living up to the standard he sets upon himself. While the turnovers have been the talk surrounding Hurts through three games this season, his improvements against the blitz have largely gone unnoticed.
Hurts is completing a career-high 71.4% of his passes against the blitz this season, a vast improvement over the 60.5% he had last season. Hurts' struggles against the blitz have been well-documented, no longer a detriment to his game.
"I think I'm wiser, I'm older, more and more seasoned in some areas, and I think that helps us," Hurts said. "And the different things I've learned with the new staff."
In Hurts' five seasons in the NFL, he improved his completion percentage against the blitz every year. Hurts went from 51.1% in his rookie season to his 71.4% this year, a 20.2% increase over that span. Even in Hurts' best season (2022), he improved his completion percentage against the blitz by 13.3%.
Jalen Hurts has a 71.4% completion rate against the blitz this year (t-8th in #NFL).
— Jeff Kerr (@JeffKerrCBS) September 25, 2024
Hurts' completion rate in previous years against the blitz
2020 -- 51.1%
2021 -- 54.4%
2022 -- 58.1%
2023 -- 60.5%
2024 -- 71.4%#Eagles
"I know Jalen has really played well against the blitz these last couple games, and he's worked his butt off on it," said Eagles coach Nick Sirianni. "And just excited about the challenge, but we know there's going to be challenges against a Todd Bowles-coached defense. Again, we have done a nice job so far, but you're only as good as your next game."
The Eagles' struggles against the Buccaneers defense put Hurts on notice when facing the blitz. Hurts was 12 of 20 against Bowles' defense in the 32-9 defeat in the wild-card round last season, throwing a touchdown with an 87.9 passer rating. He also had just 92 yards on those 20 attempts, as Bowles dialed up the pressure knowing that was Hurts' weakness.
The Buccaneers head coach isn't seeing that glaring weakness from Hurts this time around.
"I think he is doing a great job," Bowles said to reporters Wednesday. "They understand the offense because he has been in it a while now. So, a couple years in, he's got a good grasp of what they're trying to do.
"Obviously, Kellen [Moore] added some things, as well, to make the offense a little more multiple that way. He is handling everything well."
Hurts is 17th in NFL in passer rating this season (92.4), significantly higher than last season when he was 28th in the league (72.4). The improvements are evident, even if Hurts believes there's more work to be done.
"I think there have been different situations that have come up, different nuances of the game that we have to be mindful of that have come up and we've had to learn from them," Hurts said. "It's a great opportunity to continue to press the point of asking steps, not being repeat offenders in certain instances and continue to grow, grow situationally with our fundamentals, our process in certain moments and everybody being on the same page.
"Obviously there's a ton of opportunity there, but we just have to ultimately do it together and I'm not afraid to lead in that."
