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Eagles Head Coach Shuts Down Play-Calling Rumors Between Jalen Hurts, Kevin Patullo
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- Eagles Head Coach Shuts Down Play-Calling Rumors Between Jalen Hurts, Kevin Patullo
Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
The Philadelphia Eagles offense was night and day before and after halftime on Sunday. In the first half, the Birds managed just 33 total yards and seven points, but exploded in the second half for 255 yards and 20 points in their 33-26 victory over the Los Angeles Rams .
What changed? The Eagles let quarterback Jalen Hurts air out the ball and got A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith involved in the game following a quiet first two weeks. Because of that change, people are questioning if Hurts was calling plays over offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, which head coach Nick Sirianni had to clear up.
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Hurts finished the game 21 of 32 for 226 yards and three passing touchdowns. Brown had his best game of the young season with six receptions for 109 yards and a score. And Smith had eight receptions for 60 yards and a TD.
Offense Opens Up After Sluggish Start
Before the second half of Sunday's game, the passing game was anemic through the first two-and-a-half games, with a lack of intermediate passes between 10 and 19 yards and hardly any shots down the field.
However, with the Eagles down 26-7 early in the third quarter, the playbook opened up and Hurts let loose. He connected on a 38-yard pass to Brown and a 35-yard touchdown throw to tight end Dallas Goedert . He was even seen on the sideline having an animated conversation with Patullo and running backs coach Jemal Singleton.
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After the game, Hurts had pointed comments about how the offense played to start the game.
"Now, we completely did that to ourselves in the first half and that's something we got to fix. It's as simple as that. It's unacceptable," Hurts told Fox's Pam Oliver.
"We play so many styles of football where in that first half we got to get out of this playing not to lose. We got to come out aggressive and play our game. You saw our game in the second half."
With theories circulating that Patullo wasn't the one calling plays in the second half and that it was Hurts, Sirianni put that to rest when speaking to reporters on Monday.
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"Kevin called the plays yesterday in the second half. But make no mistake, Jalen communicates — Jalen sees the field really, really well," Sirianni said, via The Athletic's Zach Berman.
Sunday's second half showed that Patullo needs to ditch his conservative play-calling from the first two weeks. While the Eagles are undefeated at 3-0, the new OC needs to do a much better job ensuring Hurts, Brown, Smith and Saquon Barkley succeed on the field.
Speaking of Barkley, he has yet to have a 100-yard rushing game in the first three games of the season as he was held to 46 yards on the ground on 18 carries.
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Through the first three games, Philadelphia's offense has averaged just 268.7 total yards per game. They will need to do better in Week 4 when they travel to Tampa Bay to take on the 3-0 Buccaneers .
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