There were plenty of reasons the Eagles went for it on fourth down so much on Sunday.
Weather played a role. So did field position and game situations and a slew of other variables.
One reason topped them all.
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“The very first thing of why we go for it on fourth down, or why we went for it on fourth down yesterday, I trust our guys,” head coach Nick Siriannni said. “Who do you trust? I trust Jalen (Hurts) to make the right decisions with the football. I trust Jalen if it's a pass. I trust Jalen that if it's a run that he creates an extra gap for the defense.
“I trust the heck out of our offensive line and I trust our guys on the perimeter to make a play with the football in their hands. I trust our defense if we don't get it that they're going to get a stop.
“That's a big part of it. You heard the first guy I mentioned, right? I trust Jalen. I trust Jalen. I trust Jalen, right, because he's going to be touching the ball every single time.”
In case you missed that, Sirianni trusts Hurts.
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And why wouldn’t he? Hurts didn’t have his best statistical game on Sunday — it’s hard to blame him in those mucky conditions — but he still put forward a strong performance and led the Eagles to a 29-21 win. He also helped the Birds convert on 3 of 5 fourth-down opportunities, which eased the pain of going 4-for-14 on third downs.
Hurts is such a threat in those third- and fourth-down situations because he can pass the ball be he also puts a ton of stress on a defense with his ability to make a play with his legs. Even on broken plays, Hurts can escape and pick up first downs.
Through four games this season, the Eagles have converted 7 of 11 fourth-down attempts, a conversion rate of 63.6%. Just two teams have attempted more.
Sirianni wants to be aggressive but that only works if you trust your players to convert.
Think back to the Doug Pederson Era. Pederson was so aggressive throughout his time in Philly but it backfired in 2020 when the offense wasn’t as good. In that season, the Eagles converted on just 15 of 35 fourth-down attempts; that 42.9% conversion rate ranked 27th in the NFL.
There are plenty of reasons to trust the 2022 version of the Eagles’ offense and their MVP-candidate quarterback is one of the biggest.
It’s pretty telling that the Eagles had 24 fourth-down attempts in 2021 and are on pace for 47 in 2022.
There’s more of a reason to trust the offense in 2022. And there’s more of a reason to trust the quarterback.
“I think trust grows as your relationship grows, as your reps with each other grow,” Sirainni said. “I think that’s like any relationship. Your trust grows based off of past experiences. I think I said this to somebody earlier today, it's not just a blind trust. It's not a blind faith. It's reps built up, it's built-up trust. Obviously, when I say it like that, it is, it's built up over the past year because he just continues to make the plays necessary when they need to be made.
“Does that mean we're going to be 100% in those scenarios? No. We were, what, 60% yesterday, right? But I still have that trust in him, and of course that is built through practice, that's built through the reps you have at practice, that’s built through the reps you've had together in games, and that's built through the conversations that you have throughout the week and throughout the months and throughout the years that you have together.”
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