Doug Nussmeier let it slip and many took notice -- 2.3 seconds.
The Eagles quarterbacks coach was referencing what his former boss Mike McCarthy dubbed a rule with the 2.3 seconds being the demarcation line for most passing plays devolving from planned to off-schedule. Or in Nussmeier's lingo "in phase” vs “scramble phase.”
The idea that anyone will hit that threshold is pie in the sky because every offense in the history of the game is going to have plays that break down.
The current leader in the NFL when it comes to getting the football out is Carolina veteran Andy Dalton at 2.35 seconds. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is near the bottom of the NFL, taking an average of 3.1 seconds to throw, a far cry from where Nussmeier and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore want their signal caller to be and even worse than the 3.03 Hurts took to get it out in 2023 when he just missed being in the bottom five of the league.
In 2021, Hurts' first season as a starter, he was last in the NFL, taking 3.12 seconds to throw. The 2022 Eagles' Super Bowl season was the lone outlier with Hurts 18th in the NFL at 2.76 seconds to throw which should be the goal moving forward.
That said, holding onto the football is no guarantee of failure either.
The only quarterback slower than Hurts this season is San Francisco's Brock Purdy at 3.14 seconds, and the 49ers' star is No. 6 in passing rating. Just behind Hurts as the third-slowest is NFC Offensive Player of the Month Sam Darnold of Minnesota at 3.07 seconds. Darnold leads the NFL with a 118.6 passer rating.
The context to that is both of those QBs play in a more traditional play-action heavy offense designed with many max protections and longer-developing routes and were both tutored by Kyle Shanahan, whose father is the scheme's architect.
Conversely, Hurts spent the spring and summer being drilled into getting the football out quickly and rarely lines up under center or uses traditional play-action.
Despite that, the fifth-year Eagles QB continues to reboot to his default setting and seems to be regressing when it comes to the alacrity of his decision-making despite increased experience and more autonomy.
Frequent changes in the coaching staff are often cited as potential reasons for the issues as were the absences of star receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith in the recency bias of Week 4 against Tampa Bay.
Eagles on SI decided to run the issue by a former NFL GM who hasn't worked with Hurts in the past. However, the general thoughts offered were interesting.
"I would say this. You have to be at peace with yourself as an NFL quarterback," the former exec said. "And what I mean by that is you're going to get blamed for things that may not be your fault and secure enough with yourself to put that aside. We all know the cliches with that position. I don't know specifically about Jalen but in my experience, most QBs don't fit into that description."
One that does is Atlanta QB Kirk Cousins, who is coming off a 509-yard, four-TD performance during a 36-30 overtime win over Tampa Bay on Thursday night.
After his top target, Drake London, was forced to leave the game for a play Cousins' trust in the little-known KhaDarel Hodge won the Falcons the game in OT. The other end of that sword has also cost Cousins over the years with public perception.
"Everyone in the league knows [Cousins] can play," the former executive said. "That's what matters. You're never out there by yourself and every quarterback from Pat [Mahomes] on down needs help to win at the highest level."
The advice to Hurts, and every NFL quarterback, is to trust who is on the field with you.
"They're NFL players and they're being put out there by NFL coaches," that former GM said. "That's your get-out-of-jail-free card as a quarterback. Let it rip and let the coaches handle the fallout. If you care about people who don't know S#$%. that's on you."
