With Hurts still dealing with concussion issues, Pickett suffering a rib injury against the Washington Commanders, and McKee waiting in the rafters like WCW Sting for his chance to strike on Hollywood Hogan and the NWO, the Eagles seemingly have to prepare for three different scenarios for their forthcoming showdown with the Dallas Cowboys.
Or do they? Well, reporters decided to ask offensive coordinator Kellen Moore that question during his Week 17 media session and were met with a very interesting answer.
“Our guys do a great job. Everyone is preparing to be ready to go, and we’ll make the adjustments as the week progresses. I think from a game plan perspective, we’ll do a good job of having contingencies within those plans to allow ourselves to make the necessary adjustments based off who’s on the field,” Moore told reporters.
“We’ve done this in other weeks with offensive linemen, with receivers, when we don’t know whether a receiver is going to be available or not. Similar to those situations, you’ve just got to have a plan that’s flexible, depending on how things play out.”
So do the Eagles actually have multiple different plans heading into the week? Are they siloing their plans, or will Philadelphia have one plan for the game, period, opting to run more QB runs if Hurts can go or check things down more if Pickett is running the show? Moore commented on that, too, noting that the Eagles will stick with their strategy but could potentially shake this up from a playcalling standpoint depending on the strengths of who is playing QB.
“I don’t think it’s that divided. I just think certain plays are probably going to be a little bit more advantageous for certain players,” Moore noted. “So I think just having the flexibility, no different than what we’ve gone into games with [WR] A.J. [Brown] and [WR DeVonta Smith] Smitty and maybe they’re a late decision. Or offensive linemen, running backs, everyone. The quarterback position gets magnified because of that position, but it’s something we deal with throughout the year.”
On paper, the Eagles can probably call 70 percent of the same plays with Hurts under center versus Pickett, but how the offense operates without QB1 in the game is completely different for Philadelphia.
With the threat of the RPO ever present, opposing teams need to not just stack the box but keep their linebackers ready to go, as Hurts can rip off a big run if an opposing team sells out too hard at stopping Saquon Barkley. That gravity opens up shots down the field and effectively allows Hurts to take what the defense gives him, be that runs to Barkley, throws down the field, or even the decision to call his own number and do what he has to do.
And with Pickett and/or McKee? Well, they aren’t threats to run the ball, instead swapping out those easy QB runs for checkdowns to Barkley and underneath routes to his pass catchers. While that didn’t really work out well for the Eagles in Week 17, with an extra week to update the playbook, maybe Philadelphia’s offense will look a little different against the Cowboys regardless of who faces off against Cooper Rush on the graphic.
