PHILADELPHIA — Few quarterbacks understand the importance of staying healthy more clearly than Eagles backup Marcus Mariota, who has been on all sides of the running quarterback debate.
Mariota, who turns 30 later this month, figured he knew when to walk away and knew when to run. But the hits and the injuries just kept coming for Mariota, one of the more athletic quarterbacks in an NFL, and that’s why he’s impressed with Jalen Hurts’ ability to keep himself healthy playing multi-dimensionally.
“He’s done a great job in his maturation process of understanding when to take risks, and when to be smart,” Mariota said Thursday. “Just being around him the last few months, that’s elevated different parts of his game. I think he’s done a great job of getting the ball out of his hand and letting these guys go make plays. As he continues that I think the most important thing is for him to stay healthy, and I think he understands that.”
In the first four games of last season, Hurts had 53 rushes for 205 yards and four TDs. This season he has 40 runs for 134 yards and three scores.
In the first four games last season Hurts had four TD passes and two interceptions. This season he has five scoring passes and three picks.
The rushing differences stem partly from the way the opposition has defended Hurts, who typically is spied on and partly due to an understanding between Hurts and the coaching staff.
“He needs to protect himself,” Nick Sirianni said of Hurts. “He took the big hit against New England, and it’s always been our intention to make sure he’s protecting himself as a runner. We encourage him to slide, and we encourage him to get down, and we encourage him not to take a big hit and step out of bounds when you can. Do we want all our guys stepping out of bounds? No. We want our other guys most of the time – if it’s not a two-minute drill – to keep the ball in their outside arm and use their stiff arm, play a little bit of pound on the sideline. I don’t want Jalen doing that.”
Hurts threw for a season-high 319 yards and two touchdowns in a 34-31 win over the Commanders last week. He rushed for 34 yards on nine carries, one of the runs a season-best 24-yarder. It was only the third time in the last 14 games Hurts hasn’t scored. The Eagles are 14-5 when he gets into the end zone, including 14-3 since he became the full-time starter in 2021.
“I just think that it hasn’t been much of an opportunity to do so,” Hurts said of his running. “Other than scramble or some of those busted plays out of the pocket, there haven’t been many designed runs there. I think there’s always an attempt (to spy him with a defender) and to take away some of the bright spots of what we’ve been able to do in the past. We’ve got an O-line that’s playing really well, and running backs that are playing really well. And when those opportunities present themselves, we just have to take advantage of them.”
The Tennessee Titans took Mariota off the board with the second pick in the 2015 draft. In his rookie season he took a hit to his knee and stayed in a game with what later was diagnosed as a sprained MCL. Mariota took another shot later in the game. There is some speculation that head coach Ken Whisenhunt was canned the following week because of that.
Mike Mularkey, who took over as head coach, was fired after back-to-back winning seasons plus a victory in the playoffs with Mariota. At one point he said he wanted Mariota to run more frequently.
Mariota doubts Hurts is frustrated by running less frequently.
“If you’re 4-0, I don’t think anything’s frustrating,” Mariota said. “When it comes down to it, whatever the team needs – I’m not going to speak for Jalen – but it’s however we can win the game. Whether it’s the quarterback carrying the ball multiple times, or if it’s not, all that matters is us winning. Teams are going to do their best to make you one-dimensional. For us being able to throw the ball the way that we do, being able to run the way that we do is tough on defenses.”
Source: Berkshire mont