Jalen Hurts versus Sam Darnold: Philadelphia Eagles QB comparison

What can we expect from Jalen Hurts and Sam Darnold in Week 5?

Though both teams have relatively new coaching staffs (and Philly’s is a whole lot younger), Matt Rhule has to be seen as being ahead of Nick Sirianni at this point. He’s proven via his resume that he’s the better offensive mind, and thanks to a 16-game head start, he looks like he has a more obvious plan than the struggling Sirianni.

All that’s been carried over to the field, and the evidence of that can be seen in both teams’ signal-callers. Darnold appears to be comfortable and executing a plan on a week-in and week-out basis. Hurts seems to be flailing along and freestyling.

In the end, this one is almost certain to come down to coaching. Hurts has better weapons, especially if Christian McCaffrey can’t go (at the time of this story being written, there’s no clear indication of his status), but Carolina’s more cohesive.

Sam Darnold doesn’t have the world’s worst weapons, but a key Panthers acquisition from 2020’s offseason that was re-signed on August 24th, Robby Anderson, outside of a 57-yard touchdown reception in Week 1 (his only catch of the game), hasn’t done much.

This game will come down to, more than likely, how Jalen Hurts and company responds to the challenges of the Panthers defense and which coach puts his team in the best position to make plays. Based on what we’ve seen so far, that’s something that Nick Sirianni is struggling with.