The Philadelphia Eagles' offense and Jalen Hurts are off to an erratically inconsistent start through four games, but an undefeated record of 4-0 has masked an offense that looks lost.
Dominant special teams groups have produced a blocked kick and blocked punt that resulted in touchdowns, and their defense has controlled opposing offenses.
In the last two games, the Eagles' offense has played two quarters of football that have been as bad as anything they have shown in recent years.
Against the Rams in Week 3, Philadelphia had minus one yard of passing in the first half and didn't get a first down until the middle of the third quarter. Against the Buccaneers in Week 4, the Eagles had minus one yard of offense in the second half and almost blew a big lead.
The Eagles' offense started strong in Tampa and looked well prepared for the infamous Todd Bowles blitz package.
On the first offensive snap, Bowles attacked the line of scrimmage with a six-man blitz versus the Eagles' five-man protection.
With an unblocked defender baring down on him, Hurts calmly gathered his feet and hit an uncovered Saquon Barkley in the right flat for a gain of 12 yards on first down. That's how you beat the blitz.
On a third-and-eight with 9:49 left in the first quarter, the Bucs lined up seven defenders on or near the line of scrimmage. Philadelphia had six in protection, five offensive linemen and Barkley.
Wide receiver DeVonta Smith was split wide left by himself staring across the field at the middle linebacker. Smith knew that if the linebacker joined the other six in the pass rush at the snap, the Bucs would have an unblocked blitzer running at Hurts.
At the snap, Smith saw the linebacker blitz and adjusted his route to a slant. Hurts saw the same thing and quickly put it on Smith for an easy gain of 12.
Todd Bowles dialed up another blitz on third and five with 1:54 left in the second quarter. This blitz wasn't as easy to identify. The Bucs lined up with two deep safeties in a shell coverage, which is usually not a threat of blitz. The Eagles were in a two by two set.
Then at the snap, the boundary slot defender and two linebackers blitzed. Again, Hurts quickly recognized it and shortened his drop, and receiver AJ Brown adjusted his route in unison to a slant for another blitz defeating first down and gain of nine.
While the Birds executed well against the Bucs' blitzes, the rest of the offense was in disarray.
If Philadelphia wants to make a serious run at back-to-back Super Bowl championships, it needs to find ways on offense to get the ball to Barkley and Brown much more consistently.