October 06, 2026
Eric Hartline/Imagn Images via Reuters Connect
Jalen Hurts hopes to follow in the footsteps of Trevor Lawrence.
If the Eagles don't beat the Jaguars on Sunday, they'll still hope to join them.
The Eagles are 2-2 about one-quarter through the 2026 season and on Sunday in London will face an impressive Jaguars team that's already 3-1 after breaking out for 13 wins in 2025.
The Jaguars soared last year in head coach Liam Coen's first season, but offensively they were a mess for the first month and their quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, looked entirely lost in the scheme Coen had installed.
Coen had spent time coaching under Sean McVay and his offense bears a lot of resemblance to McVay's, with heavy motion principles, under center formations, and West Coast pass concepts.
Hey, that kind of sounds familiar, eh?
The Eagles have really struggled since Week 1 in their new offensive scheme designed by first-year play caller Sean Mannion, who was once a backup quarterback for McVay and the Rams and spent his only two years of pro coaching in Green Bay under Matt LaFleur, McVay's former offensive coordinator.
Mannion is also trying to incorporate the West Coast offense principles he learned under his coaching influences – wide zone running schemes, under center formations, play action passing.
But for a variety of reasons, including a recent spate of major injuries but also some personnel fit issues, the Eagles have one of the NFL's worst offenses through the first month.
Here's a look at Jalen Hurts' stats through four weeks compared to Trevor Lawrence's first four weeks from last season:
| Weeks 1-4 | '26 Jalen Hurts | '25 Trevor Lawrence |
| Completion % | 59.6 (25th) | 58.3 (33rd) |
| Passer rating | 87.4 (16th) | 75.1 (32nd) |
| TD passes | 7 (11th) | 5 (26th) |
| Passing yards | 713 (24th) | 845 (20th) |
As Lawrence struggled, so did the Jags' offense, obviously. Jacksonville had scored the 16th-most points in the NFL after four weeks last season and was only 3-1 because its defense had allowed an average of 18 points per game.
On paper, the Jags didn't – and still don't – have as much offensive talent as the Eagles, but they also didn't have injury issues nearly as damaging as the Eagles had Sunday against the Rams, with several starters already out before the game, and several more lost during the game.
Lawrence's play gradually improved last season as he worked his way through the new offense. In Week 5, he completed 70 percent of his passes against the Chiefs and ran for two TDs, including the game-winning rushing TD with 23 seconds to play in an upset.
From Weeks 9-18, Lawrence really hit his stride. He completed 63 percent of his passes, tossed 20 touchdowns to seven interceptions, registered a 99.9 passer rating. He also rushed for seven more TDs. The Jags traded for WR Jakobi Meyers at the deadline to compensate for a major regression from second-year WR Brian Thomas Jr., and Meyers' addition only added another dimension to the pass game.
In that same span, Lawrence was the NFL's sixth-rated QB with the second-most TD passes and fifth-most yards – a complete turnaround from the disastrous first four weeks of the season.
This season, Lawrence's 69 percent completion rate is the highest of his career, along with his 111.2 passer rating, which is third best in the NFL.
Just because Lawrence and the Jags survived their bumpy honeymoon stage with Coen's offense doesn't mean the Eagles are automatically bound for the same emergence under Mannion. Their injury issues only worsened on Tuesday and they're expected to be severely short-handed again when they head across the pond.
But the Jacksonville turnaround last season can also be a cautionary tale about judging the results while the process is still in its embryonic stage. Four weeks isn't enough time to deem the Mannion experiment either a failure or success.
Other teams adjusting to a new offensive playcaller hired from the outside but with an incumbent quarterback are the Chargers, Titans, Commanders, Ravens, Steelers, Lions, Bucs, and Cardinals.
Here's how those teams rank in terms of points scored and offensive efficiency:
| Points Scored | EPA/Play | |
| Chargers | 28th | 29th |
| Titans | 30th | 26th |
| Commanders | 14th | 23rd |
| Ravens | 7th | 6th |
| Steelers | 22nd | 28th |
| Lions | 5th | 7th |
| Bucs | 23rd | 31st |
| Cardinals | 15th | 20th |
| Eagles | 25th | 27th |
Only the Lions and Ravens are top-10 offenses through the first four weeks, and only the Ravens and Titans have a higher offensive efficiency ranking than points scored rankings.
Not surprisingly, the NFL teams with the five-highest EPA per play this season are the Niners, Bills, Jags, Chiefs and Cowboys. The common thread? All have the same play caller/QB combo from the prior year.
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