Eagles
Credit: USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
“We need to just make Jalen Hurts be a QB,” Titans’ star defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons said about Philadelphia’s signal-caller ahead of Tennessee’s week two matchup with the Eagles.
In Hurts’s first appearance against the Simmons-led defense, during his fantastic 2022 season, he handled business through the air without breaking a sweat. The MVP-runner-up passed for three-hundred-eighty yards and three touchdowns.
Jalen Hurts scores one of his four total touchdowns against the Titans in 2022Credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Meanwhile, Simmons left the box score empty, notching zero solo tackles in the December game at Lincoln Financial Field. If his goal was to keep Jalen Hurts in the pocket, he did his job by giving him plenty of time to dice up the secondary.
Similarly, the Kansas City Chiefs forced the Eagles to beat them through the air in Super Bowl LIX. They sold out to stop Saquon Barkley, the season’s Offensive Player of the Year.
Their plan to shut down the run game worked like magic. Barkley was held to a season-worst 2.3 yards per carry. The Chiefs, however, didn’t account for Jalen Hurts’s arm. Hurts efficiently tossed over two hundred yards and two touchdowns in the blowout victory.
Saquon Barkley struggles in Super Bowl LIXCredit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Yesterday afternoon, following the Eagles’ victory against the Titans, my friend’s father asked me where I would rank Jalen Hurts among current NFL quarterbacks. I honestly replied that I rank him sixth.
“I don’t know any rankings that put him at six,” my friend’s father replied. I told him I disagreed with those rankings. “Also because he’s not that good,” he added.
This interaction took place less than fifteen minutes after Jalen Hurts marched his team down the field for a game-winning drive.
Jalen Hurts passes to DeVonta Smith in the fourth quarterCredit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Clearly, there’s something about Jalen Hurts that seems to make opponents and analysts alike forget simply how excellent he has been at passing in his career thus far. But what is it?
Is it that Jalen Hurts’s passing volume isn’t high enough? You might be told that it is, but it’s not. Teams who are playing from behind pass more. The Eagles are 64-29 under Jalen Hurts as a starter. Dialing up plenty of passes late into the fourth quarter while leading is comparable to begging your opponent to get back into the game.
In Hurts’s season where he threw the ball the most, it had nothing to do with the Eagles trusting him to pass more. It was because the Eagles’ defense ranked among the bottom five in the league. Hurts had to throw much more frequently to overcompensate for an atrocious defense. He still led the team to the postseason, as he’s done every year as a starter.
When did winning games become a bad thing?
That “something” is the NFL community’s preconceived notions about Jalen Hurts. NFL fans and talking heads never thought Hurts would succeed, and they hate to be wrong more than anything.
Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Matthew Stafford, Drake Maye, Caleb Williams, Jared Goff, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Herbert, Jordan Love, Jayden Daniels, and Dak Prescott have all met or exceeded expectations.
But not one of them has obliterated their expectations quite like Jalen Hurts.
Hurts was a second round pick who got thrown into the fire for a team that was in the process of replacing their franchise quarterback and their Super Bowl-winning coach in the same year. They went 4-11-1. Hurts led them to the playoffs the next season.
Hurts was then nearly replaced twice in the 2022 offseason: once by Deshaun Watson and once by Russell Wilson. Both quarterbacks used their no-trade clauses to veto the potential moves. Hurts led the rejected team to the Super Bowl less than a year after.
Hurts and the Eagles were lost at the end of 2023. The Super Bowl hangover hit hard and they had little direction following an embarrassing playoff loss in the wildcard round. Hurts took the team on a dominant Super Bowl run one year later.
Jalen Hurts throws a touchdown to Olamide ZaccheausCredit: USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect
Hurts has had every chance to fail, yet never has.
It’s easy for someone to find a flaw in a player when all they’re looking for is flaws. Rather than admitting they were just wrong about Jalen Hurts, the NFL community has decided to collectively gaslight themselves into always needing more.
Unfortunately for them, Jalen Hurts has given them more every time they’ve asked.
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I’m a high school student from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and an aspiring sports media professional. I may have only recently … More about Jonah Casel
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