A Winning Quarterback with Constant Doubt
To say the dialogue around Jalen Hurts is exhausting would be an understatement. As a brief background, Hurts was drafted in April of 2020 and assumed the starting QB role for the Eagles at the start of the 2021 season. Since then, including playoffs, they have gone 52-23, the 3rd best record in the NFL, behind only the Chiefs and Bills. They have 2 NFC East titles as well as an NFC Title. They also are in the NFC Championship for the second time in three years this Sunday and with one more win Jalen can be the first quarterback in Eagles history to be the QB of two Eagles teams to make the Super Bowl and only the second quarterback overall behind Tommy Thompson to make two straight championships (48/49). Jalen has helped lead the Eagles to 4 straight winning seasons, two of which had 14 or more wins, and is now near inches from a second Super Bowl appearance in three seasons. So what’s the problem?
The Arguments Against Hurts
Many people believe Jalen isn’t good. A product of a good system with great players surrounding him. There are many people, like JJ here on the pod, who think Jalen isn’t contributing to their success, but actually could be inhibiting it. There is plenty of evidence to support this. The Eagles’ passing game ranked 28th in the NFL in total yards a game this year. That ranked below teams like the Giants and Titans who barely had quarterbacks. Similar struggles have followed them to the playoffs too. If we only isolate passing yards, Jalen was 20th in the league. While he did rank 8th in completion percentage, he was 21st in passing touchdowns. The team has struggled to consistently get the passing game going this year. It is not about a lack of talent as they have a receiving core of AJ Brown, Devonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, and Jahan Dotson. To anyone watching there are a few clear problems with Jalen.
Hurts’ ability to read a defense has always been a bit subject and he has shown weakness against the blitz. Nothing will trump his inability to get the ball out quickly. The majority of sacks he takes come from an unwillingness to throw the ball away or thinking he can break away to extend a play. Three separate times this Sunday Hurts took a sack that pushed the Eagles out of field goal range; he also took a costly sack for a safety in the 4th quarter. Jalen holds onto the ball more than any other QB on average in the NFL. It is a fine balance though as breaking off runs like he did with the 40-yard TD Sunday, and extending plays until someone is open, are massive elements of his game. Many of the elite QBs in the NFL; Mahomes, Allen, and Jackson, are all known to do that as well. The QB the Eagles will face on Sunday, Jayden Daniels, plays in a very similar way. It is a double-edged sword, but it is very clear that the biggest weakness, maybe on the entire team, is the quarterback.
The Case for Hurts
Jalen by many metrics has not had a tremendous passing season, but by other stats, he has been pretty productive. He is 5th in passer rating and only has 10 total turnovers this season. His five interceptions were only beaten by Justin Herbert and Lamar Jackson who then combined to have 6 turnovers in 3 playoff games. Since Week 5, Hurts only has 3 total turnovers with only one being a pick. If Jalen is truly a “game manager” then limiting turnovers is a massive element of that. When factoring in rushing TDs Jalen had more total TDs this year than the likes of Daniels, Mahomes, and Herbert to name a few. His ability to run cannot and should not be dismissed. It is of true value and the threat he possesses in RPO situations directly has helped Saquon and the running game this year. His ability to execute The Tush Push too can’t be forgotten as it starts the Eagles at essentially 1st and 8.5 on every set of downs. Jalen ranked 8th in completion percentage and 4th in yards per attempt.
In the last 12 games that Jalen has played to the finish, he is 12-0 with 29TDs, 3 turnovers, and a 113.11 passer rating. You cannot have this level of success in the NFL that the Eagles have had with bad QB play. It is quite literally impossible. It sometimes feels like people who feel like JJ would rather Jalen suck and the team fail, in the process be right, than have him succeed and be wrong. Jalen is a winner. He has maintained productivity despite having eight offensive coordinators in the past nine seasons dating back to college. Hell, the only time he had an OC for more than one year was from 21-22 with Shane Steichen when he leaped to a top-five quarterback. Jalen ranks off the charts in intangibles. He is unflappable. Whether he is playing the best game of his life or getting absolutely obliterated, you can never tell. Even Sunday, through his ups and downs, he never waivered. He also could have had a much better passing day too. He had two completed bombs that got taken away. Devonta would have caught that ball if they did not helmet-helmet hit him, and AJ dropped a sure TD bomb. In total Jalen had 89 passing yards negated by drops and penalties. We were a couple of plays away from Jalen having 200+ yards and 3TDs. According to reports he was the one that audibled into both Saquon TDs as well.
The Super Bowl Mindset
Look, I watched Jalen Hurts go insane in the Super Bowl. He massively outplayed Patrick Mahomes. 374 total yards and 4 TDs, including a game-tying drive and big boy 2-point conversion to tie the game with under five minutes left. He led the offense to 35 total points. They lost. I say that to say if Jalen made it back and threw for 15 yards and they win, I don’t care. People have screamed for 25 years to be a run-first team. Well now they are and they’re playing some of the most exciting bully ball we have ever seen. Even with the QB being relegated to a secondary role. Fans should not care how the success comes, just that it does. Jalen certainly doesn’t. Despite his role being limited and under constant scrutiny, he remains locked in. He wants to win and he knows that path this year. Don’t turn the ball over, feed Saquon, make some plays with your legs, and make the passes that you need to. Until that fails, it’s just an exhausting exercise of screaming into the void to critique his play. I just want to win the Super Bowl. I don’t care how it happens. Jalen is good enough to get that done. It feels that many people would rather be right about Jalen and in turn the Eagles fail. They value being right more than the franchise succeeding.
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