Jalen Hurts flashed a rare smile when Nick Sirianni screamed on the podium after the Philadelphia Eagles won the NFC championship game: “All he does is win.”
Hurts has been criticized throughout his career but numbers don’t lie and Sirianni is right. Hurts is a winner. He’s 89-27 as a starting quarterback in college and the NFL.
All he’s missing is a Super Bowl ring.
Hurts has another chance to get one when the Eagles (17-3) face Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs (17-2) on Feb. 9 in New Orleans.
Hurts had a spectacular game against the Chiefs two years ago, throwing for 304 yards and a touchdown and rushing for 70 yards and three scores. But he lost a fumble that was returned for a touchdown in the first half of Kansas City’s 38-35 comeback victory.
Coming close won’t cut it this time. Not in Philadelphia, a passionate sports city that measures success by championship parades.
Hurts’ background photo on his phone was a shot of him walking off the field in Arizona with red and yellow confetti falling all around.
“The mission is to go take advantage of the opportunities we present ourselves with,” Hurts said. “But also I have my history and the things that I’ve experienced that I can use as tools to help those around me and help myself.”
Hurts has plenty of big-game experience. He helped Alabama reach the national championship as a freshman before losing to Clemson. He took them back to the title game his sophomore season but was benched at halftime and watched Tua Tagovailoa lead the Crimson Tide to a comeback win over Clemson.
After backing up Tagovailoa his junior year, Hurts ended up replacing him in the fourth quarter of a loss to Clemson in the national championship.
He transferred to Oklahoma for his senior season, led the Sooners to a 12-2 record and finished second behind Joe Burrow for the Heisman Trophy.
Despite his success in college, Hurts slipped into the second round of the NFL draft and the Eagles selected him at No. 53. Burrow (1st), Tagovailoa (5th), Justin Herbert (6th) and Jordan Love (26th) went ahead of him.
Only Burrow has been to a Super Bowl and he also lost. Hurts is the first quarterback to go back to the big game after losing his first time since Jim Kelly, who lost four in a row with the Bills from 1990-93.
Yet, despite his accomplishments, Hurts is underrated.
He began his NFL career backing up Carson Wentz and being used in a utility role, even lining up as a wide receiver. He became the starter later in the 2020 season and has led the Eagles to the playoffs four straight years.
There were questions about Hurts’ future after the 2021 season, which ended with a playoff loss to Tampa Bay. The Eagles weren’t sold on Hurts and considered making a move for another QB. But they stuck with him and he finished runner-up to Mahomes for NFL MVP in 2022 and nearly beat him in the Super Bowl.
After a 10-1 start turned into a major collapse, Hurts faced more criticism in the offseason. His leadership ability and his relationship with Sirianni became hot topics. Then his friendship with A.J. Brown was scrutinized during this season.
Through it all, Hurts and the Eagles kept winning.
His numbers declined because Saquon Barkley had one of the greatest seasons in NFL history. The Eagles didn’t need to pass to win. They turned into a run-first team.
Again, critics wondered whether Hurts could win games for them if defenses stopped Barkley. Each time Philadelphia needed Hurts to step up passing, he did against the Steelers late in the season and the Commanders last week in a 55-23 victory.
“It’s amazing how much doubt there is sometimes,” Sirianni said about Hurts’ critics. “I can’t quite comprehend it because it doesn’t look like what people think it should look like. But the guy has been clutch. He’s won a ton of football games. ‘But you ran for this many yards.’ We don’t care how we win. We don’t care. If we rush for 300 and pass for one and we win, great. If we rush for one and pass for 300, great. Who cares? We’ve just continued to win. He’s just continued to win. I think the criticism is. … yeah, whatever. He just wins. I said what I said after the game and that’s kind of how I feel.”
Since his freshman year at Alabama in 2016, Hurts has had nine play-callers in nine seasons. It’ll be 10 next year if offensive coordinator Kellen Moore is hired by the New Orleans Saints to be their head coach.
That won’t change Hurts’ approach.
“The standard is to win. That’s my standard,” Hurts said.
He’s been a prolific winner but the ultimate victory awaits.
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