On Monday night, Jalen Hurts did what Lamar Jackson, Tua Tagovailoa and Kyler Murray did on Sunday.
Shut the haters down.
Using his arm and legs, Hurts crushed Minnesota by himself and led the Eagles to a dominant 24-7 victory over the Vikings.
But this isn’t the first, second or fifth time Hurts proved his abilities and demonstrated the fact that he is, unquestionably, QB no. 1.
Last night he did that and also proved that he’s one of the elite quarterbacks in the entire league.
Despite his accolades in college, many doubted the Sooners quarterback’s NFL potential when the Eagles selected him with the 53rd pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
His senior year was Heisman-worthy, and he would have won it had Joe Burrow and LSU not historically steamrolled through college football that season.
Hurts had more passing yards (3,851 yards), rushing yards (1,298 yards), and total TDs (53) than Justin Herbert, Jordan Love, and Jacob Eason.
Hurt was ranked behind all three, yet aas anyone even heard a peep from the latter two?
Hurts’ on-field performance failed to convince fans of just how good he was and how good he could be, so he sat behind Carson Wentz during his rookie season, finally get his shot during the last four games of the season.
That gave media “experts” like Todd McShay another chance to critique Hurts.
“Jalen Hurts, are you getting an upgrade here? I mean he completed 52%,” said McShay. “In four games he started, he threw three interceptions. He threw four interceptions over the season. I know the stats are similar when you look at Wentz and Jalen Hurts over this past year. I just don’t know that you’re getting a huge upgrade with Hurts. And I just wonder if Philly is comfortable moving Wentz and not bringing in another quarterback for competition, or as a backup or something that kind of gives you a better sense of what’s going to be at that quarterback spot moving forward.
“Because I personally, if I was the general manager of the Philadelphia Eagles, I would not feel comfortable going into the season saying, ‘Hurts is the guy. He’s going to take us to the promised land. We believe in him 100%. We don’t even need to bring in another guy.’”
Todd was obviously 100% incorrect about his assesment of Hurts, but he touched on one important issue. In order for the Eagles to take the next step with Hurts, they did need another guy, and that guy was rising star receiver, A.J. Brown.
And to answer McShay’s question, the Eagles did, in fact, receive a huge upgrade with Hurts.
While Wentz is with his third team, Hurts is proving that he’s the leader of the offense and a leader of the Eagles for he’s one of the team captains.
With Hurts under center, the Eagles are legitimate Super Bowl contenders. He’s one of the brightest young stars in the NFL, and he showed that again Monday night.
While perpetually overhyped and constantly defended Kirk Cousins was busy making bad reads and gifting Darius Slay interceptions, Hurts was marching Philadelphia up and down the field, stomping on doubters with each yard gained.
Hurts went 26-31 for 333 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT. He also rushed for 57 yards and 2 TDs on 11 attempts.
Cousins, on the other hand, went 27-46 for 221 yards, 1 TD and 3 INTs (and it could easily have been closer to 6).
But it wasn’t a battle between Jalen Hurts and Kirk Cousins. Instead, it was another battle for Hurts to prove he belonged.
He didn’t need to prove that to those of us who have believed in him since he first arrived at Alabama.
No, it was to prove to those who still doubt his talents that he’s not only QB no. 1, but that he’s here for the long run.
ESPN’s Jeff Saturday acknowledged this fact on Tuesday morning.
“He has total command of this offense,” said Saturday.
So if you still doubt Jalen Hurts, you do so at your own risk and expense.
