The Eagles have been waiting a long time for Jalen Hurts to appear, originally appearing on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Eagles have been waiting for the arrival of this Jalen Hurts for a long time.
Efficient Jalen. Aggressive Jalen. Accurate Jalen. Flawless Jalen. Yes, Jalen 2022.
Hurts had his best performance in a long time on Sunday as the Eagles won their third straight game and improved to 5-2.
Hurts completed 80 percent of his passes on 16-for-20 for 236 yards with a long touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith and again no turnovers.
This was the first game of his career in which he completed 80 percent of his passes with at least one TD pass and no interceptions.
In three wins since the bye week, Hurts has completed 71 percent of his passes (42-for-59) for 614 yards with four touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer rating of 127.4. And five rushing touchdowns.
Before the bye week, Hurts had just five career games with a passer rating of 127 or higher. Now he is average that over a period of three games.
He joins Randall Cunningham in 1992 and Carson Wentz in 2018 as the third Eagles quarterback with a passer rating of at least 115 in three straight games.
Hurts’ passer rating for the season is 98.6 – 9e-highest in the league – and his 69 percent completion rate is 6e-highest.
He is only the second QB in NFL history to rush for at least four touchdowns, pass for at least four touchdowns and complete 70 percent of his passes without an interception in a three-game span. Lamar Jackson did it last year.
After throwing at least one interception in seven consecutive games, he has now gone four consecutive games without an interception, the 2i.e-the longest in franchise history, behind Nick Foles’ seven-game streak in 2013.
Thanks to Saquon Barkley and what has developed into an impressive running attack, Hurts hasn’t had to throw much, catching just 60 passes during the three-game winning streak.
But he has only had 17 incomplete passes and no turnovers in these three games.
He doesn’t force anything. He plays within himself. He lets the game come to him. And that is a winning formula.
“Jalen does the work,” Nick Sirianni said. “That’s something that doesn’t get talked about enough: how much he loves football, how much time he puts into this game and that’s what you want from one of your leaders on this team.
“(During the bye week) we were able to look at some of the things we were inefficient at, things we are good at. He just puts so much work into it. You are the product of how you practice. …There is no secret to success. It’s your habits, it’s your work ethic.” The same things it took to win this game are the same things it takes to win the next game. It takes what it takes.”
Since the bye week, the Eagles are averaging 28 points per game. Hurts said he knew during the ups and downs early in the season that this kind of production was coming.
“I saw it in training camp,” he said. “I’ve seen it with all the work and time we put into it. It’s just a matter of getting out there and doing it.
“I’m excited and happy with how we played as a team, how we played offensively. And I think Kellen (Moore) did a really good job today. We’re all in it together, stick together, communicate and go out and play the ball efficiently.”
During this three-week period, only Jared Goff and Lamar Jackson have a higher passer rating than Hurts. Only Goff and Sam Darnold have been more accurate. Only Goff has more yards per attempt. Only Jackson has more yards per completion.
When Hurts plays well, the Eagles win. The last 17 times he hasn’t turned the ball over, he’s 16-1.
“I don’t think we’re there yet,” Hurts said after the Eagles’ third straight win. “I think we’re slowly finding it and trying to piece things together.
“Ultimately it comes down to cadence, rhythm and how we play. And then, ultimately, optimizing all the talent we have.”
The Eagles have run more Hurts under center than we’ve ever seen, and Hurts said he likes the change, which makes sense considering how great the running attack has been.
“I think it means a lot,” he said. “I think we can be the creators. I think that says a lot about what you find offensive. There are several ways to impose. You can do that with a gun. That can be done in the passing game. You can do that in the run game, in the action game – whatever it is – as long as you have full control.
“So I think that’s more the mentality that we’re trying to develop and encourage. It’s about what we do, not what anyone else does. That’s easy to do when you go out and everyone is on the same page and has a like-minded vision.”
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