01/09/26 08:03:00
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01/09 08:01 CST Jalen Hurts' resilience and big-game prowess to be tested in
NFC wild card game
Jalen Hurts' resilience and big-game prowess to be tested in NFC wild card game
By DAN GELSTON
AP Sports Writer
PHILADELPHIA (AP) --- Jalen Hurts pointed at A.J. Brown --- and just showed
everyone watching, including a hapless defense --- where he would throw the
ball.
Sure enough, Hurts tossed a strike down the sideline to Brown for an easy score
earlier this season in a win over Minnesota.
It was a beauty. The kind of play that actually frustrated Eagles fans this
season because they wanted more of them.
Kind of like " The Dagger " in the Super Bowl.
The one where Hurts faked a handoff to Saquon Barkley, dropped back and
unloaded a 46-yard strike to DeVonta Smith that was the final --- well, dagger
--- in the Chiefs' bid for a three-peat and sent the Eagles on the way to the
franchise's second Super Bowl championship.
Hurts has the athleticism and mobility and all the essential tangibles needed
to be a great quarterback. Yet ask Hurts what has defined his ability to rise
to the biggest occasion --- he has a Super Bowl MVP to back that up --- and
it's not his arm, his legs or any play drawn up in the playbook.
It's just the way he's hard-wired.
"Some things are in you," Hurts said.
The Eagles need more of those big games out of Hurts in the postseason as they
play for back-to-back Super Bowl titles and not the periods of inconsistency
that largely defined this season.
He threw a career-high 25 touchdowns --- yet had two second halves this season
where he failed to complete a pass. He threw only six interceptions --- yet had
four in one game, that included the ignominious feat of throwing a pick and
losing a fumble on the same play. Long a dual-threat, Hurts' 421 yards rushing
were his lowest total since his 2020 rookie season and opposing defenses seemed
to have solved the tush push.
Much of the blame for his erratic season fell at the feet of first-year
offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo.
The question is, will Hurts be able to flip the proverbial switch and morph
into a postseason star when the NFC East champion Eagles host San Francisco on
Sunday in an NFC wild card game?
Hurts --- who holds postseason quarterback records for single-game rushing
yards and rushing touchdowns in a game --- believes he can again meet the
moment.
Hurts had both the stats and the championship against the Chiefs.
He went 17 of 22 for 221 yards and two touchdowns, and he ran for 72 yards and
a touchdown, joining Hall of Famer Joe Montana as the only quarterbacks to
throw for at least 200 yards and two TDs and rush for at least 50 yards and a
score in a Super Bowl.
"Experience is the biggest teacher," Hurts said. "A lot of moments you can lean
on."
Hurts is 6-3 in the postseason with two trips to the Super Bowl in the last
three seasons. Hurts is one of three quarterbacks in this season's playoffs who
has won a Super Bowl (Aaron Rodgers and Matt Stafford are the others) and he
scored a rushing touchdown against the 49ers three years ago in an NFC title
game rout.
The 49ers sure haven't forgotten being on the receiving end of Hurts
orchestrating a big game beatdown.
"He's got a big time-arm," 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. "With those wideouts
and stuff he has, he's capable of making any throw, whether on time or whether
extremely late. Usually when a quarterback's late, you can't throw it that far
and catch up with those guys. He can. So, you've got to honor the entire field
with him."
Rodgers (11-11) and Buffalo's Josh Allen (7-6) are the only quarterbacks with
more postseason wins in the playoffs than Hurts.
Hurts is 5-0 at home in his postseason career.
"The amount of big games we play on a yearly basis in our regular seasons are
huge and then played, how many playoff games is this now? This will be our
10th," Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. "That's huge, right? Every time he
steps out on the field, I feel like Jalen does a great job of continuing to
raise his level of play."
Consider, Hurts threw two interceptions in his first career playoff game in
2021 against Tampa Bay. Over the next eight games --- which includes 304 yards
and a touchdown, running for 70 yards and three scores in his first Super Bowl
against the Chiefs --- Hurts has nine touchdown passes and only one
interception.
"I just think what you see from Jalen is you see this steadiness at all times,"
Sirianni said.
The Eagles shook up the organization when they drafted Hurts out of Oklahoma in
the second round in 2020. They had Carson Wentz entrenched at QB and seemingly
had more pressing needs than another quarterback --- especially one that could
make a run at the starting spot.
Hurts was expected to serve as insurance for Wentz. Instead, he supplanted him
and became one of the top young quarterbacks in the NFL.
Hurts is 27 now and understands he will ultimately be judged on how many wins
he can get the Eagles in the postseason, not necessarily how they won the games.
He has winner traits --- those innate ones inside him that he can't define ---
that the Eagles hope can lead them to yet another Super Bowl.
"You can't faze him," 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said. "I mean,
the young man's got elite presence and is a damn good football player."
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