Jalen Hurts ‘hasn't played the Cowboys,’ Dallas DE says

Jalen Hurts ‘hasn’t played the Cowboys,’ Dallas DE says

Dallas Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence had had it.

All the Jalen Hurts talk: How has the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback improved? How does his scrambling ability affect a pass rusher? Does Dallas’ defense face its biggest challenge on Sunday night?

“Hey, how about this?” Lawrence told the reporters gathered around his locker on Thursday. “That’s the last question I’m going to hear about Hurts. For real, though, because I really don’t care.”

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Philadelphia is the NFL’s only unbeaten team. Dallas has won four in a row since dropping its season-opener. The NFC East rivals clash on Sunday night in Philadelphia.

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With Hurts at quarterback, the Eagles have gained the most yards in the NFC through the first five weeks of the season.

“Has he played us? All right,” Lawrence said before he had heard enough about Hurts. “Different teams run different schemes. …

“All you need to write is he hasn’t played the Cowboys yet, so we don’t know how good he is.”

The Dallas defense has yielded the second-fewest points in the NFC this season.

“I think he knows his system better,” Lawrence said about Hurts, who is in his second season as Philadelphia’s starting quarterback. “I think he’s making better reads and stuff like that. But I think there are still areas that he struggles in, so just attack the areas.”

Lawrence has three of the Cowboys’ 20 sacks, a total exceeded only by the San Francisco 49ers’ 21. Hurts has been sacked 11 times in 2022, but he also has run for six touchdowns.

After running for two touchdowns in the Eagles’ 20-17 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, Hurts has 19 rushing touchdowns in his 24 NFL starts, more than any other quarterback in league history has had in his first 25 starts. It also was Hurts’ seventh game with at least two rushing TDs, tied for second-most in NFL history.

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If the former Alabama standout runs for a touchdown against Dallas, he’ll become the first quarterback in the league’s Super Bowl era with seven rushing TDs during his team’s first six games in a season.

“In all honesty, I really don’t think about things like that,” Lawrence said when asked about the difficulty of bringing down Hurts. “It’s just about putting as much pressure on the quarterback, making him uncomfortable as much as possible. It really ain’t no science to this. Football is played at a high speed, and being able to attack and be relentless all four quarters, that’s what the game’s all about, so we just play our style.”

Lawrence looked sideways at a reporter who asked if the Eagles would be Dallas’ biggest challenge this season, and a small smile appeared in the moments before he answered.

“It will be a good test for us,” Lawrence said. “I feel like they do have a pretty good offense. They got a good receiver corps, good quarterback, good offensive line, so they’re well-rounded but also we ‘Dem Boys.’ Remember that. Don’t worry about it. Y’all will see it on Sunday. …

“It’s nothing they do special. It’s just football. It’s just us reading our keys, playing our assignments. Y’all got to understand the offensive line is taught to block us. If they can’t block us, then it’s going to be a lot of chaos out there. Y’all asking me questions like I should be worried about them. …

“I just want y’all to understand that we coming to play, too.”

The Cowboys and Eagles square off at 7:20 p.m. CDT Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. NBC will televise the game.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.