Jalen Hurts leads Philadelphia Eagles back to Super Bowl: ‘Don’t doubt him’
As he held the George Halas Trophy emblematic of the NFC championship on Sunday, Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni yelled at CBS Sports’ Terry Bradshaw: “How about our quarterback?”
The Eagles had just defeated the Washington Commanders 55-23 to win the conference crown for the second time in three seasons and punched their ticket to Super Bowl LIX.
“How about our quarterback?” Sirianni said at the awards ceremony. “He’s a stud. I knew he was going to play that way. I knew it. Don’t doubt him. All he does is win.”
Against Washington, Hurts completed 20-of-28 passes for 246 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions and ran 10 times for 16 yards and three touchdowns – a performance that Sirianni described as “awesome.”
Hurts became the first player in NFL history with two playoff games with three touchdowns runs and one touchdown pass and surpassed Steve Young’s NFL record for the most postseason rushing touchdowns by a quarterback.
But the former Alabama standout also recorded his second game with at least 200 passing yards in his past eight outings. His lack of the big passing numbers that he has had in the past – 13 300-yard passing games before the 2024 season – has caused concern and questions about his play.
“It’s amazing how much doubt there is sometimes,” Sirianni said. “I can’t quite comprehend it. It doesn’t look like 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 1 and we win, great. If we rush for 1 and pass for 300, great. Who cares? We’ve just continued to win. He’s just continued to win.
“I think the criticism is whatever. He just wins. And I said what I said after the game, and that’s kind of how I feel.”
Philadelphia ran for 229 yards against the Commanders, and the Eagles’ seven rushing touchdowns tied the record for an NFL playoff game – a mark set by the Chicago Bears in a 73-0 victory over Washington in the 1940 NFL Championship Game.
“I don’t play the game for stats,” Hurts said. “I don’t play the game for numbers, any statistical approval from anyone else. I understand that everyone has a preconceived notion on how they want it to look or how they expect it to look. And I told you guys that success is defined by that particular individual. It’s all relative to the person. And what I define it as is winning. The No. 1 goal is always to come out here and win.”
After becoming the ninth player in NFL history to run for 2,000 yards in a season, Philadelphia running back Saquon Barkley picked up 118 against the Commanders, starting with a 60-yard touchdown run on the first snap for the Eagles’ offense after Hurts checked into the play.
“I made an adjustment,” Hurts said. “I had to get us situated, get us to the right play.”
Barkley also ran for a touchdown on his second touch, but Washington trailed only 14-12 when Philadelphia faced a fourth-and-5 at the Commanders 45-yard line. Instead of punting, the Eagles went for it, and Hurts connected with wide receiver AJ Brown for a 31-yard gain.
“Just two guys being on the same page,” Hurts said. “Having a negative play the play before and coach having the trust in us to bring it home. Haven’t had too many of those this year, but the good things come right on time.”
Four snaps later, Hurts scored his first touchdown on a sneak to give Philadelphia a 20-12 lead with 1:44 left in the first half.
After Washington fumbled away the kickoff, Hurts threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Brown as the Eagles went up by 15 points with 39 seconds left in the first half.
The TD pass came on a third-down snap. On third down on Sunday, Hurts completed 5-of-6 passes for 43 yards with three first downs and one touchdown, and two more third-down passes drew defensive pass interference penalties for first downs. One of the DPI penalties put the football on the Washington 1-yard line to set up Hurts’ third rushing touchdown.
Hurts also had two third-down rushing attempts – a pair of sneaks that produced first downs.
Philadelphia has lost once since Sept. 29. Washington defeated the Eagles 36-33 on Dec. 22. But Hurts didn’t make it to halftime of that game, leaving in the second quarter with a concussion.
Hurts entered Sunday’s game nursing a left-knee injury sustained in last week’s 28-22 victory over the Los Angeles Rams in the Divisional Round. The quarterback was a limited participant in Wednesday practice before returning to full participation.
“It was challenging,” Hurts said being able to play on Sunday. “In some ways, exhausting dealing with a little sickness as well. It was a group effort.”
The victory advanced Philadelphia to Super Bowl LIX at 5:30 p.m. CST Feb. 9 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. The Eagles’ opponent will be the winner of Sunday’s AFC Championship Game between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs.
Philadelphia lost to the Chiefs 38-35 in Super Bowl LVII to end the 2022 season. Hurts threw for 304 yards and one touchdown and ran for 70 yards and three touchdowns in that game.
FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.
Read More