When quarterback Jalen Hurts left the Philadelphia lineup because of a sprained throwing shoulder, the Eagles had three games remaining on their regular-season schedule and needed to win one of them to wrap up the division title, earn the No. 1 seed and first-round bye in the conference playoffs and receive homefield advantage for the NFC half of the Super Bowl bracket.

With one game left on the regular-season schedule, Philadelphia still needs that one win, and Eagles coach Nick Sirianni isn’t ready to say that Hurts will be back on the field for Sunday’s game against the New York Giants.

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“He was close this week,” Sirianni said about Hurts’ playing status after Philadelphia lost to the New Orleans Saints 20-10 on Sunday. “Obviously, we’ll take it one day at a time. For me to say right now or today that, ‘Yeah, Jalen’s playing’ or ‘No, he’s not playing,’ I don’t think is fair to anybody because so many things can happen in a week and we’re going to have to evaluate, we’re going to have to see where he is. Nothing changes in that aspect of it. His health is the No. 1 priority and not put him in a position that is going to risk his health. And so we’ll evaluate that as the week goes, and, obviously, if he’s ready to go, he’ll play.”

Sirianni said when he described the former Alabama standout as “close” to playing against the Saints, he “based that off what the doctors and Jalen are telling me.”

Hurts sustained the shoulder injury in the third quarter of the Eagles’ 25-20 victory over the Chicago Bears on Dec. 18. He didn’t miss a snap in that game, but he didn’t practice the next week as Philadelphia prepared for its game against the Dallas Cowboys on Dec. 24. Last week, Hurts took part in individual drills.

“He got to go out there and practice in individual, which is obviously closer than what he was the week before,” Sirianni said.

Does that mean that Hurts will be a full participant this week as the Eagles prepare for the Giants?

“Everything’s taken into play as far as when he’s ready to come back,” Sirianni said on Monday. “We’re going to want him not only to be — first and foremost, we’re always going to want him to be healthy enough to not put himself at danger. That’s first and foremost. But also so he can perform at a high level as well. When you’re talking about throwing the football and an injured shoulder, it’s a little different than some other injuries. He’s got to be able to throw the ball down the field, he’s got to be able to throw it accurately, he’s got to be able to throw it with velocity, so he can be effective as a quarterback.”

The Eagles went 13-1 with Hurts at quarterback this season. With Gardner Minshew under center, they’re 0-2.

Minshew completed 24-of-40 passes for 355 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions and ran for a touchdown in a 40-34 loss to the Cowboys on Christmas Eve. In the loss to New Orleans on Sunday, Minshew completed 18-of-32 passes for 274 yards with one touchdown and one interception, which was returned for a touchdown with 5:27 to play.

“We didn’t play well enough as an offense in total, and that’s never on just one guy,” Sirianni said. “We didn’t coach well enough. We didn’t put guys in good enough positions to make plays. When you score 10 points, there’s a lot of blame to go around, and it starts with me. We didn’t put the guys in good enough spots to help them make plays, and we got to do a better job of that. Gardner played a fantastic game, in my opinion, against the Cowboys. … If you ask him, he’s probably going to say he wanted a lot of plays back in this game. But again we got to help him be in a better spot to make plays.”

The Giants are locked into the No. 6 seed in the NFC playoff field. The Eagles could be the No. 1 seed or they could start the postseason on the road as a wild-card team.

By beating New York, Philadelphia would secure the top spot and the accompanying perks. An Eagles’ loss would provide an opportunity for the San Francisco 49ers to take the No. 1 seed or Dallas to take the No. 1 seed and/or the NFC East title.

The NFL set the Week 18 schedule on Monday so that the New York-Philadelphia, Arizona Cardinals-San Francisco and Dallas-Washington Commanders games will kick off at 3:25 p.m. CST Sunday.

“I know Jalen wants to get back,” Sirianni said. “That’s been his message to me ever since this happened. It’s hard to keep him down because of how tough he is, the kind of competitor he is. He wants to go. …

“Obviously, he was disappointed like we were all disappointed walking out of that stadium yesterday. Jalen’s an ultimate competitor, tough, and so he’s just as disappointed as we all are.”

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