Eagles May Have All Hands on Deck, Including Jalen Hurts, CJ Gardner-Johnson

Nick Sirianni updated the injuries to his QB and safety and their potential availability for Sunday's game vs. the New York Giants

USA Today

It’s not the system.

If we learned anything about Jalen Hurts’ two-game absence, it’s the Eagles’ 13-1 record with him at quarterback was mostly about him. Without him, they are 0-2.

“Jalen is obviously a special player,” said Jason Kelce succinctly.

One more time for the people in the back of the room with NFL analyst Chris Simms:

Jalen is obviously a special player.

The league MVP? Perhaps the 0-2 record without him will sway some voters now that they have seen just how much this team needs him.

What matters more is whether or not Hurts can ride to the rescue on Sunday when the Eagles host the New York Giants (4:25 p.m./CBS). There are reports from multiple outlets that he will play.

Predictably, Nick Sirianni isn’t giving up anything.

“I know Jalen wants to get back,” said the Eagles' head coach on Monday afternoon. “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.”

Sirianni said he hasn’t talked to Hurts in the past 24 hours or so. 

He’s been busy, he said, dragging himself “through the mud” for his part in losing to the Saints, 20-10, to turn this weekend’s game into a game the Eagles simply must have even though they qualified for the playoffs a month ago.

“Obviously, he's disappointed like we're all disappointed walking out of that stadium (Sunday),” said Sirianni. “Jalen is an ultimate competitor, tough. Yeah, he's just as disappointed as we all are.”

The Eagles can’t risk squandering a third chance to clinch the top seed in the NFC playoffs and entering the wildcard round, probably against the Buccaneers, on a three-game losing streak.

Edge rusher Haason Reddick said the Eagles need to have laser focus this week and guys must lay it on the line to secure a win.

It would help to have all hands on deck, and not just the MVP-candidate quarterback.

Safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson’s return would be beneficial as would the return of defensive end Robert Quinn, who is eligible to come off injured reserve this week should the Eagles deem his knee injury well enough to help on Sunday.

It’s likely the Eagles will be without Josh Sweat (neck) and Quinn would help in the rotation. Without Sweat, Brandon Graham played a season-high 51 snaps against the Saints.

Sirianni said Gardner-Johnson’s injury, a lacerated kidney that has forced him to miss five games, has been tricky to deal with because he can’t really do much other than rest and heal.

The coach gave a glimmer of hope on the possibility that CGJ will return.

“These last two weeks, he has been able to ramp it up,” said Sirianni. “When it is time for him to go, he'll be ready to go physically, not just the injury healed I'm saying, but physically be ready to go. 

"He's worked really hard at that the last couple weeks, but he did have to take it easy early on because that was part of the healing process for him.”

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.