Jalen Hurts' Completion Percentage, Overall Success, Soars Along with Jersey Sales

Head coach Nick Sirianni has a good grasp of what his QB's strengths are, so an encore performance similar to what Hurts showed in Atlanta would not be a surprise vs. 49ers

PHILADELPHIA – Jalen Hurts opened some eyes in his second-season debut as the Eagles’ quarterback and had some people reaching for their wallets with the sales of his No. 1 jersey rocketing through the retail roof.

That’s what a mostly mistake-free game will do for you, the kind Hurts played in Atlanta on Sunday.

His numbers were one thing - 77 percent completion mark, three touchdowns, 264 yards passing, and 62 rushing - but the calm, cool, collected way he ran the offense, with expert decision-making, was another thing altogether.

“There are only 32 of us,” said Hurts on Wednesday as the Eagles prepare to host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday in their home opener. 

“So, everybody wants to play at a high level, everybody wants to lead their team. That’s the biggest thing. Every quarterback wants to go out there and play their hearts out – at least I do – for my teammates. You gotta know how you want to prepare, how you’re going to attack.”

Hurts had that all figured out in a 32-6 win against the Falcons, thanks to a game plan put together by Nick Sirianni and his staff that took full advantage of Hurts’ strengths and the coach called plays they had repped all summer long.

What can Hurts do now for an encore?

The 49ers’ defense figures to be much more imposing than the Falcons.

Another game like Hurts had against the Falcons and maybe his jersey sales soar past the top-selling jersey at the moment, that of New England rookie QB Mac Jones’ No. 10.

“I think it’s all love,” said Hurts about his jersey spiking more than 500 percent, according to Fanatics, a leader for licensed sports merchandise, and reported in a story earlier this week by ESPN.

“I want to continue to give them something a reason to wear it.”

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One of the knocks on Hurts this past offseason was that unsightly, 52 percent completion mark as a four-game starter in 2020.

It was evident then that Hurts was put into a bad situation last December.

The team was sinking deeper and deeper into an abyss and the coaches and players were still tiptoeing around the benched Carson Wentz.

It’s becoming even more clear that Hurts’ development wasn’t exactly at the top of the list of the previous coaching regime and there was seemingly no effort to take advantage of his strengths and put him in a good position to be successful.

Still, Hurts didn’t do that badly, throwing for six touchdowns and running for three more.

He had three interceptions and some fumbles, but, like his improved completion percentage, his ball security was much improved as well, without a single fumble or turnover.

Again, it could be a matter of just being coached better and a game plan that knows what he does best.

It was the completion percentage that stood out last year, even though there were a variety of factors other than the previously mentioned ones, such as an offensive line that was patchwork and ever-changing each week.

Now, 77 percent is awfully high, just as 52 percent is awfully low.

The Eagles would probably be pleased if he was able to split the difference over 17 games and come in somewhere around 62 percent or so.

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With Sirianni understanding quarterbacks the way he does, after working with three different ones in his three seasons as the offensive coordinator for the Colts, that doesn’t seem unreasonable.

With Sirianni's guidance, this doesn't feel like a fluke for Hurts and an encore performance that could rival his opener would not surprise. 

“That's just getting the reps of the plays that we know we're going to run,” said Sirianni about completion percentage. “We just needed to get him the reps of things. We feel confident that he's read a lot of these things multiple times throughout camp.

“What's important to me is, ‘Hey, where are you going versus this look, where are you going versus this look, where are you going when you think it's this look but then it turns to this look,’ right? It's just the added reps of getting him to know where to go with the football, because he's a good enough passer, he's a really good passer, right, and he does a lot of other things really well.

“It's the accumulated reps of decisions of where you are going with the football in time, does that mean you throw in rhythm every single time? No, but you will more if you know where to go with the football. Then if you don’t, then he has that great weapon of being able to run the football.”

Hurts couldn’t care less about completion percentage, however.

“The biggest stat I’ll look at at the end of a game,” he said, “is if we won or lost.”

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