Jalen Hurts Missed Second Straight Practice, Gardner Minshew Back from Mississippi

The Eagles' MVP candidate has yet to practice this week, putting his backup very much in play for starting in Dallas

PHILADELPHIA – There were just two quarterbacks wearing red jerseys at Wednesday’s Eagles practice.

They were Gardner Minshew and Ian Book. MVP candidate Jalen Hurts was nowhere to be seen.

With kickoff in Dallas just three days away, that’s not a good sign for Hurts’ chances to play on Christmas Eve against the Cowboys.

Offensive coordinator Shane Steichen didn’t reveal any more prior to practice than head coach Nick Sirianni did a day earlier.

“Going back to what Coach said (Tuesday), he's day-to-day, but he's feeling great, and if he's ready to go, he'll go, and that's where it's at,” said Steichen.

Hurts was likely inside during practice getting treatment on his ailing throwing shoulder that was sprained late in the third quarter of Sunday’s 25-20 win over the Chicago Bears that put the Eagles on the brink of clinching the NFC East and the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.

He seems like a long shot at best to play at this point.

Minshew returned to the practice field a day after delivering a eulogy to his former head coach at Washington State, Mike Leach, in Mississippi.

He is expected to talk to reporters on Thursday.

Steichen said he and Minshew were in touch during the day on Tuesday, a day the Eagles went through a walk-through practice. Hurts did not practice then, either.

“Just phone conversations after the walk-through and before the walk-through and all those things, but if he has to play, he'll be ready to go,” said Steichen about Minshew.

The OC said he is crafting two game plans with head coach Nick Sirianni and others on the offensive staff – one for Hurts and one for Minshew. Steichen talked about the potential challenges of doing that with quarterbacks whose skill sets are different in certain areas.

“I think it could be tough, but again, he's a guy who's had experience and played a good amount of football,” said Steichen. “...If he has to play, again, have all the confidence in the world that he can go out and compete at a high level. …When you're around people for a while you build those relationships, you see what they do well and then you go from there.

“I think that's a big point. Just in the meetings, all those different things that you talk about, what certain guys like, what type of plays they like, what they're good at, all those conversations have been had over the last couple years, so it's been good.”

Minshew has run plenty of scout teams during his time with the Eagles, something that has stood out to defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon.

“What I love about him from the quarterback position being a defensive guy is he plays extremely fast,” said Gannon on Wednesday. “He makes fast decisions. He gets the ball out of his hands. He knows where to go with the ball. He knows how to checkmate you by what coverage you're in.

“He's a very smart player and he's accurate, and he does a good job for us on scout team. If you go out on that grass when we go twos versus ones or twos versus twos or ones versus twos or cards or whatever it is, you have to be on it, or he'll make you look silly out there.”

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.