Sharing The Stage With An Elite QB Could Spark Eagles' Star

Jalen Hurts was the runner-up to Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow in 2019.

Oct 20, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) signals before a snap during the second half against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

PHILADELPHIA - Jalen Hurts has played at an elite level in the NFL, topping out to date as the runner-up to MVP Patrick Mahomes in the 2022 season and arguably outplaying the Chiefs superstar in Super Bowl LVII, a razor-thin 38-35 Kansas City win.

Rewind three years from that and Hurts was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy at Oklahoma, finishing short of LSU’s Joe Burrow.

On Sunday, at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati Hurts has an opportunity to make franchise history by winning in the Queen City for the first time. To do that he and the Eagles (4-2) will have to beat Burrow, who has developed into one of the elite QBs in the NFL, and the Bengals (3-4).

Hurts wasn’t interested in any Heisman reminiscing on Wednesday after practice when asked how far he and the Bengals superstar’s relationship went back.

“As far as?” Hurts responded prompting the Heisman follow-up.

“Got to hang out with all of the guys, and I think it was a fun, overall experience. Obviously, got a ton of respect for him,” said Hurts.

The opportunity to square off against a Burrows-led Cincinnati team comes at a time when some have started to question what’s going on with Hurts and the Eagles’ offense, which was supposed to be one of the most explosive in the NFL and scaled back to a 1975-like ground-and-pound mentality against the hapless New York Giants last week.

The first-quarter troubles remain (Philadelphia is the only NFL team not to score in the first 15 minutes this season) and third downs became an issue against the Giants with the Philadelphia offense finishing 1-of-13 against New York, something at least somewhat mitigated by a 3 for 3 showing on fourth down.

“I talk about the importance of getting first downs. There are multiple ways of doing that,” Hurts said when discussing the first-quarter issues. “It doesn’t have to be a down-the-field shot, obviously. But it’s a matter of executing what’s called, and everybody being on the same page, and being committed to what we’re doing.”

The operation hasn’t been clean early in games, something offensive coordinator Kellen Moore has discussed consistently.

“We gotta do it cleaner,” admitted Hurts. “There have been some funky things that have happened. You have a tipped ball. You have a false start. We’re not really helping ourselves in these situations. That’s why I’m excited about what’s to come because it’s all things we can fix.”

The third-down problems haven’t been as consistent. However, the poor showing against the Giants had Philadelphia tumbling to 23rd in the league, its worst standing in the major offensive statistical categories.

“We were in third-and-long all the time, so we gotta change that,” Hurts said. “Stay ahead of the sticks.”

While it’s never fair to boil any NFL game down to quarterback vs. quarterback, playing well on the same stage as Burrow could start shifting the narrative that Hurts has regressed since his 2022 apex, a sentiment that seems to be growing rapidly among NFL pundits.

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