Jalen Hurts Proved He's the Best QB in NFC

The QB had an MVP-worthy season followed by an MVP-worthy Super Bowl and, at 24, there doesn't appear to be any ceiling for him, yet

GLENDALE, Ariz. - The Eagles didn’t win Super Bowl LVII.

They did find out, if they didn’t know already, they have the best quarterback in the NFC.

That would, of course, be Jalen Hurts.

He put an exclamation point on an MVP season with an MVP-worthy Super Bowl.

“I mean, if there were any doubters left there shouldn’t be now,” said Patrick Mahomes. Hurts' counterpart in Sunday’s big game. “I mean, the way he stepped on this stage, and ran, threw the ball, whatever it took for his team to win. I mean, that was a special performance.

“I don’t want it to get lost in the loss that they had. I mean, even whenever we got all the momentum in that game, and we went up eight points in the fourth quarter for him to respond and move his team down the football field and run in himself in a two-point conversion, it was a special performance by him and I mean, you make sure you appreciate that when you look back on this game.”

That’s a classy move by Mahomes, the game’s MVP.

Unlike that kicker in San Francisco, Robbie Gould, who said if you make Jalen Hurts play quarterback it’ll be a good day for your defense.

Gould has no idea what he’s talking about, clearly classless and clueless.

Hurts showed his mettle, which not only had Mahomes talking but teammates and coaches, too after a performance that saw him run for 70 yards and three touchdowns and throw for 304 yards and a 45-yard TD while completing 71% of his throws.

It’s the fumble that will haunt him, but it shouldn’t. He did everything possible to deliver a second Super Bowl title to Philly.

“I know he’s hurt and he’s hurting,” said head coach Nick Siriani. “I just said, ‘We’ll work our butts off every day.’ I know he’s going to get better from this. …That’s why I keep saying I don’t think we know what Jalen’s ceiling is because he is just going to continue to get better.

“He left it all out there. …It wasn’t just this game. It was this entire season that he’s shown to be a special leader, a special player. I’m sure glad he’s our quarterback.”

The rest of the NFC might not be.

As Mahomes alluded to, Hurts’ final drive was a masterpiece.

Down eight with 9:22 to play, the 24-year-old QB led an eight-play march that covered 75 yards in 4:07.

He picked up a first down on his patented third-and-one sneak. After running out of bounds for a 1-yard loss, he completed three straight – 7 and 11 yards to A.J. Brown, then the whopper, a 45-yard throw down the right sideline to DeVonta Smith that set the Eagles up at the 2.

From there he plunged up the middle for his third rushing score of the game.

Then he tied with a 2-point conversion run.

If only he would’ve had the ball in his hands for the final 90 seconds looking to overcome a 38-35 lead that the Chiefs were able to take with eight seconds to go because of a penalty to James Bradberry with 1:48 left that would have forced KC to kick a field goal at that point.

As good as Hurts was on the field while proving all season long that there isn’t a quarterback better than him in the NFC, he can sometimes be even better off it during interview sessions.

Sometimes. Like in the aftermath of the loss.

He gave a heartfelt answer to the youngest questioner in the postgame interview room on Sunday night, 15-year-old Giovanni Hamilton, also known as Gio the Podcaster.

Asked by Hamilton one lesson he will take into next season, Hurts said: “You want to cherish these moments with the people that you’ve come so far with, your family, your loved ones, your teammates, your peers, everyone that you do it with and do it for.

I’m so proud of this team. I would say I’m so proud of this team for everything that we’ve been able to overcome. Obviously, we had a big-time goal that we wanted to accomplish and we came up short.

“I think the beautiful part about it is everyone experiences different pains, everyone experiences different agonies of life, but you decide if you want to learn from it. You decide if you want that to be a teachable moment. I know I do.”

“what lesson did you learn from this that you’ll take to the next game”

“cherish these moments”

take a look pic.twitter.com/dEBgHezAQl

— The Giovanni Show Podcast (@GioThePodcaster) February 13, 2023

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.