PHILADELPHIA — The shirts worn throughout the locker room after the Philadelphia Eagles clinched the No. 1 seed read “Conquered East.” The shirt Jalen Hurts wore when he exited the stadium read “I’m back,” with a photo of a newspaper cover upon Michael Jordan’s return to the NBA.
Both shirts mattered Sunday. But the shirt the team wore might not have been unboxed if not for Hurts’ wardrobe, and the one Hurts displayed matters most if the Eagles expect to add any more milestone apparel during the next five weeks.
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Because for the Eagles to reach the Super Bowl, they need their quarterback. They’ll need him in better condition than how he pushed through in a 22-16 win over the undermanned New York Giants in his first game back from a sprained throwing shoulder. But the fact he played — and provided Philadelphia a stabilizing presence — was significant.
“Good enough,” Hurts said after the game.
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He repeated the phrase often Sunday night, using it for how he felt and how he performed. Hurts is often chasing an unreachable standard. The Eagles didn’t need the MVP version of Hurts. They didn’t require the top-of-the-league version of their team. What mattered after a two-game losing streak without Hurts was that phrase: Good enough.
“Coming into this game, (I’ve) been really pushing myself beyond measures to try and be available,” Hurts said. “Now I can continue to recover and be ready for the playoffs.”
Hurts declined to offer details about hurdles surpassed or approvals obtained to play Sunday. Perhaps if the Eagles had won one of the two games without him, they wouldn’t have needed to make the decision. Hurts had been pining to play and took first-team snaps in practice this week, but he didn’t take his full practice workload. He operated on the quarterback version of a phone’s airplane mode; the phone can be used, but it’s missing some of its features.
“I had some things I had to battle within myself,” Hurts said. “I knew I wanted to be available for my team. It’s really tough being out, let alone taking some losses when you’re out. … I really feel like if you want something, you have to do what you have to do to go get it.”
The Eagles tailored their game plan to protect Hurts, who finished 20-of-35 for 229 yards and one interception to go with nine rushes for 13 yards. When eliminating kneeldowns, he had five rushes for 17 yards. He entered the game averaging 10 non-kneeldown rushes and 54.6 non-kneeldown rushing yards per game. Four of his five rushes Sunday were scrambles, with the other run coming on a quarterback sneak. Hurts did not pull the ball on any zone reads, a departure from their typical game plan. But it was a necessary one.
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“It’s not like he was perfect out there as far as what he felt like,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “We didn’t feel like there was more risk, but I know he was hurting. He was hurting bad.”
When Hurts ran, he was quick to slide or find the sideline. When there was pressure — Hurts was sacked three times and hit five times — he seemed to brace for the contact. There were seldom times when onlookers might have cringed or worried that he further aggravated his shoulder.
“I’m just playing the game — playing the game and protecting myself,” Hurts said. “I think that’s what you all want to hear. I’m protecting myself.”
And the design of the offensive game plan?
“They were protecting me, too,” Hurts said. “Is that what you want to hear? I was protecting myself.”
It wasn’t as if he wore a red jersey or had a clean uniform after the game. Hurts totaled 42 dropbacks Sunday, tied for the second most this season. It was a balance Sirianni needed to account for when determining how to play.
“You didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks,” Sirianni said. “We needed to win the game however we needed to win the game. You saw he made some plays with his feet. They were doing a lot of different things on defense, just throwing some stuff out there. We obviously did some different things because we’ll always take into account the health of our players.”
The Eagles still relied on Hurts; they just focused almost entirely on his arm and mind rather than his legs. They opened the game with nine passing attempts. Spend enough time around the Eagles this season and you’ll hear an insistence that they can beat opponents in different ways. Sunday, they thought they could win through the air.
“Jalen’s proved all year that … he’s not just a zone-read quarterback,” Sirianni said. “This guy is up for MVP. Why? Because he’s done everything, right?”
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The offense lacked the firepower that has paced the Eagles to the best record in the NFL, although it wasn’t necessarily because of the modified game plan. Their problems came with stalled red zone drives when they couldn’t take advantage of big plays or favorable field position. The Eagles finished 1-of-5 inside the Giants’ 20. They entered the game leading the NFL with a 72.2 percent touchdown rate in the red zone.
It would be shortsighted to suggest this isn’t related to the game plan. Philadelphia didn’t suddenly become an ineffective team in the red zone. The threat of Hurts running is especially dangerous in that territory.
The statistics would also look different had a touchdown not been nullified on an illegal man downfield penalty. One play later, Hurts threw his first red zone interception of the season.
“It was uncharacteristic of us, and everything kind of goes into play,” Sirianni said when asked how the lack of zone reads factored into red zone problems. “The way we all play in the red zone and coach in the red zone has a lot of different factors into it.”
This is a legitimate quibble with the performance, although it shouldn’t dampen spirits. The objective Sunday was not style points. It was simply to do what they failed to do the previous two weeks: win a game, clinch the top seed and secure a first-round bye to reset and get healthier — Hurts included. The effect would have been the same whether the Eagles played the way they did Sunday or the way they did when they beat the Giants by 26 points last month.
“Winning pretty is not a priority,” Sirianni said. “You’re going to win some ugly. You’re going to lose some. Of course, we know that the last two weeks, we thought, just wasn’t up to our standard. Even today. There were parts of today that’s not up to our standard. We wanted to set our identity of who we are and just keep plugging away at it. But winning in this league is hard to do, and we won’t apologize for that.”
Even though the Eagles remained coy about Hurts’ status, the sentiment in the locker room throughout the week was that he would play. He arrived at the stadium wearing the “I’m back” T-shirt, and it would be a remarkable coincidence if that was merely the top shirt on the pile. The message was sent. Hurts was the final player announced during pregame introductions, and there was raucous applause. Same when he took the field with “MVP” chants awaiting him. He said he officially felt like he was back when he changed into his uniform.
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— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 8, 2023
To be the leader of the team, he needs to be on the field leading.
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“I take pride in being the quarterback for this team and being the leader of this team,” Hurts said. “I know that that is all earned.”
Hurts would not confirm he was shy of full health Sunday, nor what the benefit of two more weeks will be — “Good enough to win,” he said — although that’s one that might be safe to speculate.
He had a chance to play, which was important, and now he’ll have a chance to recover. The extra week before the divisional round playoff game means Hurts will be more than a month past his injury. He could also have Lane Johnson back protecting the right side by then; Johnson delayed surgery to try to play in the postseason. The game plan in two weeks will presumably look different.
“It’s big that he’s going to be able to get another week of rest,” Sirianni said. “It was also big, in my opinion … we were all just a little rusty with Jalen being back in.
“So, that was important for us to be able to get some of that out of us and fight through some of that. Just with the couple weeks off, he has to get back into that mode of playing. I’m glad he went out there today and was successful and did a lot of good things. We did some things we’re going to want back and we’re going to correct.”
Hurts walked off the field Sunday with two prevailing thoughts: “It comes through Philly. Job’s not done.” He said the past few weeks — and the past week, in particular, given the emotions surrounding Damar Hamlin’s injury — reinforced that he must be “thankful” and “grateful” for the opportunity. Then he acknowledged that he might not sound like someone who’s happy, which could run counter to the sentiment.
The reason is that more work remains. But the key to completing it could be seen on Hurts’ shirt and reflected in the standings.
Hurts is back, and that’s good enough for the Eagles.
(Photo: Bill Streicher / USA Today)
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