Jalen Hurts smiled when Nick Sirianni shouted on stage after the Philadelphia Eagles won the NFC Championship: “All he does is win.”
Hurts has faced criticism throughout his career, but the numbers speak for themselves, and Sirianni is right. Hurts has a record of 89-27 as a starting quarterback in both college and the NFL.
The only thing he’s missing is a Super Bowl ring. Hurts will have another chance to get one when the Eagles (17-3) play Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs (17-2) on February 9 in New Orleans.
Two years ago, Hurts had an incredible game against the Chiefs, throwing for 304 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 70 yards and three touchdowns. However, he lost a fumble, which the Chiefs returned for a touchdown during their 38-35 comeback win.
Coming close isn’t enough, especially in Philadelphia, a city that measures success by championship celebrations.
Hurts’ background photo on his phone shows him walking off the field in Arizona, with red and yellow confetti falling around him.
“The mission is to go take advantage of the opportunities we present ourselves with,” Hurts said. “But also I have my history and the things that I’ve experienced that I can use as tools to help those around me and help myself.”
Hurts has plenty of big-game experience. As a freshman at Alabama, he helped his team reach the national championship, though they lost to Clemson. The next year, he led them back to the title game, but he was benched at halftime, and Tua Tagovailoa led Alabama to a comeback victory over Clemson.
Hurts spent his junior year backing up Tagovailoa before coming in during the fourth quarter of another loss to Clemson in the national championship.
He transferred to Oklahoma for his senior season, leading the Sooners to a 12-2 record and finishing second in the Heisman Trophy race behind Joe Burrow.
Despite his success in college, Hurts was selected in the second round of the NFL draft by the Eagles at No. 53. Joe Burrow (1st), Tua Tagovailoa (5th), Justin Herbert (6th), and Jordan Love (26th) were all drafted ahead of him.
Burrow made it to the Super Bowl
Burrow is the only one of those quarterbacks to make it to a Super Bowl, and he lost. Hurts is the first quarterback to return to the big game after losing his first time, following in the footsteps of Jim Kelly, who lost four Super Bowls in a row with the Bills from 1990 to 1993.
Despite his success, Hurts remains underrated.
He started his NFL career as a backup to Carson Wentz and had a utility role, even playing wide receiver at times. He became the Eagles’ starting quarterback later in the 2020 season and has since led them to four straight playoff appearances.
After the 2021 season ended with a playoff loss to Tampa Bay, questions arose about Hurts’ future with the Eagles. They considered bringing in another quarterback, but they decided to stick with him. Hurts finished second to Mahomes for NFL MVP in 2022 and nearly beat him in the Super Bowl.
After a 10-1 start, the Eagles faced a major collapse, and Hurts received more criticism during the offseason. There was talk about his leadership and his relationship with Sirianni. His friendship with A.J. Brown was also questioned this season.
Through it all, Hurts and the Eagles kept winning.
Hurts’ numbers went down because Saquon Barkley had one of the best seasons in NFL history, and the Eagles shifted to a run-first offense.
Critics wondered if Hurts could still win when the team couldn’t rely on Barkley. But every time the Eagles needed Hurts to step up in the passing game, he did, like in a late-season win over the Steelers and a dominant 55-23 victory over the Commanders.
“It’s amazing how much doubt there is sometimes,” Sirianni said about Hurts’ critics. “I can’t quite comprehend it because it doesn’t look like what people think it should look like. But the guy has been clutch. He’s won a ton of football games. ‘But you ran for this many yards.’
We don’t care how we win. We don’t care. If we rush for 300 and pass for one and we win, great. If we rush for one and pass for 300, great. Who cares? We’ve just continued to win. He’s just continued to win. I think the criticism is. … yeah, whatever. He just wins. I said what I said after the game and that’s kind of how I feel.”
Since his freshman year at Alabama in 2016, Hurts has had nine different play-callers in nine seasons. If offensive coordinator Kellen Moore is hired by the New Orleans Saints as their head coach, that number will be 10 next year.
But that won’t change Hurts’ mindset.
“The standard is to win. That’s my standard,” Hurts said. He’s been a consistent winner, but the biggest victory is still ahead.
