Philadelphia Eagles: Jalen Hurts Must Show He’s Trustworthy During Stretch Run

By: Mark T. Wilson

The Philadelphia Eagles are not out of the running for a playoff spot but QB Jalen Hurts could be running out of time. Although he’s just in his 2nd season and first as a full-time starter, the Eagles cannot afford to be wrong about their future.

On the year, Hurts had passed for 1716 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions while rushing for 361 yards, and completing 61.2 percent of his passes. Good stats but not great if he’s looking to secure the starting QB position for the foreseeable future.

The Eagles head into their Week 8 matchup against the 0-7 Detroit Lions and this is where Hurts must begin to earn his spot. With a loss, the Eagles will sink further. But the real conclusions that Hirts will sink further as well. The Eagles as a franchise can rebound but the young signal-caller may not have such luck.

If Hurts can pull out a victory over the Lions, that can start a successful run of wins with the Eagles’ schedule ranked as one of the easiest in the NFL the rest of the way. After the Lions, the Eagles will face the Los Angeles Chargers (4-2), Denver Broncos (3-4), New Orleans Saints (4-2), New York Giants (2-5), New York Jets (1-5) and then finish out against the rest of the NFC East Division.

What makes this a make-or-break span for Hurts is that only the WFT and the Lions are ranked in the bottom 10 in passing yards allowed. However, if Hurts can exploit these defenses and the Eagles pick up a few wins, things can drastically change for both Hurts and the Eagles.

The saying is, the team goes as the QB goes. If Hurts can lead the Eagles to the playoffs, that all but assures that he’ll get another shot next season as the starter. But if he fails and does so miserably, there is a good chance that Howie Roseman will look elsewhere for a QB.

What’s staggering is that Hurts has the necessary weapons to succeed. Jalen Reagor and DeVonta Smith are good young receivers. Dallas Goedert has the tools to be one of the best TE’s in the NFL and before this season, Miles Sanders was one of the best in the league at RB.

But something has gone wrong with the playcalling and Hurts has looked more like the Alabama QB than the Heisman Trophy runner-up he was with the Oklahoma Sooners. The Eagles need that version of Hurts and not the one who was benched by Nick Saban. There have been times where he has been on point and others where he looks like a rookie.

While not completely out of the playoff picture and job just yet, the Philadelphia Eagles need Jalen Hurts to take advantage of their schedule. Over the next 10 weeks, the Eagles will face off against teams with a combined record of 21-31. If Hurts cannot win at least 8 games, his job should be in danger.