QB Hurts earns another start for Eagles at Arizona Online:
Rookie quarterback Jalen Hurts will be behind center when the Philadelphia Eagles (4-8-1) visit the Arizona Cardinals (6- 6) on Sunday. Hurts led the Eagles to a 2421 upset over the New Orleans Saints (10-3) in his first career start after replacing Carson Wentz.
“Jalen played well. He was a big part of the success we had on offense and obviously helping us win that football game,” Eagles coach Doug Pederson said Monday.
Hurts ran for 106 yards and threw for 167 and one touchdown as Philadelphia snapped New Orleans’ ninegame winning streak and ended its own four-game slide.
The Eagles racked up 413 total yards against the league’s top-ranked defense. Miles Sanders had 115 yards rushing, including 82 on a TD run. The Saints hadn’t allowed a 100-yard rusher in the previous 55 games before Hurts and Sanders each reached that mark.
Hurts wasn’t sacked, the first time Philadelphia’s depleted offensive line didn’t allow one this season. Wentz has been sacked 50 times.
“One of the things that Jalen did well when he was out of the pocket and there was nowhere to run or nowhere to throw is that he threw the ball away and that helps your offensive line,” Pederson said. “It doesn’t put you in a bad situation. Doesn’t put you in a second-and-long situation or third-and-long situation. I think that looking at the offensive line, really, across the board, they all played extremely well.”
Wentz’s $128 million, four-year contract extension signed in June 2019 kicks in next season. He was struggling through the worst season of his five-year career before Pederson benched him in the second half of last week’s loss at Green Bay.
The Eagles face a major decison because Wentz’s deal contained a thenNFL record $107.9 million in guaranteed money, including $66 million guaranteed at signing. Wentz’s salary cap amount next year is $34.7 million. The team would incur a significant cap hit by releasing him or trading him so their best option would be to figure out a way to have him regain his old form. PATRIOTS’ RECORD DIVISION TITLE STREAKWILL END AT 11 >> For just the fourth time since Bill Belichick became Patriots coach in 2000, New England won’t end the season as AFC East champions.
The Buffalo Bills improved to 10-3 overall and 7-2 in the division with their 26-15 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night. It eliminated the hopes of New England (67, 5- 4) to extend its NFL-record run of 11 straight division titles. The Los Angeles Rams own the NFL’s second-longest division streak, earning seven straight titles from 1973-79.
The last time the Patriots failed to win the division was 2008, when Tom Brady suffered a seasonending injury in the opener. COACH SAYS HASKINS ‘WILL BE READY’ IF SMITH UNAVAILABLE >> The Washington Football Team is dealing with more uncertainty at quarterback as it looks to win its first NFC East division title since 2015.
Coach Ron Rivera said that quar terback A lex The RavensBrowns game was still in progress when this edition went to press. Go to stats.mercurynews.com/ gamematchups for game details and a box score.
Smith was still being evaluated for the injury that forced him out of the second half of Washington’s 23-15 win against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. Smith sustained a leg injury that Rivera described as “calf tightness” after Washington improved to 6-7. Xrays taken at halftime were negative.
In Smith’s place, secondyear quarterback Dwayne Haskins completed 7 of 12 pass attempts for 51 yards. Rivera said he would turn to Haskins again against the Seattle Seahawks (9- 4) on Sunday if Smith’s unavailable.
“I think Dwayne will be ready, I do,” Rivera said. “If Alex can’t go, then we know that Dwayne will get all the work. And he’ll get an opportunity to focus in and game planning will be directed toward Dwayne, and we’ll see how that goes. So we’ll kind of look at that and go from here.” JAQUARS ELEVATE MINSHEW TO STARTING QB >> Gardner Minshew is back as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ starting quarterback. Whether he holds onto the job for more than a week depends on how well he plays, beginning with Sunday’s game at Baltimore.
The Jaguars (1-12) have lost 12 games in a row, and coach Doug Marrone said he’s going to do whatever it takes to snap that streak.