Hurts on track to play Sunday in DC
PHILADELPHIA — Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni is confident Jalen Hurts and his ailing knee will be available Sunday when the Eagles oppose the Washington Commanders at FedEx Field.
But Sirianni has his fingers crossed.
“Any time these guys are working through pain and things like that … we anticipate him to go, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy,” Sirianni said. “We’re not going to be out on the field running around today, so I still need a little bit more time. I think he’s feeling better. … We’re hopeful there will be no limitations on Sunday.”
The Eagles (6-1) had a walkthrough, not a regular practice to begin getting squared away for the Commanders (3-4), who generally don’t beat themselves and are 6.5-point underdogs. The Eagles defeated the Commanders, 34-31, in overtime three weekends ago.
Hurts played with a knee brace in the second half of the Eagles’ 31-17 win over the Miami Dolphins Sunday night.
“Just taking it day by day,” he said Wednesday. “I’ve already said that it didn’t happen in the game, so it’s just something we’re dealing with day by day and taking it one day at a time.”
Hurts said he didn’t think about the brace. Truth be told, it didn’t look like anything held him back as he converted a couple of first downs running the Tush Push in the second half.
What’s concerning for Hurts, and baffling for the Eagles, is his turnover problem. He has 10 turnovers this year, second in the NFL to Desmond Ridder of Atlanta, who has 11. Kirk Cousins, Josh Allen and Mac Jones all have nine turnovers.
With eight interceptions, Hurts is tied with Jimmy Garoppolo for the most in the
league. Last year Hurts had 13 turnovers, seven of those fumbles.
“I think there are some adjustments and changes that you go through, and I think that I’ve pointed that out throughout the duration of the games we’ve played thus far,” Hurts said. “I think there’s been some miscommunications, some crazy turnovers that have kind of happened, but those are all things that I control. Some things it seems like you can’t (control), like a tipped ball or the ball goes to a (defensive lineman) off a drop, or something like that, but you try to really control the things you can control, and that’s just how I’m navigating through it. You look at the level of production and everybody wants to compare to last year, but we’re statistically better besides turning the ball over. We have to play clean in that area and I have to do a better job at that and continue to trend forward. I think the reality is we’ve yet to play our best ball.”
NOTES: Bradley Roby (shoulder) didn’t participate in practice; defensive tackle Milton Williams (heel) was a partial participant and safety Reed Blankenship (ribs) was a full go. … Eagles receiver A.J. Brown was named the NFC offensive player of the week after catching 10 of 15 targets for 137 yards and one TD in the win over the Dolphins.