Hurts will be hurting less this weekend
The bye week proved fruitful for Jalen Hurts.
After being limited in practice leading up to the regular-season finale against the Giants, the Eagles quarterback was a full go in practice on Tuesday leading up to the divisional-round rematch Saturday night. And Hurts said he has no worries about the Giants targeting his right shoulder.
“It’s football,” he told reporters in Philadelphia. “I’ve got a bounty on me every week I go out there on the field, so I’m going to go out there and just play my game. Whatever happens, happens.”
Hurts missed two games late in the season, both of which the Eagles lost. They are 14-1 in games that Hurts started this season.
“He’s better today than he was two weeks ago,” Eagles coach Nick Siriani said. “He’s continuing to get better and he feels good.”
Against the Giants on Jan. 8, he seemed a bit limited in throwing for 229 yards and an interception on 20-for-35 passing. Normally dynamic with his legs, Hurts ran just nine times for 13 yards.
“I think you gotta go through all the tape the entire year this time of year and plan for everything,” Giants coach Brian Daboll said, when asked if he expected to see a different Hurts than a couple weeks ago. “Again, there’s only 65 to 75 plays [per game] this time of year and you gotta make sure that you’re trying to give your players everything you can in terms of the preparation process of it.”
Hurts finished the regular season with 3,701 yards passing, 22 touchdowns and six interceptions while running for 760 yards and 13 touchdowns. He dominated the first game between the teams, on Dec. 11, in which the Eagles ran the Giants off the field in a 48-22 final with 437 yards of offense.
“We didn’t play well and they attacked us,” Giants defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence said. “We just have to play well and make less mistakes to be able to compete.”
Confirming Sirianni’s perception, Hurts said he felt good following practice. The expectation, though, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garofolo, is that he won’t quite be 100 percent in time for Saturday.
A less-than-perfect Jalen Hurts, though, is still an imposing prospect.
“We know we’re playing a really good team; they have a really good defense, and they do a lot of really good things — that’s on both sides of the ball,” Hurts said. “We know we have to come prepared, put in a great week of preparation to go out there and play well Saturday.”