The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Hurts running his way into Eagles history
PHILADELPHIA >> At first, it was a worthwhile draft risk, a second-round investment on a quarterback with intriguing skills.
Soon, it was revealed as an inspired decision, a necessary shift in franchise philosophy.
Eventually, it was declared a success, with a playoff spot won.
And by Sunday night, the math would prove that all of what the Eagles had in mind was not only accurate but is spinning toward history.
Jalen Hurts. He will be the best quarterback the Eagles have had in the modern era, and more than likely all the other eras in which 250-pound lineman were once considered gigantic.
“What did he have rushing today?” A.J. Brown said Sunday, after a 40-33 victory over the Green Bay Packers. “Was it 150? That’s crazy.”
It was 157 yards, and that was even crazier, for it was a franchise record for a quarterback, cleanly zipping past the 130 that Michael Vick tormented the Giants with a dozen years ago. Only three quarterbacks other than Hurts have rushed for more yards in a game in NFL history, and it was not an outlier boosted by, say, a 99-yard run when some safety tripped. No, Hurts set the record on standard football plays against a defense assigning a linebacker to shut him down.
Vick, who rushed for an NFL quarterback record 6,019 yards in his career, makes for a perfect standard for Hurts to meet. But Vick had his best years in Atlanta and wasn’t with the Eagles long enough to be considered their best-ever quarterback. Another candidate would be Randall Cunningham, whose 4,928 rushing yards once was the NFL mark. But as often as not, he was running for safety, a function of Buddy Ryan’s belief that he could create offense without a detailed plan. Cunningham was not the down-to-down running threat Hurts has been but more of a scrambling magician succeeding on broken plays.
Donovan McNabb? He went to a Super Bowl. He has his
number retired, but it’s hard to understand why. He could create offense, but not like Hurts. Ron Jaworski had a big year in 1980 when the Eagles went to the Super Bowl, but his strength was his arm, not his evasiveness.
None of those would be out of place in a discussion about the best Eagles quarterback.
None were ever as regularly jaw-dropping as Hurts has been in what has become a 10-1 season.
“To be in a city like this
with a quarterback history that it has, and to set a record for most yards by a quarterback rushing is pretty special,” Nick Sirianni said. “Those are some unbelievable names that he is following.”
Hurts was not a particularly accurate passer in his first two seasons, the first in which he only made four starts. But with the addition of Brown, along with second-year pro DeVonta Smith, he has produced 67.3 percent accuracy this season.
No Eagles quarterback has ever won the AP MVP award, though Jaworski did take the UPI plaque in 1980, as did Norm Van
Brocklin in 1960. But Hurts is making a big run at being the MVP, and into
Week 13, he is tucked behind only Patrick Mahomes on the odds board. He’ll turn it over, as a younger player might. But he has won 12 of his last 13 regular-season starts. Sunday he stared down the Packers, with Aaron Rodgers for most of the night, spreading the feeling that the Eagles were not about to to be outscored.
“That’s who Jalen is,” Sirianni said. “I don’t think he’s fazed by any of the moments. I thought he made great decisions out there. He’s got great ideas coming off the sideline saying,
‘Hey, I think we can get to this. I think we can get to that.’ When he does that, we really trust him because he’s seeing it really well.
“That’s just the next step he’s taking.”
Hurts has more to accomplish before commandeering the honor as the franchise’s best quarterback. The Eagles have had quarterbacks who have won championships, and Hurts has yet to win a playoff game. But he has already taken plenty of leaps, from that draft-night hunch to the playoffs and this season to the point where he is showing skills that not even the greatest Eagles have flashed.
He even has that one number — 157 — as proof.
“It means everything,” Hurts said. “I have a great deal of respect for the guys that have come before me. Randall. Mike. McNabb. I always talk about how I admire the way they played the game. And to be thrust into that category is a blessing. It’s a blessing.
“They have guided me in more ways than they even know. So I appreciate them and I appreciate this team.”
It’s a marriage destined to endure, to become legendary, to write history.