Chris Simms Is Still Stubbornly Hating on Jalen Hurts

Chris Simms has created a reputation for being a Jalen Hurts hater. Throughout his whole MVP-caliber season, and the run to Super Bowl, Chris Simms was being a downer on Jalen Hurts. He said ridiculous things like saying Daniel Jones is as good as Jalen Hurts. No matter how good Jalen Hurts looked, he would be there putting Hurts down. Saying asinine things like that Jalen Hurts is not that good of a thrower.

Pretty much everyone else has acknowledged that Jalen Hurts took a HUGE step and became a great thrower last year. Going into last season, saying he struggled with accuracy or deep balls may have been fair. But that was not the case last year. He was 5th last season in deep ball completion percentage. We saw him deliver so many balls to AJ Brown, in good coverage, to a place where only Brown could make the play. Yes, Brown made great catches. But it was the great throws by Hurts that made those great catches possible.

Well, Chris Simms is at it again. He put out his annual top 40 Qb list. Now Jalen Hurts came in at 7. Which on its surface is fair enough. He put Lamar Jackson and Trevor Lawrence over him, which is crazy. But he still has him as one of the best QBS in the league.

It was what he said about Hurts though that makes him still look foolish. Simms couldn't help but get a dig in while pretending to praise Hurts.

That is just the tip of the iceberg. He made throws like that all season long. Maybe you should try actually watching games Chris Simms

Now to Simm's credit, he did have some good things to say about Hurts. He acknowledged how he is the ultimate baller and a great team leader. Simms also noted that Hurts makes the right decision almost every time. But why is he still sticking to the false narrative that he is inaccurate? We know that is not true. Everyone who watched Hurts play, saw him make these great throws.

No, he doesn't have Patrick Mahomes' arm. But no one does. He doesn't "miss throws" though. There is no tape, or stats, that back that opinion up. The numbers say he is one of the best pocket passers and deep ball passers in the league.

The fact he is praising Hurts, just to keep needling in by saying crap like "he doesn't have an elite arm" or "can't make all of the throws," almost makes it more annoying. He can't go 3 sentences without reminding us that he doesn't think Hurts is good at throwing the football.

Welp, that seals it. There is zero chance Phil Simm's son actually watched the Super Bowl. He is acting like Hurts struggled to throw the ball. Meanwhile, he put up one of the best performances from the losing Qb in the Super Bowl ever. He is the youngest QB to have a completion rate of over 70%. The highest QB rating by a QB under 25 in the Super Bowl ever. His 87 pass attempts in the playoffs without an Interception is an Eagles record. He threw for over 300 yards and threw no interceptions in the Super Bowl.

Hurts was elite in that game. Not just as a runner, but as a passer. So what the hell is Phil Simm's son talking about?

I guess he at least made some progress and acknowledged some of the good things about Hurts. But even though Simms claimed he is not too prideful to admit when he is wrong, that is clearly the case here. We all remember his meltdown when ESPN made fun of his awful take. He acted like a child told he can't get any candy at the grocery store. A full blown temper tantrum on his own show. 

And now he is still sticking to his guns and refusing to admit Hurts is a great thrower. We really shouldn't be giving this dude attention. But man I can't help but be annoyed every time the NFL's most notable case of nepotism opens his mouth.

Jalen Hurts is going to be the Eagles' Qb for a while. Coming off his MVP-caliber season, he signed a 5-year extension, making him the highest-paid player in NFL history. While that is a title that may not last long, considering Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert are also in line for new contracts, it puts him in that top tier of QBs, which is exactly where he belongs. As expensive as he will be going forward, Jalen Hurts is worth every penny.

Hurts was the runner-up MVP. You could argue he played even better than the Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes. The Eagles lost just two games he played in last season. Yes, one of those was the Super Bowl, but it is hard to blame him for that given how well he played. And contrary to what some people say, he is not just a running QB. He developed into a hell of a pocket QB, with a QB rating over 100 in the pocket last season. Hurts threw 22 TDs with just 6 interceptions playing in the pocket last season. Yes, he can kill you with his legs. But he is just as capable of killing teams with his arm too.

And off the field, it is hard to find a player more beloved than him. AJ Brown came out in the offseason and said if the Eagles didn't pay Hurts, he would follow him wherever he goes. Ndamukong Suh went on the Rich Eisen show to gush about Hurts. You won't find a single guy Hurts plays with who has anything short of glowing praise.

Jalen Hurts is a star. And as much as this deal will cost, he is worth it. In case you forgot that fact, let's look back at some of his best performances from this past year.

Yes, the Eagles lost the Super Bowl. But it was not because of Jalen Hurts. He turned in what may be the best performance by the losing QB in Super Bowl history. 304 yards through the air, 70 on the ground, and 4 total TDs. He had an answer for everything the Chiefs did. When the Eagles trailed by 8 late in the game, he went down, rushed for a TD, then tied it up with a 2pt conversion. And maybe if his defense got a single stop and gave him a chance with time at the end of the game, he may have done it again for the win. 

Alas, that did not happen. The defense couldn’t get off the field. By the time Hurts got the ball back, it was with no time to do anything but a trick play. Still, he did everything in his power to win that game. Even after his fumble that went the other way for a TD, he came right back to get those points back for the Eagles. 

Hurts is a dynamic threat with his legs. But it is a discredit to him to talk about him as a running QB. Because he can be just as much of a threat with his arms. For proof of that, look no further than his performance vs the Titans. 380 passing yards, and 3 TDS. Two of those went to AJ Brown, and the other to Devonta Smith. Both of whom went for over 100 receiving yards.  

While having two dynamic WRs like Brown and Smith helps, they benefit from Hurts just as much. A great play needs both a great catch and a great throw. And that is what we saw on this connection in this game between Hurts and Brown.  

Of course, when Hurts does want to run, he can do so like an elite RB. When he faced the Packers, they thought they would throw him off by blitzing with man coverage. So Hurts just decided to run all over them. 157 yards on the ground in total. His passing numbers in this game did not jump off the charts. But they didn’t need to. The great thing about Hurts is that he can beat you in so many different ways. If you sell out to stop the run as the Titans did, he will shred you through the air. And if you don’t, like the Packers did, he will do this to you. 

If you liked that connection between Hurts and Brown in the Titans game, it happened 3 times vs the Steelers. Hurts had a way all year of throwing the deep ball to the exact right spot where only AJ Brown could make a play on it. That was on full display vs the Steelers. Hurts threw for 4 TDs, 3 on deep balls to Brown, and 285 total yards. It was another example of a game where Hurts didn’t even need his legs to make the other team pay. His arm did all the talking on this day. 

At one point, Carson Wentz was the answer for the Eagles at QB. It did not work out. The Eagles drafted Hurts, and by the next season, he had taken Wentz’s job, and Wentz was traded. A year after that, Wentz was on another new team and was facing off with Jalen Hurts. Hurts won that battle easily. While the Eagles' pass rush tormented Wentz, Hurts tormented the Commander’s secondary. 340 yards, 3 TDs, on the way to a 24-8 win. And most of the damage was in the first half before the Eagles took their foot off the gas.  

Hurts’ looked good in week 1. But it was not quite enough to answer questions people had of him coming into the season. His week 2 performance vs the Vikings did just that though. By the end of the Vikings game, he had thrown for 333 yards, 300 of which came in the first half, and put together some tough runs, to help carry the Eagles to a 24-7 win over the Vikings. All on Prime Time. It was Hurts announcing to the league that he was not the same QB they saw last season. A promise he kept up all season through the Super Bowl.