Jalen Hurts Needs To Have A Statement Game Against The Falcons

Jalen Hurts is entering his fourth full season as the starting quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles. He is entering his third season where we have had debates locally and nationally on where he ranks among other quarterbacks in the NFL. No matter where you have him ranked, we all seem to agree that he is the franchise quarterback in Philadelphia.

One of the many benefits of doing this job is being able to get the pulse of the fanbase. There are some fans that believe Jalen Hurts is a top 5 quarterback. Heck, there was one caller into Kincade and Salciunas that told us he was the 3rd best QB in the league. Others have told us that he is outside of the top 10, but still believe that he can win.

However, for the first time in the Jalen Hurts era, it seems like the confidence in some fans is starting to wane. The 2023 season scarred a lot of people and no one knew exactly who to blame. When one person would try to blame Hurts, the next person would blame Sirianni. If someone tried to blame the defense, the next person would blame the offense. With all the uncertainty of what went wrong, I think a lot of people were willing to see what happened in the offseason.

That was when the Eagles hired "the savior" in Kellen Moore. Moore was brought in and immediately people thought the offense, and Jalen Hurts, would be fixed. In week 1 the offense put up points, but we saw two more careless interceptions by Hurts which were reminiscent of last season. Regardless of what you think about Hurts, those cannot continue to happen.

That is why tonight is a statement game for Jalen Hurts. I told you before the season started that I was going to hold him to a higher standard. I was going to ignore what other quarterbacks were doing well or not so well and focus on what Hurts was doing. For me to have the same confidence as I did in 2022 with Hurts, I need to see him playing clean football again.

Tonight he will be without his best weapon. With AJ Brown out with his hamstring injury, many Eagles fans will go into this game with a built-in excuse for Hurts. Not me. Most teams don't have their top wide receiver get hurt and have a top 15 receiver, top 10 tight end, and top 10 running back to turn to. Hurts has all that. The top quarterbacks in the league also uplift their play when times are tough.

I believe Hurts can do that, and I believe he will do it tonight. If he doesn't, conversations on just how good he actually is will continue throughout the week on the station. You can bury your head in the sand all you want, but Hurts hasn't put together a "great" game in some time now. Even without AJ Brown, he has enough to still do it.