It’s one of the most tired and played out sports debates running, and you can bank on it resurfacing at least once per year.
Even as the reigning Super Bowl MVP, national talking heads will twist themselves into a pretzel while debating Jalen Hurts as a top-10 quarterback in the NFL.
At this point, the Philadelphia Eagles and their fans know how ridiculous those arguments really are. There’s no way to accurately compare Philly’s unique style to the top passing offenses in the league, other than to use winning as the common denominator; since 2021, only three quarterbacks have won 50-plus games with their respective teams: Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Hurts.
With a player of Hurts’ stature as their point man, the Eagles expect to win 100 percent of the time when they hold a multi-score lead over any opponent. That’s what makes their pair of late collapses this season — at home to Denver in Week 5, and most recently at Dallas in Week 12 — so difficult for fans to digest.
Bleacher Report might’ve let Jalen Hurts off easy with final grade for Cowboys game
Hurts’ performance against the Cowboys on Sunday mirrored the offense as a whole — uneven.
While he was brilliant over the Eagles’ first three drives of the game, leading the team to three consecutive touchdowns and a 21-0 lead, Philly’s final seven possessions yielded zero points, five punts, and seven total first downs.
The QB’s final numbers were more than passable, with 289 passing yards, three total touchdowns, and zero turnovers (a Hurts staple this year). But did Hurts really deserve a “B” for his overall performance from Bleacher Report’s Brent Sobleski? That’s debatable.
“A strong start does enough to push up Hurts' final grade,” Sobleski wrote, “but the poor finish says far more about the inconsistencies currently found in Philadelphia's offense.”
Hurts deserves an “A” for his work in the first half, but no one associated with the Eagles’ offense should get a passing grade for what came. Philadelphia surrendered 24 unanswered points to lose the game against a defense that ranks among the bottom five in the NFL in opponent yards and points allowed per game.
Philly gained just 28 yards in the third quarter, had a missed field goal, and two lost fumbles in the fourth. Hurts never directly made a play that lost the Eagles the game, but he also didn’t make a signature play in the second half, as the team struggled to protect its lead and get the running game going.
Pro Football Focus agrees with Sobleski, as Hurts was Philly’s third-highest graded player in Week 12 with a 72.3.
Read more:A.J. Brown finally said what Eagles fans have been waiting for all season
This definitely wasn’t Hurts’ worst game of the season, but it was easily the Eagles’ most frustrating loss, up three scores on a mediocre division opponent. Any points in the second half likely would’ve been enough for Philly to get to 9-2, and for that, the entire offense should be docked another full letter grade (at least), the QB included.