PHILADELPHIA — Nick Sirianni never has understood — and doubts that he ever will — the measuring stick the public uses to evaluate his quarterback, Jalen Hurts.
All season long, the Philadelphia Eagles coach has had a front-row seat to the scrutiny Hurts has received while directing one of the NFL’s most productive offenses. The yards and points piled up this season, as did the victories. The Eagles ranked among the top 10 in total yards, points and third downs and also went 14-3, earning the NFC’s second seed in the playoffs. Yet, somehow, Hurts often had his credentials as a top-level
Sure, the lack of prolific passing performances fueled the questions. Hurts did not rank among the top 10 in passing yardage or touchdowns this season. He didn’t top the 3,000-yard passing mark. He topped the 300-yard mark just once. But when you have Saquon Barkley’s 2,000 rushing yards on your team, record-setting passing attacks are unnecessary.
Hurts did, however, boast one of the top completion percentages (68.7) among NFL starters. And in a league where quarterbacks are often judged based on wins, Hurts boasted more victories (12) than all but three of his peers this season.
Yet, the questions about Hurts’ capabilities never ceased.
Was there reason for concern because of the lack of explosive pass plays?
Could the Eagles expect to contend for a Super Bowl without a high-flying offense?
Could Hurts be trusted to deliver difference-making throws with the game on the line?
“It’s amazing how much doubt there is,” Sirianni said Sunday night while wearing an NFC Champions ballcap atop his head, a hat he earned after the Eagles throttled the Washington Commanders 55-23 in the conference title game and punched their ticket to Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans. “Sometimes I can’t quite comprehend it because, you know, it doesn’t look like people think it should look like. But the guy has been clutch. He’s won a ton of football games, but they say: ‘But you ran for this many yards.’
“We don’t care how we win. We don’t care if we rush for 300 and pass for one and we win. Great. If we rush for one and pass for 300, great. Who cares? We just continue to win. He’s just continued to win. And I think the criticism is, yeah, whatever. He just wins.”
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Hurts has averaged 12 victories a year in the past three seasons working with Sirianni, and has reached the playoffs every year since 2021, when Sirianni was hired. The quarterback proved again on Sunday that, no, there is no reason for concern.
Yes, he and his Eagles can contend for a Super Bowl, because two weeks from now, they’ll play in their second one in three seasons. And as Sunday’s performance showed (20-for-28, 246 passing yards, one touchdown passing and three more rushing), Hurts can do it all under the brightest lights. Which the Eagles already knew.
“What does it show? That he’s a winner,” Sirianni said. “That he just wins, and that he’s selfless.”
Hurts has a saying that he loves to offer when asked about concerns over the passing attack.
“Let’s keep the main thing the main thing,” he says, meaning, winning is all that matters, and if the Eagles get a victory, he doesn’t care how they won. It’s not that the quarterback doesn’t strive for growth or even perfection. But he also understands that football — especially on this level — isn’t easy and that although numbers are nice, the only numbers that matter are those on the scoreboard and the win-loss columns.
“I think we need to change our approach to all of this,” Hurts said after Sunday’s win, reiterating exactly what it is that drives him. “I don’t play the game for stats. I don’t play the game for numbers, any statistical approval from anyone else, and I understand that everyone has a preconceived notion on how they want it to look, or how they expected it to look. But I’ve told you guys that success … it’s all relative to the person, and what I define (success) as is winning. And so my one goal is always to come out here and win.”
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Hurts can’t pinpoint exactly when he adopted such a philosophy. But he says it came “from losing.” No loss in particular; they all haunt the quarterback. And no dazzling performance in a loss has been good enough to drown out the sickening feeling of defeat.
So, somewhere along the way, Hurts stopped caring about individual success and developed a willingness to do whatever it took to win, and whatever his coaches asked him to do to position his team for overall success.
Sure, it might seem at times like Hurts is saying all the right things. But it’s not just talk. He walks the walk as well. Just ask his teammates, who see the way he responds to losses that feature gaudy statistical outputs versus wins with pedestrian stats.
“It can be tough,” backup quarterback Tanner McKee said. “As a quarterback, you always want to come out and throw for 400 yards. You always want to throw six touchdowns. But I think (Hurts) is at the point of his career where he’s had so much success, he knows that the number one important stat for a quarterback is the win column, and so I think that’s huge for him.”
Said linebacker Zack Baun: “He doesn’t play the game for video game stats. He’s not trying to throw for 600 yards or do anything special, but the thing he’s doing right now is protecting the ball and doing a damn good job of that. That dude is a winner. Look at his record. Look at the things he’s done here. Or, let me ask you this: Would you rather have 500 yards out of your quarterback in a loss, or 150 in a win? … He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing.”
Just a couple of winners pic.twitter.com/mSfAcAo3Em
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 27, 2025
What he’s doing, Eagles players say, is work. Hurts attacks his job tirelessly on and off the field.
“He’s a tough-ass dude,” center Cam Jurgens said. “He’s the hardest worker on this team, and when you’ve got your leader — the guy that’s getting paid the most money — working harder than everybody else like that, it just breeds confidence. It just oozes out of him throughout the team. It’s easy to follow a guy like that.”
Given the way Hurts works, it came as no surprise for his teammates that the week after he hobbled through limited practices because of a sprained knee, he erupted for a 9-yard touchdown run, scrambled to extend plays and powered his way into the end zone on two goal-line sneaks.
RUN IT JALEN 🏃♂️@jalenhurts | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/rSaAwGXind
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 26, 2025
It also came as no surprise that when called upon to air it out, Hurts made the crucial throws to extend drives and move his team into scoring position — one of the biggest being the 31-yard toss over the shoulder of A.J. Brown on fourth-and-5 late in the second quarter.
“When Nick gave us the go, and called that play in that situation, it just shows the trust he has in us, the trust we have in each other, and we made the play,” Brown said. Discussing his quarterback later, he said: “He’s a warrior. He fought through it all week, showed no signs of (the injury) today and we knew he was ready to go. … It doesn’t ever matter how it looks. We’re just trying to get a win.”
Hurts embodies everything this Eagles team needs in a quarterback. Yes, he has the versatility to hurt defenses with his legs, and he certainly can sling the ball around the yard — contrary to his critics’ beliefs. But, most importantly, he possesses a mindset that aligns with Sirianni’s and the self-assuredness to disregard statistical benchmarks. That total package Hurts offers has helped give the Eagles a versatile offense capable of shape-shifting to exploit the weaknesses of their opponent.
“I don’t want anyone else leading us other than Jalen Hurts and I’m proud of the way he went out there and battled today and played today, and how he doesn’t care about anything other than winning,” Sirianni said. “That’s selfless.”
The selfless approach has Hurts and the Eagles back in the Super Bowl, and as well-rounded offensively as ever as they prepare for another crack at the Kansas City Chiefs.
“Keeping the main thing the main thing” might translate into Hurts and his teammates resolving unfinished business, just as they have craved.
(Photo: Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)
