The Philadelphia Eagles have advanced to Super Bowl LXI after defeating the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship game on Sunday afternoon. Much of the attention and flowers will go to RB Saquon Barkely, which to be fair, is warranted considering how incredible he has been this season and in the postseason to this point. However, one man cannot do everything, and at least some credit has to go to QB Jalen Hurts, who just made history with the defeat of Washington.
According to Jeff Kerr of CBS, when Hurts takes a snap in Super Bowl LXI, he will share some history with legendary Bills QB Jim Kelly.
Now, some people are going to look the other way on this because he hasn’t been putting up any sort of eye-popping numbers on the path to playing in the Super Bowl. Many would argue that the Eagles are there in SPITE of him and head coach Nick Sirianni, because the roster is extremely talented and is winning on that alone. It isn’t a crazy argument, but at the same time, it seems like it would be difficult for them to get to this game with two total incompetents at important positions.
While Hurts isn’t Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen, or even Lamar Jackson for that matter, he is a signal-caller that can get the job done when it is needed to get done. He’s made the plays when he has needed to make the plays, and most importantly, he has not been turning the ball over like he was previously. One of the biggest knocks on him last time they went to the Super Bowl was his reckless nature with the football, and while that didn’t kill them in that game, he did lose a fumble that was recovered for a touchdown.
That turned out to be the difference for Kansas City, and in 2023, he threw 15 interceptions to set a new narrative about his play. However, this season, he threw just five of them all year and has largely taken care of the ball. When Hurts takes care of it and just does his job as needed, the talent around him is more than good enough for them to win a championship. Perhaps he has finally learned that he doesn’t have to be Superman, and that is why they are back in this position just two years later.
Many have failed to be in the position he is in, but most of those quarterbacks were the focal point of their offenses, or just had a special season and turned out not to be very good at all. As a Bears fan, Rex Grossman started a Super Bowl, mind you. He never returned because he was awful and the team wasn’t good enough to overcome that. Others like Matt Ryan on the Falcons were MVPs and played great, but they could never get back to the big game.
We’ll see how Hurts does the second time around, and if he allows the talent around him to make the plays instead of trying to play hero ball.
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