Jalen Hurts will be one of the top MVP candidates in the NFL this season after a sparkling season with the Eagles, but the playoffs are all about timing, and Daniel Jones just put together the best game of his career in the Giants’ playoff upset of the Vikings last weekend.
For that reason, among others, Tiki Barber says Jones is in better position to lead his team to victory on Saturday night than Hurts is with the rival Eagles.
“I think Daniel Jones is in a better position to win this game than Jalen Hurts is for a lot of reasons,” Tiki said. “One, Daniel Jones is peaking right now. We've seen in the last few weeks of the regular season and obviously he dominated against Minnesota. He's got a very strong run game. We talked about Philly being fifth, well, guess what? The Giants are fourth and Saquon Barkley looked really good last week in a limited amount of carries.
“Daniel Jones adds to that. Rushed for 700 yards and seven touchdowns during the season, 70 last week.”
On top of that, there is a chance Hurts isn’t at 100 percent for Saturday’s game, even after the benefit of the bye week.
“Jalen Hurts has been hurt for almost a month now a lot of people are speculating that shoulder injury is a lot more than just a little AC joint sprain,” Tiki said. “He hasn't been overly consistent the last three or four weeks and his last time in the postseason against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a year ago, he played like crap…one touchdown, 53% completion percentage, two interceptions. He looked overmatched for the moment.”
In Hurts’ lone playoff game of his career, he fell behind 31-0 and helped the Eagles score 15 points in garbage time. Meanwhile, in Jones’ first playoff game, he played his best football yet. Is that a sign of what’s to come on Saturday?
“Now maybe he'll be better this year,” Tiki said of Hurts. “But I could argue, and I am arguing, Daniel Jones is better prepared for this moment than Jalen Hurts is despite how great Jalen Hurts was all season long.”
Follow WFAN's midday team on Twitter: @TikiandTierney, @TikiBarber, @BrandonTierney, and @TheHoffWFAN
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