(News4usonline) – Jalen Hurts is taking the Philadelphia Eagles to the Super Bowl. In just his third season with the Eagles, Hurts has risen above the haters and naysayers and now stands on the cusp of doing something extraordinary.
After their 31-7 whitewashing of the San Francisco 49ers, the only thing that stands in the way of Hurts and the Eagles capturing Super Bowl LVII is Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Andy Reid, the head coach of the Chiefs, will be coaching against his former team as he tries to lock down win No. 2 in the Super Bowl. That’s another headline and story for another day. For now, the big focus will be on the two quarterbacks that led their respective teams to this year’s Super Bowl quest.
The legend of Mahomes seems to grow just about every year. For the last five years, Mahomes has taken his team to the AFC Championship Game. Playing the Eagles in Glendale, Arizona, marks the third time that Mahomes has made a Super Bowl appearance. Mahomes has already entrenched himself as the premier quarterback in the NFL.
Hurts is working on building the type of resume that Mahomes has already established. Making it all the way to the Super Bowl in just his third season is a good start. To get where the Eagles are today took some grit and soul-searching for Hurts as well as the rest of the Philadelphia organization.
The Eagles finished with a 9-8 regular season record and got a 31-15 beatdown from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during an NFC wild-card playoff game. Hurts played smaller than the moment. The growing question of whether Hurts was THAT GUY for the Eagles got louder. Hurts and the Eagles flipped that script from just a year ago to being NFC champions and headed to the NFL’s biggest stage.
If folks paid attention to what Hurts have done in his brief career, they would see that the former Alabama and University of Oklahoma star has improved each season that he’s been in the league.
The Eagles have improved as a team as well. In his rookie season as a starter, Hurts went 1-4, while the Eagles absorbed a 4-11 record. In his sophomore season with Philadelphia, Hurts got over the .500 mark with an 8-7 record.
During that 2021 season, Hurts completed 61 percent of his passes for 3,144 yards. Those are pretty decent numbers, but not good enough to quell all the noise about his development into a true NFL quarterback. Many people saw and still do, see Hurts as nothing more than a running quarterback who can complete passes every now and then.
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. However, while people talked, Hurts quietly got better. The 2022 NFL regular season proved as much. Showing off the range of his multi-dimensional skills, Hurts unabashedly took his game to the next level.
In 15 games, Hurts led the Eagles to a 14- record. Philadelphia would finish the regular season with a 14-3 mark before dispatching the New York Giants and San Francisco in the postseason. During the Eagles’ Super Bowl run, Hurts has had a career year. He completed 66 percent of his passes for 3,701 yards and 22 touchdowns.
That’s not all, folks. Hurts used his feet to gain 760 yards and added another 13 scores on the ground. Due to his outstanding season, Hurts is in the running for league MVP. Whether he gets it or not, is out of his hands. What he does control, he’s been pretty good at it. And that’s guiding the Eagles into a bright future.
Despite being drafted in the second round of the NFL Draft in 2020, there have been questions about Hurts and his ability to play in the league. It would not be the first time that people doubted him. With current Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa standing in the shadows while the two quarterbacks were at Alabama, Hurts and his successful collegiate career went awash.
Then there were two#ItsAPhillyThing | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/5yktu17UdI
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 30, 2023
He would later transfer to the University of Oklahoma where grounded out another rock-solid season. That didn’t keep Hurts from dropping off of team’s draft boards. There were four quarterbacks taken ahead of Hurts.
The Cincinnati Bengals took Joe Burrow as the overall No. 1 draft pick. Tagovailoa (No.5), Justin Herbert (No. 6 Los Angeles Chargers), and Jordan Love (No. 26 Green Bay Packers) were the signal-callers picked up before Hurts. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. The Eagles have a real jewel in Hurts.
Top Photo: PHILADELPHIA, PA – JANUARY 21: Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) runs with the football during the NFC Divisional playoff game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants on January 21, 2023, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire)
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, social justice, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University.