Let ’em cook, is what I’ve been telling Jalen Hurts haters since the 2020 draft. On Sunday, cook the Eagles QB did, serving up a hot, steamy plate of humble pie, with a side of good ole-Philly-fashioned OH-ARDDD. Hurts led his team to a 40-22 victory that, to be honest, got a little boring at the end there. Number 1 and the Birds were just that good — so good, Hurts didn’t even take the last several snaps. The Birds had it in the bag: There was no way the Kansas City dynasty (brought to you by State Farm) was catching up.
Also: I told you so.
For years, we Hurts fans have heard the criticism. Pundits and bloviators swore up and down Hurts wasn’t that guy. They said he couldn’t read defense, that he should be a running back instead (did they know how much of a cliché they were, that this has been the establishment refrain to Black quarterbacks for decades now?), that he couldn’t throw with anticipation; he’d never win a Championship … blah blah blah. From Stephen A. Smith to Dan Orlovsky, the SportsCenter doubters doubted, aloud and a lot.
On the nation’s biggest stage … Jalen Hurts silenced them all.
It didn’t seem to matter how good he was. After the Birds fried the Bengals in one of Hurts’ best games of the season, NFL analyst Greg Cosell, one of the QB’s loudest critics (and nephew of Howard), said, “I’ve watched every snap of Jalen Hurts since he’s been in the NFL and for his last two years in college … He’s not a pure anticipation quarterback. He’s a see-it-throw-it quarterback. He’s not a great progression reader.”
Mind you, in this particular October walloping — Eagles 37, Bengals 17 — Hurts had 236 passing yards and a touchdown, a 132.5 passer rating against a solid defense, and three rushing touchdowns — setting the NFL record for most career games with three or more rushing TDs by a quarterback.
That wasn’t just a win — it was a blowout where Hurts also broke a franchise record for rushing touchdowns, extended his NFL record for multiple-rushing-TD games to 14, and led the Eagles to their third straight victory. How could anyone doubt this guy, let alone a dude who watches and talks about football for a living?
But I guess Hurts is used to it. His journey to Super Bowl MVP is a testament to perseverance and focus. Despite leading Alabama to consecutive National Championship appearances in 2016 and 2017, he faced skepticism after the university benched him in favor of Tua Tagovailoa. Hurts transferred to Oklahoma for his final college season, where he showcased his dual-threat capabilities, amassing 3,851 passing yards and 32 touchdowns, 1,298 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns.
As national NFL analyst Shannon Sharpe put it on First Take after our belt-to-ass win Sunday, “If you just go back and look at him, all he does is win.” (Just a few hours earlier, Sharpe was thinking the Eagles had no chance if the Chiefs “bottled up” running back Saquon Barkley. How do those words of yours taste, Shannon?) Also on the post-game, fellow doubter Dan Orlovsky mea culpa-ed, “Listen, I owe, publicly, Jalen Hurts an apology.”
Saquon carried the Eagles?
Let’s get one thing straight — Saquon Barkley had an all-time great season. The man broke Terrell Davis’ record for most rushing yards in a regular season and playoffs (Davis had 2,476 in 1998; Barkley finished with 2,504 in 20 games). And he did it on his 28th birthday, because … hell yeah.
By the time Super Bowl Sunday rolled around, Barkley needed just 31 first-half rushing yards to break the league’s record. He got them in before halftime. But here’s the thing; the Chiefs were ready for Barkley, stopping him from one of his signature, breakout 50-plus-yard runs into the end zone.
The big game didn’t prove that Barkley was great: It proved that even with his superstar running back locked down, Hurts is still him. (And, being him, Hurts brought Barkley and the entire starting offensive line along to the Jimmy Fallon show this week, where they made like number 26 in Sunday night’s locker room, and shotgunned a beer each — except Hurts, who chose to spray his can on Landon Dickerson.)
Point is, when it mattered most, Hurts took over. He didn’t just lean on Barkley. He wasn’t just managing the game. He was the guy running the show. In Super Bowl LIX, he set a new record for rushing yards by a quarterback with 72, while completing 17 of 22 passes for 221 yards, two touchdowns, one interception and a 68.7 percent, career-best, completion rate.
For Hurts, this wasn’t just a win. It was a statement. On the nation’s biggest stage — in front of 127.7 million viewers, the world’s biggest pop star, with the first U.S. president to attend a Super Bowl game rooting against him (Trump left early in the second half; he has yet to extend an invite to the Eagles to visit the White House), Jalen Hurts silenced them all.
“We love it when they doubt you.” — Jordan Mailata, Lane Johnson and the rest of the Eagles offensive line, to Jalen Hurts
Hurts’ performance not only secured the Eagles’ 40-22 victory over the Chiefs but also cemented his place among the NFL’s elite quarterbacks. To those who doubted, let me say… Matter fact, never mind. Keep that same energy; seems like it’s working for Hurts — and us.
As his O line told him after he launched a 46-yard TD to DeVonta Smith, “We love it when they doubt you.”
Go Birds.
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