PHILADELPHIA — At 3:37 p.m. New Year’s Day, every Eagles fan still drawing breath held it and shared the same thought:
“We can’t win without Jalen Hurts.”
They were all right. The Eagles were the NFL’s best team before Hurts sprained his throwing shoulder in Chicago. With him, they could beat anybody, anywhere.
Now, with Gardner Minshew, they can’t beat an egg.
They lost at Dallas on Christmas Eve because Minshew committed three turnovers.
They lost Sunday to the Saints, 20-10, because Minshew was even worse in his second appearance as an understudy. At least Dallas was playing at home, with a healthy team, on a roll, with quarterback Dak Prescott looking like a top-10 QB. The Saints, on the other hand, were a six-win team that was 2-5 on the road, starting Andy Dalton at quarterback because he’s better than Jameis Winston.
Hurts took snaps and threw passes at practice last week. Apparently, his right shoulder was either too weak or too painful or both.
So what. Let him play hurt.
Hell, let him play left-handed.
He’d do it. He’d try. He’d be better than what they’ve gotten the last two weekends.
Dallas sack-meister Micah Parsons called Hurts a “system quarterback” a few weeks ago while laughing at Hurts’ MVP candidacy.
Yeah.
He’s the whole damn system.
If the Eagles hope to beat the Giants in the season finale, Hurts must play next weekend. If the Eagles hope to control their fate as NFC East champion and the No. 1 overall seed, Hurts must play next weekend.
If a player’s value to his team determines whether he’s the league’s most valuable, then there is no argument against Hurts. Will all due respect to Patrick Mahomes, who is more accomplished and more talented, and with all due respect to Joe Burrow, who might lead his team through Mahomes and Kansas City and to a second consecutive Super Bowl, neither is as valuable to the 2022 edition of his team as Hurts is to Philadelphia.
Hurts stood on the Eagles’ sideline as Minshew imploded again. He was 18 for 32 for 274 yards and a touchdown, but numbers have never lied more blatantly. He took six sacks, almost all of them his fault. He threw a stare-down, pick-6 interception toward A.J. Brown with 5 minutes, 31 seconds to play that turned a 13-10 Eagles deficit into a 20-10 impossibility. He threw beneath receivers, behind receivers, above receivers.
He connected with Brown on a 78-yard TD, but the ball was underthrown and ugly. Brown shed a defender, made the catch, and outran his pursuers. Minshew was largely coincidental.
Later, on fourth-and-22, Minshew needed, well, 22. Unmolested, Minshew threw an 11-yard pass to DeVonta Smith over the middle. Dallas Goedert was open on the right sideline.
Minshew was, exquisitely, awful.
So, now, we know the answer as to whether Jalen Hurts was this season’s most valuable player.
He was. Very, very much, he was.
We also know the answer as to whether the Eagles can win Super Bowl LVII.
They can. Very, very much, they can.
They lost their No. 2 quarterback sacker, Josh Sweat, who left with a neck injury, but got two sacks from their No. 4 sacker, Brandon Graham. Dalton went down six times. They gave up 13 offensive points, then held the Saints scoreless for the last 36 minutes.
Miles Sanders, underutilized early, finished with 61 yards on 12 carries. Smith caught nine passes for 115 yards and Brown had four catches for 97.
The team is stacked.
If the Eagles have the league’s most valuable player, they can win everything.
Without him? They can’t win a game of darts.
And every single Eagles fan still drawing breath knows it.
