‘He kind of woke up a little bit:' Hurts shines in first overtime game

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‘He kind of woke up a little bit:' Hurts shines in first overtime game

By Reuben Frank, Eagles Insider • Published October 2, 2023

 

Nothing came easy for the Eagles Sunday. Nothing went as planned. 

Just the way Jalen Hurts likes it.

After his best game of the year, Hurts said there’s tremendous value in winning a game the Eagles could have easily lost. A game that in a lot of ways they tried to give away. A game that went down to the wire ... and beyond.

Despite allowing Sam Howell to enjoy a career day, despite committing 11 penalties, despite allowing a game-tying touchdown with no time left in regulation, despite some goofy 4^th-quarter play calling, the Eagles hung on to beat the Washington Commanders 34-31 in overtime Sunday at the Linc.

"I think tension and pressure build character,” Hurts said after the Eagles improved to 4-0. "We needed a game like this for us. … I think a win like this does so much for the spirit of a team because winning is not easy. Winning is hard. It’s hard in this league and it’s very hard in this division. In multiple ways, it lights a fire for us to continue to do what we want to do.”

It’s an interesting philosophy.

Certainly Eagles fans would like these games to be less stressful. Three of the Eagles’ four wins have been by six or fewer points, and this is only the third time in franchise history they’ve won three one-possession games through four weeks. 

And they’re only the fourth NFL team in the last 20 years to get to 4-0 despite an average margin of victory of 7.0 points per game or less.

They sure haven’t made things easy on themselves.

And Hurts loves that.

"The main thing is to continue to grow and get better every day,” he said. "There are a ton of things to clean up in every phase and every guy could have done something better out there today, but when you find ways to win in those moments and you persevere and you stick together, that makes a team come together. That makes us stronger together and that builds up [morale] and a special togetherness. 

"I’m proud of how we fought, I’m proud of how we overcame, and I’m proud of how we were resilient. I’m excited to continue to build and grow as we’ve done this whole entire time so far.

"When you feel moments like this it does so much for a team – the character of the team, the spirit of the team. In every situation, I always challenge them, ‘How do you respond? What does this do to you?’ I know what this does to me, and as a leader I want to vocalize that. Just continuing to grow is the main thing in this, and I reiterate how this team will continue to strive to win.”

Through three games, Hurts had thrown three TDs and three INTs with a passer rating of 84.5. On Sunday, he threw two TDs to A.J. Brown, didn’t have a turnover, passed for a season-high 319 yards and fashioned a 112.3 passer rating – 7^th-highest of his career. He raised his season rating from 84.5 to 92.4.

Most importantly, for the 10^th straight game and 21^st time in his last 22 regular-season starts he led the Eagles to a win.

Brown saw something different in Hurts Sunday. Something he hadn’t seen yet this year.

"That fire. That fire, you know?” Brown said. "He kind of woke up a little bit, you know? And it gave everybody a boost because most of the time, Jalen just - no matter if the game's on the line, he throws a great ball, he's gonna be mellow.

"But that fire showed today, you know, and that desire, and I'm proud of him. I think he handled the game really well. He went through his reads and he was just taking what they were giving him. And so  we're still heading in the right direction. And most definitely he's leading us.”

Nobody comes up bigger than Hurts in these clutch moments. It doesn’t matter what happened before or how well or poorly he's playing.

When it's crunch time, he delivers.

"That guy is one of the most poised individuals I’ve ever been around,” Jason Kelce said. "He does not get rattled. He delivered probably his best performance of the season when we needed it the most.”

This was Hurts’ first overtime game, and he made some big-time throws in OT, including an 11-yarder to Brown and a nine-yarder to DeVonta Smith to ultimately get the Eagles in position for a long game-winning Jake Elliott field goal.

Sometimes it seems like Hurts was born for these types of high-leverage situations.

"My whole career has kind of been a rollercoaster in terms of being in different and unique and unprecedented moments, which you may call pressure and stormy and that fire, but that’s what I was born in,” he said. 

"I feel like it’s a unique feeling being in those situations because you work so hard and you prepare so hard, and you go through so much to put yourself in a position where you’re comfortable in those moments.” 

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/eagles-commanders-jalen-hurts-shines-first-overtime-game/538623/