Eagles News: Jalen Hurts says we haven’t seen the very best of this team

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Eagles News: Jalen Hurts says we haven’t seen the very best of this team

 

Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 1/1/22.

By Brandon Lee Gowton@BrandonGowton  Jan 1, 2022, 10:21am EST  

Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links ...

Jalen Hurts: ‘You haven’t seen the very best of us’ - PE.com
"You have to be ready to go and I think that is one thing we’ve done extremely well throughout the team,” safety Rodney McLeod said earlier in the week. "Prepare to be the starter, so that when it’s your time, you are ready. It sounds like everybody would do that anyway, but that’s not always the case. With this team, we’ve all taken that approach.” That comes from Sirianni, so as the final word of 2021, know that he has been the guiding force in his rookie season as the head coach. Sirianni and the Eagles are 8-7 after a string of early injuries hurt the team in the trenches, after they started 2-5, as they navigated the ongoing infection of COVID-19, and how they’ve grown together to reach a pivotal moment in the season. "You haven’t seen the very best of us,” Hurts said. "We’re still waiting for that day when we put it all together and say that we’ve played our best. Until then, we’re always striving for more. I think that’s the definition of what we’re trying to accomplish here.”

Weapon X Mailbag: How would you rank the Eagles among NFC teams? - BGN
The Colts are currently the fifth seed in the AFC playoffs. To win the AFC South, they’d need to win their final two games of the season over the Raiders and Jaguars AND would need the Titans to lose their last two games to Dolphins and Texans. I don’t see that happening. In that case, I just can’t imagine Carson Wentz winning three playoff games on the road to make the Super Bowl. Can Dallas make the Super Bowl? For sure. I’ll be sick, but it’s way more possible than Indianapolis making it. If they, SOMEHOW, SOMEWAY, face off in the Super Bowl, you pretty easily have to root for the Colts and hope that Jonathan Taylor rushes for 250-plus yards and Wentz throws, like, just nine passes so he can’t get too much credit for the win.

Is the Eagles’ season already a success? - BGN Radio
Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) and Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) touch on a whole lot in this week’s jam-packed episode. The guys discuss takeaways from the Giants game, a Jalen Hurts stock report update, if the Eagles’ season is already a success, and whether to buy or sell the team’s defensive improvement. Other topics include previewing this week’s Eagles-Washington game, predicting whether Philly will officially clinch a playoff spot or not in Week 17, and looking at potential postseason opponents. Plus: BLG and Jimmy answer some listener questions and pay tribute to John Madden. Happy New Year!

Cosell Coaching Tape: Week 16 - Fantasy Points
What stood out versus Giants was how basic the Eagles pass game was re: concepts, Focus on 2 man route concepts and half field reads; That surprised me given Hurts has now started more than the equivalent of one full season.

Washington vs Philadelphia Week 17: Five Questions with Bleeding Green Nation - Hogs Haven
The quality of the Eagles play is largely being driven by their trenches on both sides of the ball. The Eagles OL is ranked 2nd in pass block win rate and 2nd in run block win rate according to ESPN analytics. Similarly, the Eagles DL is ranked 3rd in pass rush win rate and 7th in run stop win rate. It’s fair to say the Eagles have the best OL/DL combo in the NFL. As a result, the Eagles have been successful running the ball with a committee approach. Miles Sanders is their lead RB with 754 rushing yards, though QB Jalen Hurts also has 740 rushing yards on the season (2nd most on the team). Sanders is likely to be out for this game due to a broken bone in his hand. Additionally, QB Jalen Hurts hasn’t been rushing nearly as much since spraining his ankle week 12. I asked Brandon Lee Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation five questions to better understand the state of the Eagles and what to look for in this game.

Pro Bowl or not, Lane Johnson is becoming the best version of himself - Inquirer
Johnson is not alone, although the battle is often waged in solitary. There is no shame in seeking or needing assistance. Resuming his medication has certainly helped, but Johnson said last month that finding a purpose and a "why” has also aided in his recovery. "I feel good playing football again, not going through symptoms or what I was feeling,” Johnson said. "You’re kind of manic and you’re going through those phases. When I’m not feeling like that, I feel like life’s a lot easier. "I can just go play football.” And he has played some of his best since, and even caught his first career touchdown pass last Sunday against the New York Giants. The "East Texas” trick play, named after Johnson, didn’t exactly compensate for the all-star snub. "I think I’m the best version of myself right now,” Johnson said a few days later when asked about his on-field play compared with past seasons. Pro Bowl or not, that’s all that matters.

What Washington game will tell us about Jalen Hurts’ future - NBCSP
A win over the Washington Football Team combined with a Vikings loss to the Packers virtually assures the Eagles of reaching the playoffs, and that would make Hurts – at 23 years, 148 days – the youngest quarterback ever to take the Eagles to the postseason. Donovan McNabb did it at 24 in 2000, Nick Foles at 24 in 2013, Randall Cunningham at 25 in 1988. There’s so much at stake Sunday. A win combined with a Vikings loss at Lambeau – where the Packers are 21-2 the last three years - give the Eagles a 99 percent chance at the postseason. A loss – even if the Vikings lose – drops that figure down to 45 percent. So it’s not technically win and you’re in. But it’s awfully close. These are the games quarterbacks are judged by. Not so much by what they do in September or October but how they respond in those few moments that define a season.

Philadelphia Eagles-Washington Football Team Week 17 cheat sheet: News, matchups, players to watch, more - The Athletic
Berman: This will be a tougher game than the Eagles have encountered in recent weeks — the point spread suggests it’s a pick ’em on a neutral field — but I like the way the Eagles’ trajectory compares with Washington’s. The Dallas loss was concerning. The Eagles are peaking at the right time, and a healthier Hurts should help the offense. Hurts’ legs must be a factor — especially with injuries in the backfield. The Eagles should control the lines of scrimmage as they did two weeks ago. It might not be pretty, but the Eagles will do enough to win. A 49ers win coupled with a Vikings loss will punch the Eagles’ ticket to the postseason. Philadelphia 23, Washington 19

NFL Week 17 fantasy football questions and answers: Reporters give advice on Rex Burkhead, Isaiah McKenzie, more - ESPN
Too little, too late to trust DeVonta Smith, or was Week 16 enough to sell you on him as viable this weekend in Washington? It really depends on your options. He’s averaging six targets per game, and as we’ve seen, he’s a gifted receiver capable of putting up big numbers. But, like most rookie receivers, his stats fluctuate from week to week, and he’s operating in a run-heavy offense. Smith is usually good for a handful of catches a game. Whether he bolsters his production by finding the end zone is a flip of the coin.

After further review: The Cowboys are peaking at the right time - Blogging The Boys
Obviously, these are not reliable numbers. This is the NFL, and this season more than most has reminded us of just how unpredictable things are. There are no guarantees in this business, which is why playing one less game in the playoffs is such a big deal. The point, though, is that this Cowboys team has done all they can at this point in the season to prove they’re not only capable of winning the Super Bowl, but they don’t even necessarily need that top seed to get it done. Just keep that in mind in the event that the Packers don’t help out their former coach’s new team in the next two weeks.

Big Blue View mailbag: Draft, GM, Joe Judge, quarterback — we hit them all - Big Blue View
Ed says: Eric, in my ‘Kudos and Wet Willies’ review of Sunday’s game, part of the headline was ‘Maybe Daniel Jones is actually good.’ That was partially tongue in check, though I know some people did not take it that way. What does the regression of the offense say about Jones? Well, it says he is a more competent quarterback than Mike Glennon or Jake Fromm. That’s not saying a lot — I’m not sure the bar can be set much lower than that. It does say that the Giants were reliant on Jones’ running ability and his athleticism, and that he is a better thrower of the football than Glennon or Fromm. In the end, the situation probably tells us less about Jones than it does the broken, incompetent mess around him.

Kirk Cousins going on Vikings’ COVID-19 list, out for Sunday Night Football - Daily Norseman
Sufficient to say, this really, really puts a significant dent in the Vikings’ chances to keep their playoff hopes alive on Sunday night. A win basically eliminates them from the playoff race, and now they’ll be going into it without their starting quarterback. How big a deal is this? If you’re looking at the gambling lines, you’ve probably noticed by now that the line has jumped from Packers -6.5 to Packers -13.5. That’s. . .a lot.

The 12 best, funniest, and weirdest sports stories of 2021 - SB Nation
What a magical horrible year it’s been. While 2021 has been yet another pandemic-filled hell hole, we can at least appreciate that it gave us some of the dumbest, funniest, and weirdest sports stories of all time. It turns out that when the world is turned upside down sports get really weird. Who knew?! So let’s go back through a year that gave us so much weird joy — because it was kinda the only place to find joy all year.

NFL Reacts #21: championship week, Trey Lance, and Pick 3 - The SB Nation NFL Show
Welcome to another edition of NFL Reacts! Stephen Serda and Justis Mosqueda are getting you set for fantasy football championship week! The Kansas City Chiefs have a big match-up against the Cincinnati Bengals that should see plenty of points. The 49ers need to figure out who their starting quarterback will be this week, and if it’s Trey Lance he might have some championship week upside. We finish things up with ‘pick 3’ to help you set your daily lineup and place some of our favorite bets of the week.

https://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2022/1/1/22862359/eagles-news-jalen-hurts-says-we-havent-seen-the-very-best-of-this-team-quarterback-philadelphia

[UK_EaglesFan89]

I hope he's right! Save the best for the play offs. 

I still don't think we've seen this team play good complimentary football on both sides of the ball? Either the offense has needed the defense or the defense has needed the offense. And I'm not going to count the lions and Falcons games as they were blow outs against bad teams. 

I also think Sirianni still has more up his sleeve in terms of his offense.