By Bob Grotz | rgrotz@delcotimes.com | The Delaware County Daily Times

PUBLISHED: December 19, 2022 at 8:55 p.m. | UPDATED: December 20, 2022 at 7:07 a.m.

 

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts sprained the shoulder in his throwing arm in the win over the Bears Sunday and, according to reports, could sit out the upcoming showdown with the Dallas Cowboys Saturday at AT&T Stadium.

Though the short work week allows less time for Hurts to heal, sources say he’s lobbying hard to get on the field for the Cowboys. They expect him to win that argument.

The Eagles (13-1) clinch the No. 1 seed, a bye and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs with a win over the Cowboys (10-4). With a loss, the Birds still would have two games to get the bye, playing New Orleans and the New York Giants.

Sitting Hurts at this stage would disturb the rhythm he has operating the offense, no disrespect to backup Gardner Minshew. Sitting out the Cowboys game would be something Hurts might never be able to live down considering the history he has with Cowboys players like Micah Parsons, who openly questioned the quarterback’s candidacy for league MVP.

Hurts had 17 rushes for 61 yards and three touchdowns to lift the Eagles to a 25-20 win at Soldier Field. He also threw for 315 yards, despite dealing with hands numbed by the 3-degree wind chill, and threw two ducks that were intercepted. Hurts endured a ton of hits, including a pancake by defensive end Trevis Gipson (6-4, 263), who cleanly squashed Hurts near the end of the third quarter. Hurts landed on his right shoulder with the football tucked under his left arm.

Equally impressive was the head-on collision with 233-pound linebacker Joe Thomas, who followed the impact with a form tackle.

"He’ll be sore from that,” Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said after the game. "We’ll be on a short week but he’s tough. The one that he got hit by that linebacker, it was a great hit, but sometimes when they’re square up like that those aren’t the ones that hurt you. I know he took a couple big hits, but they were pretty clean shots. He got up and he was good to go.”

Hurts wasn’t himself for a handful of plays after the Gipson hit, as he moved ploddingly and mostly handed the ball off. After that series, the defense got a three-and-out and Hurts threw his best pass of the game, a 68-yard connection with A.J. Brown. The ball dropped in over tight coverage, and Brown reached the one-yard line, setting up a TD run by Hurts.

The Eagles’ coaching staff has come under criticism for a game plan that made Hurts vulnerable, which isn’t totally fair because, as Sirianni has maintained, you can’t take away the ad-lib skills that make Hurts who he is.

Hurts is an MVP candidate. But that could change if management shuts him down, which also would be an indictment of the coaching staff’s ability to formulate a game plan to keeping him out of harm’s way.

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In the final Pro Bowl voting by fans, Tua Tagovailoa led all players with 306,861 votes, according to the NFL. Hurts was the leading vote-getter at quarterback in the NFC with 215,634.

Defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, who leads all NFC defensive tackles with 10.0 sacks, is the leader at his position in the NFC with 127,847 votes. Additionally, 35-year-old Eagles veteran Jason Kelce is the oldest position player to get the most votes, the fans punching his ticket for 152,795 votes.

There is no Pro Bowl game with helmets and shoulder pads this year. The plan is for players to compete against each other in flag football and skills competitions. The Feb. 5 activities at Allegiant Stadium will be televised by ESPN and ABC.

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Bone-chilling as it was in Chicago, where the temperature was 18 degrees at the opening kickoff, Brown has been through worse.

"That’s No. 2,” Brown said. "I played against Kansas City in some championship games in like 5 degrees.”

It was 17 degrees at the opening kickoff when Brown and the Titans opposed the Chiefs at Arrowhead in the 2019 AFC title game. The wind chill was 5 degrees. The wind chill at Soldier Field at the kickoff Sunday was 3 degrees.