Eagles News: Jalen Hurts says he had a purpose before everybody had an opinion

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Eagles News: Jalen Hurts says he had a purpose before everybody had an opinion

Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 2/10/23.

By Brandon Lee Gowton@BrandonGowton  Feb 10, 2023, 8:03am EST  

Photo by Adam Bow/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

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

Jalen Hurts Gives Great One-Liner About His Critics - SI
"I had a purpose before everybody had an opinion. It’s not about anybody else,” Hurts said. Seemingly impressed with his answer, the 24-year-old then told the crowd after a brief pause, "Y’all know y’all liked that one,” setting off a wave of laughter in the room.

Super Bowl picks and predictions for Eagles vs. Chiefs - BGN
The Bleeding Green Nation writers picks are in for Super Bowl LVII! So-called experts seem to be relatively split on the winner of this game. Of course, it should no surprise that everyone here at BGN is taking the Philadelphia Eagles to beat the Kansas City Chiefs. Nobody here came this far to bet against the Birds. Especially when they’re favored to win (by 1.5 points), according to DraftKings Sportsbook.

The EPA Podcast #16: Expectations for Super Bowl LVII + Concerns with Jalen Hurts’ passing game - BGN Radio
The nerves are kicking in! Ahead of the big game Jonny Page joins Shane Haff to run through the player matchups to watch and share his expectations for the Birds.

3 reasons the Eagles will win the Super Bowl - SB Nation
In the playoffs, Philadelphia managed to kick this up a notch. When rushing four or fewer, the Eagles pressured opposing passers a stunning 60.5% of the time. With the ability to get home with just four up front, defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon can play with a numbers advantage in the secondary, constricting throwing lanes and making life difficult on the opposing quarterback. Of course, when the opposing quarterback is Patrick Mahomes, the difficulty level is different. Mahomes has seen every coverage a defense can throw at him, and his evolution as a quarterback this season is worthy of note. His willingness to attack underneath, and "take what a defense gives him,” is a big reason why the Chiefs are in Super Bowl LVII. As Benjamin Solak described him this week in a wonderful piece at The Ringer, Mahomes "is the methodical dragon, the incremental beast. He’s evolved.” Yet, the methodical dragon faces its biggest challenge yet, in a defensive front led by Reddick that will make life difficult for him. Very difficult.

Eagles DE Brandon Graham eyes strip sack of ‘GOAT’ Mahomes - ESPN
Defensive end Brandon Graham is the author of one of the biggest plays in Philadelphia Eagles history — a strip sack on Tom Brady late in Super Bowl LII to help secure Philadelphia’s first-ever Lombardi Trophy with a win over the New England Patriots. Five years later, Graham is hoping history will repeat in Super Bowl LVII against the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, whom he referred to this week as the greatest of all time. "Man, getting a strip sack on him too, that’d be nice,” Graham said. "But we’re going to have some fun, man. He’s definitely the GOAT because he’s already won one and you can see he’s been here a lot of times already. And he’s young.”

Eagles honors: Best players, performances, and plays from the 2022 season - PhillyVoice
Comeback Player of the Year: DE Brandon Graham. Coming off an Achilles tear suffered Week 2 against the 49ers during the 2021 season, Graham wasn’t expected to be an impact player in 2022. However, he had a dominant summer in training camp, and had his first ever double-digit sack season despite only playing 43 percent of the Eagles’ defensive snaps. There’s a good argument for Graham to be the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year, but that award went to Seahawks QB Geno Smith, who was coming back from, uhhh, being a bad player the first nine years of his career?

Game Preview- SB – KC vs PHI - Iggles Blitz
We’ve talked a lot about how good the Eagles pass rush is. I think some analysts come up short when they talk about the Eagles leading the league in sacks. They led by 15. They almost set the NFL record. Think for a second. This is one of the greatest pass rush units in the history of the NFL. And they’ll be going up against a pair of OTs that are erratic in pass protection. On top of that, the QB the Eagles will be chasing is playing on a bum ankle. This is huge. In some ways, this is the game. We know Andy Reid will have a good plan for getting the ball out quickly and being creative with his protections. But there will be some plays when the Eagles will have chances to hit Mahomes. Getting sacks would be great, but the key is affecting him. Force incompletions. Force checkdowns. Don’t let him sit in the pocket and pick you apart.

Super Bowl 57 Data Dive: Strengths and weaknesses for the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles - PFF
Here is the bad news: All of the Eagles’ edge rushers have been excellent this season, and that’s especially true against below-average offensive tackles (note that the Eagles’ tackles are not necessarily below average overall, but they have been against good pass rushers). In one-on-one battles against a below-average offensive tackle, Haason Reddick won his pass-rush rep 25% of the time, Josh Sweat did so 20% of the time and Brandon Graham recorded a 30% mark. The average win rate for edge rushers in these situations is 16.6%. In other words, life will be tough for Patrick Mahomes when the Eagles can create opportunities for their edge rushers on an island. There is more bad news for the Chiefs: When looking at all defenses, the Eagles’ defense ranks seventh in the rate with which their edge rushers were in a one-on-one situation with the offensive tackles. Expect Mahomes to be under pressure a lot when he drops back

Chiefs vs. Eagles: Super Bowl LVII Preview - Football Outsiders
This game is as close as you think it is, but if I have to make a pick, I have a slight lean towards taking the Chiefs. Here’s how I explained it for ESPN Chalk earlier this week. First of all, if all else is equal you would tend to side with the team with the better quarterback, and that’s the Chiefs. Second, as I explained in the intro, the extra week off seems to favor Andy Reid’s strengths over Nick Sirianni’s strengths. Third—and this one only applies if you’re looking for a pick against the spread—it’s really unlikely that this game comes down to a single point but if it does, I might as well go with the team that gets the extra point. That being said, it won’t be a surprise if the Eagles win this game and take home the Lombardi Trophy. The surprise will be if one of these teams blows out the other one. As long as both Hurts and Mahomes are on the field, Super Bowl LVII should be a very good, very close contest.

The Man Behind a Decade of the Eagles’ Dominant Offensive Line Play - The Ringer
This is why Mailata talks about him like he’s his dad, jokes about him, and puts him in a Stoutland University T-shirt. Why Kelce talks about his energy with reverence. Why Seumalo talks about how free he feels on the field. Why Johnson talks about looking like a fool if he gets something wrong. And why Jurgens wishes me good luck on my fool’s errand of figuring Stoutland out. Because there isn’t much to figure out, really. There is no secret sauce. There’s just a very good coach who loves what he does, has been doing it for a long time, and knows what each unique situation and player demands. Scheme, technique, relationships, evaluation. Relentless, detailed, emotional. Stoutland told me my question wasn’t that tough, but it really was—because he does it all so well.

The Eagles’ offensive line is the best unit in Super Bowl LVII - TouchdownWire
In the end, the game of football is still won in the trenches! The way this Eagles offensive line is playing, I don’t expect Jalen Hurts to feel much pressure. Of course, nobody can ever count out Patrick Mahomes, but if the Eagles offense can get ahead early, expect them to exploit the run-game as much as possible in order to win time of possession battle. The Eagles have the best rush offensive DVOA in the league (15.4%). So, if it comes down to the Eagles having the ball with only a minute left in the fourth quarter, their best bet is to let this offensive line do what they do best, block for their backfield.

‘I expected more’: Inside Eagles receiver DeVonta Smith’s relentless approach to reaching the Super Bowl - Inquirer
Smith has spent a majority of Super Bowl week catching up on sleep and studying the team’s game plan against the Chiefs. Just days ahead of the biggest game of his career, Smith is using the same approach that has helped solidify him as one of football’s top receivers.“I like my chances over anybody that’s in front of me,” Smith said with a smile.

Roob’s Observations: When Stoutland and McNabb were both at Syracuse - NBCSP
5. It’s an absolute travesty that two of the 50 voters for the AP MVP award didn’t list Jalen Hurts in their top five. I’d love to hear their justification for that decision. Hurts got one first-place vote, 26 second-place votes, 11 third-place votes and 10 fourth-place votes, so 48 of the 50 voters (including me) had him in the top four. And two didn’t include him at all? Yes, this kind of thing is subjective, but there is absolutely no way Hurts wasn’t one of the five most valuable players in the NFL during the regular season. There just isn’t.

Super Bowl LVII picks: Will Kansas City Chiefs or Philadelphia Eagles win Lombardi Trophy? - NFL.com
Lance Zierlein: Eagles 27, Chiefs 24. Why: Philadelphia is dynamic on both the offensive and defensive sides of the football, which is critical when it comes to beating Kansas City. Haason Reddick will fluster the Chiefs’ protection schemes, while the Eagles’ rushing attack will threaten K.C.’s defense inside and out on the flanks, leading to an exciting game that comes down to the wire. Super Bowl LVII MVP: Jalen Hurts. Bold prediction: The Eagles will take the lead in the final 30 seconds of the game on a drive that lasts almost nine minutes.

Inside the Eagles’ situational meetings that helped propel a Super Bowl run - The Athletic
There are 13 seconds left in the Super Bowl, the ball is on the 37-yard line, the team with possession has no timeouts and needs a field goal. Eagles coach Nick Sirianni asks defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon for his call. "It’s honestly one of the most stressful parts of the week,” Gannon said in a conversation with The Athletic. Except he’s not talking about Super Bowl Sunday. He’s talking about Saturday. More than 200 million people will see the answer in real time. The team will find out in the Eagles’ last situational meeting on Saturday. Sirianni likes to use the Socratic method by putting his coordinators — and sometimes his players — on the spot to test what they would do. There’s no data to review or time to vacillate. The answer must come as quickly as it would the next day. That situation was picked randomly by Gannon, who presented it as an example. Offensive coordinator Shane Steichen sits next to Gannon and will answer it for the offense.

Spadaro: Jonathan Gannon says ‘adaptability’ will be key on Super Bowl Sunday - PE.com
The plan is in place for the Eagles’ defense, and coordinator Jonathan Gannon has the utmost confidence that his players will execute the vision, communicate seamlessly, and play physical, aggressive, and intelligent football on Sunday in Super Bowl LVII against the Kansas City Chiefs. But when you’re lining up against an Andy Reid offense that was first in the NFL in total yardage, passing, and scoring in the regular season and is piloted by a future Hall of Fame quarterback (Patrick Mahomes) featuring a future Hall of Fame tight end (Travis Kelce), you also have the understanding that there will be a bag of tricks to handle as well. So, oh boy, that’s a bunch on the defensive plate. "Yeah, absolutely. Every game you turn on, he’s (Reid) doing something new. We’ve got to be prepared for all of that,” Gannon said. "One of our staples is adaptability. We know that we’re going to have to adapt in game and we’ve got to be ready to make adjustments in game, in real time, and ultimately execute the plan and those adjustments to have a chance.” And what does the Eagles’ defense need to do on Sunday to win the game? "Not have the ball thrown over our heads and take it away,” Gannon said.

Chiefs vs. Eagles Thursday injury report: L’Jarius Sneed added to the report - Arrowhead Pride
While the Chiefs placed cornerback L’Jarius Sneed (knee) on the injury report with a limited designation on Thursday, NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport added some context, reporting that Sneed "should be OK.” Sneed cleared the concussion protocol ahead of Super Bowl practice week.

DeMeco Ryans wins the NFL’s Assistant Coach of the Year award - Niners Nation
The NFL Honors awards are underway Thursday night, and former 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans won the Assistant Coach of the Year award. Ryans beat out Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen and Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.

Adoree’ Jackson: Giants gave Julian Love grief over Nick Sirianni comments - Big Blue View
No Giants players commented on Love’s statement in the immediate aftermath, but cornerback Adoree’ Jackson has recently spoken about the matter on his own Good Morning Football appearance. And it’s safe to say that he shares in Love’s sentiments when it comes to the team hailing from the City of Brotherly Love. "We were giving him heck,” Jackson said. "You can’t fault a man for his opinions. It’s like USC and UCLA. It’s a rivalry, they don’t like us and we don’t like them.”

Why it’s perfectly reasonable to expect the Cowboys to regress in 2023 - Blogging The Boys
Another, perhaps more subtle, problem is that the team is showing some indications that they still are wedded to the idea of building the offense around the running game. While it is possibly more speculation than anything else, there is an article by NFL writer Tony Pauline that suggests the team is working to bring back both Pollard and Ezekiel Elliott. Last year, particularly at the end of the season, the ground game fell off. A good bit of that may well be attributable to the obvious decline in Elliott’s performance. While McCarthy may lean more to the passing game, that remains to be seen. If he doesn’t we may well be treated to a parade of failed first-down runs once again. Finally, the rest of the NFC East all made major strides last season while Dallas basically tread water with an identical record as the year before. They went 4-2 against their rivals in 2022, with the only losses the Cooper Rush game against the Eagles and the season finale where they had nothing to play for with their playoff seeding locked up, but things may be noticeably harder this year. All these are factors that could make another playoff appearance hard, and getting 12 wins again may be harder. After an offseason where one of the goals was to find a way to beat their once and present nemesis, the San Francisco 49ers, if they met again in the playoffs, the results were almost exactly the same. They failed to get better in 2022. With all the challenges, they could well get worse this year.

Washington Commanders sale news: Dan Snyder waiting for $7 billion, Jeff Bezos still lurking in the shadows? - Hogs Haven
Several semi-newsworthy stories/tweets/press conferences happened yesterday in the ongoing saga that is Dan Snyder selling the Washington Commanders. It has been quiet since the New York Post put out a speculative story about Jeff Bezos possibly selling the Washington Post to help persuade Dan Snyder, who reportedly doesn’t want to do business him, to sell him the team. The Post has been a thorn in Snyder’s side for years, but has been reporting on the toxic workplace Snyder oversaw during his more than two decades of team ownership.

https://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2023/2/10/23594016/eagles-news-jalen-hurts-purpose-before-everybody-had-an-opinion-philadelphia-quarterback-qb

[UK_EaglesFan89]

I know I've said this many times but it's so so true. He's just such a likeable guy and a guy you want to root for.