Jalen Hurts’ first 13 drop-backs Sunday looked like this: Five sacks for 46 yards, an interception and a lost fumble at the Cowboys’ 6-yard-line.
Yikes.
It looked for all the world like it was going to be one of those days. The Eagles were struggling to put some distance between them and the lowly Cowboys, and Hurts seemed to be reverting back to his bad habits from early in the year, holding onto the ball too long, running into traffic in the pocket and being careless with the football.
After that ugly start?
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Hurts threw for 137 yards and two touchdowns, rushed for two more touchdowns, didn’t turn the ball over, didn't get sacked and for the fifth straight game finished with a passer rating of 115 or higher, something only five other NFL quarterbacks have ever done.
The Eagles on Sunday won their fifth straight game, topping the Cowboys 34-6 at AT&T Stadium, and Hurts once again overcame a sluggish start to make a bunch of big plays.
“It obviously didn't start the way we wanted it to start, but there's something to be said for guys that can rebound and play a really good game after things don't go right early on,” Nick Sirianni said.
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“We'll want some of those plays back. He'll want some of those plays back. But great job handling adversity, putting his head down, continuing to work. Again, I say it to you guys all the time: he's a winner. He knows how to win. He knows every game's not going to be perfect, and I'm really proud of him and how he responded to a slow start and helped lead us to a victory.”
During the Eagles’ winning streak, Hurts has completed 72 percent of his passes with eight TD passes, one interception and a 126.1 passer rating. Only Nick Foles in 2013 has had a higher passer rating in Eagles history over a five-game span than Hurts right now.
For the season, Hurts is up to 103.4, 5th-highest in the league, and his 70 percent completion percentage is 4th-best.
But after his second turnover, things looked bleak. That’s when he went up to a bunch of his offensive teammates and gave them fist bumps or high fives just as a way of saying, “That was on me.”
“I have zero pride or anything involved in owning my mistakes,” Hurts said. “I made a mistake and it hurt the team. I was thankful for them. They had my back. Also the defense in how they responded and how they played. …
“Those of us offensively just know to just keep pressing, keep moving forward, keep staying with it and keep throwing punches, which is exactly how we handled it.”
This is something Hurts is very good at.
Like every quarterback, he’s had plenty of games where things haven’t gone well early. He never gets down on himself, never hangs his head, never lets things snowball.
He just keeps firing away.
His first pass after Trevon Diggs picked him off was a 27-yard strike to Jahan Dotson and soon the rout was on.
“Momentum is an illusion in a sense because it can end or begin in any moment,” Hurts said. “You have to treat each play as its own and move on.”
Hurts now has a 41-19 career record as a starter. Only 14 quarterbacks in NFL history won more of their first 60 starts.
His resilience and ability to shrug off adversity is one of the big reasons he’s won so many games.
“I think one of the hardest things to do … is be able to move on and say, ‘Man, this didn't go as planned. How do I move on?’” Sirianni said. “And so, we'll watch the tape, we'll get better from that tape, but he moved on.
“He didn't let one play affect the rest of his game. That's what winners do. That's what Jaylon Hurts does, and I'm so accustomed to him doing that because when he makes a mistake, he's able to put it in the past.
"That’s not as easy as it sounds. I really do believe that because we're human, we know we make mistakes, and then it ruminates in your mind. And the only thing you can do to really move on is learn from it later and move on and play the next play.
“I'm so proud of him, the fact that he was able to move on from a rough start and get it going.”
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