Jalen Hurts’ five-turnover performance in Monday night’s loss to the Chargers elicited enough of a response in Philadelphia that Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni was asked on Wednesday if he has considered benching last season’s Super Bowl MVP.
Sirianni scoffed at the idea by calling the notion “ridiculous,” but concern about the state of Hurts and the rest of the offense didn’t just pop up because of one game. The Eagles offense has been a source of concern all season and outside confidence that everything can come together is running low after their third straight loss.
Hurts said on Wednesday that his own confidence level hasn’t been shaken, however.
“Success or greatness, those things aren’t linear,” Hurts said, via the team’s website. “You have your ups, you have your downs, but it’s about how you respond to it. And I think about that. It’s nothing new that I haven’t faced before. It’s a matter of responding to it. And I got a lot of confidence how we will respond, I got a lot of confidence how it will go.”
Hurts showed his ability to rebound from negative turns while in college. He was benched by Alabama at halftime of the national title game after the 2017 season and then came in as a backup to help the team win the SEC title game when Tua Tagovailoa was injured the next year. Hurts also helped the Eagles go from NFC champs in 2020 to melting down in 2023 to winning it all in 2024, so he knows well how much circumstances can change.
The Eagles will be looking for a quicker turnaround than some of those examples and Hurts will try to start providing it against the Raiders this weekend.
