Hurts ‘trending in the right direction' for Sunday

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Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni wouldn’t definitively say Jalen Hurts is playing on Sunday against the Giants but it seems like that’s where this is heading.

“It’s trending in the right direction,” Sirianni said. “We’re going to see how today goes. But he’s trending in the right direction and we feel good about it. But we’ll see how today goes.”

Hurts, 24, has been limited the first two days of the practice week but has done more this week than last.

A.J. Brown revealed on Thursday that Hurts has been taking first-team reps, which is the greatest sign of all about his availability for this weekend.

The Eagles will have to release their final injury report of the week on Friday afternoon. Hurts was listed as doubtful last week and didn’t play. We’ll see what his game status is in a few hours.

“I’m not quite there yet and we are still thinking through everything,” Sirianni said. “It’s just like anything. You’re not quick to say what you think might happen because there’s obviously circumstances that could happen and ways he could feel today and all those things.”

One of the biggest factors to decide whether or not Hurts will play has to be the risk of re-injury to that sprained right shoulder. That’s something Sirianni said the team will take into account as they make the decision.

If Hurts does play on Sunday, the Eagles will stress the importance of avoiding unnecessary hits and will probably make a concerted effort to call the game in a way that will keep that shoulder healthy.

“I think he’s savvy about how he goes down,” Sirianni said. “It’s going to be more so some different things about how we talk to him about that and tell him, ‘Hey, we don’t want you to take this his here or there’ but, sure, he’s competitive and he’s going to want to go out and do everything he can do but he also has to understand regardless of with the shoulder or without the shoulder that he’s got to be smart with when he takes hits and when he doesn’t take hits. And he’s got to be smart with ourselves with how we call that as well.”

The Eagles enter this game with a 13-3 record and one more win would clinch the No. 1 seed in the NFC, giving them a first-round bye and homefield advantage in the NFC playoffs.

The Giants, meanwhile, are locked into the No. 6 seed and because of that will likely rest at least several key starters.

The Eagles might be able to beat the Giants’ backups with Gardner Minshew at quarterback. But it’s fair to wonder if that’s a risk worth taking.

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