Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni on Tuesday morning confirmed to the 94WIP morning show that Jalen Hurts sprained his shoulder but says it’s not a long-term injury.
Hurts’ status for Saturday’s game in Dallas is in serious doubt.
“He’s attacking his rehab right now,” Sirianni said to Angelo Cataldi and the WIP Morning Show. “We’ll see what happens this week. It’s not something we deem to be long-term but we’ll see how it goes this week and see what happens this week and if he’ll be able to go at Dallas.”
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While Sirianni left open a possibility that Hurts could be ready for Saturday’s game, all indications are that Gardner Minshew will make his first start of the season. Minshew won a big game against the Jets last season that helped the Eagles turn their season around and get into the playoffs.
Sirianni expects Minshew to be up for the challenge.
“If he has to go, we’ll have 100% confidence in him because he can ball,” Sirianni said. “I think he proved that last year and I think he’s proved that throughout his career.”
Minshew, 26, has played minimally this season, just getting on the field late in blowouts. But he has 22 NFL starts under his belt and has a 41-12 touchdown to interception ratio in his career. Sirianni on Tuesday morning said Minshew could be starting for some NFL teams.
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If Minshew can lead the Eagles to a win on Christmas Eve in Dallas, the Eagles would clinch the No. 1 seed in the NFC with two games left to play. That would set up an interesting decision of whether to rest Hurts until the Eagles’ first playoff game after the bye, giving him a very long layoff.
“We’ll always think with player safety in mind but that’s a bridge we don’t have to cross yet,” Sirianni said. “I’m not going to cross that quite yet but we’ll have a plan and we’ll see what works out best. We’ll do whatever’s in the best interest of our football team.”
Sirianni also confirmed that Hurts suffered that right (throwing) shoulder sprain late in the third quarter against Chicago when Bears defensive end Trevis Gipson drove him into the frozen ground. The only indication that Hurts was injured came when he was slow to get up. Other than that, Hurts didn't say a word about the injury.
That means that Hurts played the entire fourth quarter with the injury, completing 6 of 9 passes for 102 yards and rushing 6 times for 9 yards and a touchdown.
“He is a tough son of a gun,” Sirianni said.
The first play after the injury was a pass to DeVonta Smith and then soon after, Hurts delivered a deep ball to A.J. Brown for a 68-yard catch-and-run.
“That’s the first thing you get when you ask about Jalen Hurts,” Sirianni said. “You talk about his leadership, you talk about his toughness. He was in pain and he played through it. No real indication because he didn’t really say anything. He just went about his business and played through it. That’s toughens. He’s not only mentally tough, he’s physically tough and that’s what you want from your leader on your football team.”
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