Eagles News: Jalen Hurts says he isn’t ready to smile “until the job is finished”

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Ailing Jalen Hurts was ‘good enough’ in an Eagles win over the Giants. Can he be great enough in the playoffs? - Inquirer
His injuries, the way the offense looked without his plus-one capabilities, and all the other reasons teams fear cutting a franchise check to a young quarterback are enough for the Eagles to hold off on an extension. But they have a Super Bowl to try and win first. And they have a serious-minded quarterback that is as diligent as they come and only three wins from giving the Eagles their second championship in five years. “I can’t say that I’ll smile,” Hurts said, “until the job is finished.”

Nick Sirianni said Jalen Hurts was “hurting bad” in the Eagles’ win over the Giants - BGN
“We’ve won a lot of different ways this year. And just him fighting through what he fought through to get back — because, still, it’s not like he was perfect out there in terms of what he felt like. We didn’t feel like there was more risk, but I know he was hurting. He was hurting bad, but that’s the kind of competitor he is, that’s the kind of person that he is, the kind of teammate and leader that he is, that he was able to go out there and tough through it.” The head coach later said that the bye week is really important for Hurts to get more time to rehab his shoulder injury, but at the same time, Sirianni noted that there was some obvious rust with the QB back, so it was good to be able to get him on the field.

BGN Instant Reaction Show: Eagles beat Giants, 22-16 and officially clinch No. 1 seed - BGN Radio
The Eagles did just enough to beat the Giants and were able to officially clinch the No.1 seed. Jess Taylor and Shane Haff recap what they saw in the Eagles ugly win.

Handing out 10 awards from the Eagles-Giants game - PhillyVoice
1) The ‘Thank You’ Award: The Eagles, when they were 13-1. There’s little question that the Eagles sputtered down the stretch, most notably in Weeks 17 and 18. They played their worst game of the season against the Saints Week 17, and then beat the Giants’ backups by a mere six points Week 18. And “backups” might be putting it kindly. The Giants didn’t even start their No. 2 quarterback, Tyrod Taylor. Instead, they started Davis Webb, a practice squad call up drafted in 2017 who had never thrown a pass in an NFL regular season game. The Eagles built up a huge cushion in the NFC by starting 13-1, and they used every last bit of it, all the way through until a Giants onsides kick landed safely in the hands of Reed Blankenship, with 1:37 left in their final regular season game.

Goals Accomplished - Iggles Blitz
The Eagles defense was sloppy. They dropped a pair of INTs and came close to several others. TJ Edwards failed to make a tackle on fourth down that would have ended a drive. The Eagles went into the game as the #1 defense in the league. They gave up too many yards and will slide down a spot or two. It wasn’t the smoothest or prettiest performance, but the Eagles won and finished 14-3. They had a better season than I hoped for. The past 18 weeks now fade into the background and we enter the postseason. The Eagles have a legitimate chance to win the Super Bowl. Sirianni won’t let the team talk about that, though. He’ll have them focused on fixing mistakes from the Giants game and staying in the moment. One day at a time. One game at a time. That mentality helped the Eagles have a great regular season. Now we’ll see how it does in the playoffs.

‘We’re walking out of here with the win and the top seed’ - PE.com
Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field wasn’t just about one game, the Week 18 regular-season finale against the New York Giants. It was about a season of growth for the Philadelphia Eagles, a team that evolved into a Super Bowl contender every time it stepped on the field and, as it became the hunted, understood what it meant to rise to the moment. In the aftermath of the 22-16 win over the Giants that clinched the NFC East title, along with the No. 1 seed in the NFC and a bye week before the playoffs begin next weekend, the Eagles took a few moments to soak it all in. “You know what I love about this team? We won this game, everybody’s happy, but we know we could be so much better,” defensive end Brandon Graham said. “And we know as we climb the mountain top, things get harder. We’ve got two weeks to make sure we clean up what we did today. But overall, we’re going to enjoy this one. We had goals to win the division and number one spot was on the list. That was another goal of ours. We accomplished that, but we could be so much better just from this game alone. We’re getting some guys back, so that’s going to be key. (Offensive tackle) Lane (Johnson) coming back. (Safety) C.J. (Gardner-Johnson) and them boys, they did good today. They got their foot in them a little bit. (Quarterback) Jalen (Hurts) was in there. “So, I’m just excited for where we could go if we just keep on taking it one day at a time, one play at a time.”

NFL playoffs bracket: Preview, schedule, Super Bowl odds, more - ESPN
Reason for concern: Teams want to peak as they hit January, and that’s not what’s happening with the Eagles, who have looked shaky at times over the last several weeks. Injuries have hit at a bad time. And while all eyes have been on Hurts’ throwing shoulder, the status of players such as right tackle Lane Johnson (abdominal tear) and cornerback Avonte Maddox (toe) also looms large.

2022 NFL season, Week 18: What We Learned from Sunday’s games - NFL.com
It was a solid tune-up for Jalen Hurts, Eagles offense. Hurts suited up for the first time since the pre-Christmas game against the Bears, and for the most part he looked good. No, the entire operation was not pristine, with the Giants logging three first-half sacks, including two as the Eagles were trying to score before halftime. There also was the matter of a third-quarter interception that was as bad a decision as Hurts has made this season. If you’re the type of Eagles fan who is looking for negatives, the team’s red-zone execution was pretty poor in this game — against a Giants defense that rested five regulars. Really, the Eagles had most of their disappointments after crossing midfield. But if you’re the glass-half-full sort, Hurts was a solid 20-of-35 passing for 229 yards and had a touchdown taken off the board (the play before the pick) on a questionable illegal man downfield call, and he just overthrew A.J. Brown for what would have been a long catch. He didn’t run much, but we’ll assume his shoulder injury had no bearing on that. Hurts was fine on the quick-hitting stuff; everything else looked kind of rusty. Was it a vintage showing? No. Did this game reignite the Hurts-for-MVP talk? Doesn’t feel like it, even with the Eagles losing one game this season he started. But it gave Hurts and the Eagles offense a respectable run-through and helped seal the No. 1 seed and all the spoils that come with it. Mission accomplished. The real work starts back in Philly in two weeks’ time.

Roob’s Obs: Thoughts on Hurts’ return, defensive strategy, more - NBCSP
1. Sure, you would have liked to have seen the Eagles blow out the Giants’ backups, and the Eagles haven’t put together a consistently great performance on both sides of the ball since the first Giants game a month ago. But I’ve never believed there’s any connection between how a team plays at the end of the regular season and the start of the postseason. Think back to 2017, when people wanted to bench Nick Foles for Nate Sudfeld because of the way he played at the end of the regular season. That turned out OK. That said, there are things that need to be cleaned up. But that’s true for every team, and the Eagles are the only NFC team with two weeks to do that. The advantage of the bye is huge. When the Eagles open up play in the postseason, they’ll be healthy, rested and prepared. I didn’t expect this to be a six-point game either, but style points are irrelevant. All that matters is that W, and the Eagles did enough to get it.

NFL Week 18 Game Recap: Philadelphia Eagles 22, New York Giants 16 - PFF
Offensive line spotlight: PFF’s Sam Monson believes the Eagles have the best offensive line in the league, and Philadelphia only furthered that case against the Giants. The Eagles’ front five didn’t allow a sack or hit and gave up just five pressures on 41 pass-blocking snaps. Left tackle Jordan Mailata dominated with an 86.8 run-blocking grade on first review.

Giants-Eagles ‘things I think’: Fun day starts fun stretch for Giants - Big Blue View
It was certainly fun to watch the Giants’ defensive backups — led by guys like Rodarius Williams, Jarrad Davis, Nick McCloud, Micah McFadden, Cor’Dale Flott and Tomon Fox — hold the Eagles to one of five in the red zone and frustrate Eagles coach Nick Sirianni enough that Jalen Hurts and his less than 100 percent right shoulder and other Philadelphia starters had to play the entire game. Sunday really could not have worked out better for the Giants. They played a competitive game against the Eagles while resting their key guys. The Vikings and San Francisco 49ers both won, meaning the Giants will get a rematch with a Minnesota team it certainly feels like they are competitive with.

10 thoughts on the Cowboys 26-6 regular-season finale loss to the Commanders - Blogging The Boys
5. Dak just never got going. It’s been a tumultuous season for Dak Prescott. Overall on the year, he’s played well, but he’s had stints this season where he has been off-target with his wide receivers. On Sunday, Prescott had one of the worst games of his career. He was throwing the ball high at times and he was throwing the ball behind his receivers at other times. Even when he was given a mulligan after almost throwing a pick-six on a scramble drill, he turned around and threw a pick-six on the very next play. Prescott finished the game completing 14 of 37 passes for 128 yards. His 37.8% completion percentage in this game was the absolute worst of his 97 career games.

The Washington Commanders shock the Dallas Cowboys, win 26-6 - Hogs Haven
Washington finishes the season with an 8-8-1 record, and will either pick 16th or 17th in this year’s draft. They finish in 4th place in the NFC East, and will watch the other three teams in the playoffs over the next few weeks. A win over the Cowboys is always sweet, but the way the team played over the last month keeps that sour taste in everyone’s mouth. Washington now enters one of the most uncertain in its history as we wait to see what happens with Dan Snyder potentially selling the team, and all the changes that will come with that move.

BREAKING NEWS: Texans fire Lovie Smith - Battle Red Blog
By firing Smith, the Texans will have their third head coach in as many years and the search for his replacement begins immediately. Some of the candidates linked to the Texans are San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator (and former Houston linebacker) DeMeco Ryans and Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, who was a finalist in last year’s coaching search.

Jacksonville Jaguars will host Los Angeles Chargers in Wild Card round - Big Cat Country
The Jacksonville Jaguars have an opponent for the Wild Card round in the 2022-2023 NFL playoffs. The No. 4-seeded Jaguars will host the No. 5-seeded Los Angeles Chargers at TIAA Bank Field. The game is set for 8:15 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, Jan. 14 and will air on NBC/Peacock. [BLG Note: You can cheer on Doug Pederson for the second Saturday night in a row!]

The 2023 NFL Wild Card schedule - SB Nation
Also this weekend, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles clinched the top spots in the AFC and the NFC, respectively, meaning those two teams will be home next weekend watching the fun along with the rest of us.

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