The turnaround for the Philadelphia Eagles(9-7) is almost complete. After starting the season 3-6, the Eagles have won four straight and six of their last seven, including Sunday’s 20-16 victory over the Washington Football Team at FedEx Field.
Like they did in their first matchup, the Eagles trailed 10-0 early, and like last time, they were able to seize control and hold on late as Rodney McLeod intercepted Taylor Heinicke’s pass in the endzone to secure the win.
Philadelphia will clinch a playoff berth if the Packers defeat the Vikings Sunday night.
Jalen Hurts had another solid performance for the Eagles as he completed 17-of-26 attempts for 214 yards and added 44 yards on seven carries. The second-year quarterback has been one of the big reasons Philly has turned things around, and during the tough times, according to Hurts, the team stayed confident.
“We’ve connected, we’ve communicated, we’ve grown, we’ve put the work in, and we’ve just grown one percent better every day,” Hurts said after the game. “That has been our goal. That has been our true identity. That has been who we are with all the youth, with all the inexperience from coaching to players. We just bought into who we are, bought into what we could be, and trusted in the grind in approaching every day the way we do. In a game like this, to be able to persevere and show straight grit in tough moments in the football game, we found a way to win today. I couldn’t be more proud of this team.”
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni was impressed by what he saw from Hurts, who, despite an ankle injury, was able to move around with no issues against Washington.
“This guy is so tough,” Sirianni said about Hurts. “He looked at me at one point in this game and said, obviously the whole game was tight, so tight part of this game; he looked at me and said, whatever, you gotta call, call, and I’ll make it work. What he was saying to me was run, pass, quarterback, run, quarterback read. Whatever you call, I know how much this game means to our team; I’ll make it work. And that, gosh, the calmness, the confidence, that installs calmness and confidence in everybody. And so again, I can’t say enough for him as a leader, can’t say enough for him as a competitor, can’t say enough about his toughness. I hope everyone knows when I give a player the compliment of being a tough player from me, that’s the best compliment that I can give. I just think so much of our players that are tough. We got a lot of tough guys on this football team. That’s who I think we are as a football team, and Jalen Hurts is the epitome of that.”
Barring anything crazy, the Eagles will make the playoffs, but as Hurts said numerous times, the job is not done.
“I’ve always had the approach of enjoying it when it’s done,” Hurts said. “I’ll let everyone else reflect on how far we’ve come as a football team. I’ll let you guys talk about that. I’ll prepare myself for these questions as they continue to come in. But for me, the job is not done for us. It is not done, so we’re not done yet.”
