The Philadelphia Eagles got back their starting quarterback, and MVP candidate Jalen Hurts on Sunday against the Giants(9-7-1), who did not play many of its starters as they were locked into the sixth seed in the NFC.
While it wasn’t the prettiest performance from Hurts and the team, Philadelphia got the job done and defeated New York 22-16 at Lincoln Financial Field.
With the win, the Eagles(14-3) are NFC East champions, secured the number one seed in the conference, and will get a first-round bye. The last time the Eagles had the number one seed in the NFC was the Super Bowl-winning season back in 2017.
“It comes through Philly,” Hurts said after the game. “Job’s not done. Those are my thoughts.”
Hurts(shoulder) missed the last two games, both losses, and seemed to be protecting the injury against the Giants.
He finished the game 20/35 for 229 yards and an interception and had nine carries for 13 yards.
According to Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, the team did not want Hurts to take any unnecessary punishment.
“I won’t get into too much of that, but sure you didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks,” Sirianni said about Hurts. “We needed to win the game. You saw he made some plays with his feet. They were doing a lot of different things on defense, just throwing some stuff out there. We obviously did some different things because we’ll always take into account the health of our players.”
Hurts added: “I’m just playing the game – playing the game and protecting myself. I think that’s what you all [the media] want to hear. I’m protecting myself.”
The third-year quarterback said he wanted to be out there for his team.
“I had some things I had to battle within myself,” he said. “I knew I wanted to be available for my team. It’s really tough being out, let alone taking some losses when you’re out. I want to be available for my team… We do what we have to do. We’re the number one seed, and we are the NFC champs, and that’s the goal we set out to do. Now I can continue to recover and be ready for playoffs.”
When asked if he was 100% healthy on Sunday, Hurts said this:
“Good enough to win today.”
Based on the game plan, it was clear that Hurts was not 100%, and the team was not going to put him in harm’s way. Fortunately for the Eagles, Hurts has two weeks to get that shoulder healthier and ready for the playoffs.
Milestones for the Eagles:
-Philadelphia finished the season with a franchise-record 477 points (previously 474 in 2014), including club records in total TDs (59), scrimmage TDs (57) and rushing TDs (32).
-The Eagles’ 32 rushing TDs are tied for the 4th-most in NFL single-season history, trailing only the 1962 Packers (36), 1948 49ers (35) and 1976 Steelers (33). Philadelphia is the only team in NFL history to rush for 25+ TDs in consecutive seasons.
Philadelphia established a single-season franchise record with 70 sacks this year. Only the 1984 Bears (72) and 1989 Vikings (71) recorded more QB takedowns in NFL history.
-The Eagles are the only NFL team to have four different players – Haason Reddick (16.0), Brandon Graham (11.0), Javon Hargrave (11.0) and Josh Sweat (11.0) (all career highs for everyone) – record 10.0+ sacks in the same season.
-A.J. Brown set a single-season franchise record with 1,496 receiving yards, eclipsing the previous mark owned by Mike Quick in 1983 (1,409). Brown, who finished with 4 receptions for 95 yards, broke Quick’s record with a 35-yard reception on Philadelphia’s first play from scrimmage
-DeVonta Smith, who produced 67 yards on a team-high 7 receptions, finished his second NFL season with 95 catches, which are the most by a WR in Eagles history. Overall, Smith’s 95 receptions are 2nd on the Eagles’ all-time list, trailing only Zach Ertz in 2018 (116).
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