Jalen Hurts didn’t want to talk about it but he couldn’t hide it either.
Hurts on Sunday night played through a knee injury in the Eagles’ 31-17 win over the Miami Dolphins.
“I’ll be fine,” said Hurts, who admitted he put a brace on his left knee during the game
Will this injury affect Hurts moving forward?
“I hope not,” he said.
The only other information the 25-year-old quarterback provided about the injury was when he said it did not occur in this game against the Dolphins. He didn’t elaborate.
But even with a little hitch in his step, Hurts was still able to complete 23 of 31 passes for 279 yards with 2 touchdowns and an interception. He had a passer rating of 109.5. He also had 21 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Sure, Hurts turned the ball over twice more in this game and that needs to get cleaned up. But it was a strong performance in a huge win to push the Eagles to a 6-1 record on the season.
And he did it without being 100 percent.
“Man, he’s real tough,” star receiver A.J. Brown said. “I don’t want to put his business out there but just know he’s a tough individual, man. He’s putting us in good positions to win and he gave us opportunities, stood in the pocket tall and I had to make the catch for him.”
After halftime, Hurts took extra long to join his team on the sideline but he didn’t miss a single snap. He hasn’t missed a single snap through the first seven weeks of the season.
Just like Hurts, Sirianni was pretty quiet about the injury too.
“He played the rest of the game and played at a very high level,” the head coach said. “You have to ask Jalen. I thought he played really outstanding. Man, he is a competitor. There is nobody else I would rather be our quarterback. He played his butt off tonight. He’s tough.
“You all saw that he was going through a little something. So he is tough. He is tough, tough. This game always comes down to physicality and toughness. Always does. No matter what. Because it’s hard. And that’s physical and mental toughness, and Jalen Hurts has both.”
There’s no one more important on the roster than Hurts and he has dealt with injuries in back-to-back Decembers, so his health is always going to be a major topic of conversation. Especially for a team with serious Super Bowl aspirations.
Hurts didn’t want to talk about his injury but it’s clear just how much it means to his teammates to watch him battle through it.
“I f—ing love that, mate. It inspires us to lock it up and firm it up in pass protection. I mean, that guy’s a warrior,” left tackle Jordan Mailata said as Hurts happened to walk through the locker room back to his stall. “I mean, look at him. He’s not limping. Maybe it’s because you guys are still in here.”
Yeah, that checks out.
Hurts certainly doesn’t want anyone to know too much about what he’s dealing with.
“He’s a warrior, man,” Mailata said. “I love that man. I love that man to death.”
