Jalen Hurts wasn’t about to run from it. He wasn’t about to make excuses.
Hurts knows how bad his two interceptions were Friday night against the Packers. He knows they could have cost the Eagles an opening-day win. And he knows he’s got to stop making those kind of mistakes.
He knows. But they keep happening.
“Definitely could have avoided some of those things,” Hurts said. “I put us in a bad spot as a team,” he said.
It was a strange game all around because the Eagles struggled in a lot of areas but nonetheless got out of Brazil with a huge win over a very good team to open the season.
Nobody struggled more than Hurts, whose two interceptions in the Eagles’ 34-29 win in São Paulo weren’t tipped balls or incredible defensive plays. They were just avoidable mistakes that were the result of poor decision making.
He tried to float a ball to DeVonta Smith through about four defenders on his second pass of the year and then, after doing some good things in the middle of the game, he cost the Eagles certain points with an even worse interception on an across-the-body throw into the end zone early in the fourth quarter on a 3rd-and-13 that had no chance to get to A.J. Brown.
What makes those plays so concerning is that they seem to be an extension of 2023, when Hurts was third in the league with 15 interceptions, matching the most by an Eagles quarterback since Randall Cunningham threw 16 in 1988. Carson Wentz also had 15 in 2020.
He’s in his fifth year now. He has to know better.
What saved the Eagles is that the defense held the Packers to field goals after both interceptions.
“They showed up and had my back big-time in that moment after those two turnovers,” Hurts said of the defense. “Those are things that I control and I have to be better at and I take accountability for that.
“But that’s what it’s about. You have moments where it’s like, ‘Oh, well, we missed this opportunity, we didn’t take advantage of this opportunity,’ but how do we respond from it?
“I’m really happy with just how we weathered the storm as a team. We’ve been talking about it. I’ve been preaching it. A lot of guys have been preaching it. What type of team are we going to be? What type of teammates are we going to be? What type of approach will we have? How do we handle adversity when it comes? We take pride in that.”
