On Monday, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts will have reached a calendar year without losing a football game that he started and finished.
The last one came in Tampa on Sept. 29 of last year. On Sunday, Hurts exorcised that demon with a brilliant first half at Raymond James Stadium, completing 15 of 16 passes and handling Todd Bowles’ vaunted blitz packages with ease while building a 24-6 advantage.
When asked about that magical run, Hurts was as pragmatic as ever.
“You can be on top one day and at the bottom the next,” the reigning Super Bowl MVP said. “This game is very humbling, and I take that approach in it.”
Those words likely came easy for Hurts based on his second half against the Bucs, where the QB emerged from the locker room and did a 180, finishing 0-for-8 in the second half as the Philadelphia offense accumulated minus-1 total yards in the final 30 minutes, leaving things to an opportunistic defense to close things out in a 31-25 win.
“I think it was a great team win,” Hurts surmised. “Another gritty win, coming in and finding a way to win. We know this has been a challenging environment to play in and a really good opponent for us over the years. Just proud of the way that we competed. [We] didn’t quit, found a way, played very well situationally to an extent.”
Hurts boiled down the first half success and the second half issues to execution.
Things that came seamlessly early became muddy late.
