PHILADELPHIA — Hard to believe but the Eagles haven’t won a game at Lincoln Financial Field since Jalen Hurts made his NFL debut there as a starter against the New Orleans Saints.That was five home losses ago, dating to last season, including four this season.
Hurts insists he isn’t the same guy who prevailed that day. The evidence is beginning to suggest he’s evolving into, well, Jalen Manning.
“I think with a year’s time, I’ve just grown,” Hurts said Wednesday. “Been able to build better relationships with my team. Learn the city, learn everybody around here throughout the different changes that we’ve had. We’ve had a lot happen since my first start. I think I’ve overall grown. I’ve had to approach it (as) just getting better every day, putting daily deposits in, just trying to grow; grow as a player, grow as a leader, grow as a man.”
Eagles fans could embrace the young man who threw for 167 yards and one touchdown and rushed for 106 yards in a 24-21 triumph over the Saints and head coach Sean Payton. They would still embrace Nick Foles. It’s been a while. This is the deepest the Eagles have gone into the season without a home triumph since then rookie head coach Andy Reid went 0-4 at Veterans Stadium in 1999 on the way to 5-11.
Hurts didn’t mention any of that history during an availability Wednesday full of softball questions. But he did take umbrage with a question about identifying with quarterbacks who run the ball.
“I watch the greats,” Hurts said. “I love good football players. I love great football play. I love watching Peyton Manning and seeing what he has to say (in) the detailed episodes that he makes. He actually sends them to me. Having a relationship with him, I enjoy that.”
Without being specific, Hurts said Manning, the cerebral and immobile pocket passer, sends him cutups of plays. That’s interesting, because Hurts certainly looked like he’d arrived as a pocket passer in the first half of the win over the Broncos last weekend.
Hurts also said he watches Teddy Bridgewater, the embattled quarterback of the Broncos, and was thrilled meeting Cam Newton in training camp.
“So many great players,” Hurts said. “I just try to be a sponge to it all and learn whatever I can to enhance myself.”
Hurts wasn’t naïve enough to believe there would be no more Manning questions after he’d rung that bell. And for a few minutes he was at ease discussing his relationship with the family, from Papa Bear Archie Manning to Peyton, and baby brother Eli. Pre-COVID, the Mannings held a popular quarterbacks camp during the summer.
“I’ve always had a good relationship with the Mannings,” Hurts said. “Mr. Arch, Archie, Peyton, Eli, since the camp I went to when I was going into my sophomore year. We just maintained that relationship. Always, little knicks here, little things I can learn from, pick their brain. I value that. I value the Mannings and the relationship that I have with them.”
Hurts’ fascination with the Mannings stems from their fixation and focus on details overlooked by others. Peyton and Eli Manning always had a Plan B and C when they stepped up to the line of scrimmage, depending on what they saw from the defense. Hurts has developed those tools as well. Granted, in the last two games Hurts played almost the identical defense. That certainly helped with the preparation for the Broncos.
But it was the way Hurts read the safeties and found the throwing lanes against arguably the best all-around defense in the league in the Broncos that enabled him to make throws the Mannings would stand and applaud. The take here is that Hurts has so much appreciation for the way Peyton Manning won games, he’s only too happy to adopt it to the things he does well, which obviously are throwing the deep ball and scrambling.
“He’s just really, really detail oriented,” Hurts said. “Very detailed. You talk about doing walk-throughs, he’s a guy that everything was really full speed until the snap. He was going through checks. Even in the offseason, the amount of detail he has in the offseason when he’s with his receivers. He had scripted plays out there. He had special routines. I admired that. I hope to continue to carry that on.”
Hurts isn’t the first guy who gets cutups from Manning. And he won’t be the last. But if I’m even half-right about Jalen Hurts, you can look for him on a future episode of MNF with the Mannings on ESPN2.
Hurts evaded the question whether he would be on the show already graced this season by Russell Wilson, Tom Brady and Philip Rivers with “I’ll talk about that later.”
Later could turn into sooner, particularly the way Hurts is gaining confidence.
Contact Bob Grotz at rgrotz@delcotimes.com; you can follow him @BobGrotz on Twitter.
