It’s wait-and-see for Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and several others who suffered injuries in a 13-7 loss to the New York Giants on Sunday.
Hurts injured his ankle in the defeat, and though he said he was OK when he met with reporters afterward, Nick Sirianni told a different story on Monday afternoon,
“He’s sore right now,” said the head coach. “I’ll have more information on Wednesday. Not putting any time restrictions on him or anything like that. We’ll see how he’s doing as the week goes. Yeah, he was sore (Sunday).”
Hurts threw a career-high three interceptions against the Giants while completing just 45 percent of his passes in 31 attempts. His passer rating was an unsightly 17.5. Adding insult to injury was New York safety Julian Love saying that they wanted Hurts to beat them throwing the ball.
The Giants did that, holding the Eagles offense to only one touchdown, which didn’t come until early in the fourth quarter.
Gardner Minshew is waiting in the wings if Hurts cannot play, and perhaps the front office wouldn’t mind a glimpse at how Minshew could potentially operate this offense just so they have an idea of how the position will shape up in 2022.
Either way, Sirianni isn’t tipping his hand on his quarterback just yet.
“I’m not there, yet,” the coach said when asked if there was a chance Hurts may not play. “I don’t want to put a timetable on anything. I’m hopeful. Jalen’s hopeful that he’ll play. You have to see how these things go. We’ll see how the rehab the next two days go and I’ll have more of an update on Wednesday.”
Sirianni took the same wait-and-see approach with center Jason Kelce (knee) and running back Miles Sanders (ankle).
He said Sanders was headed in the right direction as was running back Jordan Howard, who missed Sunday's game with a knee injury suffered in the win over the New Orleans Saints a week earlier.
That wasn’t the case for right guard Jack Driscoll, however. A high ankle sprain will land the right guard on Injured Reserve. It is the second straight year Driscoll’s season will end on IR.
It’s a big blow to the O-line, which had started six straight games together.
Nate Herbig came in for Kelce when the center suffered his injury early on before returning in the second half.
"Kelce just showed his grit and his drive and his toughness and came back in and played," said Sirianni.
Herbig then moved over to fill in for Driscoll went the latter left.
Herbig committed two costly holding penalties on the same drive at the end of the first half when he was filling in for Kelce. His first cost Hurts a 23-yard run, his second took a 21-yard TD run from Boston Scott off the board.
“Anytime you have a couple penalties, you’re going to want those plays back and it’s going to ding your grade a little bit as far as how we grade the players as coaches,” said Sirianni. “Nate did a lot of good things. I thought he played an above-average game, and if he didn’t have those two holding calls, he played a good game. We’re confident in Nate being the backup center.”
Sirianni would not commit to Herbig as the starting right guard in place of Driscoll, however.
It won’t be Brandon Brooks, at least not this week. The coach said he won’t have an update on the injury the right guard suffered in Week 2 until after the bye, which will be following Sunday’s game against the New York Jets.
“We don’t have to make that (right guard) decision today,” said Sirianni. “We have some good options, I think…We’ve got good options and depth at the offensive line. At the beginning of the year, and you say you’re going to be without your two guards, a lot of people would have been really worried with how the run game or the protection might have went. You see where we are right here.
“I feel really good about the depth we have there now, with Sua (Opeta) and Nate and even some of the guys on the practice squad. We’ll see how that goes and practice through that. I am confident in those guys stepping and those guys being able to make plays.”
Brett Toth and undrafted rookie Kayoda Awosika are on the practice squad.
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