December 30, 2022
In a press conference Friday, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni made it pretty clear that the Eagles had not committed to a starting quarterback for their Week 17 match up with the Saints.
"Jalen is out there and did some good things at practice," the coach said of Hurts' return to the field (albeit in a limited capacity Thursday), "velocity was good, accuracy was good.”
Sirianni went on to say the team was still "sorting through" the QB situation.
With one win needed in the Birds' final two games to secure both an NFC East title and a first-round bye, Eagles coaches and Hurts himself have clearly stated that Hurts' shoulder injury is minor. Last week, Gardner Minshew filled in and played decently well in a loss to the Cowboys that could have been a win if not for four uncharacteristic turnovers. Is Minshew destined to play Sunday? Is this just gamesmanship?
The Eagles need to get one more win. The 1-seed and home games all postseason is a lot better than a potential five-seed and having to travel to face division winners, without an extra week to rest. There is some urgency here.
We've already spoken to an expert who says that playing with pain, and re-injury would be the main issues for Hurts in Week 17. Ignoring for a second the huge impact that another Hurts' absence will have on fantasy football playoffs across the country — what are the biggest reasons the one-time MVP front-runner should and should not play Sunday?
In order to clinch the two designations Philly wants to clinch, the team needs to win one game, and they are probably good enough with their backup QB under center to do so against New Orleans or New York.
The Saints are one of the worst teams in the NFL — but the Giants could be fighting tooth and nail for a Wild Card spot a week from now. Perhaps the team can rest Hurts this week, and play him in Week 18 if they still need that one win (this all is assuming the Vikings, Niners or Cowboys go without losing a game). The Giants have a win and in scenario and are more or less locked into the 6-seed. There's a chance they win this week and rest their starters in Week 18 — making for an easy win for Philly.
Let's pretend there is no injured shoulder. Hurts plays against Dallas, and the Eagles potentially win the division and get the 1-seed a week ago, and then he probably sits for a portion of (if not all of) the following two games. Would voters for MVP dock him because his team was so good they were able to put their feet up and chill for the final two games of the year?
It sounds like Hurts might need to fire one more bullet to get to 15 games played and back in the MVP butter zone.
This one is pretty self-explanatory and is likely the main reason he'd sit Sunday. With Lane Johnson sidelined until the playoffs (at least), Hurts could be vulnerable on the strong side.
If #Eagles QB Jalen Hurts is well enough to be effective Sunday, the biggest risk of him playing is getting thrown onto the right shoulder and aggravating his SC injury. OT Lane Johnson’s absence certainly plays into that risk equation. A win could afford him 2 weeks no contact. https://t.co/pzCloGh9pr
— DocFlynn (@DocFlynnNFL) December 30, 2022
If he re-aggravates the shoulder and can't go in the playoffs, oh boy...
That being said, Hurts threw some rather impressive passes including a bomb down the field to A.J. Brown after his shoulder was already in pain. It didn't seem to make anything worse. If news didn't leak of his X-Ray after the game, no one would have suspected anything. He's now a week healthier and has been throwing in practice.
Even if he is close to healthy enough to play, and even if the risk of injury is low, the Eagles may not want to risk putting him in harms way with it known around the league that he is potentially one hit away from being done for the year. The Saints sneakily are top 10 in the NFL in sacks and would do whatever they could to try and lay hits on him. Knowing his throwing arm is the culprit, New Orleans could spy him and try and control the run game, which could wind up badly for Hurts.
Let's lay out another scenario. The Eagles hang on and win in Week 17 without Hurts and clinch. They have a meaningless game in Week 18. And then they have a bye during the NFC Wild Card round. That means Hurts will go from December 18th until January 22nd without playing in a football game.
He'll be well-rested, but he could be awfully rusty. Nick Sirianni needs to find a way to keep him in rhythm. The week the Eagles starters took off last year wound up, arguably, hurting them as Hurts looked cold against the Buccaneers last postseason.
Before the 2022 season started, our Shamus Clancy ranked every NFL backup QB and he said Minshew was second, behind Jimmy Garoppolo who became the starter in San Francisco. The former sixth-round pick has a solid 43-to-14 TD-to-INT ratio over his career, has a 63% completion rate and was a solid game manager in two starts back in 2021 for the Eagles. Against Dallas, he threw for 355 yards and two touchdowns (as well as two picks which were arguably not his fault)
With the weapons surrounding him and the best offensive line in football (even without Lane Johnson), Minshew has the tools to succeed, beat New Orleans, and give the Eagles coaching staff a ton of options in preparing for the postseason next month. This is why they traded for him two summers ago.
What do you think? Should the Eagles start or sit Jalen Hurts in Week 17?
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