Jalen Hurts' resilience and big-game prowess to be tested in NFC wild card game

PHILADELPHIA — Jalen Hurts pointed at A.J. Brown — and just showed everyone watching, including a hapless defense — where he would throw the ball.

Sure enough, Hurts tossed a strike down the sideline to Brown for an easy score earlier this season in a win over Minnesota.

It was a beauty. The kind of play that actually frustrated Eagles fans this season because they wanted more of them.

Kind of like '' The Dagger '' in the Super Bowl.

The one where Hurts faked a handoff to Saquon Barkley, dropped back and unloaded a 46-yard strike to DeVonta Smith that was the final — well, dagger — in the Chiefs' bid for a three-peat and sent the Eagles on the way to the franchise's second Super Bowl championship.

Hurts has the athleticism and mobility and all the essential tangibles needed to be a great quarterback. Yet ask Hurts what has defined his ability to rise to the biggest occasion — he has a Super Bowl MVP to back that up — and it's not his arm, his legs or any play drawn up in the playbook.

It's just the way he's hard-wired.

The Eagles need more of those big games out of Hurts in the postseason as they play for back-to-back Super Bowl titles and not the periods of inconsistency that largely defined this season.

He threw a career-high 25 touchdowns — yet had two second halves this season where he failed to complete a pass. He threw only six interceptions — yet had four in one game, that included the ignominious feat of throwing a pick and losing a fumble on the same play. Long a dual-threat, Hurts' 421 yards rushing were his lowest total since his 2020 rookie season and opposing defenses seemed to have solved the tush push.

Much of the blame for his erratic season fell at the feet of first-year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo.

The question is, will Hurts be able to flip the proverbial switch and morph into a postseason star when the NFC East champion Eagles host San Francisco on Sunday in an NFC wild card game?

Hurts — who holds postseason quarterback records for single-game rushing yards and rushing touchdowns in a game — believes he can again meet the moment.

He went 17 of 22 for 221 yards and two touchdowns, and he ran for 72 yards and a touchdown, joining Hall of Famer Joe Montana as the only quarterbacks to throw for at least 200 yards and two TDs and rush for at least 50 yards and a score in a Super Bowl.

''Experience is the biggest teacher,'' Hurts said. ''A lot of moments you can lean on.''

Hurts is 6-3 in the postseason with two trips to the Super Bowl in the last three seasons. Hurts is one of three quarterbacks in this season's playoffs who has won a Super Bowl (Aaron Rodgers and Matt Stafford are the others) and he scored a rushing touchdown against the 49ers three years ago in an NFC title game rout.

The 49ers sure haven't forgotten being on the receiving end of Hurts orchestrating a big game beatdown.

''He's got a big time-arm,'' 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. ''With those wideouts and stuff he has, he's capable of making any throw, whether on time or whether extremely late. Usually when a quarterback's late, you can't throw it that far and catch up with those guys. He can. So, you've got to honor the entire field with him.''

Hurts is 5-0 at home in his postseason career.

''The amount of big games we play on a yearly basis in our regular seasons are huge and then played, how many playoff games is this now? This will be our 10th,'' Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. ''That's huge, right? Every time he steps out on the field, I feel like Jalen does a great job of continuing to raise his level of play.''

Consider, Hurts threw two interceptions in his first career playoff game in 2021 against Tampa Bay. Over the next eight games — which includes 304 yards and a touchdown, running for 70 yards and three scores in his first Super Bowl against the Chiefs — Hurts has nine touchdown passes and only one interception.

''I just think what you see from Jalen is you see this steadiness at all times,'' Sirianni said.

The Eagles shook up the organization when they drafted Hurts out of Oklahoma in the second round in 2020. They had Carson Wentz entrenched at QB and seemingly had more pressing needs than another quarterback — especially one that could make a run at the starting spot.

Hurts is 27 now and understands he will ultimately be judged on how many wins he can get the Eagles in the postseason, not necessarily how they won the games.

He has winner traits — those innate ones inside him that he can't define — that the Eagles hope can lead them to yet another Super Bowl.

''You can't faze him,'' 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said. "I mean, the young man's got elite presence and is a damn good football player.''

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