Jalen Hurts, in mismatched shoes, outduels college rival Joe Burrow as Eagles win third straight since the bye

CINCINNATI — Joe Burrow overshadowed Jalen Hurts on his way to a Heisman Trophy and trounced him on the way to a national championship. This time, “Joe Cool” had no chance.

Hurts continued his post-bye surge with a four-touchdown day. The Eagles won, 37-17, win Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals that improved the Eagles to 5-2 and 3-0 since their bye. It was the third time he’s had three rushing touchdowns in a game, which is an NFL record for quarterbacks.

As Hurts goes, so go the Eagles, and they’re their best when he’s not trying to be the hero. He has been more responsible with his throws, more patient with his reads, more sound with his fundamentals, and more willing to throw the ball away or take a sack. He’s played winning football, and they are winning, and there’s no reason why they should stop. They host woeful Jacksonville on Sunday then visit decimated Dallas the following week. If they’re 7-2 more than midway through the season, the team whose coach was on a hot seat when summer turned to fall will be Super Bowl darlings by Thanksgiving.

The coach was on the hot seat because of Jalen Hurts. The coach is comfortable today because of Jalen Hurts.

Hurts wasn’t the whole show in Cincy. The Eagles forced a pair of fourth-quarter turnovers. After the Bengals’ 10-minute touchdown drive opened the game, the defense limited Burrow and his high-octane offense to a touchdown below their average. Saquon Barkley logged his fourth 100-yard game of the season, finishing with 108 yards on 22 carries. A.J. Brown had five catches for 84 yards. DeVonta Smith ended his slump with six catches for 85 yards and a touchdown.

None of that would have mattered if Hurts hadn’t continued to ascend to the level of play that made him an MVP candidate in 2022 and buried Burrow in the Jungle. And make no mistake: There is a rivalry. At least, there is on Hurts’ end.

Burrow and LSU beat Hurts and Oklahoma in the a national semifinal game after the 2019 season, when Hurts was the Heisman runner-up. Burrow went No. 1 in the 2020 draft. Hurts went 53rd. Hurts knows that, over the past season-and-a-half, he hasn’t been considered among the best quarterbacks very often, while Burrow’s star stayed high; and that, on any given day, the best QB usually wins.

“That’s the league. That’s the league,” Hurts said with an uncharacteristically smug smile. “I have standards for myself, as well.”

Hurts finished 16-for-20 for 236 yards and a touchdown. He compiled a passer rating of 132.5, his third game over 119. It’s gotta be the shoes, right?

Like last week at the Giants, Hurts’ shoes were part of the story. He has a deal with Nike’s Jordan Brand, he changed shoes four times in MetLife Stadium last Sunday. His Paycor shoe adventure was less choreographed. He lost a one of his green Jordan 4 cleats when he got hit on the sideline and could not get it back on: “I had a double-knot, and I like to tie ‘em up real tight for the ankle support,” he explained. That’s why he couldn’t untie the knot. The Eagles were forced to call timeout so he could put on another cleat, but this one was a white Jordan 11:

“I’ll never have a shortage of shoes, to say the least,” he admitted, somewhat abashedly.

He completed his next pass nonetheless.

He’s completed a lot of passes lately. His passer rating in the last three games is 127.4. It was 85.7 in the first four games.

Most significantly, Hurts committed no turnovers for the third straight game. From the beginning of the 2023 season through Game 4 of 2024, Hurts led the NFL with 26 turnovers, had six in the first four games of this season, and at least one turnover in each of those four games. The Eagles has plenty of issues early, but they began 2-2 largely because Jalen Hurts kept them from winning.

It might be natural development. After all, Kellen Moore is Hurts’ third offensive coordinator in three years. Cam Jurgens replaced retired center Jason Kelce. The addition of Barkley in the offseason gives Hurts the best backfield mate he’s ever had. Nick Sirianni did not use any of those changes to explain Hurts’ improved performance; rather, said the Eagles’ coach, Hurts fixed flaws over the bye week.

“We were able to look at some of the things we were inefficient on,” he said, and marveled at Hurts’ perfection in the team’s most comprehensive practice last week: “On Thursday, I’m not sure if the ball hit the ground.”

Siranni realizes that the are 3-0 since the bye largely because Hurts hasn’t given the ball away, even if the giveaways weren’t always Hurts’ fault.

“We’ve executing at an extremely high level,” explained Smith, a thoughtful sort who, as usual, provided the most comprehensive and honest answer. “When you’re not executing at a high level, there are bound to be turnovers.”

Of Hurts’ three rushing TDs the best was his second, when he appeared to audible to a play that faked a handoff and required Hurts to outrun defensive end Myles Murphy to the right side from 7 yards out. Murphy had no chance. That gave the Eagles their first lead, 17-10, on the first drive of the third quarter.

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The Bengals tied it again, but Hurts’ 45-yard bomb to Smith gave the Birds the lead for good, 24-17, on the second play of the fourth quarter.

The Bengals are 3-5 for a reason, and head coach Zac Taylor showed why on the next possession.

The Bengals, trailing by a touchdown near the end of the third quarter and facing fourth down with slightly more than a yard to go at their own 39, went for it. They lost 2 yards, lost possession on downs, and effectively lost the game, because, essentially, they gifted the Eagles three points. The Eagles gained just 8 yards and, facing fourth-and-2 from the Bengals’ 31, they did not go for it. They kicked a 49-yard field goal for a 10-point lead with less than 14 minutes to play.

The defense had a tipped-pass interception from C.J. Gardner-Johnson, which was deflected by Isaiah Rodgers, playing in place of Darius Slay, who’d injured his groin. That was just the third interception of the season for Burrow, who finished 26-for-37 for 234 yards and a touchdown.

The NFL can only hope this rivalry ripens further. They won’t see each other regularly, but both play for strong clubs, and one day they might meet in the NFL’s national championship game. But Sunday, it just wasn’t Burrow’s day. It certainly was Hurts’ day.

This time.

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