Eagles’ Jalen Hurts played unevenly, but his resilience is what mattered against the Cowboys

ARLINGTON, Texas — Jalen Hurts walked along the bench and slapped the hand of every defensive player after the Eagles forced a field goal following his fumble.

“You saw that?” Hurts said.

It was the second time that the defense had kept the Cowboys out of the end zone after the quarterback turned the ball over in a short span of the second quarter. Hurts had tossed an interception in the end zone earlier, and Dallas marched all the way down into Eagles territory before linebacker Zack Baun forced a fumble at the 3-yard line.

But Hurts’ giveaway on a Micah Parsons strip-sack resulted in the Cowboys gaining possession only 6 yards from pay dirt. The Eagles had dominated, but they led by only 7-3 at that point. A touchdown would have given Dallas an inconceivable lead and, most importantly, hope.

Not if Jalen Carter & Co. had anything to say about it. They stopped the Cowboys — with the defensive tackle stuffing running back Rico Dowdle in the backfield for a loss on third down. And after Hurts thanked the defense for having his back, he drove the Eagles the other way for a touchdown on the way to an eventual 34-6 drubbing of Dallas on Sunday.

“We’re all in it together,” Hurts said of a defense that, all told, forced five turnovers. “I have zero pride or anything involved in owning my mistakes. I made a mistake and it hurt the team. But I was thankful for them. They had my back.”

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It wasn’t quite a tale of two halves for Hurts. He made some good throws and runs before his stretch of first-half struggles. And, of course, he engineered the seven-play, 84-yard drive that he capped with a 14-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dallas Goedert after eluding a free rusher just before the break.

On the Eagles’ first five possessions, though, Hurts had two turnovers and was sacked five times. And while not all those setbacks were completely on the quarterback, they were partly because of deficiencies he has shown over his five-year career: holding the ball too long, missing open receivers, and not securing the football.

Hurts’ counterpart, Cooper Rush, was unlikely to guide the Cowboys to an upset, even if Baun, Carter, and the defense hadn’t stepped up near the goal line. But if Dallas had reached the end zone after both turnovers, the mood of the Eagles locker room even after they had won at AT&T Stadium for the first time in seven years might have been different.

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But Hurts also did his part. And his response to adversity not only displayed his temerity and mental toughness, but also showcased all the abilities that make him — when he’s playing at his best — one of the more difficult quarterbacks in the league to defend.

“Momentum is an illusion in a sense because it can end and begin at any moment,” Hurts said when asked about shaking off his rough stretch. “And so, just treating every play as its own.”

On the touchdown pass to Goedert, DeMarvion Overshown had an open lane to Hurts. But the quarterback sidestepped the blitzing Cowboys linebacker and rolled to his right before hitting his tight end, who had worked back on the scramble drill.

“It was either get the ball out or I make a play,” Hurts said. “I chose to make a play and Dallas made a hell of a catch.”

In the second half, after the Eagles went three-and-out on their opening series, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore emphasized Saquon Barkley in the run game. The running back had dinged his elbow trying to recover Hurts’ fumble and he wasn’t on the field for the Eagles’ ensuing touchdown-scoring possession.

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But riding Barkley and his backup Kenneth Gainwell on the ground has been instrumental in the offense’s success since the bye. Hurts wasn’t being asked to do as much in the passing game and he was, as a result, playing his most consistent football since 2022.

Moore had Hurts drop back 21 times in the first half, though — far more than he had in the previous four games. Barkley, on the other hand, had only six carries. The Eagles had gotten away from their recent winning formula and Hurts was struggling.

But with Barkley and Gainwell shouldering the load on the second drive after the half, the offense advanced to the Dallas 5. Hurts came up huge, though, on third down, when he again extended the play and found rookie receiver Johnny Wilson in the end zone to give the Eagles a 21-6 cushion. His holding the ball giveth as much as it taketh.

“I thought he did a lot of good things,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said of Hurts. “Obviously, it didn’t start the way we wanted it to start. But there’s something to be said for guys that can rebound and play a very good game after things don’t go right early on. We’ll want some of those plays back, he’ll want some of those plays back.

“But great job handling adversity, putting his head down continuing to work. I say it to you guys all the time, he’s a winner.”

Indeed, Hurts is a winner. The Eagles are now 7-2 this season and in first place in the NFC East ahead of a showdown with the 7-3 Commanders on Thursday night. And in all of the 26-year-old quarterback’s regular-season starts they’re 41-19 for a .683 winning percentage.

Those are the only numbers that ultimately matter, although he’s getting it done on the stat sheet, as well. On Sunday, Hurts completed 14 of 20 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns and he rushed seven times for 56 yards and two more scores.

And he might have done all that with a sore ankle, too. Hurts wasn’t listed on the Eagles’ injury report last week, but he was limited on Wednesday for what the Eagles described as “rest.” Asked about it two days later, Sirianni at first said he was “dealing with the ankle” before a team spokesman spoke up.

ESPN reported that Hurts had been dealing with a “mild ankle issue” for a couple of weeks. A team source would only describe his condition as “leg soreness,” and said it was no different than what most players experience at this point in the season.

“I’m fine,” Hurts said after the game when asked about the ankle. “Did it look like it was hurting today?”

It didn’t, but that also wasn’t a denial. Either way, Hurts has looked more mobile than he did all of last year. If he can just cut down on the turnovers.

The interception came on a pass to Goedert in the end zone. Cornerback Trevon Diggs undercut a throw that was a touch behind. But the bigger mistake, as Hurts acknowledged, was missing a wide-open Grant Calcaterra on a wheel route.

And on the fumble, Hurts had only one hand on the football, although he was about to tuck it before Parsons slapped it away.

“I own that completely,” Hurts said. “I was very aware of what was going on during the [interception]. He made a great catch. And the other one just caught me at a bad moment. Had one hand on the ball. Got to protect the ball better.”

The sacks weren’t all on the quarterback. The Eagles’ offensive line had early trouble with some of Dallas defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer’s simulated blitzes. It’s hard to fault Hurts for dipping his eyes, but he has had a tendency to panic when seeing an opposing jersey rather than keeping his gaze downfield. He’s now been sacked 26 times and at the highest rate of his career.

Hurts is seemingly as hard on himself as anyone. He was mic’d up last week for the Jaguars game, and after he hooked up with receiver DeVonta Smith for a spectacular pitch-and-catch touchdown, tackle Lane Johnson noticed something peculiar about Hurts.

“Hey, you’re smiling,” Johnson said. “You having a good time? It’s good for you.”

Hurts’ reply: “Not really.”

The stoic quarterback might not reveal much to the public, but his teammates get to see him every day throughout the season. Johnson said Hurts’ gesture to the defense after their goal-line stop on Sunday wasn’t out of the ordinary.

“He does that so much during the week,” Johnson said. “We see how resilient he is with criticism and pressure.”

And with making mistakes. Everyone makes them. It’s how you respond that matters most.