Eagles prepare for Jalen Hurts to play in the NFC title game, but how mobile would the QB be vs. the Commanders?

All eyes are on Jalen Hurts’ health entering the week of preparation ahead of the NFC championship game against the Washington Commanders.

Especially Kellen Moore’s.

The Eagles offensive coordinator is putting together the game plan with the same “formula” he would use with any player recovering from an injury, he said Tuesday. Based on information from Hurts and the medical staff as the quarterback works through his apparent left knee injury this week, Moore will make tweaks to the plan depending on his progress.

After all, even if Hurts were to start on Sunday, a lack of mobility could hinder the plays on the ground that he typically could make, by design or by improvisation.

“Hey, it’s mid-to-late January,” Moore said. “There’s a lot of guys that are banged up. This doesn’t have just to do with Jalen. There’s plenty of guys that are going through stuff. That’s how these weeks are.”

Still, the importance of Hurts’ abilities in the quarterback running game can’t be understated, as evidenced by his contributions in the divisional-round win over the Los Angeles Rams. He ripped off a 44-yard touchdown run on a zone-read play in the first quarter to get the offense going.

Add Saquon Barkley into the mix in the backfield alongside Hurts, and the Eagles have a “really, really powerful” combination, according to Moore, that can put defenses in a bind on those zone reads.

“They do an excellent job of having the threat of both of them,” Moore said. ”I think Jalen does an excellent job of making decisions within those. Obviously, he has to make decisions a lot of times in those runs, whether to hand it or keep it. He does an excellent job. I thought that was a really, really cool play.”

» READ MORE: Eagles’ Jalen Hurts expects to play vs. Commanders in NFC championship, but ‘we’ll see how the week goes’

Hurts rushed for 70 yards on seven carries, each of which occurred before he appeared to suffer the injury while taking a sack in the third quarter. After a brief visit to the medical tent, Hurts returned to action and did not miss an offensive snap. Head coach Nick Sirianni did not offer much of an update on Hurts’ status on Monday, but he said the quarterback would do everything in his power to be at the top of his game this weekend.

Even after Hurts suffered his apparent injury, Moore continued to call plays in critical situations that required some degree of mobility from the quarterback. That included a play that called for a five-step drop from Hurts on second-and-6 at the Eagles’ 8-yard line late in the third quarter, which resulted in a sack for a safety to pull the Rams within a point. Three receivers ran vertical routes past the sticks, while Dallas Goedert and Barkley served as the check-down options over the middle of the field and in the flat, respectively.

» READ MORE: Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, and Kellen Moore need to be better if the Eagles are to beat the Commanders

Rams nose tackle Neville Gallimore stormed his way through the A gap between Cam Jurgens and Landon Dickerson to take down Hurts, who neither attempted to scramble away nor check the ball down. Despite the outcome, Moore didn’t assign blame to his quarterback.

“Yeah, that one’s on me,” Moore said. “That one’s simply on me. Chasing the particular look that is more traditional in the open field, and we were backed up. That’s one that, hey, I’ll call something different in that situation based off of just the way it played out.”

According to Vic Fangio, Jayden Daniels is “probably” the best rookie quarterback he has ever seen.

“He’s a young quarterback by birth certificate,” the Eagles defensive coordinator said Tuesday. “Not by the tape.”

Daniels’ talent has been on display all season, especially since the Commanders beat the Eagles, 36-33, in Week 16. Not only is he a capable passer, as evidenced by his 22 completions for 299 yards and two touchdowns in the divisional-round upset of the Detroit Lions, he also adds value in the quarterback running game, particularly out of the shotgun formation.

» READ MORE: Eagles-Commanders matchups: Two Eagles game-changers have an edge. Will they be the difference?

The 24-year-old ranked second in the league this season in rushing yards out of the shotgun with 663 yards and five touchdowns on 94 carries, which trailed only Lamar Jackson (803 yards and one touchdown on 112 carries), according to Next Gen Stats.

“He has the added dimension of the gun-run game, where he can have designed runs for the quarterback or he can pull it and keep it,” Fangio said. “That adds another level to an offense, and he excels at that. And I assume he was doing it in college and it just comes natural to him.”

In their last meeting, the Eagles struggled to limit Daniels on the ground and through the air. He rushed for 81 yards on nine carries, his fourth-best performance of the regular season.

He also succeeded against the blitz, as Fangio had attempted to turn up the pressure with the four-man rush failing to get home on the quarterback. The Eagles had a 35.6% blitz rate in Week 16, their second-highest of the season, according to Next Gen Stats. It didn’t have the intended effect. Against the blitz, Daniels completed 10 of 15 passes for 173 yards and three touchdowns, which included the second touchdown pass to receiver Olamide Zaccheaus, who was wide-open on a busted coverage.

The Commanders did most of their damage in the fourth quarter of that game, scoring three touchdowns (including the blown-coverage pass to Zaccheaus) to secure the win. Reed Blankenship had an interception late in that quarter, but it wasn’t enough to shift the momentum.

“We’ve just got to finish,” Fangio said of his takeaway from that fourth quarter. “I think you do have to give them some credit. [Daniels] made some great throws. They made some great catches. One, we left somebody wide-open. They’re good. I think you always have to give the other team some credit when you’re executing … where you are supposed to be, and they’re just out-executing you and making plays.”