Eagles’ Jalen Hurts limited in practice and concedes playing through finger injury wasn’t ‘the best idea’
Hurts said he hadn’t thrown a football in the three days after he dislocated a finger on his throwing hand.
Jalen Hurts is still on the mend.
A few days removed from suffering a dislocated middle finger on this throwing hand, the Eagles quarterback was a limited participant in the team’s first practice of the week on Thursday. Just before the session, Hurts told reporters that he hadn’t thrown a football in the three days following the team’s 27-10 loss to the New York Giants on Sunday.
Hurts also conceded that returning to the Giants game after suffering the injury wasn’t the right decision.
“Obviously, leaving that game and attempting to go back in that game probably wasn’t, physically, the best idea,” Hurts said. “Not having much control over the things that I wanted to do. But time will tell with that and I can assure you everything is progressing in the right way.”
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Hurts suffered the injury in the second quarter of the loss at MetLife Stadium. The 25-year-old’s throwing hand slammed into Giants linebacker Bobby Okereke, who came on a delayed blitz to tip Hurts’ pass intended for Dallas Goedert on a fourth down.
The Eagles struggled keeping Hurts out of harm’s way for most of the game. The Giants blitzed Hurts on 74% of his dropbacks and got pressure just over half of the time for two sacks.
Hurts received medical attention between series but came back for the next drive with tape around his middle finger. He played three more series before Eagles coach Nick Sirianni took him out along with a handful of offensive and defensive starters once the deficit caused Sirianni to turn his sights toward this Monday’s playoff matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
After the injury-inducing hit, Hurts completed just 1 of 4 passes and threw an interception. Overall, he finished the game 7-for-16 for 55 yards and the interception.
In the locker room after the game, Hurts had a bandage around his middle and pointer fingers. He called the injury “a freak thing” he had not experienced before.
“Everything is a challenge when you have a finger out of place,” Hurts said of what he struggled with most during the game.
On Thursday, Hurts said the injury hurt worse the day after the Giants game. When asked whether he was confident the injury would not impede him against the Bucs, Hurts called it a “day-by-day thing.”
“I told you [on Sunday] it was a day-by-day thing,” Hurts said. “Getting the preparation in this week and doing everything I can to lead the guys.”
During the early portion of practice open to the media, Hurts flicked two very short passes but did not go through ball-security drills with the rest of the offensive players. The drill requires players to run through a circuit with coaches punching at the ball with boxing gloves attached to sticks.
Hurts, who uncharacteristically wore a glove on his throwing hand during practice, said the Thursday session would be important for him to determine how much the injury affects him a few days removed from Monday’s game.
“It’s just a matter of me doing what I need to be able to do,” Hurts said. “I’ll go out there and practice and see what that reality is.”
Speaking just before Hurts, Sirianni said the quarterback does not always disclose how much injuries affect him during games. Sirianni pointed to Hurts’ toughness when expressing confidence that he would be able to play through the injury.
“I just know how tough he is and how much he can fight through and how much pain he can withstand,” Sirianni said. “Obviously, it will be a challenge. And I know that he can overcome because he’s overcame so many different things throughout his football journey. And that’s what makes him special.”
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The extra day before the Eagles’ matchup with the No. 4-seeded Buccaneers may be a boon for Hurts in his recovery. Tampa Bay is dealing with its own quarterback uncertainty with starter Baker Mayfield suffering from an injured ankle as well as injured ribs to start the week.
Mayfield, 28, came into the Bucs’ regular-season finale against the Carolina Panthers with the ribs injury and had an apparent limp by the end of the 9-0 win. He was listed as a nonparticipant in the Buccaneers first practice of the week Thursday.
This marks the third consecutive year that Hurts has dealt with an injury going into the playoffs. He went into last year’s postseason with a shoulder injury that sidelined him for two of the team’s last three regular-season games and dealt with an ankle injury the year before.
When asked how this year’s setback compares to postseasons past, Hurts said the team’s performance would be the ultimate determining factor.
“I guess we’ll base it off results.”