Jalen Hurts Enlists Jonathan Gannon in Never-Ending Quest to Improve
PHILADELPHIA - Ask Nick Sirianni about Jalen Hurts' ceiling as a player, and the Eagles' coach will not define it but he's certain that the third-year quarterback will reach it.
That's a testament to Hurts' now storied work ethic and his "love of ball."
Hurts offered another peek into the window of Sirianni's sentiment on Wednesday evening when discussing his bye week after Philadelphia's 6-0 start.
Along with the normal self-evaluation and self-scouting that Hurts did with the offensive coaching staff came the nugget that the QB also went to defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon in an effort to sharpen up his game even further.
"I like to see how, especially a defensive guy, how does he view defense?" Hurts said. "How he calls certain things. How he sees the game."
Defensive minds around the league are the ones trying to stop Hurts each week so why not enlist the architect of the fourth-ranked unit in the NFL in both total defense and points per game heading into Sunday's game against 2-5 Pittsburgh?
"I like to ask [Gannon] 'well, how would you try to stop me?'" the QB said. "Not gonna get into what he said but those are things that are valuable for me. And I think that allows me to grow. ... He's been doing great things all year and kind of get in his head and kind of see how he sees it."
Hurts, though, isn't using Gannon as some kind of cheat code.
"You definitely want to try and be a step ahead of people but also, you also want to master your techniques of what you do," he said. "Master your material first, master your techniques, master your fundamentals. Master your plays in what you do. You want to kind of have well-rounded plays to have answers for a lot of different things that may come. I know that's in every offense across the league."
Hurts wants all the potential answers.
"It starts with the quarterback play, knowing where to go with the ball and what to do with the ball," he said. "The best advantageous position to put the offense in but you know, we get a lot of stuff thrown at us.
"I think in six games, six games we played a lot of different types of teams, styles of defenses and we've had to find ways get things going versus these different styles, different personnel, you name it."
The ultimate goal is getting better and Hurts uncovers more rocks than most of his peers in an effort to do that which circles back to Sirianni's belief in his quarterback's ceiling.
It will be reached.
"It's a testament to being able to talk to everybody in the building, being able to kind of, okay take this from this person, take this from that person and not necessarily overload myself when information but always be mindful of, okay, this is what's going on, on the field," said Hurts.
"This is what's going on on the team. This is what's going on and how I'm playing and always having a plan to work to improve on."
Gannon is just another tool to his for a QB that has developed from question mark to MVP candidate.
"I think ultimately I just think for me to have that type of conversation with our defensive coordinator," Hurts said.
"... I'm just trying to get better. I'm trying to get better. I know he's doing great things on defense. So I'd like to see what would you do in anticipation for anything to come so it's not far-fetched for us to go out to execute against it."
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-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
