Jalen Hurts Has Surgery on Ankle
Jalen Hurts walked into his final postgame press conference of the season wearing a walking boot on his right ankle, further salt in the wound of a 31-15 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the opening round of the playoffs on Jan. 16.
The first questions asked of the Eagles’ quarterback were about that very obvious walking boot.
Hurts never made any excuses for a game that was out of hand early and never got much better.
“I think it’s something we all know that I’ve been dealing with, battling with these last stretches of game we’ve played in since I’ve been back,” he said. “Regardless of how I feel, we didn’t play good enough today. I didn’t play good enough today. It’s kind of where it is.”
The follow-up question from SI.com's Eagle Maven was:
“Do you think you’ll need surgery?”
Hurts answered, “I hope not.”
Apparently, he did.
NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero said the Eagles quarterback will undergo surgery on Wednesday to fix it. A league source confirmed that and added that Hurts will be ready to go for the start of spring OTAs.
It was evident in Hurts’ play that the ankle hampered him down the stretch, clearly limiting the top weapon in his arsenal – his legs. He wasn’t the same runner he had been in the first few months of the season, though he still finished as the Eagles' top rusher with 784 yards and 10 rushing touchdowns.
Even head coach Nick Sirianni said that Hurts was battling through an ankle that wasn't 100%.
Hurts suffered the injury on Nov. 28 against the New York Giants. He missed the following week's game against the New York Jets leading into a Week 14 bye.
Coming out of the week off, Hurts ran just 17 times over the next three games, all wins. He posted back-to-back passer ratings above 100 in victories over Washington and the Giants.
After sitting out Week 18 with the rest of the starters, a move that drew some criticism but turned out to be a prudent decision at least as far as Hurts was concerned given an injury that clearly had not fully healed, he threw 43 times in the playoff loss against the Bucs.
That was the second-most passes he had attempted in a game this season. He threw 48 times in a Week 4 loss against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Some of Hurts’ teammates were surprised he was still fighting the ankle injury, perhaps a testament to the QB’s refusal to make excuses.
“I don’t even know he’s injured,” said left tackle Jordan Mailata in the aftermath of the loss to Tampa Bay. “I was caught by surprise seeing him in a boot. I didn’t even know he was hurt. Such a tough player. Perseverance, man.
"He’s all about the grit and the will to win. That’s him as a person. That’s him as a player. That caught me by surprise. I didn’t know he was hurt or playing hurt. All of us were. Kudos to my QB.”
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze
