Jalen Hurts Responds to "Tough Coaching," Love Pours in After 27-17 Win
PHILADELPHIA – The TV cameras caught Nick Sirianni giving his quarterback an earful after Jalen Hurts fumbled inside the Washington red zone on Tuesday night.
Hurts simply peeled back his helmet and kept right on walking toward the bench area as his coach barked at him.
Afterward, Sirianni called it “tough coaching,” something his QB is used to and, the coach said, relishes.
“Jalen's dad coached him hard and my dad coached me hard, so I think Jalen responds to tough coaching,” said Sirianni. “He likes tough coaching, and I wasn't going to back down on him. I thought he was careless with the football, and I let him know that and we are just honest with each other. Sometimes it comes off as we're just talking through it and sometimes I've got to deliver the message a little bit different.”
Hurts was asked about tough coaching shortly after Sirianni exited the postgame podium following a 27-17 win over the Washington Football Team.
“I’ve had some great coaches,” said the QB. “I’ve had my dad obviously for a long time in my life. I had [Alabama] Coach [Nick] Saban and he was a great coach for me. Coach Riley [Former Oklahoma Head Coach Lincoln Riley]. Coach Mike Locksley at Maryland.
“Now Nick Sirianni. I’ve had a ton of great coaches and I’ve had great relationships with them all. I think they all have different styles nonetheless. We all have a standard that we want to coach to. We have a standard we want to play to. How you communicate that is going to get done.”
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It’s taken a while to get to this point, to build this relationship, but that’s to be expected with a first-year head coach getting to know his players and vice versa.
“I’ll say that it’s all about communicating within a relationship,” said Hurts. “And those are things that we have obviously kind of overtaken with time. We have taken steps together throughout all of this.”
Whatever was said, worked.
Hurts put a slow start behind him to play one of his more efficient games of the season, completing 20 of 26 passes (77 percent) for 296 yards, with one touchdown pass and two rushing scores.
Yes, Washington was short-handed and their passing defense ranked 30th, but this was a game that the Eagles simply had to win, and that in turn put a lot of pressure on No. 1.
There was even more pressure because he was playing his first game in 23 days and in that game, a 13-7 loss to the New York Giants, he threw three interceptions, including one terrible one at the goal line just before halftime.
He responded, and he did so on a rainy night when the field and ball were slick.
“The ball was going where it was supposed to go,” said Sirianni. “When he needed to run, he ran. The ball was accurate. My college coach always taught me that in a little bit of that drizzle, right, and when the field is a little bit wet like that, that's a great day to pass.
“And here is why, I know that's kind of the opposite, but the defensive line rush slows down because the ground is wet. The wide receivers know when they are breaking, the tight ends know when they are breaking, the defensive backs don't and so the fact that he handled that wet ball, too, now it just takes a little bit more concentration to catch the ball and throw the ball, but he did an unbelievable job in some weather that required it.”
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After Sirianni’s harsh words, love poured in via Twitter from some notables:
- “Jalen Hurts is the future in Philly!” tweeted former QB Robert Griffin, III.
- “My opinion means zero but I definitely think Jalen Hurts has shown he is a franchise QB and you can build a dominating run based offense with him as your QB. I would roll with him in 2022 making less than 2 million,” tweeted Ryan Paganetti, a Dartmouth grad who worked in the Eagles’ analytics department and has a Super Bowl ring from 2017.
- “That’s Jalen Hurts’ most impressive game as an @Eagles. Never flinched,” tweeted Dan Orlovsky, who didn’t even rank Hurts in his top 32 QBs prior to the season.
- From Skip Bayless: “Jalen Hurts is a BALLER. Jalen Hurts is a PLAYMAKER. Jalen Hurts is the FUTURE in Philly.”
Who knows what Hurts’ future is with the Eagles, but it’s hard to argue with a present that has seen him grow each week - the Giants hiccup - and has the team still battling for a playoff berth coming out of Christmas.
