It Will be Jalen Hurts vs. Davis Webb in Must-Have Game for Eagles

In a perfect world, the quarterback matchup for today’s Eagles-Giants game would have been Daniel Jones vs. Ian Book.

The NFL, though, is far from a perfect world.

All the Eagles needed to do was win one of their last two games to wrap up the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs, rest up and wait for the playoffs to start in two weeks.

Instead, the Eagles went 0-2 with Gardner Minshew filling in, and now we get Davis Webb vs. Jalen Hurts.

Hurts will put his throwing shoulder to the test because the Eagles need to have this win and earn a bye next week and home games for at least one game and the NFC Championship if they get there.

Head coach Nick Sirianni said the QB was “trending in the right direction” on Friday, but Hurts was listed as questionable on the injury report released later that day.

Had this game meant nothing, Hurts wouldn’t be playing.

Had the game meant something for the Giants, Jones would be playing.

New York doesn’t need to win, though. They are locked into the No. 6 seed.

When Hurts was injured on the frozen ground of Chicago’s Soldier Field on Dec. 18, he was an MVP candidate with 35 total touchdowns, which tied him with Randall Cunningham (1990) for most in team history.

Thirteen of those were rushing scores. He had also completed 67.3% of his passes for 3,472 yards and 22 TDs.

Webb was drafted in the third round by the Giants in 2017 out of California. He has played a total of four offensive snaps since then, and those came with Buffalo in 2021. His first pass will be the first of his NFL career.

Don’t tell him this game doesn’t mean anything. He will be trying to prove he belongs in the NFL six years after joining the league.

As for Hurts, the game plan probably – and shouldn’t – include any designed running plays.

That is a big part of the QB’s game, though, so to take that away may make this game more difficult than it probably should be with New York expected to sit some of its key players so they are healthy for next weekend’s wildcard game.

The Eagles are hoping not to join them in the wildcard round.

“No pressure,” said Brandon Graham earlier in the week. “I believe stuff happens for a reason. This is how I’m looking at it. Maybe we didn’t need any rest. Maybe we needed that week coming up for the bye so we can get our focus on. But we have to finish the season.

“This is our last game of the season, let’s finish it off right. Then we get the bye then we go to the postseason. It never goes like you want it to, but I know for us, it’s going to go the way it’s supposed to. I’m excited either way because we’re in the postseason and it’s all in our hands and we have to make sure we stay ready each and every week.”

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.