Eagles QB Jalen Hurts remains frontrunner in NFL MVP race with big win over Texans
After a primetime win against the Houston Texans on Thursday Night Football, Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles sit atop the NFL standings with a record of 8-0.
Houston went into Thursday's contest missing both of their starting wideouts, but the team came to play regardless. Davis Mills tossed two touchdowns, while rookie standout Dameon Pierce rushed for 139 yards on 27 carries, bouncing back from the 35-yard contest he had on Sunday vs. the Tennessee Titans.
It wasn't enough to top Philadelphia, though.
Offensively, quarterback Jalen Hurts led the charge with two touchdowns on 21-for-27 passing. Running backs Miles Sanders and Kennethh Gainwell both found the end zone once, averaging 5.5 yards per carry individually.
On the other side of the ball, the Eagles' defense managed to pick off Davis Mills twice and bring him to the ground on three occasions - with all three sacks coming by way of Javon Hargrave.
At the end of it, Philly walked away with a 29-17 win in Houston; another win for the birds in green.
How did the Eagles manage to get off to such a hot start?
Philadelphia Eagles are now 8-0, and Jalen Hurts is the biggest reason why
Philadelphia's success both started and ended with a dramatic improvement from third-year quarterback Hurts.
During the 2021 season, in what was Hurts' first year as a starting quarterback, the second-round draft pick recorded only 16 passing touchdowns and 3,144 yards - neither number cracking the top-20 among starting quarterbacks in 2021.
Worst of all, Hurts' 61.3% completion percentage ranked 26th in the league.
All of that has changed for Philly's QB1 this season, though.
Eight games through the year, the versatile quarterback is averaging 257 yards per contest; a number that puts the 24-year-old on track for roughly 4,350 passing yards. The completion percentage has skyrocketed as well, with Hurts heading into Thursday's game against Houston completing 67% of his passes.
This is happening because Hurts is able to make these types of throws.
Jalen Hurts to AJ Brown is beautiful!
https://t.co/j95JKna3tg
And his receivers are able to haul them in.
With this increased completion percentage comes increased scoring. Despite having more games left on the schedule to be played than games already finished, Hurts is a mere four passing touchdowns away from tying his 2021 total.
This means the in-form quarterback can log one passing touchdown in every other contest from now until the end of the season, and still match the number of passing touchdowns he had last season.
#Eagles fans with MVP chants for Jalen Hurts #TNFonPrime https://t.co/ejxNdp7p19
Jalen Hurts is a legitimate MVP candidate, and under him, the Philadelphia Eagles are a legitimate Super Bowl threat.