Eagles Super Bowl champion skewers Jalen Hurts' performance vs Packers - "You can’t have that"
Chris Long had some harsh words for Jalen Hurts despite the quarterback ending up on the winning side for the Eagles against the Packers in their opening game of the 2024 NFL season. The quarterback threw two touchdown passes but coupled it with two interceptions and one fumble leading to turnovers.
The Super Bowl winner, who now hosts his own podcast, was not willing to let Jalen Hurts' faults slide just because they won:
“I’m about to give him the medicine here, but he did do some good things. Jalen Hurts has to play better. You know it, I know it. The pick was so bad in the end zone I had to hit the porch. I was stressing over that, just like you at home if you’re an Eagles fan."
He lamented how bad the first interception was throwing to the middle of the field and laid the blame for that squarely on the Philadelphia media. Despite not appearing in preseason games, the Eagles quarterback had been widely celebrated by the local press for not throwing a single interception during training camp. It might have made Jalen Hurts complacent as Chris Long noted:
"You know you guys did it, you Philly aggregators, you Philly reporters, I love you all, but you got to own this one. It’s all your fault; the pick in the red zone’s your fault. You know, ignoring safety during the game is your fault because you were keeping track of how many f****** throws he had in camp without an interception he had in camp."
Chris Long also said that he was not trying to ignore what Jalen Hurts did well. Rather he is frustrated that the quarterback plays well in patches and does not provide the elite consistency a top player in that position might bring. He added:
“He has to play better because this team can win with him, perfect QB play. You just saw it, and there are things he did well; I’m not going to ignore those things, but I just want to get that out of the way to level set because people are always like, “Oh, you took it easy [on him]” or “What about the bad throws?” he stunk it up for a couple of sequences. It’s almost like he just snaps into and snaps out of it. You can’t have that."
Saquon Barkley covers up Jalen Hurts mistakes
Even with Jalen Hurts struggling, there is enough firepower in the Eagles squad to win games, as they showed against the Packers. New signing Saquon Barkley was electric as he added a receiving touchdown to two rushing touchdowns. He rushed for more than 100 yards and showed why they wanted to bring him to Philadelphia as the franchise chases a Super Bowl.
However, a quarterback remains the most important player on the field and Jalen Hurts needs to ensure that the team is not reliant on other players to dig them out of a hole. It might not be enough against tougher opponents.