Whether it’s college football or the NFL, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is no stranger to a championship game.
Super Bowl 59 will mark Hurts’ fourth championship start between his Eagles career and his days with the University of Alabama. Ironically, the only game he won was one he didn’t finish; Nick Saban famously made the bold decision to replace an ineffective Hurts with Tua Tagovailoa in the 2018 National Championship Game vs. Georgia, overcoming a 13-0 deficit to win 26-23 in overtime. As a true freshman against Clemson, Hurts had his would-be game-winning touchdown run canceled out by Deshaun Watson’s literal last-second touchdown to Hunter Renfrow. In Super Bowl 57 against the Kansas City Chiefs, Hurts was outstanding (bar one critical fumble returned for a touchdown), but the Eagles lost a 38-35 shootout even with Hurts’ four-touchdown performance.
A second-round pick following his lone transfer year at the University of Oklahoma, Hurts has gone from Carson Wentz’s backup to his highly successful replacement. This is Hurts’ fourth full season as Eagles starter, and he’s made the playoffs every time and become the only Eagles quarterback to start in multiple Super Bowls. He was regular season MVP runner-up to Patrick Mahomes in 2022 and probably would’ve had Super Bowl MVP honors had the Eagles won.
Despite all of the on-field success, there have been questions about how great Hurts is as a quarterback. The Eagles are not a gaudy passing team even with A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith at wide receiver, and Hurts has been prone to taking bad sacks and turnovers at times in his career. What can’t be denied is that he’s been a consistent winner and his prolific rushing abilities, particularly on the scarcely stoppable ‘Tush Push’ play, makes him one of the league’s most formidable dual-threat quarterbacks.
After dominating the Commanders in the NFC Championship Game with 246 yards passing, a passing touchdown, and three rushing touchdowns, Hurts is trying to do something no other quarterback in NFL history has ever done before: defeat a team he previously lost to in the Super Bowl. It’s rare for quarterbacks who’ve lost their first Super Bowl start to ever win a subsequent start, so this is a huge opportunity for Hurts to join rare company alongside Len Dawson, Bob Griese, and John Elway.
Will the sequel result in a better outcome than the original for Hurts and the Eagles? Follow Hurts’ Super Bowl highlights below.
First quarter
The Chiefs deferred to the second half, giving Jalen Hurts the ball to start the game. In the first Super Bowl meeting, Hurts led a touchdown drive. He might have been able to lead an opening drive touchdown again if not for an offensive pass interference call on A.J. Brown, which negated a 32-yard catch into the red zone. A brilliant 4th and 2 conversion turned into 4th and 12 and a punt.
If one questionable call prevented the Eagles from scoring on their opening drive, another questionable call may have helped them get in the end zone. Jalen Hurts overthrew Dallas Goedert on third down, but a roughness penalty on Trent McDuffie turned a likely field goal attempt into a new set of towns.
Hurts beat the vaunted Steve Spagnuolo blitz with a beautiful sideline throw to Jahan Dotson, who was initially ruled in the end zone but replay revealed he was down at the 1-yard line. Instead of a Hurts touchdown pass, he was brotherly shoved for the first score of the game. It’s about as good a start as the Eagles quarterback could’ve asked for.
Second quarter
After starting the game 7/8 for 79 yards and a rushing touchdown, Hurts made his first major mistakes. Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton came on the blitz and Hurts threw a bad pass off his backfoot into the arms of safety Bryan Cook. Ill-advised decision, bad throw in field goal range, and a wasted chance to go up at least 10-0.
The good news for Hurts was that the interception didn’t lead to even a Chiefs first down. Philadelphia was able to increase its lead to 10-0 in part due to this beautiful back shoulder throw from Hurts to A.J. Brown. It was Brown’s first catch of the game after the controversial OPI call in the first quarter negated his previous grab.
Third quarter
TBD
Fourth quarter
TBD
