November 28, 2022

Who won the week in Philly sports: Jalen Hurts is setting franchise records

By Shamus Clancy
PhillyVoice Staff

Jalen Hurts' nationally televised breakout may have come in the Eagles' Week 2 Monday Night Football win over the Vikings, so Hurts was just padding his resume in the eyes of the football world this Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field. Commanding an Eagles offense that scored 40 points for the first time in five years, Hurts ran circles around the Packers' defense to keep the Birds in line for the No. 1 seed in a fragile NFC in a 40-33 win.

Who won the week in Philly sports? The answer is Hurts, who won the week in the whole NFL honestly. Hurts continues to solidify his case as the Eagles' franchise quarterback with every win, illustrating that he can beat teams with both his arm and his legs.

More on Hurts owning Philadelphia right now...

Smashing Records 🏆

Hurts rushed for 157 yards on Sunday Night Football, breaking the Eagles' single-game record for a quarterback. Michael Vick, in the Miracle at the New Meadowlands in 2010, previously held that mark with 130 yards. Last week's win over the Colts in Indianapolis was the Eagles' biggest fourth quarter comeback since that miraculous day in North Jersey. Now, Hurts one-ups the greatest running quarterback in the history of the game.

Before the Eagles-Commanders Monday Night Football game, Hurts was a part of an ESPN segment with Vick and Donovan McNabb about the lineage of Black quarterbacks in team history. Five different Black QBs have started playoff games for the Eagles: Hurts, Vick, McNabb, Rodney Pete and Randall Cunningham. Putting up performances like this in that light hits home for Hurts.

"It means everything," Hurts said about breaking Vick's team record while speaking to reporters after the Green Bay game "I have a great deal of respect for those guys. The guys that have come before me. Randall, Mike, McNabb. Just the way they played the game. I always talk about how I admire the way they played the game. And to be thrusted into that category and different things is a blessing. It’s a blessing. And it’s a lot of hard work going into it. I have a ton of respect for them and their support. And they don’t even know how they’ve affected me and impacted me in my time here. It’s an understatement to say how much I appreciate them. Because I do."

Sitting in on his press conferences this season, Hurts is usually pretty mum on speaking about personal accolades and anything that's not related to the team overall winning games. That's just the type of leader he is. Seeing him open up about this, however, speaking so candidly, hammers home the importance of it all for him.

Those record-breaking performance won't be slowing down for Hurts.

Let's take a look at the numbers.

It felt like Vick was in Philly for much longer, but he wasn't on the field as much as you'd think. He started 12 games in 2010, 13 games in 2011, 10 games in 2012 and six games in 2013. Hurts, conversely, has only started 30 games in midnight green, but his 21 rushing touchdowns are more than Vick's 15. There's a good shot that he will pass Vick on the all-time franchise QB rushing list this season too, trailing Vick by just 263 yards. Here are the Eagles' leaders in QB rushing yards (via Stathead):

Rank	QB	Years	Rush Yds
1	Randall Cunningham	1985-95	4,482
2	Donovan McNabb	1999-09	3,249
3	Michael Vick	2009-13	1,998
4	Jalen Hurts	2020-pres	1,735

As I mentioned, Hurts already has scored more TDs than Vick and it's possible that Hurts beats both Cunningham and McNabb in that category at some point in the 2023 season (via Stathead):

Rank	QB	Years	Rush TDs
1	Randall Cunningham	1985-95	32
2	Donovan McNabb	1999-09	28
3	Jalen Hurts	2020-pres	21

Looking at it from a macro perspective across the whole NFL, Hurts' 157 yards on the ground were the fourth most ever by a quarterback in a regular season game (via StatMuse). The record for QB rushing yards in a playoff game in 181 from Colin Kaepernick in a 2012 divisional round win over the Packers. It sounds outrageous, but Hurts can feasibly top that in the postseason, right?

Again, I have a feeling there will be a few more Hurts record-breaking articles in the years to come.

The Ankle-Breaker 🦵

Can we just throw in some highlights of Hurts dashing across the field at the Linc? It felt like Hurts could do anything and everything he wanted as a runner:

There’s been a lot of lowlight plays from this Packers season but this one is right up there for the top spot. pic.twitter.com/YXuYMjVzZq
— Daire Carragher (@DaireCarragher) November 28, 2022

I can hear Chris Berman screaming, "WOOP!" while I watch that.

Already 100 rushing yards today for @JalenHurts 😱

📺: #GBvsPHI on NBC
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/FRZHlv4OoL pic.twitter.com/1vswZ1LNkG
— NFL (@NFL) November 28, 2022

It looks effortless!

Hurts rocking the Air Jordan Concord 11 cleats makes it even better. I remember logging on Foot Locker's website at midnight in December 2011 to buy the Concords. I ruined them wearing the sneakers to a party in college. Understandably, Hurts looks a lot better in them than I did.

And He Can Throw 💪

There's been chatter the last couple of weeks about the Eagles becoming a more run-oriented team like they were in 2021. I'll say this: it didn't look like the Birds' coaching staff took the ball out of Hurts' hands when he threw this touchdown strike to Quez Watkins before half to give the Eagles all the momentum in the world:

Hurts to Watkins! @Eagles score before the half 🙌@JalenHurts | #FlyEaglesFly

📺: #GBvsPHI on NBC
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/FRZHlv4OoL pic.twitter.com/cfhPosiT4Q
— NFL (@NFL) November 28, 2022

Or when he threw another TD to A.J. Brown to give the Eagles a two-touchdown lead:

Swole Batman! 🦅

📺: #GBvsPHI on NBC
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/FRZHlv4OoL pic.twitter.com/u9iDvT3r7f
— NFL (@NFL) November 28, 2022

That harkens back to head coach Nick Sirianni's mantra of "being multiple" that he's hit upon since he arrived in Philly.

"You never want to be one dimensional in anything," Sirianni said to reporters after the game. "You'll do whatever you got to do to win that game. Shoot, I would be lying if I said Jalen was going to rush for — we said earlier this week that Jalen was going to rush for 150 yards. So, you get the flow of the game, but you never want to be one dimensional.

"I think we've shown we can win throwing the football. I think we've shown we can win running the football offensively. That's important, because in the playoffs you have to do both. When you want to go where you want to go, you got to be able to do both. You want to win big games, you’ve got to do both."

I have the belief that the Eagles can, despite what some detractors out there might say, can win both ways come January and February.

Who won the week runner-up: Shake Milton 🔥

In four games over the last week with Joel Embiid, James Harden and Tyrese Maxey all missing time, Shake Milton has averaged 23-7-8 while shooting almost 59 percent from the field. The Sixers were 3-1 in those games. This reminds me of the sixth man, instant-offense guy he was for stretches during the 2020 season. Injuries and questionable rotations have prevented him from getting into a rhythm since then. The Sixers will need this version of Milton come the postseason even when their three stars return to the lineup.