For a guy who just consistently wins football games, Philadelphia Eagles star quarterback Jalen Hurts sure seems to find himself on the receiving end of a lot of criticism for failing to produce gaudy stats. But, Hurts isn't concerned with the outside noise, as he's squarely focused on the task in front of him amid Philadelphia's current playoff push.
Jalen Hurts isn't concerned with stats, just with winning football games
“I think you guys need to understand I don’t play the game for anything other than to win," Hurts said. "My role in each game will be different and the approach in each game is different. You just want to go out there and do your job and take advantage of opportunities, obviously. ... Ultimately it’s about winning the game. We're talking about playoff football.”
Hurts is completely correct. Winning is the main goal, and he excels in that area. Hurts has a regular season record of 46-20 as a starter in Philadelphia, and only Donovan McNabb and Nick Foles have won more playoff games as a starter in an Eagles uniform.
And while Hurts' winning ways might go under-appreciated outside of the Novacare Complex, that certainly isn't the case inside the locker room.
"Jalen is built for this," Saquon Barkley said of Hurts following Philadelphia's 22-10 win over the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card Round. "He has highs, he has lows, but he led this team to a Super Bowl and did a really good job in the Super Bowl. I remember being in New York watching it and being amazed. ... That’s our leader and we got his back."
Doubters are always going to exist, that's just life, but it certainly feels like people need to focus more on what Hurts does well -- and how he consistently contributes to winning -- as opposed to fixiating on his flaws. At this point it really seems like Hurts could lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl victory and some people would still be like, "Yeah, but he didn't throw for 500 yards."
With a win over the Los Angeles Rams in the Divisional Round this weekend, Hurts will tie Foles for the second-most playoff wins by a starting QB in Eagles history. That number is much more important than how many passing yards he has in any given game.