The taste of defeat is bitter, especially in a city like Philadelphia. For the first time in over a calendar year, Jalen Hurts walked off the field a loser. An 18-game starting streak was snapped. It’s the kind of sting that sends a competitor searching for answers, even in the most familiar of places.
On Tuesday, Hurts revealed where he went looking. He dialed up a voice from his championship past. He reached out to his old college coach, the legendary Nick Saban. This wasn't a casual call. It was a quarterback seeking a spark, trying to transplant a winning mentality back into his team's core.
Hurts was direct about the problem. “We just got to lock in more on it,” he said. He then pointed to a specific Saban doctrine. “There was something we used to talk about all the time at Alabama—of winning the fourth quarter.” The Eagles were outscored 18-0 in the final period by Denver. Clearly, that lesson needed revisiting. Now, the coach-QB conversation happened recently.
Hurts confirmed it. “We had a conversation and caught up a little bit,” he said. “Always good to get good direction from him and hear his voice and his perspective.” This move shows a quarterback taking ownership. But it also raises an eyebrow. Why look outside the NovaCare Complex for solutions?
And this external search didn’t stop with Saban. Hurts, A.J. Brown, and Saquon Barkley held a players-only meeting on Monday. The offense, with all its star power, is ranked 30th in the league. Something is clearly broken. The team is searching for an identity, and the clock is ticking on a short week.
Eagles Kitchen with a New Chef
Hurts used a culinary analogy to describe the offensive struggles. “I think it’s like having all the same ingredients but having a different chef in the kitchen,” he said. The ingredients are Pro Bowl talents. The new chef is offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo. And so far, the recipe has been off.
The statistics are jarring. The Eagles are 31st in passing offense. They managed just nine total yards on their final four drives against the Broncos. Hurts, however, is focused on the collective. “Ultimately, the whole objective collectively as a group is to go out there and find ways to win,” he stated. The question is how!
The answer might lie in the very mentality Hurts sought from Saban. It’s about finishing. It’s about that Alabama-level demand for excellence. Teammate DeVonta Smith once compared the intensity of Nick Sirianni to Saban. That demand is now being tested. The call was a reminder of that standard.
Read more: Howie Roseman’s $4.2 million gamble pays off despite Eagles' awful Broncos loss
Now, the Eagles face the Giants. It’s a chance to erase the bad taste. Hurts is hungry. “I know this is a hungry group,” he said. The ingredients are all there. The quarterback has consulted the old master. Now, they must all cook together.