Jalen Hurts sought advice from a surprising source during 2023 NFL season

Information and knowledge can come from some surprising places, and Philadelphia Eagles star quarterback Jalen Hurts is apparently well aware of that fact.

Hurts wanted to pick the brain of a former rival

When Philadelphia's offense was searching for answers heading into the playoffs after a disastrous end to the 2023 regular season, Hurts reached out to New York Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, who had parted ways with the Giants at the conclusion of the regular season, according to a report from ESPN.

Philadelphia had faced New York twice in the closing weeks of the '23 season, including an embarrassing 27-10 loss in Week 18. The Eagles' offense, including Hurts, struggled mightily in that game, and the quarterback thought that Martindale might have some pearls of wisdom to share regarding where the Eagles could be better moving forward.

The call, which reportedly lasted about half an hour, came as a surprise to Martindale, but credit to Hurts for leaving no stone unturned in the name of improvement.

"I've been doing this for 40 years, and it's the first time I've had an opposing quarterback call me up," Martindale said. "I thought it was pretty cool that the guy called. It shows you what kind of pro he really is. He's just looking at every angle that he can to get better."

Again, props to Jalen for thinking outside of the box while trying to help the Eagles get better. Unfortunately, any lessons he learned the team was unable to apply, as they were dominated 32-9 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wild Card round. And just like that, a once-promising season ended in bitter disappointment.

So, what went wrong with Philadelphia's offense? Well, according to Martindale, the Eagles were doomed by a lack of commitment to the ground game.

"They weren't committed to the run," Martindale said. "They weren't committed to the quarterback runs. They were trying to throw the ball a little bit too much on early downs, which put them behind the sticks. That's when defenses can go to work."

We already knew that Hurts was extremely competitive, this just further confirms it. Ending the '23 season the way the Eagles did had to eat at Hurts over the entire offseason, and that hopefully translates to a bounce-back campaign for both Hurts and the Birds in '24.

Philadelphia has arguably the best group of skill position players in franchise history around Hurts heading into the season. From wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, to tight end Dallas Goedert, to new star running back Saquon Barkley, the offense is absolutely stacked.

With new coordinator Kellen Moore and a motivated Hurts, all the ingredients are there for Philadelphia's offense to be something special. Hopefully that means that Hurts won't have to call an opposing coordinator for advice.