The Eagles’ “Monday Night Football” matchup against the Buccaneers was never in jeopardy of losing Jalen Hurts, but the quarterback was clearly not at full strength.
Hurts was reportedly suffering from “flu-like symptoms” prior to the game, as reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Both teams entered the game with identical 2-0 records. During his postgame press conference, Hurts was asked directly if Schefter’s report was accurate.
Jalen Hurts Illness
Jalen Hurts, quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, admitted after Monday night’s 25-11 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that he played despite feeling ill with the flu.
#Eagles QB Jalen Hurts was having “flu like symptoms” before the game, according to @AdamSchefterhttps://t.co/9Zhot8L4iE pic.twitter.com/nlVtZCBYL7
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) September 26, 2023
“Just us executing,” Hurts said, describing what it took to gut it out. “It’s not the first time I’ve dealt with this or had to play with something like this. And it always happens on Monday night for whatever reason.”
Pain did not have to go through it all by himself. Several Eagles, according to center Jason Kelce, were sick in the days leading up to the game.
“It feels like everyone in the world is right now,” he said. “It’s kind of ramping up again. We had a lot of guys on the team this week … it’s kind of maybe that time of year right now in Philly.”
Despite this, the offense managed 472 yards, thanks in large part to the spectacular play of running back D’Andre Swift (130 rushing yards) and wide receiver A.J. Brown (9 receptions, 131 receiving yards).
After the game, Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham quipped that Hurts, a recent signee to Nike’s Jordan brand, was only attempting to emulate Mike, who scored 38 points for the Chicago Bulls in a win against the Utah Jazz in the 1997 NBA Finals despite being sick.
Hurts had a mixed night, scoring a score through the air and on the ground but also throwing two picks. However, he did wow with a few spectacular tosses.
There was a reason he had to go back to Tampa. The Eagles’ 2021 campaign came to an end with a playoff loss to the Bucs by a score of 31-15. Hurts completed 23 passes out of 32 attempts for 258 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 pick.
It was said that during the game, a Buccaneers assistant coach who was wearing a microphone said, “This guy can’t read [the defense].” Hurts indicated during the week that those comments would serve as “a little extra inspiration.”
“It’s a feeling I haven’t forgot,” Hurts said of that playoff loss. “And things have gone very well ever since.”
Since then, Hurts has gone 17-1 as the starting quarterback in the regular season.
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When Did Jalen Hurts Fall Ill Before?
Jalen Hurts has apparently caught the flu before in his professional career. Nick Sirianni recounted that the future Philadelphia Eagles player was sick with stomach symptoms before a preseason game against the New England Patriots in 2021, before his first entire season.
“He had pain in his abdomen. For a guy like that to tell us, he’s a tough guy, so it must have been hurting him pretty good for him to let us know about that.”
Despite negative COVID test results, the Eagles decided to start Joe Flacco and Nick Mullens instead of him, and the decision backfired when Flacco and Mullens were intercepted once each in the team’s 35-0 home loss. As Sirianni put it:
“He came in, he wasn’t feeling great. We put him through pregame warmups, and he wanted to go out there and go through pregame warmups. He came back in. He still wasn’t feeling good.”
“We evaluated him. We just decided that it wasn’t in his best interest to play with what he was feeling. We evaluated him. He’s doing OK now. That’s why we held him out.”
After returning to camp, Hurts chose not to address the public about his injuries.
