Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts made his return to the lineup on Sunday and led the Eagles to a 22-16 victory over the division rival New York Giants and clinched the top seed in the NFC for Philly.
The Eagles 14-3 record set a new high for regular-season victories, passing their mark set in 2004 and reached again in 2017, and in both of those seasons the Eagles were able to reach the Super Bowl.
Hurts had missed the previous two games with a sprained throwing shoulder that he suffered back on December 18th against the Chicago Bears, and carried a questionable designation on the injury report this past week.
Hurts finished with 229 yards passing, and interception, and 13 yards on 9 carries.
“We didn’t feel like there was more risk [of further injury] but I know he was hurting, and he was hurting bad,” Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said, according to ESPN’s Tim McManus. “But that’s the kind of competitor he is, that’s the kind of person he is, and kind of teammate and leader he is that he was able to go out there and tough through it.”
“I feel like coming into this game, I’ve been really pushing myself beyond measures to try and be available,” Hurts said. “The risk-reward of playing [Sunday], whatever that was, we did what we had to do. We’re the No. 1 seed and we’re NFC East champs and that’s the goal we set out to do. Now I can continue to recover and be ready for the playoffs.”
“It’s been tough, but I don’t really want to make it about me. We just accomplished a great goal of ours,” Hurts said of the last two weeks. “My whole thing moving forward is, let’s prepare to play our best ball. It’s been a great ride this year but the job isn’t finished.”
