PHILADELPHIA − Jalen Hurts had a reason for his “bounty” talk.
The Eagles quarterback, dealing with a sprained shoulder, was asked if he’ll be running like he usually does when the Eagles face the Giants in the NFC Divisional Round on Saturday. And if so, if he expects the Giants to target that shoulder.
“It’s football. I got a bounty on me every week I go out there on the field,” he said. “So I’m going to go out there and play my game. Whatever happens, happens.”
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But really, this isn’t some New Orleans Saints type of “Bountygate,” or Buddy Ryan era ploy to reward players from knocking the quarterback out of the game.
Hurts is a quarterback who runs, and runs well.
Hurts runs so well that the Eagles went 14-1 in his starts this season because when defenses tried to stop Hurts from running, he burned them with his passing. And when they focused on stopping his star receivers in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, Hurts and Miles Sanders burned them with the run.
It just so happens Hurts’ shoulder clearly limited him in the regular-season finale against these same Giants on Jan. 8, the last time the Eagles played.
And while Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said “he’s better than he was two weeks ago,” neither he nor Hurts would answer if he’ll be back to full strength, and thus full throttle.
The Giants, of course, will take any opportunity to hit Hurts, just like they would with any opposing quarterback. And Hurts knows that he’s not playing two-hand touch.
“Obviously, the quarterback gets a lot of attention,” he said. “I think every quarterback in the league has a bounty on him in the sense to stop him.”
The Giants saw this in the first meeting, on Dec. 11, when the Eagles won 48-22, leaving the Giants guessing at every turn. Sanders ran for 144 yards and Hurts passed for 217 and ran for 77 more.
They didn’t see it in the second meeting. Hurts got by with minimal contact as the Eagles won 22-16 to secure the No. 1 seed.
So naturally, Hurts ran around any question on his health like he would if he was trying to evade Giants defenders.
How are you feeling? Hurts was asked.
“Feeling good,” he responded.
Do you know how much the bye week helped your shoulder?
“I don’t,” he said.
How have you played through the pain mentally in the past?
“Get it done,” he said.
But really, it’s up to Hurts and the Eagles’ offensive line to make sure Hurts makes it through the game. The offensive linemen take this responsibility personally.
“If he’s got a bounty, I got a bounty,” left tackle Jordan Mailata said. “It’s my job to make sure that bounty isn’t claimed. I’m going to do everything I can to execute the right technique and the right plays to make sure he stays clean and I stay dirty. That’s how it should be played.”
And a dirty uniform on Hurts angers Mailata as much as anything, saying he would get despondent during a game if he noticed that.
He then made an exasperated sound before continuing: “(Hurts) expects a high standard from the O-line and we expect the same from him. That’s why we gel well and we’re able to give him time in the pocket. That’s what we’re going to aim to do.”
But there’s more to it than that.
The Eagles have been building for this playoff run for a full year, ever since the Eagles were beaten in the Wild Card Round last season by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Eagles fell behind 31-0 in that game before losing 31-15.
The Bucs exposed every weakness the Eagles had on offense. One of those weaknesses, of course, was Hurts as a pocket passer. He threw two interceptions. And when he did run, the Bucs constantly forced him to his left, daring him to throw.
So Hurts spent the entire offseason improving his completion percentage from 61.3% in 2021 to 66.5% this season, and his passer rating from 87.2 to 101.6, ranking fourth in the NFL. The Eagles also added Brown, who set the franchise record with 1,496 yards receiving, to go along with Smith, who had 1,196 yards.
“I think it’s helpful for us to have experienced that together as a team, and to have a lot of guys back,” Hurts said. “There’s a ton that we’ve endured and experienced and have gone through to be here to have this opportunity we have now.”
Mailata knows this, too, after explaining how he and the Eagles knew they were completely overmatched in that game.
“The first play, we came out, I will never forget that,” he said. “We had three plays, and we couldn’t run any of those three plays. We had three audibles built in. And it was like, ‘What the hell?’ I knew we were being thrown into the deep end.
When asked why they couldn’t run any of those plays for that situation, he said: “For some reason, (Tampa Bay) came out with a defense that we had not planned. I think it was just an outside zone to the right. We were like, ‘(Bleep) it.’ I’ll never forget it. It was like a welcome-to-the-playoffs moment.”
It only got worse from there. The Bucs forced the Eagles to the left on the next two plays. Hurts completed a short pass to Boston Scott for 1 yard. Then on 3rd-and-2, Hurts ran and lost 3 yards. The Eagles punted.
“This year, I know we’ve corrected a lot of our mistakes,” Mailata said. “It’s just formulating a game plan that we know works well with the players that we got in this room to maximize the strengths and the skill sets.”
That begins with Hurts, and the Giants know it. That’s the bounty.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
