Philadelphia Eagles: Dan Orlovsky is all-in on Jalen Hurts

Ah, Jalen Hurts; has any Philadelphia Eagles quarterback been so divisive?

… actually, yes, most of them this century, to be precise.

From Donovan McNabb to Kevin Kolb, Michael Vick, Nick Foles, Sam Bradford, Carson Wentz, and Nick Foles again, it seems like the Eagles are one of those rare franchises where the fanbase just can’t seem to collectively get behind the same guy for more than a few games without rumblings of a quarterback change starting to bubble up once the losing starts.

Even McNabb, probably the most prolific quarterback in franchise history, never received the same level of faith from the fans and national media alike as, say, Ron Jaworski or Randall Cunningham, who admittedly were before my time but remain near-universally beloved in the City of Brotherly Love to this very day.

For some fans, Hurts will never be good enough because he’s not Wentz or Foles. Others instead criticize Hurts for his on-field play; for failing to go through his reads, for taking off running based on an imagined rush, or for having less than ideal accuracy on some of his deeper shots.

Can these haters non-fans ever be brought into the proverbial light? Maybe, maybe not, but if noted Carson Wentz mega-fan and part-time Philadelphia Eagles supporter Dan Orlovsky can embrace Jalen Hurts, maybe almost everyone else can too.

Dan Orlovsky gives a glowing review of the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback.

Friends, I give you a quote from Dan Orlovsky from ESPN’s NFL Live, “Jalen Hurts is the guy, AT LEAST, next year for the Philadelphia Eagles. … I think the young man has proven he’s at least in the conversation for being the guy, right?”

What? Don’t believe me? Well, watch him say it yourself, below.

https://twitter.com/ESPNNFL/status/1461119699488489474?s=20

See, I told you so.

When asked about Hurts’ future – knowing that the Philadelphia Eagles could have as many as three first-round picks in 2022 if Carson Wentz plays 70 percent of the Indianapolis Colts’ offensive snaps – Orlovsky let it be known that he’d like to see Howie Roseman and company stick it out with the pride of OklaBama for at least one more season. He named off all of the stats you normally hear about the second-year QB, his league-leading QBR over the last year, his total yardage on the season versus all of the first and second-year quarterbacks across the league, and his very impressive touchdown-to-interception ratio, which is darn good, especially considering his early-season passing volume.

And best of all? Orlovsky took things a step further and actually broke down a play from the Eagles’ win over the Denver Broncos – Dallas Goedert‘s walk-off catch, watch the video here – to show how Hurts’ game is improving from week to week; how he anticipated the rush, swiped the ball across his chest, and then flips his hips back to a passing stance to deliver the ball to his third option.

Say what you will about Orlovsky – I mean, he is the guy who ran out of the endzone in a game by the Lions – but that breakdown is pretty darn sweet.

Now granted, will some fans find a reason to discredit Jalen Hurts’ stats? 100 percent; they’re probably typing as we speak. They’ll say his stats are inflated by garbage time, he’s been given an easier offense to run, or that literally any stat can be made to look good when you put enough qualifiers on it, but honestly, that’s cool; everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, and the best part about opinions is that they can grow. Dan Orlovsky’s opinion on Hurts has grown fonder as the season has progressed, and maybe, just maybe, others will start to turn around on the second-year quarterback too, that is, if you aren’t already a founding member of the Hurts Wagon Locker.