4 Questions the Eagles Need to Answer on Thursday Night

2. Was it Jalen Hurts’ Fault or Bill Belichick’s?

Speaking of surprising struggles last week, Jalen Hurts really got off to an uninspired start to the season. But like Desai, we could find excuses for Hurts if we wanted.

The Patriots defense is full of talent, and Bill Belichick remains one of the best defensive minds in the game. Facing Belichick when he’s had an entire offseason to think about how he’ll stop you in Week 1 is always going to be a very difficult task.

But any excuses evaporate on Thursday.

Hurts is now up against a Vikings D that got totally shredded by Baker Mayfield, of all people. Baker wasn’t doing much damage down the field, but he completed about 62% of his passes with 2 touchdowns and no picks, posting a 94.4 passer rating. Hurts only posted an 89.2 in Week 1.

Like Desai and the Eagles defense, Minnesota also facing a tough task being on a short week. They won’t have had much time to install new wrinkles to stop the unique challenges that Hurts and the Eagles offense offers, and we should absolutely light up the score board.

Fans will be hoping that the Week 1 hiccup was just the challenge of playing against Belichick’s defense, not anything to do with Hurts performing at a low level to start the year.

This game will be the perfect barometer, because we should have no trouble dropping a huge point total on the Vikings.