Jalen Hurts Disrespect Reaching Historic Levels After Week 1 Win
After Friday night's win over the Green Bay Packers, Jalen Hurts' regular season record over the last three seasons has improved to 26-7. He threw for 2 touchdowns plus 2 interceptions, adding 33 yards on the ground. It wasn't his best performance, but it was a solid season-opener.
Of course, no matter what Hurts does it never seems to be enough for people. The push to reject him as an elite quarterback has been constant over the last few years. What has Eagles fans really heated this time out is the grade PFF gave him for his debut.
According to PFF, Jalen Hurts was the worst quarterback in the NFL in Week 1. Bar none. PFF graded Hurts out at 29.8 overall — significantly trailing Bryce Young (32.6) who was the second-worst. Hurts' 2 touchdowns to Young's 0 and his 8.2 yards per attempt to Young's 5.4 weren't quite enough to put him over the top, somehow.
Just check out this graph from former PFF employee Kevin Cole, which highlights how dramatically Hurts' PFF grade differs from his actual performance.
Week 1 Quarterback PFF grading and efficiency (EPA/play)
— Kevin Cole (@KevinCole___) September 9, 2024
- Jalen Hurts had good efficiency with the worst grade
- Mahomes matching Carr and Darnold?
- Baker outperforming grading by a lot, same for Allen
- Geno, Fields, Watson and Daniel Jones are graded better than results pic.twitter.com/ODGM1DIxEc
The key, apparently, is that Hurts had a total of four "turnover worthy" throws, which apparently blew up his grade. The other possible reason for the low grade is that so many of his passing yards came from his receivers after the catch. I don't think you're going to find many NFL fans who are going to say that those factors were enough to make his performance the worst among all quarterbacks this week, however.
Even better? Hurts' MVP odds are on the rise. Pending Monday Night Football, FanDuel Sportsbook has Hurts at No. 4 in the NFL at +1000. He trails only Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and C.J. Stroud. Quite a jump for someone who couldn't outperform Bryce Young in Week 1.
The Eagles have opened as huge 6.5-point favorites over the Atlanta Falcons for Monday Night Football in Week 2. The Hurts disrespect can continue all season, but as long as he and the Eagles keep winning games then Philly fans won't have to worry about it too much.
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