Running Is Good

One of the things that makes Jalen Hurts such a challenging discussion is that he’s an unusual quarterback. He’s not a pocket passer who is going to put up gaudy numbers week in and week out. Hurts isn’t special physically like Josh Allen or Justin Herbert. He hasn’t developed into an elite QB like Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes.

But…Hurts is a good passer. He is a good runner. He is a good leader. Most importantly, he’s a winner, with two trips to the Super Bowl and SB win.

The thing that makes Hurts special is that he does whatever it takes to win. He doesn’t care about stats. He doesn’t care about style points. Hurts just wants to win. Plenty of QBs will say that, but you really see it with Hurts. Let’s take a look at his performance from Thursday night.

Passing  19-23-152…no TDs or turnovers…one sack
Rushing  14-62-2

Those are not great numbers. Nothing special there. But let’s look inside of them.

Jalen Hurts had 4 incompletions last night. 3 were throwaways, 1 was a drop by Saquon. Otherwise he was 19/19.

— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) September 5, 2025

Hurts threw a ton of short passes. Dallas played zone for the vast majority of the night. They were mainly a man coverage team last year so this was a big change. Hurts didn’t force the ball down the field. He fed the ball to his TEs and RBs (12 catches). That kept the chains moving. There was one chunk play to Jahan Dotson. The rest of the night was short stuff.

Hurts killed Dallas with his legs. He didn’t post big numbers, but they were key plays. He ran for 2 TDs and converted multiple third downs.

Jalen Hurts’ runs vs. Cowboys, Week 1 (3 kneeldowns omitted). 9 scrambles (non-designed runs) for 63 yds, 2 TDs, 5 1st downs, including a game-sealing scramble. Went through his progressions, only ran when necessary. Do the Eagles win this game w/ a QB unable to make these plays? pic.twitter.com/tcoybdhfkw

— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) September 7, 2025

Some people still like to act like a QB running is a gimmick. I do agree that QB runs are a bit random so that makes them tough to factor in when evaluating a QB, but Hurts has put up pretty consistent numbers. Over the previous four seasons he has posted these numbers.

2021 – 784 yards, 10 TDs
2022 – 760 yards, 13 TDs
2023 – 605 yards, 15 TDs
2024 – 630 yards, 14 TDs

His rushing yards have gone down as he’s become a more skilled passer. Still, the numbers are fairly consistent. This is a regular part of his game. It isn’t a crutch because he can’t pass. Hurts uses his legs as a way to move the chains and make plays. Think about his performance in the Super Bowl. Hurts threw for 221 yards and 2 TDs. He also ran for 72 yards, many of them in the third quarter. It was killing the Chiefs defense to see him go flying up the field. That can be very demoralizing to defenders.

Hurts critics and doubters can pick apart his numbers and denegrate his style of play. But they can’t argue with the results. He’s led the Eagles to 2 SBs in 3 years. He out-played Patrick Mahomes both times. He would have won both if the Eagles defense could have made just one stop back in SB LVII. Hurts had to settle for winning last year, and being the MVP.

*****

A few thoughts from around the league.

WAS beat the Giants 21-6. The Giants stunk. The OL struggled in a big way. Russell Wilson was bad. The back seven on defense didn’t do much. As bad as they were, the game was 14-6 in the fourth quarter. The Commanders were a bit rusty themselves.

It’s still incomprehensible to me that the players in Miami celebrated Vic Fangio leaving for the Eagles because he was too hard on them

Fangio wins the Super Bowl with the Eagles’ top ranked defense

Miami misses the playoffs & starts this year getting dominated by Daniel Jones

— Bill Colarulo (@BillColarulo) September 7, 2025

So true. The Colts won 33-8. They are the first team since at least 1977 to score on every possession. Miami was equally awful on offense and defense. Unless Mike McDaniel gets some stuff figured out in a hurry, he’s gone at the end of the year.

Green Bay was terrific in their win over the Lions. The Packers fans loved seeing Micah Parsons key a disruptive pass rush. The Lions struggled on offense in a way we’re not used to seeing. They finished with 246 yards and 13 points. The rookies on their OL were a problem. They need those guys to grow up in a hurry.

The Niners won in Seattle, but they had a bunch of guys get banged up. SF fans have to be nervous to see this stuff in the season opener. Will those guys hold up over the course of a full season?

FIELDS TO WILSON FOR A JETS TD

PITvsNYJ on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/QOzBNd3rJA

— NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2025

Darius Slay beaten for a 34-yard TD on that play. I don’t say this to rip Slay. He was a terrific Eagle and fun guy to cheer for. He is 34 and could take a step back this year. Is he better than Adoree Jackson? Of course. He’s also more expensive. We’ll see if Vic Fangio can figure out the corner spot. I’m still re-watching the game.

_