Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Hurt Hurts Update

Posted October 19th, 2026 | No Comments »

Every day we seem to get some new insight on the Jalen Hurts situation. We got some bombshell news on Monday morning.

Say what?

It sounds like Hurts will be out for the rest of the year. The good news is that it sounds like he’ll make a full recovery and this won’t affect his future, on or off the field. Football aside, you just want him to be healthy.

Now to the part about playing without sleep. If the Eagles knew that and played him , that is insane. It is possible Hurts didn’t tell them about the lack of sleep until afterward. Players are trained from a young age to do everything humanly possible to get on the field. That menmtality is part of what makes them so good at what they do. It can also be a curse. The organization has to protect players from themselves.

Landon Dickerson has played when he clearly wasn’t right. Now we have this situation. You love the desire to play, to compete, but something has to change in the future. If a guy isn’t right, don’t put him out there. Drew Kendall warmed up on Sunday, but wasn’t good enough to start so he became an emergency backup. I’m fine with that.

This is going to lead to a lot of scrutiny and unpleasant questions for the Eagles. Nick Sirianni might prefer discussing the inept offense.

So what does this mean from a football perspective?

Tanner McKee will have a real chance to show what he can do. Huge opportunity for him. I hope he’s able to take advantage of it. He didn’t get off to a great start on Sunday, but that was just one game. Learn from it and build off it. Cole Payton is now the primary backup. He needs to be ready in case he’s asked to play. Newly signed Joe Milton has to learn the offense.

Apparently the team reached out to Andy Dalton about coming back. He said no thanks and will be signing with the Falcons today. They are going to release Cooper Rush. It will be interesting to see if the Eagles pursue a veteran backup or stick with the young guys. I’m kind of glad Dalton said no. He has been a good backup in the past, but didn’t play well this summer and then threw the terrible INT.

Does anyone have AJ Feeley’s phone number?

If the Eagles stick with the young guys, that could be a sign they are embracing this as a lost season. If they add a veteran, that could signal they still want to try to win the division and make the playoffs. That may sound nuts in the middle of a 4-game losing streak, but the team could get a boost as some hurt players start returning from their injuries. Howie and Nick are the kind of guys who will want to compete as long as possible.

A weird season seems to get weirder every week. If you’re an older fan this might remind you of 1993, 2005, 2012 or 2020. The Eagles expected to be really good in those years and then things went haywire. I might get PTSD if I start thinking too much about them. The biggest common denominator was injuries. That certainly is a huge issue for the current team.

I get where Jimmy Bama and some others say to just punt on the season and focus on the future. There is real logic in that. But then…

SEA 3-3
LAR 2-4
DAL 2-4
PHI 2-4

Those were the NFC teams predicted to make the Super Bowl. The Eagles are in the worst shape because of injuries, but the fact so many “good” teams are struggling won’t escape Howie’s attention. It really will be interesting to see what he does. A loss to Dallas next Monday might be the nail in the coffin that this season needs. But the Eagles could go win the game just to get everyone’s hopes up and make the agonizing season torture us some more.

If Cleveland is the “Factory of Sadness”, The Linc has become the Factory of Weirdness.

I can’t wait to see what happens next.

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