PHILADELPHIA — The differences are subtle, and they also make it clear why Jalen Hurts is a top MVP contender and Gardner Minshew is, well, not a starting quarterback on a Super Bowl-caliber team.
The Eagles are a Super Bowl-caliber team – with Hurts at quarterback. They’re not with Minshew, which he made painfully clear on Sunday in the Eagles’ 20-10 loss to the New Orleans Saints.
So now the Eagles are back in a corner, where they’ll likely have to take a risk with Hurts’ sprained shoulder by playing him in the season finale against the Giants.
Of course, Eagles manager Nick Sirianni said after the game – as he did for the two games Hurts missed – that Hurts will only play if he is healthy and heals faster. than you, me and everyone else.
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But everything is semantic.
The Eagles need a win to secure the NFC East title and the top seed in the NFC playoffs, with the first-round bye to match.
After failing twice to clinch, the reverse is so drastically different that the Eagles’ franchise-best 13-win season will mean little if they end up with a road playoff game in Tampa vs. the Buccaneers.
Indeed, a loss to the Giants, coupled with a Cowboys victory over the Washington Commanders, gives the Cowboys the NFC East title. That would relegate the Eagles to a wildcard spot as the No. 1. 5 seed.
In simpler terms, as the No. 1 seed, the Eagles are given a bye week and two home games in order to reach the Super Bowl. As a wildcard, the Eagles don’t have a bye week and would need to win three games – likely all on the road – to reach the Super Bowl.
That’s how much the Eagles need Hurts to play against the Giants.
For the record, Sirianni said after the game that Hurts was “close” to playing the Saints.
But the best cure for Hurts is rest and rehabilitation. So having five weeks between the time of his injury and his first playoff game, with the Eagles as the top seed, is a much better case scenario than three weeks off and maybe playing less than 100%.
And if Hurts plays less than 100% against the Giants and the Eagles lose, then there’s a good chance he’ll be less than 100% the following week against the Buccaneers with Tom Brady.
Surely you remember the last time the Eagles faced the Bucs on the road in the playoffs. It was a year ago and it was a disaster.
No wonder Eagles center Jason Kelce said: “I can give two (swear words) about getting a No. 1 seed right now. We have a lot to sort out. I have a lot to sort out. things. That’s what I focus on at.”
But really, there’s only one fix needed: it hurts the quarterback.
Look past Minshew’s respectable final stat line of 18 for 32 for 274 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
The Eagles’ first three plays of the game, coming after the Saints opened the game with a 9-minute touchdown, were sack, sack, short completion. The Eagles kicked.
You can name a few dozen times during the season where Hurts would have dodged at least one of those sacks, run for a first down, and kept the offense on the field.
Same thing on the second series. Miles Sanders ran twice for 9 yards, setting up a third-and-one of 19 for the Eagles. Incredibly, those were Sanders’ only runs in the entire first half.
Still, third and first is a virtually automatic Hurts quarterback and first down. Minshew, who doesn’t run like Hurts (who does?), attempted a pass. He got sucked in and the Eagles kicked.
And so on. The Eagles only got their first try of the game with 12 seconds remaining in the first half, and they trailed 13-0.
“We just couldn’t get started,” Minshew said. “It’s one of those things that you try to get that first down and we kept shooting each other in the foot and getting in our own way.”
Of course, the offensive line committed costly penalties, and neither did Landon Dickerson’s hold call during the Eagles’ second-half opener. It was a bad call from the referee that canceled Kenny Gainwell’s 28-yard touchdown. The Eagles settled for a field placement.
In fact, left tackle Jordan Mailata thought the referee had awarded him the penalty.
“(The ref) has obviously never seen a (expletive) pancake (block) before in his life,” Mailata said.
But Minshew left the Eagles with no room for error. That became clear after Minshew’s best play of the game, a 78-yard touchdown strike to AJ Brown with 45 seconds left in the third quarter that took the Eagles to 13-10.
It was the first and only deep ball attempted by Minshew. That’s another difference: Hurts is third in the NFL in yards per attempt, at 8.17, which means he’s throwing deep. That, in turn, opens up mid throws, not to mention running lanes for Hurts and Sanders.
Those odds were hard to come by. So early in the fourth quarter, the Eagles attempted a stealth quarterback on a fourth-and-one from midfield. The Saints knew it was coming, just like the Eagles’ opponents know it’s coming with Hurts. But Hurts does it anyway. Minshew was stopped short.
“I thought we were low, and I was waiting for the surge to happen, and it just didn’t happen,” Kelce said. Kudos to them.
Then came the interception, when Minshew tried a wide receiver screen to Brown that Marshon Lattimore jumped, unchecked and returned 11 yards for the game-clinching touchdown. Before the play, Brown noticed an adjustment made by Lattimore.
“I was trying to get Gardner’s attention on the eyes, but he never looked at me,” Brown said. “(Lattimore) actually called (the game) right away, and he basically double-crossed me on the play.”
It was an easy pick-6.
Again, there have been several times this season where Hurts has noticed different pre-snap coverage than the game calls for. Hurts would check for a new play, such as the Giants’ fourth-and-7 of 41 three weeks ago. which resulted in a pass from TD to DeVonta Smith.
“I think Jalen is obviously a special player,” Kelce said. “I thought Gardner was playing well enough to win if everyone performed and played at the level they’ve been playing all year, myself included.”
Hurts makes up for that. So expect him to play against the Giants with a sprained shoulder. After all, the Eagles’ entire season is on the line.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
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