SPANISH HARLEM – After beating the New York Giants on Sunday to take the Philadelphia Eagles to 12-1 on the season, the betting odds grew for Jalen Hurts to win the MVP. Of course, as an Iggles fan I am biased and was one of many that were surprised when he was drafted in the 2nd round – considering that they just gave Carson Wentz an extension. That seemingly made Wentz the franchise quarterback, but now I’m so glad that they did.
That doesn’t mean I wasn’t of fan of Hurts as a player and person. I always admired how he handled his demotion on Alabama – when Tua Tagovailoa replaced him as the starting quarterback. He never complained and never wavered in his belief in himself. He stayed prepared and even played a part in Alabama making the College Football Championship. To be honest, it was hard not to root for a guy like that – the ultimate team guy. He eventually transferred to Oklahoma and showed that he was more that just a “running quarterback”, coming in 2nd place in the Heisman, losing the trophy to Joe Burrow.
Sure, Hurts improved his passing in his time with Oklahoma but there were still questions about how he would translate to the #NFL. There were skeptics and in many cases, there still are skeptics, just ask Micah Parsons. What you can’t say, is that Hurts hasn’t improved every year he has been in the league. This is literally year 3 for him but when you take into that first year, he only started 4 games under Doug Peterson, who later was let go by the Eagles front office. So I consider this year two and what a jump he has made from last season.
If you don’t think that Jalen Hurts should be considered a candidate for the MVP, you must give me some of whatever you are smoking because it must be good. All the boxes you want to check with him have been checked. His improvement in the passing game is one of the main reason the Eagles are where they are. They have the best record in the league and while you can say they had a favorable schedule, you still have to win the games. They have done that.
If he continues on this path, it will hard to argue against it. I’m not saying he is better than Patrick Mahomes but Hurts is just as important to his team’s chances of winning as any quarterback in the league and for that, he deserves the accolades and respect. All the MVP talk, is something he has earned by working hard and making himself a more complete quarterback, hopefully he wins that trophy.
That it for now, come back tomorrow for Cam James – if he isn’t at his 12 company Xmas party in a two weeks.
