Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts had probably the worst game of his career against the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night Football. Hurts had a career-high five turnovers in the game – four interceptions and a fumble.
Though Hurts wasn’t the sole reason that the Chargers were able to pull out a 22-19 overtime victory over the Eagles, he was a major contributor. After the game though, Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley made it clear that his confidence in Hurts remains extremely high despite his incredibly poor performance against L.A.
"High,” Barkley said of his confidence level in Hurts after the game. “I mean, I don’t know what the numbers were. In my opinion, when we got the ball back in overtime and I got Jalen Hurts as my quarterback, I have all the confidence that we’re going to win that football game. Sometimes it just doesn’t work. That’s the truth."
In fairness to Hurts, a couple of his interceptions against L.A. Weren’t completely his fault. One bounced off of A.J. Brown’s hands and into the hands of a defender. The pass was a touch high, but Brown absolutely should have made the catch, no excuses. Brown also had a couple of other drops on big plays that could have tilted the game in Philly’s favor.
On another play, DeVonta Smith slipped on his route as the ball was being delivered, which resulted in an interception. So again, it was far from a good game from Hurts, but he didn’t play as poorly as the box score indicates.
Hurts still shouldered the bulk of the blame after the game though, as a good leader should.
"I didn't play well enough. Too many turnovers," Hurts said. "Lots of opportunities, especially when we get on the other side of the 50 and I wasn't able to get us in the box."
Hurts doesn’t plan to dwell on his forgettable performance against the Chargers. The Eagles are still right in the thick of the playoff picture in the conference, and they remain in pole position in the NFC East. What matters now is how the team responds.
"It definitely stings," Hurts said. "But how do you respond? That's the only way I know how to look at it. You're going to see what type of resolve does this team have... What's in us to respond the way we want to. We've just got to dig."
The Eagles will have a chance to bounce back and get back to their winning ways when they host the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.