His stats weren’t great. Two interceptions are enough. Still, there were some very encouraging signs from Jalen Hurts on Monday night, and he didn’t hide his joy – or perhaps relief is a better word – at finally leaving Tampa with a win.
It was at Raymond James Stadium where Hurts threw two interceptions in his playoff debut, a 31-15 wild-card loss to the Bucs in 2021.
The game wasn’t even that close. The Bucs led 31-0 early in the fourth quarter before the Eagles scored a couple of meaningless touchdowns.
Todd Bowles — then Bruce Arians’ defensive coordinator and now the Bucs’ head coach — made Hurts look unprepared and overwhelmed with covered coverages, blitzes that Hurts couldn’t diagnose, and constantly changing looks.
“Obviously this is a guy we’ve played against in the past and he’s had some success against us in the past,” Hurts said. “He did a lot of similar things (and) we handled them well.
“There were some sales in my name. Other than that, I think we did a really good job with the execution. I think the reality is that if we look at the whole thing and watch the tape, which I would like to do, we will see the things that are of our own making. These are the things we can control, so we need to control the things we can control better.”
The Bucs not only embarrassed Hurts and the Eagles two years ago, they suppressed it.
NFL Films cameras caught Bucs secondary coach Kevin Ross — a Paulsboro native who played under Arians with Bowles at Temple — telling his players on the sidelines: “This guy can’t read. Keep him moving. He can’t read. He’ll give us some.”
What hurt most was that it looked like Ross was right.
Before hitting a few meaningless late passes, Hurts was 16 of 34 for 140 yards, with no touchdowns and two interceptions. His passer rating was 34.0 with 12 minutes to play and the Bucs leading by 34 points.
It remains the worst game of his career. And after Hurts led the Eagles to a 25-11 victory over Bowles and Ross and the Tampa defense on Monday night, he admitted the victory was special because of what happened on the same field two years ago.
“It’s a feeling I haven’t forgotten,” he said. “Things have gone very well since then.”
How well? Hurts is 17-1 in the regular season since that loss and had a spectacular performance in the Super Bowl.
Hurts also had a terrible game in the regular season against the Bucs at Linc in 2021, throwing for just 115 yards with an INT.
In three career games against Tampa, Hurts has completed 55 percent of his passes with three TD passes, five interceptions and a passer rating of 63.0.
Against every other team over the same period, he completed 63 percent of his passes with 48 TDs, 19 INTs and a passer rating of 93.4.
But even though his numbers weren’t spectacular on Monday night, Hurts did some very good things. After completing just five passes of 10 yards or more against the Patriots and four against the Vikings, an NFL-low nine double-digit completions in Week 3, he totaled 11 on Monday. Six of his nine longest completions of the season came against the defense the Bucs, who have been pursuing him for two years.
“I think whether we win or lose, I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied,” Hurts said. “That’s always the mentality. So there’s a drive – whether you win, lose or draw – to get better.”
The two interceptions were both a miscommunication between Hurts and D’Andre Swift and a great diving move by cornerback Dee Delaney.
“They happen,” Hurts shrugged.
The biggest thing Hurts did was handle Bowles’ blitzes much better than he had in the past. He beat the blitz by finding his hot receiver, throwing the ball away when there was nothing left and bailing out of trouble a few times.
Nobody blitzes more than the Bucs, and Hurts was sacked just once on Monday night. It was in the fourth quarter when the Eagles were already 19 points ahead.
“That’s what Todd Bowles is known for and he does a great job,” he said. “I think the last time we played them I didn’t do a particularly good job of being really patient. So I feel like I took a step (forward) with that tonight.
“With the steps you take, you want to learn from everything. Learn from it, continue to build on it and continue to learn from the mistakes we made today. That is the most important thing for the future.
“Move forward, keep growing and absorb as much as I can. Every experience is a new tool and a new page of knowledge to learn from.”