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Jalen Hurts will decide the Super Bowl and Saquon Barkley is ‘an all-time great.’ Here’s what national media is saying.

But Howie Roseman might be the team’s real MVP. Let’s round up the national conversation on the Birds going into Super Bowl LIX.

Quarterback Jalen Hurts and running back Saquon Barkley have the Eagles back in the Super Bowl for the second time in three years.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts and running back Saquon Barkley have the Eagles back in the Super Bowl for the second time in three years.Read moreMonica Herndon / Staff Photographer

The Eagles arrived in New Orleans on Sunday in preparation for their Super Bowl LIX matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs, their second Super Bowl appearance in three years. In a rematch of Super Bowl LVII, the Eagles will look for revenge on Kansas City after a 38-35 loss the last time they met on the NFL’s biggest stage. Meanwhile, the two-time defending champions will aim to make history with the first Super Bowl three-peat.

With less than a week to go before a champion is crowned, here’s a look at what those in the national media are saying about the Birds …

Jalen Hurts can be the difference in Super Bowl LIX

The Birds are coming off a dominant 55-23 win over the Washington Commanders in an NFC championship game that saw Jalen Hurts put on one of his best performances of the season — throwing for 246 yards and a touchdown and rushing for three more TDs. After months of criticism surrounding Hurts and the Eagles’ passing game, the media is now focused on a new question surrounding the fifth-year quarterback: Will Hurts decide the Super Bowl?

“The answer to this question is yes,” said Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s First Take. “You got A.J. Brown, you got DeVonta Smith, you got Dallas Goedert, you’ve got Saquon Barkley, you’ve got an offensive line that literally plugs holes as wide as Broadway on a Sunday morning. I mean there’s nothing in your way, OK.

“Of course it’s going to come down to him, because in the end, he can deliver the goods. And listen, the Philadelphia Eagles have a chance to win this Super Bowl. They’re just as good, if not better than the Kansas City Chiefs … Jalen Hurts has a chance to win this Super Bowl. Jalen Hurts has the chance to be MVP of this Super Bowl. It’s going to come down to how he plays. If he plays effectively, I believe the Philadelphia Eagles are going to win the Super Bowl.”

» READ MORE: Eagles-Chiefs analysis: Five big questions one week from Super Bowl LIX

Howie Roseman is the real MVP

While Smith views Hurts as the key to a Super Bowl win for the Eagles, his former First Take counterpart Skip Bayless believes general manager Howie Roseman was the most valuable part of the organization this year — putting the team in position to compete for another Lombardi Trophy.

“He’s the reason, the biggest reason that back in August, I picked them to win it all. To win this year’s Super Bowl,” said Bayless on The Skip Bayless Show. “I believe that Howie Roseman had the greatest offseason that any GM has ever had in the history of the league.”

» READ MORE: Howie Roseman isn’t surprised by Saquon Barkley’s success. His calculated roster building has the Eagles in the Super Bowl.

Bayless then went on to rip Jerry Jones, who by comparison has been far less successful in recent years.

Saquon Barkley is ‘an all-time great’

Roseman’s biggest offseason signing Barkley, the former New York Giants running back. Since signing a three-year contract with the Eagles, Barkley has made an incredible impact on the team. Not only did he set the franchise single-season rushing record, but he also became the ninth player ever to log 2,000 rushing yards in a season — just 101 yards shy of breaking Eric Dickerson’s single-season record — and can break the record for most rushing yards in a season, including the playoffs, on Sunday.

» READ MORE: Saquon Barkley wasn’t a basketball star at Whitehall. He was a bowling ball — just like he’s now for the Eagles.

Former Eagles running back LeSean McCoy said with a Super Bowl win, Barkley could cement his place in history as one of the all-time greats.

“If we are talking about all-time greats, everything you look at in an all-time great — from the talent, from the experience, from the stuff you watch on film, from the production — we are talking about MVP-caliber players, right,” McCoy said FS1’s The Facility. “He’s the only player right now that was in that conversation, that’s still doing MVP things in the playoffs. When we are talking about all-time greats, man, Saquon Barkley, No. 26 for the Eagles, he better be on the top of your list.”

And it isn’t just Saquon …

Although the running game has played a huge part in the Birds’ success with the addition of Barkley, the Eagles’ No. 1-ranked defense continues to make its own impact on the field. Former player and analyst Ryan Clark believes the defense, under new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, has been the difference-maker for the Eagles this season.

“Defensively, when you think about Quinyon Mitchell and also Cooper DeJean, it would almost seem like overkill,” Clark said. “But if you watch the tape on Cooper DeJean in Iowa, you knew that he could turn into an elite slot corner. It’s not only understanding the players, but understanding how the players fit on your team. And I believe that’s where Howie Roseman and his staff have excelled.”

» READ MORE: The legend of the ‘Exciting Whites’: How Eagles Reed Blankenship and Cooper DeJean formed a bond

Clark also praised the addition of Fangio and the development of the Eagles players, which includes helping turn one-time edge rusher Zack Baun into an All-Pro linebacker.