Jalen Hurts says he trusts Eagles coaches with sit-or-start decision — and the offense’s direction

For the first time in four months, Jalen Hurts is expected to watch Sunday’s game from the sideline.

The perimeter of the gridiron isn’t necessarily the vantage point the Eagles quarterback enjoys. But with the playoffs looming, Nick Sirianni is expected to rest most of his key starters for the regular-season finale against the Washington Commanders, even with the NFC’s No. 2 seed up for grabs.

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That choice is out of Hurts’ hands. And he says he has faith in those decision-makers that they’re making the right one.

“Just giving my trust to the coaches and trusting their plans and everything that we do,” Hurts said Wednesday. “Obviously, I’m very competitive. Every opportunity we have, we want to take advantage of and try and go out there and compete at a high level. So if that opportunity is given to us this week, I’ll have that mentality, just as I had last week.”

That trust extends beyond Sirianni’s decision. For all of the ups and downs the Eagles offense has experienced this season, Hurts emphasized the trust he has in the coaching staff to put the players in advantageous situations going forward.

Sunday’s 13-12 win over the Buffalo Bills was a microcosm of the offense’s inconsistency this season. The group had a solid start in the first half, then cobbled together just 17 yards in 17 plays in the second.

The Eagles couldn’t recover from their inefficiency on early downs in the second half. They punted on all five second-half possessions, outside of the final kneel down.

Following the early-December mini-bye in the aftermath of the loss to the Chicago Bears, Hurts said the sequencing of the offense from seasons past was one of the details he focused on in his film study. But as evidenced by Sunday night’s performance, an inefficient first down is going to make it more difficult on offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo to sequence the ensuing plays.

While Hurts acknowledged he has opinions and even a degree of influence over the sequencing of plays, he said it’s not his primary focus.

“As a quarterback, you want to go out there and purely focus on executing what’s called and doing that,” Hurts said. “We all have a feel for the rhythm of a game and how it flows. And I think as a unit, you don’t want to speak from a place of divisiveness or anything, but we are what we are, and we have what we have, and we’ve got a great opportunity in front of us, and so everybody’s working together to try and figure those things out.

“Ultimately, trusting my teammates to go out there and make plays. We’ve got to master the material. We’ve got to know what to do. We’ve got to know where to line up and operate efficiently and control the things we can, and then, from a coaching standpoint, I trust our coaches to go out there and put us in good positions.”

Every year, Hurts is required to reestablish that sense of trust with his offensive play caller, which this season is Patullo. Hurts has had a revolving door of offensive play callers since he was drafted in 2020 (and even before that as a college player at Oklahoma and Alabama).

One of his constant companions as an Eagle has been Tanner McKee, the 25-year-old backup who is expected to start Sunday for the first time this season. Since the Eagles drafted McKee in 2023, he has been a valued sounding board for Hurts.

“I think the conversations, the dialogue, those things are very important in the quarterback room,” Hurts said. “And considering he’s been a constant in the room for the last three years he’s been here, being able to go through some of those changes together and process those things and take the coaching and go out there and play — I think that’s very beneficial.”

For now, the focus is on preparing McKee and the rest of the backups for the Commanders. But in just two weeks, Hurts is slated to return to action as the playoffs begin.

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It’s a stage he knows well, having appeared in the postseason in every year since he’s been the starter. That experience, Hurts said, is the biggest teacher, especially for an offense that has “played ball together” dating back to last season.

Can that experience provide a spark in the playoffs? Despite the inconsistency that has defined the offense this year, Hurts is optimistic about the opportunity ahead.

“For everything it’s been this year, we’ve got a great opportunity in front of us,” Hurts said. “And that’s not saying that in a bad way. We’ve done a lot of special things this year. We’ve set a high standard for ourselves. And when you’ve had the level of success you have that comes with it, ultimately, nothing else matters.

“As we play through this week and prepare through this week and then enter the tournament, it’s 0-0 for everyone. And so the mentality is just go find a way to win.”