Eagles’ Jalen Hurts again roasts Carson Wentz; A.J. Brown says ‘Just throw me the bleeping ball’

Carson Wentz’s passer rating against the Eagles fell to 68.0 Sunday. That is his worst passer rating against any team that he’s faced at least twice. He has faced the Eagles twice, first as a Commander, Sunday as a Viking.

He is 0-2.

Jalen Hurts was the opposing quarterback in both games.

That should deliver a degree of satisfaction to any Eagles fan who still resents Ginger Jesus for whining his way out of town because, in 2020, the Eagles drafted Hurts to act as his long-term backup, then inserted Hurts for the last four games of the season.

Instead of coming to training camp and winning his job back, thereby justifying the four-year, $128 million contract extension he’d been awarded but had not yet begun earning, Wentz first got coach Doug Pederson fired, then forced GM Howie Roseman to trade him, specifically, to Frank Reich and the Colts, where he then sabotaged Reich’s career.

Things worked out well for the Eagles. Hurts became the better quarterback.

» READ MORE: Mike Sielski: Jalen Hurts has never been better in saving the Eagles against the Vikings

But don’t think that Hurts doesn’t relish these matchups after Wentz treated him with resentment and jealousy during their shared season in Philly.

It’s no coincidence that, in their first meeting on Sept. 25, 2022, Hurts had his best game as a passer to that point: 22-for-35, 340 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a 123.5 rating.

Nor is it any coincidence that, on Sunday, Hurts had his best game as a passer ever: 19-for-23, 326 yards, three touchdowns, zero interceptions, and a perfect 158.3 passer rating.

The draft capital from the Wentz trade eventually helped the Eagles, often tangentially. It was part of deals that landed DeVonta Smith, A.J. Brown, Jalen Carter, and Cooper DeJean.

At the time, though, what mattered most was that:

Since Wentz’s disgraceful departure, the Eagles have gone to two Super Bowls and have won one. If that salves the wound for you, that’s healthy, I guess.

However, if you still feel resentful, you have every right.

On Thursday, after hearing his coaches and teammates swear for six weeks that he’d just have to wait his turn, A.J. Brown, the best receiver in Eagles history, playing at the height of his abilities, watched Ja’Marr Chase catch 16 passes on 23 targets in a Bengals win over the Steelers.

Brown hasn’t had 16 receptions in any three consecutive games this season.

» READ MORE: Jeff McLane's Eagles grades: Jalen Hurts a perfect passer, DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown soar in victory against Vikings

Chase’s quarterback? Forty-year-old Joe Flacco, who’d been benched by the Browns, then traded by the Browns. It was Flacco’s second start with the Bengals.

Imagine if Flacco had been, say, a 27-year-old reigning Super Bowl MVP?

Hurts is a 27-year-old reigning Super Bowl MVP, and on Sunday, Brown watched Hurts hit Eagles teammate DeVonta Smith nine times for 183 yards. That yardage total not only is Smith’s career high, it also would have been Brown’s career high.

Meanwhile, while sitting on the bench, Brown watched Vikings receiver Jordan Addison catch nine passes for 128 yards. His quarterback: five-time retread Carson Wentz.

» READ MORE: Jeff McLane: Eagles still can’t run the ball, but Jalen Hurts, DeVonta Smith, and A.J. Brown made sure it didn’t matter

After the second score, the broadcast caught Brown, unhinged, voicing his ungrammatical validation:

“This is when you throw me the [bleeping] ball. What the [bleep] is that? Just throw the [bleeping] ball.”

Brown caught four passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns. But for about 14 months, Brown has been insisting that he needs more chances to make more catches, because he’s just that good.

And he’s right.

If Joe Flacco and Carson Wentz can force-feed their beasts, why can’t Hurts force-feed his?

The Giants will hit Philly on Sunday nursing a massive hangover after their historic, 19-point, fourth-quarter, mile-high collapse at Denver, a game that featured several weird plays and outcomes.

The craziest scene among the crazy scenes was, just before the Giants’ last touchdown, the spectacle of Broncos coach Sean Payton losing his mind and running into the middle of the field at the goal line to protest a pass interference penalty on his defense. Like, all the way to the 2-yard line. Right in the middle of the action. It was like something out of an awful Oliver Stone football movie.

» READ MORE: Jalyx Hunt’s pick-six and timely sacks help Eagles defense deliver in win over Vikings

Payton drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which was inconsequential, considering the ball was at the 2-yard line and could only be moved one yard. It will be less consequential when he gets that $15,000 fine from the league.

At any rate, the TD gave the Giants a 32-30 lead, but kicker Jude McAtamney — a Northern Irishman with Gaelic football roots whose tortuous journey to Sunday included, while in college, a demotion from Rutgers’ full-time kicker to its kickoff specialist — flubbed the second of two missed PAT tries. The Broncos drove to field-goal range, and kicked the winner.

Payton was happy then.

Before Sunday, former Eagles coach Andy Reid had 304 NFL wins, including playoffs. He’d won three Super Bowls and he’d coached in three more.

But he’d never had a shutout.

Then on Sunday he faced Pete Carroll and the injury-depleted Raiders in Kansas City and won, 31-0.

This is remarkable, considering the four coaches near Reid’s win total — Don Shula, George Halas, Bill Belichick, who are ahead of him, and Tom Landry, whom he passed two years ago — all have at least a dozen shutouts.

» READ MORE: A close call for Pam Oliver, echoes of Brandon Graham, and more from the Eagles-Vikings broadcast

Granted, Shula, Halas, and Landry coached in an era in which scoring was less prolific, but Belichick is a contemporary. And anyway, when you coach teams as successful as the Eagles and Chiefs, you’d expect more than one shutout among 305 wins.

Packers edge Micah Parsons, the biggest offseason name to change teams, finally went off Sunday. He delivered the last of his career-high three sacks with 27 seconds to play in Arizona. He’d had just 2½ sacks in his first five games since being traded by the Cowboys just after preseason, then signing a four-year, $186 million extension. … At this point, Shane Steichen is the runaway leader in the Coach of the Year race. The Colts are 6-1, and while all of their wins aren’t impressive — Titans, Raiders, Cardinals, Dolphins — they beat Justin Herbert’s 420-yard effort on the road Sunday against the L.A. Chargers. Steichen also has turned Giants bust Daniel Jones into an MVP candidate.