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GLENDALE, Ariz. − Nothing ever stays the same in the NFL.
An Eagles season, record-breaking and euphoric in so many ways, with a 24-year-old quarterback who once again showed his greatness on the biggest stage, ended in disappointment.
But don’t equate that with failure.
The Eagles’ 38-35 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday was scintillating in so many ways. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better game than this one – or a better performance by a quarterback than the one Jalen Hurts turned in.
Hurts threw for 304 yards and a touchdown and ran for 70 more yards and three touchdowns. He set a Super Bowl record for rushing yards by a quarterback and tied another for most points in a game (20) and most rushing touchdowns (three).
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The Chiefs were gasping for air trying to catch Hurts, who was just as dominant as their All-Pro quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who led three second-half touchdowns on a badly sprained ankle.
And yes, Mahomes noticed.
“If there were any doubters left, there shouldn’t be now,” Mahomes said. “I mean, the way he stepped on this stage, and ran, threw the ball, whatever it took for his team to win. I mean, that was a special performance. I don’t want it to get lost in the loss that they had.”
How much fun will it be to have these two quarterbacks going at it in the Super Bowl for years to come?
And you can bet every last penny that had Hurts gotten another chance with 2 minutes to go that the Eagles would be the ones celebrating in green and white confetti on the slippery State Farm Stadium turf.
“That guy has ice in his veins,” left tackle Jordan Mailata said about Hurts. “He’s cool all the time. … The guy threw for 300 yards, (ran for) three touchdowns. Not bad for a system QB.”
Mailata was taking a shot at Cowboys pass rusher Micah Parsons, who unflatteringly said Hurts’ success this season is because of the Eagles’ system. Parsons was overlooking the fact that Hurts is the Eagles’ system.
But championships are won on plays that have to be made. The Eagles didn’t make enough of them.
“You either win or you learn,” Hurts said. “Win, lose, I always reflect on the things I could have done better, anything you could have done better to try and take that next step. It is a tough feeling to come up short. It’s a very tough feeling, but I know the direction is to rise and that will be the M.O. going forward; that will be the mentality going forward.”
So Hurts and the Eagles will learn from these plays that would’ve made the difference:
In the third quarter, Quez Watkins dove for a Hurts pass, got his hands on the ball and couldn’t hold it. It was a tough catch, but it had to be made. The play would have gained about 30 yards, setting the Eagles up for a first down around the Chiefs’ 10.
Instead, the pass fell incomplete, and the Eagles eventually settled for a field goal.
Earlier, Hurts himself was about to run for a first down. The ball fell out of his hands, hit his leg, was picked up by Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton and returned 36 yards for a touchdown.
“It hurt us,” Hurts said.
He was right, but wow, some of the plays he made. The 45-yard bomb for a touchdown to A.J. Brown, the 46-yard strike to DeVonta Smith that took the Eagles down to the Chiefs’ 1 and led to the tying touchdown − only because Hurts willed himself into the end zone on the 2-point conversion.
And don’t forget the two pinpoint and clutch passes to Dallas Goedert.
But alas, the defense couldn’t stop Mahomes.
And the special teams unit gave up a 65-yard punt return to Kadarius Toney that set the Chiefs up at the Eagles’ 5 in the fourth quarter. Then Chiefs running back, Jerick McKinnon, with perhaps the most heads-up play of the game, slid down at the 1-yard line rather than scoring a touchdown with 2 minutes left.
Had he scored, the Chiefs would’ve led by a touchdown, but the Eagles would’ve started the ensuing drive with about 1:40 left.
There was no way the Chiefs were stopping Hurts and the Eagles’ offense.
The only question would have been if Eagles coach Nick Sirianni would have gone for the tie by kicking the extra point or the win by going for the 2-point conversion. Let’s just say that given Sirianni’s track record, the Eagles would have gone for the win.
Of course, we never found out. The Chiefs milked the clock down to 8 seconds and kicked the game-winning field goal.
And Hurts could only try a last-second Hail Mary pass that had no chance.
“To me, Jalen played the best game I’ve seen him play in the two years that we’ve been together,” Sirianni said. “He was outstanding. I really thought he was in complete control. He did things with his legs in the run game. He did things with his arm in the pass game, made some unbelievable throws, unbelievable reads.”
Hurts is nowhere near his prime, either. That’s the scary thing. And then you take into account his work ethic and his determination. That was evident during the last offseason when Hurts turned himself into an elite passer to go along with his elite running ability.
“He’s clearly changed the dynamic of this team and offense, and (the offense) is pretty hard to defend right now because of him,” Eagles center Jason Kelce said.
But return trips are not guaranteed.
That’s especially true with Hurts entering the final year of his rookie contract. That means he will probably get a contract extension most likely in the $45 million-$50 million range per season.
That, in turn, will affect what the Eagles do in free agency. They’ll have upward of 20 free agents in March, including Kelce, Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, Isaac Seumalo, Miles Sanders, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and James Bradberry.
Many of those players won’t return, and certainly Eagles general manager Howie Roseman will have to get creative to find some new players, whether it’s through free agency or trade.
And the Eagles will most likely have to replace some assistant coaches, most notably offensive coordinator Shane Steichen and defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, who are finalists for head coaching jobs in Indianapolis and Arizona, respectively.
So it won’t take long before the attention turns from a record-breaking Eagles season, led by a dynamic quarterback in Hurts, to assembling a roster for the 2023 season that can get the Eagles back to the Super Bowl.
Time doesn’t stop in the NFL.
But it did for a few minutes late Sunday night. Graham, the longest-tenured Eagle at 13 seasons, told the team to pause and reflect for a moment on what they accomplished this season.
“Don’t forget what you did this year,” Graham said he told the team. “It’s going to serve us next year. Feel this sting because it definitely hurts. Boy, it stings. You can taste it. You can feel it.”
It was a missed opportunity, and now the Eagles and Hurts will try for another opportunity.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.