Whatever the threshold is for mistakes any one player is allowed to make before they get benched is something only their head coach can decide.
Usually that threshold isn’t a specific number. It’s more of a feeling.
When does leaving this person in start to hurt my team’s chances of winning?
For the Philadelphia Eagles, there may be no threshold for head coach Nick Sirianni when it comes to quarterback Jalen Hurts, who delivered the most miserable performance of his career in a 22-19 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night Football in Week 14.
It was the third consecutive loss for the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles, who dropped to 8-5 overall.
Hurts had a career-high 5 turnovers — including 2 on a single play — and threw 4 interceptions for the first time in his career. His previous career high was 3 interceptions against the New York Jets in Week 6 of the 2023 regular season.
The last interception ended up being a walk-off pick by Chargers safety Tony Jefferson at his own goal line with 3:20 left in overtime.
Bleacher Report’s official X account shared an alarming stat — Hurt would have had a higher QB rating (39.6) than his actual QB rating (31.3) if he would have just spiked the ball on every play.
There’s a reason we don’t hear about a lot of NFL starting quarterbacks having 5 turnovers in a single game — most head coaches would tell their quarterback to take a seat for the sake of the team way before that.
Money, Image Could Be Considerations With Hurts
While Sirianni’s loyalty to Hurts is the most important factor in keeping him in the game, there’s also considerations that come with pulling a player who is the reigning Super Bowl MVP, has a $255 million contract and is the face of your franchise.
Hurts quickly became a trending topic worldwide on X because of the 2 turnovers on one play — a first in NFL history after Hurts through an interception, recovered the fumble on the interception return then fumbled the ball after that.
Last season Josh Allen broke fantasy football by throwing a TD pass to himself,” Bills Chat Podcast wrote on X. “This year Jalen Hurts threw an interception and fumbled on the same play.”
Not Using McKee: Stunning Lack of Imagination
On the most basic level, the fact the Eagles haven’t tried to play backup quarterback Tanner McKee in an actual game this level shows a stunning lack of imagination on the part of first year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo.
You know what’s really struggled this year? The Eagles’ passing game.
You know what McKee does really well? He passes. That’s pretty much his specialty.
Imagine a set or 2 every game where McKee and Hurts line up next to each other in the backfield. Hurts, one of the NFL’s greatest running quarterbacks of all time, could so some serious damage in a set like that — and McKee showed he could light it up through the air in 2 games last season while Hurts was out with a concussion. e.
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