For two years, Jalen Hurts had a photo prominently displayed on his phone showing him in defeat. Time for a change. Eagles quarterback is a winner.
Jalen Hurts dazzles while Philadelphia harrasses Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes into a rough night.
No need for hyperbole, but just state the facts: Jalen Hurts is a Super Bowl winner.
NEW ORLEANS – Jalen Hurts closed his eyes while the national anthem played before kickoff Sunday, wearing a pensive look while he chomped on gum.
What must the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback have been thinking in that moment?
I’ll tell you what I thought: That looks like a man who’s going to need a new cellphone lock screen photo in a few hours.
For two years, Hurts made it so that whenever he grabbed his phone, he’d see a photo of him walking off the field amid a downfall of red and yellow confetti after the Kansas City Chiefs beat Philadelphia in Super Bowl 57.
Hurts played well that night. Patrick Mahomes played better.
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Hurts never cared to talk in depth about why he lodged that snapshot onto his phone, but the working theory became that the image offered an extra ounce of motivation as an ever-present, humbling reminder of the Eagles coming up short of the NFL’s top prize in their last trip to the grandest stage in sports.
“Let’s just see if it changes,” Hurts told the NFL Network before Super Bowl 59, when asked about his lock-screen photo.
Yes, cue some fresh art, something that reflects the Eagles’ 40-22 dismantling of Kansas City on Sunday.
How’s this for an image: Hurts standing on the LIX Super Bowl logo, his right fist in the air, triumphant, after A.J. Brown ran into the end zone on the receiving end of a touchdown toss from his quarterback.
Moments later, Eagles fans sang another round of, “Fly, Eagles, Fly.”
With the Eagles flying, Hurts thriving and Philly’s defense driving Chiefs linemen backward, Philadelphia smashed Kansas City at the Superdome.
Jalen Hurts dazzles, Patrick Mahomes struggles in Super Bowl 59
Another lasting image came a quarter later. After Hurts’ 46-yard dime to DeVonta Smith for another touchdown, his offensive linemen came one by one to offer Hurts a high-five or a handshake as Hurts gave them affection taps on the helmet.
Those big fellas carved out clean pockets for Hurts, and he cooked a Chiefs secondary helpless to stop the Eagles’ receivers. It became as simple as pitch and catch, really, and when Hurts didn’t find something to his liking, he picked appropriate opportunities to run.
‘I’ve been able to use every experience and learn from it – the good, the bad, all of it. Use it as fuel to pursue my own greatness,’ Hurts, named the game’s Most Valuable Player, said after the win. ‘I couldn’t do any of these things without the guys behind me. We’ve got a special group this year. We were able to learn from the past and get some nice new pieces and get over the hump.’
Now, about that cell phone photo … time to make the swap?
‘I don’t know,’ Hurts said. ‘Maybe it’s something that needs to stay there so I can come back here.’
Pregame chatter among scribes on press row probably mirrored the conversation among friends over beers and snacks at Super Bowl parties: Which team would win?
The consensus among those I spoke with was that the Eagles possessed a better all-around team than Kansas City, but how do you bet against Super Bowl Superman, also known as Mahomes? By halftime, it had become clear: Mahomes didn’t have it on this night. He hardly resembled the three-time Super Bowl champion he is, looking more like the quarterback under duress from his only previous Super Bowl loss, to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Eagles harassed Mahomes into three turnovers.
In the days before kickoff, the praise for Mahomes jumped the rails. Mahomes is generally splendid, one for the ages – even if he wasn’t Sunday – but all that GOAT chatter this week? Did we enter a brain fog and forget the guy with the chin dimple who owns seven rings?
As long as we’re throwing around exaggerations, let me try one: That Kendrick Lamar halftime show was the greatest of all time!
Sorry, but good or even excellent does not necessarily qualify for GOAT.
Put respect on Jalen Hurts’ name and a new photo on his phone
At the other end of the hyperbolic spectrum, early playoff critiques of Hurts were inflated, too. Like this sensationalized headline from Fox Sports after the Eagles gutted out a win against the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round: What’s wrong with Jalen Hurts?
Not a thing wrong with him, turns out. The Eagles just leaned on Saquon Barkley and their defense to survive the Rams in a game played in the snow.
In about the only compliment you could give the Chiefs, they bottled up Barkley, leaving Hurts to shoulder the offense. He dazzled to the tune of 221 passing yards and two touchdowns through the air and 72 yards and a score on the ground, outrushing Barkley.
Hurts became the first quarterback in Oklahoma history to finish his college career as a Sooner and go on to win a Super Bowl. Well, are we calling Hurts a Sooner or associating him with Alabama, where he played his first three seasons?
Either works. He honors both. Just call him a Super Bowl champion. He’s now got a ring coming to cement what he’s proven throughout his entire career, from Alabama to Oklahoma to the NFL. He’s a winner.
Time to change his cell phone photo to reflect that.
Blake Toppmeyer is a columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.