Jalen Hurts did the famous Michael Jordan “I don’t know” shrug after his first touchdown pass and expressed the same whimsy when asked about the gesture after the Eagles’ 24-22 win over the Washington Commanders on Sunday.
But it didn’t take an expert in the art of understanding Hurts to interpret why the stoic quarterback shrugged toward the Eagles sideline after he strung a 17-yard rope to Dallas Goedert.
“It’s a great play. A great play,” Hurts said to reporters. “Y’all [are digging]. Y’all trying to figure something out.”
The figuring had already essentially been done. The touchdown came on a four-verticals route concept similar to the fateful play that resulted in the season-ending incompletion from Hurts to Goedert in the playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers in January.
There had been nine months of controversy over the play. Some ridiculed former offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo for making the call. Various reports said it was Hurts who suggested it and that it exemplified his imperious influence.
But on this day, four verts worked because new play-caller Sean Mannion made the right call at the right time — or was it Hurts? — and the pass was executed flawlessly. The quarterback made several big-time throws against Washington, and at times looked like the explosive runner that had made him one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in the NFL.
Hurts also answered some doubts about how he would adjust to yet another change in coordinator and scheme — at least for one week. But the game plan didn’t quite represent the dramatic shift that was anticipated with Mannion implementing a Kyle Shanahan-Sean McVay-type system as his base offense.
The under-center, play-action game was certainly there. Hurts, for instance, connected with new receiver Dontayvion Wicks for 64 yards after a decent Saquon Barkley outside-zone run set up the first-quarter bomb.
But Washington’s aggressive defense mostly took away the Eagles’ perimeter rush. And Mannion was never really able to consistently marry the run with the pass.
A blending of the old and new was always to be expected. There was just too much more of the old bad than the good in Week 1. And that meant too many three-and-outs — three straight to open the second half — and too much of Hurts under pressure.
“We’re going to have some work to do,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said of how the Eagles handled Washington’s blitzes and simulated pressures. “We’ll look at the tape, but we’ll see. You never want to have a free runner.”
Hurts was sacked three times, hit five times total, and was forced out of the pocket and into several throwaways. He also made some clutch throws under pressure — including hitting Wicks for a 9-yard touchdown with a rusher in his face — and scrambled five times for 48 yards.
His most impressive moment on the ground came on third- and-18 at the Eagles 31-yard line with about eight minutes left in the game. Hurts actually had a clean pocket. But Washington was in a deep zone and the quarterback decided to take matters into his own legs.
Hurts scooted 22 yards up the middle and picked up the first down. And on the next third down, he laced another dart to Goedert — this time in between the hashes where Hurts had previously struggled to throw the ball — and the tight end took care of the rest for a 43-yard touchdown.
“It’s just playing ball,” Hurts said initially about his 22-yard tote. Later on, he said it was a situation that required him to take over. “But it’s not something that’s forced,” he said.
We’ve seen this early version of Hurts before. He’s had some of his best running performances in openers (see: at the Detroit Lions in 2022 and vs. the Dallas Cowboys in 2025). But the latter outing was a fleeting moment. Hurts hardly ever seemed completely comfortable last season on designed runs, or when he took off.
Maybe he just didn’t have the same wheels.
“You can see that he worked himself into shape to get back to how we know he can run the ball,” Barkley said, “and his legs came up big for us.”
Vic Fangio and some Eagles defenders said he looked faster in camp, although Hurts said he didn’t feel any different nor had he done anything new in regard to his conditioning. Of course, after a season of often having interior pass rushers in his lap, maybe it was just prep work.
Despite the narrative that left guard Landon Dickerson and center Cam Jurgens were healthy this offseason after playing through injury a year ago, the issues up the middle returned. Dickerson was especially porous in pass protection.
He was gone by the time the locker room opened, and in fact, left tackle Jordan Mailata said Dickerson had already disappeared by the time he got back to his locker stall post-shower. But Mailata took the blame for the sack when Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu split the two offensive linemen in the first half.
“There were times where I could have helped him a lot more, just on my set angle,” Mailata said. “Some of the games they were running. They got home on that one sack … and I just sat over the board too much.”
All parties played a role in allowing too much pressure, with Hurts near the top of the list. He helps set the protections and only the quarterback can check out of bad plays. And there were many runs and drops that were D.O.A. That’s also on Mannion.
“Sometimes they just get you and you have to figure out a way to execute the play when it might not be the best call for the play,” Eagles right guard Tyler Steen said. “It just happened with that defense.”
Washington had first-time play callers on both sides of the ball. Coordinator Daronte Jones came from the Brian Flores school of pressure defense, so it wasn’t as if the Eagles weren’t prepared for the Commanders to crowd the line and change the picture for Hurts post-snap.
But there were multiple times when the O-line and the blitz pickup crew weren’t on the same page in terms of blocking responsibilities. The new scheme under new O-line coach Chris Kuper has altered some of the rules. So there’s going to be a learning curve.
And that applies to Mannion’s play calling, as well. Screens are a good way to offset interior pressure, but the Eagles seemed to force short passes to rookie receiver Makai Lemon just because of his first-round draft stock.
To his credit, the 34-year-old coordinator made adjustments. He went with an old bread-and-butter inside-zone concept to help spring Barkley for 42 yards on third-and-2. And there were other power runs with duo blocking that gained positive yards.
But Eagles running backs averaged just 2.8 yards on carries other than the 42-yarder.
“We were so close on hitting on some of those,” said Jurgens, who had two first-half holding penalties.
Jurgens wasn’t the only Eagle to struggle. As dominant as Fangio’s defense looked through three quarters, there were cracks in the fourth quarter as Washington mounted a comeback. But the unit was on the field for 14 more plays and almost seven more minutes than the offense.
It felt like a 2025 redux against an opponent beset by injuries and low outside expectations.
But there might have been a little Week 1 uncertainty in the outcome. Hurts didn’t know exactly what to expect with Mannion in his ear, but he said he tried to block out the variables outside his control.
“I fixed my mind to not put stock into the minutiae,” Hurts said.
There is little an individual can control in football. It takes a village. But Hurts plays the one position with the most power. He acknowledged as much when he referenced his Saturday production meeting with Fox analyst and quarterback G.O.A.T. Tom Brady, one of the best ever pre-snap.
“A lot of it is about making sure you’re in the right play, when you’re doing the right thing that takes no talent,” Hurts said. “Are we in the best run? Are we protecting ourselves in protection? Is everybody aligned doing those little things first? That is the most important thing.
“It’s more of an operation and being able to set the table and manage the things you’re tasked with managing as a quarterback and then all the other things that are to come. I ended on the note of it taking all 11 [players]. It takes all 11.”
Sometimes it takes just one. The 28-year-old Hurts still has the ability to take over games with his athleticism. And he may have to do more of it as Mannion grows into his job and the offensive line adjusts to the changes.
But he wants to be like Brady, even if he still idolizes Jordan.
