We know Mahomes is the NFL love child. If Lamar has a decent game, everyone goes crazy calls him MVP and praises him (despite him lacking any statistical argument for winning such an award this year). You’d think CJ Shroud was the next coming of Christ with the admiration he has received (with little talk all of a sudden of him throwing 3 picks in his last game). Even Kirk Cousins, despite never accomplishing anything for Washington or Minnesota, gets the occasional wide audience glaze. But for some reason it seems Hurts, despite all he has done and continues to do, never gets any real respect in the national media or by the wider NFL fan audience.
What Hurts has done since he has become the franchise QB for this team is unprecedented.
Hurts has 13 consecutive wins against teams with winning records, breaking a tie with Peyton Manning and Vinny Testaverde for the most in NFL history.
Since the stat was first tracked in 1991, Hurts is the only quarterback with five straight victories when his team trails by double digits (streak at seven). Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers, and Vinny Testaverde each have four straight wins when their team trails by 10-plus points – tied for second on the all-time list.
Hurts has a .389 win percentage when trailing by 10-plus points, the second-best mark in the Super Bowl era (Patrick Mahomes is first with .560). Hurts is 8-11 when trailing by 10-plus points in his career, having a better win percentage than Tom Brady (.378) and Joe Montana (.370) – third and fourth people on the list.
What Hurts is accomplishing is unprecedented, as he’s 26-2 in his last 28 starts. The Eagles are 9-1 in consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history as a result.
Seems like people constantly dig for reasons to downplay Hurts success and impact on this team’s success instead of celebrating what is quickly becoming a historically special and great quarterback. I feel like I don’t see the same treatment for the other QBs in the league who seem to have the national media and analysts finding whatever they can to put them on a pedestal while ignoring or downplaying their downsides.
Is it simply a case of Philadelphia hate syndrome or something else? Maybe it’s good. Hurts seems like someone who likes having a chip on his shoulder and proving the haters wrong. Actually, I’m not even sure he gives a shit what anyone says or thinks because he’s dialed-in with a laser-like focus on constantly improving himself and this team. That’s why he is a winner and admired leader in the locker room. Jalen Hurts is the prototypical winner.
I think this is just confirmation bias. You expect the media to be against him, so every time you see something critical of him, you take it as proof. But you don’t notice the times when the media gives him credit.
By and large, the media is super positive about Hurts. He gets recognition.