Jalen Hurts quiets any doubters with a Tremendous Bowl MVP

NEW ORLEANS – Jalen Hurts has typically been judged by his failings greater than his successes over the course of his profession.

Getting benched at halftime of a faculty soccer championship sport. Being compelled to switch from Alabama to Oklahoma simply to have the ability to regain a beginning job. Getting drafted within the second spherical to be a backup after which having his passing prowess questioned as he shortly turned a starter and had a profitable launch to his NFL profession.

All these doubts helped gasoline Hurts alongside the way in which and now he shall be endlessly generally known as a Tremendous Bowl MVP.

Whereas Hurts wasn’t requested to do an excessive amount of on a dominant defensive night time for Philadelphia, he got here by means of at almost each alternative when he was wanted because the calm he has proven all through his profession was evident on soccer’s largest stage.

He went 17 for 22 for 221 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for 72 yards and a landing in a 40-22 win over Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs that avenged a Tremendous Bowl loss two years in the past towards Kansas Metropolis.

Hurts was excellent in that sport, throwing for 304 yards and a TD and dashing for 70 yards and three extra scores however might solely watch as Harrison Butker kicked a go-ahead discipline aim with 8 seconds left for a 38-35 win.

Hurts turned that 12 months right into a $255 million, five-year contract the next offseason but it surely did not quiet the critics who questioned whether or not Hurts was holding again the Eagles offense at numerous factors the previous two years.

Outdoors of an early interception towards the Chiefs — his first since Week 10 towards Dallas — Hurts was almost flawless towards Steve Spagnuolo’s protection.

He transformed scrambles when he confronted stress and saved discovering open receivers, along with his 46-yard deep shot to DeVonta Smith making it 34-0 within the third quarter, offering an exclamation level to a lopsided Tremendous Bowl win.

Hurts additionally threw a 12-yard landing cross to A.J. Brown late within the first half and scored on a 1-yard tush push for the primary rating of the sport, resulting in a statistical efficiency achieved solely by Corridor of Famer Joe Montana in Tremendous Bowl historical past.

The 2 are the one quarterbacks to throw for no less than 200 yards and two TDs, rush for no less than 50 yards and a rating with Montana doing it in Tremendous Bowl 19 towards Miami.

Hurts is now simply the fourth quarterback ever to lose his first Tremendous Bowl begin and go on to win one as a starter later in his profession, becoming a member of Corridor of Famers John Elway, Bob Griese and Len Dawson.

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