Watch the Eagles take on the Commanders LIVE Saturday at 5 p.m. ET \/ 2 p.m. PT on TSN1\/3, TSN.ca, and the TSN App.<\/a><\/p>\nAsked this week what sort of accomplishment it would be to become the first club with back-to-back NFC East crowns since the Eagles claimed four in a row from 2001 to 2004, Hurts replied: \u201cIt\u2019s something we\u2019ve got to do first, but something that\u2019s always been on the back of my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
He went from a four-interception, one-fumble disaster in a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Dec. 8 \u2014 Philadelphia\u2019s third straight defeat, raising plenty of questions about Hurts, specifically, and the team as a whole \u2014 to a three-TD-pass, no-turnover masterpiece in a 31-0 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on Dec. 14.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s this time of year that \u201cyou definitely look forward to,\u201d Hurts said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeptember, October \u2014 (they\u2019re) important games. You\u2019re kind of finding yourself; it\u2019s a new team; you find your groove,\u201d he said. \u201cBut real things are found in December, January and February.\u201d<\/p>\n
While his team is on the verge of securing a return trip to the postseason, the Commanders have been eliminated, thanks to an eight-game losing streak they finally ended last week. They\u2019re also without star quarterback Jayden Daniels, who made only seven appearances this season and has been shut down after hurting his left elbow.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been quite a slide backward for the 2024 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and his team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to miss games at all,\u201d Daniels said. \u201cIt\u2019s been frustrating.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mariota takes over at QB for Daniels<\/p>\n
Marcus Mariota is Washington\u2019s starting QB the rest of the way in place of Daniels. Mariota, Hurts\u2019 backup with the Eagles in 2023, has completed 62% of his passes this season for 1,600 yards, with 10 TDs and seven interceptions. The Commanders are 2-5 in his starts. \u201cHe was very helpful when he was here,\u201d Hurts said. \u201cA lot of maturity, a lot of wisdom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brandon Graham is still producing for the Eagles<\/p>\n
Last week, Brandon Graham had his first two sacks since he ended his short-lived retirement after the Super Bowl and returned to Philadelphia in late October. At 37 years, 255 days old, Graham became the oldest player in Eagles history with a sack. \u201cI feel like my training camp has been over with now,\u201d Graham said. \u201cI feel like myself now.\u201d So is a re-retirement imminent? \u201cWe ain\u2019t there yet, man,\u201d Graham said. \u201cI\u2019m just trying to finish this year and enjoy the whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dallas Goedert just keeps scoring for Philadelphia<\/p>\n
Dallas Goedert continues to shine at tight end following an uncertain offseason where he ultimately took a pay cut to stay in Philadelphia. He\u2019s been as good as ever \u2014 especially in the red zone \u2014 after sticking around on a restructured one-year, $10 million deal plus incentives. Goedert\u2019s two TD catches against Las Vegas gave him nine for the season, the second most by a tight end in franchise history (Pete Retzlaff had 10 in 1965). \u201cAny time you go in the huddle and hear that play knowing you have an opportunity to get in the end zone, it gets you kind of excited, for sure,\u201d Goedert said. \u201cI think when I get a ball in my hand down there, I\u2019m tough to tackle. I can find my way in, fight my way in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many happy (punt) returns for Washington\u2019s Jaylin Lane<\/p>\n
Jaylin Lane\u2019s 63-yard punt return for a touchdown last week against the Giants and his 90-yarder in Week 3 make him the first Washington player with a pair in his rookie season since the 1950s. The secret to that success? \u201cI\u2019m only as good as the other 10 guys out there,\u201d Lane said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t make it happen without those guys showing effort and getting blocks for me.\u201d Next to his locker this week sat a framed picture from the coin toss in New York, showing him with Washington\u2019s other two captains for that game. \u201cI\u2019m going to hang that up on my wall at home,\u201d Lane said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know I was going to get that photo.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston in Philadelphia contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NFL<\/p>\n
Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ASHBURN, Va. (AP) \u2014 Jalen Hurts played the worst game of his career two weeks ago and one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-353887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}