For many, Super Bowl 59 will be a showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs led by Patrick Mahomes and the Philadelphia Eagles led by Saquon Barkley. They’ve been carrying their respective teams all season, and are expected to continue doing so, as evidenced by the fact that they sit atop the odds leaderboard for Super Bowl 59 MVP. However, there is a dark horse candidate—Jalen Hurts—that could play spoiler here.
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Philly has lived and died with their running game this season, but Stephen A. Smith believes a change in tactics could be the catalyst for an upset here. They have largely kept Hurts in the garage during this playoff run. But, taking off the shackles and letting Hurts cook in New Orleans could be the difference between winning and losing for the Birds on February 9. When asked if Hurts would decide this Super Bowl, Smith was emphatic, as always.
“The answer to this question, is yes! Why? … It’s gonna come down to him. Because in the end, he can deliver the goods. The Philadelphia Eagles have a chance to win this Super Bowl, they’re just as good if not better than the Kansas City Chiefs… Jalen Hurts has a chance to win this Super Bowl, Jalen Hurts has a chance to be MVP of this Super Bowl. It’s going to come down to how he plays.”
Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo is going to be throwing everything at the Eagles’ running game to slow Barkley down. So, there will be chances to “take the strait jacket” off Hurts, as the QB said after his impressive 246-yard, one-TD performance in the NFC Championship Game, during which he completed over 71 percent of his passes. And yet even after displays like that, he doesn’t seem to get the credit he deserves.
Jason Kelce: Jalen Hurts doesn’t get nearly enough credit
Jason Kelce spent 13 Hall of Fame seasons with the Eagles, blocking for a litany of different QBs over the years. Most recently, he snapped the ball for Jalen Hurts. Kelce played center for every snap in Hurts’ career from 2020, when the QB got drafted, to 2023, when Kelce retired. The pair no doubt created a special bond as most QB-C duos do, especially considering how much they probably work on their signature “Tush Push” or “Brotherly Shove” play.
Kelce spoke about how little credit Hurts gets for the role he plays in this Eagles offense. Barkley obviously deserves the lion’s share of the credit for his historic season, as the former center acknowledged. But, Hurts’ “threat as an RPO person” and the impact that has on opposing defenses cannot be discounted either.
“I think Jalen never gets enough credit for a lot of things he does for this offense. Saquon Barkley would not have the season he had without having Jalen Hurts as the QB and that’s the reality of it and he never gets credit for that… His threat as a runner, his threat as an RPO person, all of that stuff opens up so many other things. … To me, he has cemented himself as a competitor and as a leader. He’s just done so well this postseason, so I’m really happy for Jalen.”
Jalen Hurts will hope that not only his team wins Super Bowl 59, but that he can be a major player in the game, just as he was in Super Bowl 57 against these same Chiefs. It could be argued—and has been, by people such as Morris Chestnut—that he outplayed Mahomes in that contest. If he can do it again, the odds will definitely swing in favor of him and his Eagles.
