Jalen Hurts Leads Eagles to Week 1 Victory but Faces Criticism from Chris Long

In the much-anticipated matchup against the Green Bay Packers in Week 1, Jalen Hurts led his Philadelphia Eagles to a close win 34-29. The game was scheduled for the worst-weather conditions and was also the very first football game played in Brazil-a historical event, so to say. Despite all of these obstacles, Hurts and the team earned the win but of a performance that elicited numerous questions, none more prominent than from Super Bowl champion and former Eagles defensive end Chris Long.Jalen Hurts Needs to Elevate His Game, Says Chris LongLong pulled no punches in criticism of Hurts' performance on his podcast, Green Light with Chris Long, noting that while the quarterback made some big plays, he needs to be better. Highlighting a crucial interception Hurts threw in the red zone, Long stated, “I’m about to give him the medicine here, but he did do some good things. Jalen Hurts has to play better. You know it, I know it. The pick was so bad in the end zone I had to hit the porch.” The Super Bowl champion expressed his frustration with the interception, a play that had fans on edge, especially considering the high expectations surrounding Hurts.According to Long, the local media may have played a part in Hurts’ struggles. The focus on Hurts’ flawless performance during training camp, where he did not throw a single interception, might have added undue pressure. Seeing Hurts commit two turnovers in Friday’s game did not surprise Long, who felt the media’s attention on the quarterback’s perfect camp statistics might have gotten into Hurts' head. He explained that the constant tracking by the media with regard to Hurts not throwing an interception in camp only put too much pressure on him during the live action and might have resulted in mistakes on the field.However, Chris Long knows Hurts’ TalentLong also mentioned that one more thing which worked against Hurts was missing the preseason games. He felt the lack of playing during the preseason contributed to a lot of rust that caused two important turnovers in Week 1. Even after all this, Long admitted Hurts is talented.“He has to play better because this team can win with him perfect QB play,” Long added. “You just saw it, and there are things he did well; I’m not going to ignore those things, but I just want to get that out of the way to level set because people are always like, “Oh, you took it easy [on him]” or “What about the bad throws?” he stunk it up for a couple of sequences. It’s almost like he just snaps into and snaps out of it. You can’t have that."While Long admitted that Hurts performed well for most of the game, he stressed that the quarterback must avoid those brief lapses in concentration. “There was a lot of waiting to see what he looked like in this offense, and I thought he looked pretty good most of the game, 90% of the game, but that 10%, the floor of that 10%, is low,” he concluded.The Eagles will have their next opportunity to continue their winning streak when they face the New Orleans Saints on September 22.