Jalen Hurts was "unfazed" and "in complete control" against the Dallas Cowboys as he led the Philadelphia Eagles to a 6-0 start, said coach Nick Sirianni.
Dual-threat Eagles quarterback Hurts threw for 155 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 27 yards to help protect the last remaining unbeaten record in this NFL season on Sunday.
A meeting with NFC East rivals the Cowboys represented the Eagles' biggest test so far, but they ran out 26-17 winners as Hurts' TD pass to DeVonta Smith early in the fourth quarter ensured there would be no nervy finish.
Sirianni would not have anticipated his QB having any problems regardless.
The Eagles coach, in his second year with the team, is in awe of Hurts' demeanour – that of "great quarterbacks", Sirianni said.
Hurts now has 1,514 passing yards and 293 rushing yards on the year, becoming the first QB in NFL history to surpass 1,500 passing yards and 250 rushing yards while going undefeated over any six-game span.
"The guy's not fazed by things," Sirianni said. "He's got a great demeanour that you see in great quarterbacks.
"There are so many big games in the NFL. It's a huge game, right? Sunday Night Football, division rival, both at the top of the division, and he's unfazed by things.
"That's what I love about him. He just goes and plays the next play – and he made a big play on third-and-four when we didn't have anybody open [on the drive from which Smith scored].
"He made a play with his legs, he controlled the clock, he was in complete control. It was Quarterback 101 by Jalen."
The Eagles are one win away from their best ever start to a season going into a bye, but the first seven weeks of 2021 were very different.
Philly were 2-5 heading into Halloween, before a 6-2 end to the campaign secured a playoff place and set the stage for this sublime stretch.
"I think being 2-5 did a lot for this team," Sirianni added. "Not everybody was involved with that 2-5, I get it, but a big part of the meat and potatoes of this team was involved in that, and they just kept coming to work.
"All we wanted to do was improve daily and get better and get better and get better. You do that by practising harder.
"The best teams that I've been on have the common denominator that they practise hard, they walk-through hard, they meet hard; then you get this trajectory of where you're building and building and building."
The Eagles are not done building, though, with Sirianni considering this a key point in the season.
"Teams are either coming together or they're not and this team is coming together, and they fight each week," he said.
"The motivation of not letting your team-mate down – coach to player, player to coach, player to player, coach to coach – that's just love, right? There is no greater motivation than that.
"This is a close team, and we're going to keep working on getting closer and keep working on getting better."