Nick Sirianni has seen Jalen Hurts deliver some remarkable performances in victory, but the Philadelphia Eagles coach believes there has been no more impressive display than the one the quarterback produced in their heartbreaking Super Bowl LVII loss.
Hurts and the Eagles fell victim to a vintage comeback from Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs at State Farm Stadium, seeing a 24-14 lead slip away.
The Chiefs fought back to prevail 38-35 in an Arizona thriller, despite an MVP-calibre performance from Hurts.
Hurts broke the Super Bowl record for the most rushing yards by a quarterback (70) and also tied records for the most points scored by a single player (20) and the most touchdowns from scrimmage (three).
He did, by contrast, also lose a second-quarter fumble that was recovered by Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton and returned for a touchdown.
But to lay the blame at the feet of Hurts would be grossly unfair, with Sirianni perhaps more worthy of criticism for settling for a 33-yard field goal in the third quarter at the end of a 17-play drive.
That drive saw Hurts connect with Dallas Goedert on two outstanding throws, and Sirianni highlighted such high-difficulty completions as he lauded his signal-caller's efforts.
"To me, Jalen played the best game I've seen him play in the two years that we've been together," Siranni said.
"He was outstanding. I really thought he was in complete control. He did things with his legs in the run game. He did things with his arm in the pass game, made some unbelievable throws, unbelievable reads.
"I thought he played outstanding. And you know you really look at the game and that was good for the NFL in the sense that the two best quarterbacks in the NFL played against each other on the biggest stage in the biggest lights. And Jalen played great."
Asked what he said to Hurts after the game, Sirianni added: "I know he's hurt and he's hurting. I just said, 'We'll work our butts off every day.'
"I know he's going to get better from this, and he played really good. That's why I keep saying I don't think we know what Jalen's ceiling is because he is just going to continue to get better.
"But I said I was happy for him that he played his butt off. He left it all out there, played good in the run game, played good in the pass game, was in complete control of our offense. He led us to 35 points.
"I just told him I was happy for him. It just wasn't this year. I told him I thought it was his best game that he's played. It wasn't just this game. It was this entire season that he's shown to be a special leader, a special player. I'm sure glad he's our quarterback."
Cowboys quarterback Prescott reportedly expected to miss multiple weeks with hamstring injury
The path to the play-offs is now even tougher for the Dallas Cowboys.
Quarterback Dak Prescott will reportedly miss several weeks with a hamstring injury sustained in Sunday's 27-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
The severity of the injury was determined following an MRI, and reported Monday from multiple media outlets.
Prescott is planning to get a second opinion, and the Cowboys have not decided if they will place him on injured reserve, which would keep him on the sideline a minimum of four games.
Prescott, who signed a record-breaking, $240million contract hours before this season's opener, suffered the injury late in the third quarter.
He was replaced by Cooper Rush, and the seven-year backup will get the start this Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Rush completed 13-of-25 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown against the Falcons, but couldn't rally Dallas all the way back.
The Cowboys ended up losing their third straight game to drop to 3-5, which matches the total number of losses the team had each of the last three seasons.
They now sit in third place in the NFC East, 3 1/2 games behind the division-leading Washington Commanders.
Rush has found some success as a fill-in starter for the Cowboys, though, the 30-year-old hasn't been forced into the starting role since 2022.
In six career starts for Dallas, he's gone 5-1 with 1,281 passing yards with seven touchdowns, four interceptions and an 83.6 rating.
There is some good news for the Cowboys, though, as star defensive end Micah Parsons is likely to return this Sunday after missing the last four games with a high-ankle sprain.
Cowboys quarterback Prescott expected to miss multiple weeks with hamstring injury
The path to the play-offs is now even tougher for the Dallas Cowboys.
Quarterback Dak Prescott will reportedly miss several weeks with a hamstring injury sustained in Sunday's 27-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
The severity of the injury was determined Monday following an MRI.
Prescott is planning to get a second opinion, and the Cowboys have not decided if they will place him on injured reserve, which would keep him on the sideline a minimum of four games.
Prescott, who signed a record-breaking, $240million contract hours before this season's opener, suffered the injury late in the third quarter.
He was replaced by Cooper Rush, and the seven-year backup will get the start this Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Rush completed 13-of-25 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown against the Falcons, but couldn't rally Dallas all the way back.
The Cowboys ended up losing their third straight game to drop to 3-5, which matches the total number of losses the team had each of the last three seasons.
They now sit in third place in the NFC East, 3 1/2 games behind the division-leading Washington Commanders.
Rush has found some success as a fill-in starter for the Cowboys, though, the 30-year-old hasn't been forced into the starting role since 2022.
In six career starts for Dallas, he's gone 5-1 with 1,281 passing yards with seven touchdowns, four interceptions and an 83.6 rating.
There is some good news for the Cowboys, though, as star defensive end Micah Parsons is likely to return this Sunday after missing the last four games with a high-ankle sprain.
Stumbling Saints fire head coach Allen
The New Orleans Saints fired head coach Dennis Allen on Monday, one day after the team’s losing streak reached seven games with a 23-22 defeat to the lowly Carolina Panthers.
New Orleans got off to an unexpected strong start to the 2024 season by outscoring its first two opponents 91-29 in a pair of victories.
The Saints lost their next two games by just a combined five points, but then it really started to unravel for the team.
New Orleans’ next four defeats all came by 13 points or more, and on Sunday, the Panthers pulled out a 23-22 win over the Saints after Carolina entered the meeting with a 1-7 record.
Allen was promoted from New Orleans' defensive coordinator to head coach after the 2021 season, and the Saints posted an 18-25 record under him with no play-off appearances.
The Saints (2-7) are expected to name special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi as interim head coach ahead of their Week 10 visit from the NFC South-leading Atlanta Falcons (6-3).
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
