Jalen Hurts' middle finger isn't the only thing hurting him, Eagles. How it can change

PHILADELPHIA − Jalen Hurts admitted Thursday that it "probably wasn’t physically the best idea" to return to the game against the Giants with a dislocated middle finger on his throwing hand.

That was on Sunday. On Thursday, as Hurts and the Eagles began their three days of practice leading up to their wild-card playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night, reporters were allowed to see only the Eagles stretch and do some limited individual drills.

During that time, Hurts had a glove over his right hand and did not attempt to throw a pass. The Eagles listed Hurts as limited in practice. It's the first time that Hurts has been on the injury report this season other than for an illness.

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Before practice, Hurts said that he had not thrown the ball at all since he was pulled near the end of the first half against the Giants.

He also admitted that his finger hurt even more the next day. And yet, Hurts added this: "I can assure you that everything is progressing in the right way."

He was then asked what was harder against the Giants, throwing the ball or gripping it.

"I think everything is a challenge when you have a finger out of place," Hurts said.

In a way, that was a fitting metaphor for not only Hurts' pain, but Hurts' and the Eagles' play the last six games when they went 1-5 and limped into the playoffs.

So the question is not only can Hurts' finger heal in time for the game against the Bucs, but can his game, and can the Eagles' overall game heal as well?

The numbers show Hurts has a passer rating of 77.6 over the past six games. Only three starting quarterbacks, two of whom lost their starting jobs, were worse over the entire season, the Jets' Zach Wilson, the Patriots' Mac Jones and the Panthers' Bryce Young.

Hurts has also thrown a career-high 15 interceptions this season, or as many as he had thrown in the previous two seasons combined. Hurts was among the leaders last season in passer rating at 101.5.

Sure, the quarterback gets the credit when things are going well, and Hurts certainly reaped the benefits last year by leading the Eagles to the Super Bowl, finishing as the MVP runner-up and signing a five-year contract extension worth as much as $255 million.

But just as last season wasn't all due to Hurts, neither is this season's collapse down the stretch of the regular season.

The change in offensive coordinators

After the Super Bowl, offensive coordinator Shane Steichen left to become the Indianapolis Colts' head coach, and Brian Johnson was promoted from quarterbacks coach to replace Steichen.

It was seamless enough. Johnson had known Hurts since Hurts was about 4 years old while playing for Hurts' father in high school. Johnson grew closer with Hurts as the QB coach.

"That role changes now when you're in charge of the entire offense," Johnson said. "So, yes, obviously I do spend time in the quarterback meetings. But I also like to be able to spend time with some other groups and making sure that everybody's on the same page and in concert."

There's another aspect to it, too, as Johnson said Hurts might actually be playing well, especially the last few games, and the results aren't showing.

"To be completely honest with you, I think the last couple of weeks Jalen has been playing some really, really clean football in terms of what he's seeing, what he's processing, how he's looking at it," he said.

For example, in the first game against the Giants on Dec. 25, if Dallas Goedert doesn't fall down on a pass to the flat, then Adoree Jackson doesn't pick it off and return it for a 76-yard touchdown. And maybe the Eagles continue on a long drive to score a TD of their own for a 27-10 lead instead of seeing the Giants cut the deficit to 20-18.

In essence, that was the right read, but the wrong result.

"I think a lot of that comes down to execution," Hurts said. "And everyone really being on the same page."

The same is true for facing the blitz, something the Eagles struggled with mightily last week against the Giants. It's something they'll certainly face from the Buccaneers, who were third in the NFL in blitz percentage, just behind the Giants.

"It’s just a question of taking advantage of it," Hurts said. "You go out there, and all 11 have to be on the same page for something to work. ... So we’ve definitely been challenged with that. But we’ve also taken advantage of it a number of times, too."

Both Johnson and Eagles coach Nick Sirianni have spoken often about having the "right answers" for the blitz. Perhaps Johnson and Sirianni need to be better at that. Perhaps the offensive line also needs to be better at that, as center Jason Kelce alluded to after the loss to the Giants.

"We just, offensively, did not handle the blitz well, obviously," Kelce said. "That was very evident. Part of that is my job, which is beyond frustrating to (not) put us in good situations. It just wasn’t good across the board. And that made it difficult offensively in the first half."

Clearly, Hurts bears responsibility, too.

He could have gotten rid of the ball faster, or he could have run more efficiently. And the receivers could have gotten open sooner. Then again, DeVonta Smith didn't play because of an ankle injury, and A.J. Brown left in the first quarter with a knee injury.

That left the Eagles with Quez Watkins and Julio Jones as the main receivers.

Before the game, Watkins and Jones had just 16 catches for 110 yards combined this season. Brown had 106 catches for 1,456 yards and Smith had 81 for 1,066.

Brown didn't practice Thursday, while Smith was a full participant.

But yes, there was a significant dropoff once both were out of the game.

Hurts' injuries, known and unknown

Just because Hurts was on the injury report for the first time doesn't mean he wasn't injured before. We already know that Hurts played at least a handful of games with a knee injury that no doubt limited his running ability.

For all we know, the knee might still be an issue. Hurts long ago shut down questions about that. But Hurts never went on the injury report for the knee because he participated fully in every practice.

"I know that he's tough and he'll do everything that he can do to play through it," Sirianni said about the finger. "I imagine it hurt pretty good. He's not going to tell me that, though. Jalen's tough and he's not going to tell me how bad he's hurting. But I just know how tough he is, and how much he can fight through, and how much pain he can withstand."

The Eagles saw this last season when Hurts injured his shoulder against the Bears, missed two games, then returned for the regular-season finale that the Eagles needed to win to secure the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

Hurts admitted playing through shoulder pain all the way up until the Super Bowl.

The season before, Hurts played the final games of the season with a sprained ankle. After the 31-15 loss to the Bucs in the Wild Card game, Hurts had ankle surgery.

So for the third straight season, Hurts is going into the playoffs with an injury. He was asked how he feels now compared to the other two playoff seasons.

"I guess we’ll base it off the result," Hurts said.

For Hurts, that's always the bottom line.

Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on X @Mfranknfl.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Jalen Hurts' finger not only thing hurting Eagles as NFL playoffs near