The controversial rookie quarterback made his first career start last Sunday against the New Orleans Saints. Having the top ranked defense in the NFL over the last couple of weeks, it proved to be no easy assignment. Yet, Jalen Hurts was able to dominate the game, looking comfortable the whole game and proving he understood his role. However, I was not impressed with him, as he did not make any great plays and simply did not have that “wow” factor. 

Under Carson Wentz, the offense admittedly did not look as good as it did under Hurts. There were missed throws, less energy, no confidence, and just plain bad play. Hurts came in and was able to rejuvenate the offense, giving it more energy and making the simple throws. But it was just that: simple throws. There were no throws that only he could make, no throws that were perfectly placed into tight coverage. He had dink and dunk throws, designed rollouts made to make his reads half of the field instead of the whole field, and designed runs. These are all things that made Carson Wentz successful, and these are all things that we did not run with him.

Jalen Hurts made more mediocre plays than he made great plays. He had some missed throws and threw behind a couple receivers. He made no glaring errors, as he only had one turnover towards the end of the game. That is less than Wentz has every game. Hurts played well, managed the game very well, but it was a very lacklustre performance and I will need to see more from him to be fully confident in him. 

Hurts is a rookie. Other than the handful of plays he had gotten earlier in the season and the recent 1.5 games, he has no professional tape. Teams do not know what to expect from him, so it is understandable why he has had so much success. They don’t know when he likes to roll out, stay in the pocket, what he does like to do when he stays in the pocket. These are all things that seasoned quarterbacks have tape on and are able to overcome because they are that good. When Hurts gets to that point is when anyone can make a valid opinion on him. Until then, it is still a question mark, and we will just have to see how everything pans out. 

Hurts gets his second career start today against the Arizona Cardinals. It will be interesting to see how he handles himself in an away environment, as well as against a team that has more tape on him. Hurts is also starting as more reports come out about Wentz being unhappy, so the dynamic of the team is very interesting as of now.