Eagles QB Jalen Hurts (Post-Game Transcript)
On the third-and-20 completion:
“I just held up, held up enough and looped it through the pocket, and was able to get it open through the defender. [Eagles WR] A.J. [Brown] made a great play, staying alive, not letting the situation get the best of us and finding a way to overcome that circumstance, and kind of put ourselves there.”
On the state of the locker room:
“I think we’re hungry. I think we’re motivated, eager. Kind of the same things I’ve been saying just in terms of that standard we have for ourselves and demanding that of ourselves. I don’t think win, lose, or draw, there’s a circumstance where we compromise the standard of what we want and how we want to be. It’s just a matter of being together and committing ourselves to that excellence and chasing that. Obviously good to get a win. Great to get a win. We kind of went through a little tough stretch there, but to be able to overcome the things we did today – defense played the way they did. Kind of had some unfortunate things happen with a couple of the turnovers. In the end, I think we just have to continue to grow. Continue to grow and control the things that we can. Controlling that ball security, controlling the little details, and how we’re attacking guys, how we’re lining up. So, just everybody doing that together. It takes everyone. It’s still a process, it’s still a journey with no arrival.”
On the offense’s standard and fixing it:
“I remember I got a question last year about, ‘What’s your best play of the year? What’s your best play of the season?’ I said, ‘The season isn’t done yet.’ The season’s not done yet.”
On TE Dallas Goedert slipping on a route which led to an interception return for touchdown:
“You explained it very well. I don’t think I need to say much about it. It was very unfortunate.”
On whether he felt today’s performance was a step in the right direction for the offense:
“It’s hard not to say. We had almost 520 yards of offense. Everything for us up to this point has been kind of self-inflicted and little things. I think we were able to overcome those little things earlier in the game. [Eagles WR] Britain Covey made a great play early in the game when he set the tone for us and we were able to punch it in early. Then we kind of spotted them back at the start of the second half and they were able to make some plays. It’s hard not to say that. I think there are a ton of opportunities to build on from this just like there have been a ton of opportunities to build on the lessons we have learned in the games that we’ve come up short in. The reality is that you have to keep growing and keep learning from it. We’ll keep staying together through it and we’ll keep building.”
On the conversations in the locker room:
“I think as a leader, it’s been pivotal. I think everybody has their own opinion. Everybody has their own perspective on their role and what it is for this football team. I have mine, and being the leader, you have to not only be able to lead by example, but you have to be able to lead by action. Lead by execution. Lead by what you do daily. Lead by the level of commitment that you are showing and just try being an example. Be an example for somebody else to follow. The number one thing is I’ll never ask somebody to do something I’m not willing to do. So, it’s just about us finding out what that is in terms of our togetherness and just staying together through everything. Just growing. This is a great opportunity for us to grow on. How we were efficient, minus the turnovers, that’s kind of been the whole thing, if anything we just need to continue to find ways to protect the ball. Whether it’s a tip ball that gets caught, or an unfortunate fumble, or whatever it is, just finding ways to eliminate those things.”
On how close the team is to the standard that they set:
“I would love to say we are close. I love to say we are close, and I think it is trending in the right direction. I think it’s trending in the right direction; we demand such excellence of ourselves. When you have the type of guys we have on our team, everybody is going to be eager to grow, everybody is going to be eager for more. But when did winning not become the main thing?”
On how the team is trending in the right direction:
“Through the standard we’ve been talking about. It’s like a double-edged sword of what’s more important, winning or the standard? It’s a very manipulative thing to the mind sometimes. I can play to the standards and lose and be sick, I can go win and not play to the standard and be like, ‘We have more work to do.’ It’s that fight we balance as competitors.”
On what goes through his mind when the team runs the ball:
“Get the first down. Just try to execute the play. I don’t pay much attention to it, I just try to operate it. Trying to get the fans loud for the offense like they get loud for the defense.”
On handling the blitz:
“I think there are times we handled it well and times we could have handled it better. Just takes everyone being on the same page and it takes all of us to execute. [Giants Defensive Coordinator Wink Martindale] is really well known for that, so much respect to him.”