Eagles' Jalen Hurts is often under scrutiny but keeps winning

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NEW ORLEANS — In his four seasons as the Philadelphia Eagles’ starting quarterback, Jalen Hurts led his team to four playoff appearances and two Super Bowls.

And he’s done it playing under three offensive coordinators.

In a league in which coaches and players endlessly preach about the value of consistency and continuity, Hurts has flourished in the sport’s most important position despite near annual changes.

“Everyone desires that continuity because that consistency definitely does breed something,” Hurts said Wednesday as he continued preparations for Sunday’s Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs. “But there’s also something in having the mentality of turning these situations into a positive. And learning as much as I can, taking in as much knowledge as I can, to be the best player I can be and ultimately lead the team to success.”

Hurts, a second-round draft pick in 2020, started four games as a rookie under former coach Doug Pederson’s staff, which did not have an offensive coordinator. Nick Sirianni replaced Pederson and hired Shane Steichen as offensive coordinator. Hurts played two seasons under Steichen and one under Brian Johnson before Sirianni hired Kellen Moore.

Now Moore is regarded as the leading candidate to become the New Orleans Saints coach.

“It’s always just openness to learn as much as I can and take in the new ideas that they bring in,” Hurts said of the turnover, “but also knowing that there’s a way that you see the game as well. And so I think with all the changes that have been here, and all the changes I’ve been through, I’ve been the only constant in that, in terms of how I play the game and ultimately the desire to win kind of over-seizes all those things.

“And so I’ve just been very diligent in it, being open-minded, coming in [with] open arms and taking it all in so I can continue my development.”

During the 2022 season, Hurts passed for 22 touchdowns with six interceptions en route to a matchup against the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII. Hurts passed for 304 yards and a touchdown and rushed for three touchdowns in a 38-35 defeat to the Chiefs.

In 2023, Hurts passed for 23 touchdowns with 15 interceptions. Johnson was fired after the Eagles lost an NFC wild-card game to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

This season Hurts reestablished his efficiency, passing for 18 touchdowns with five interceptions. In three playoff victories he passed for three touchdowns and rushed for four.

“You want to find a rhythm with one person, and it’s been a challenge to do that,” Hurts said, “but ultimately my desire to try to find a way to win the game over-seizes everything else. Whatever stats are out there — good, bad or indifferent — I ask myself: Did I win?”

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Jeremiah Trotter’s Eagles legacy

Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. walks off the field before a playoff game.

Linebacker Jeremiah Trotter was one of Andy Reid’s favorite players when Reid coached the Eagles.

On Sunday, the Chiefs coach will scheme against an Eagles defense that includes rookie linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr.

“It means I’m old,” the 66-year-old Reid said.

Trotter, a backup linebacker and special teams contributor, said his father always told him great things about Reid.

“And meeting him, I could really tell all the things my dad said about him were true,” Trotter said.

Trotter said he does not feel pressure to match the accomplishments of his father, a 2000 All-Pro who played 11 NFL seasons and started for the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005.

“My dad, even with my brother, always took that pressure off of us,” Trotter said. “He said we don’t have anything to prove. If we played football, if we didn’t … he’d love us just the same.

“Telling us that at an early age definitely helped take pressure off, and from then on, your confidence in yourself is going to come because of the preparation and the type of work you put into whatever you do.”

Trotter said when he was younger, his father gave him detailed notes before games.

“I’m still learning, but now he’s kind of backed off a little and let me be a pro,” Trotter said. “Up to this point, I’ve had like 20 years of coaching, so he’s really poured a lot of knowledge into me. And now he’s taken a step back and just let me go handle business.”

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Still ‘a family affair’ for Travis Kelce

Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (left) and brother, Jason Kelce, the Eagles center, meet after a game.

Travis Kelce is without his brother Jason at this Super Bowl, but the Chiefs tight end still is feeling the love from the Eagles after his older brother retired.

“It’s definitely a family affair,” Travis said Wednesday, “where I still feel very close to a lot of the people in that building, and I know my brother does too.”

Not having Jason, the former Eagles center who has transitioned into a media personality, has brought “mixed emotions,” Travis said.

Eagles offensive tackles Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata feel like honorary Kelce brothers, and Travis still cheers for the Eagles — with whom Jason spent his 13-year career — whenever he’s not in a Chiefs uniform.

Two years after the Kelces faced off in Super Bowl LVII, Travis is more comfortable without a storyline of the historic matchup between brothers on opposing teams. Instead, he is pursuing a different kind of history.

The Chiefs can become the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowls.