Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts opened his postgame press conference on Sunday by addressing the elephant in the room.
Hurts said “so that’s what you all wanted to see” when he came to the podium after a 27-13 win over the Steelers and the comment was in reference to throwing for 290 yards and two touchdowns in the game. The Eagles’ passing game was under scrutiny all week because of critical comments from wideouts A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith in the wake of their Week 14 win over the Panthers and it came through in a big way on Sunday.
Brown and Smith combined for 19 catches, 219 yards, and two touchdowns in the win. Hurts and Brown danced after Brown’s touchdown and the wideout called it “our moment to tell everybody to shut up” when he spoke to reporters. Brown’s stance was a bit odd given the fact that he started a conversation that Hurts said the team paid close attention to as they prepared for Pittsburgh.
“As I’ve said, when you’re able to win in multiple ways, obviously talented, and the opportunities are there, but it comes down to having good discernment of when to do something and when not to,” Hurts said, via a transcript from the team. “I’ve always said and believed that you want to make sure that all of your tools are sharp when you need them, so when it’s time to use them, you can go. I don’t think there’s a doubt in that. I think, frankly, there’s an effort there. The approach was a little different this week. The grass will be green where you water it. We decided to water it and saw the fruits of our labor in that. Obviously we’ve been watering the running game a good bit. It’s natural to put emphasis on one thing and take emphasis off of another and see what you guys have seen. We want to continue to be well-rounded, push to be well-rounded, and water all areas of our yard.”
All of the fretting about the passing offense took place amid a nine-game winning streak and the way they pushed it to 10 in a row was a strong reminder that the Eagles are going to be a team to reckon with in the postseason.
