Eagles

Drew Brees Thought Jalen Hurts Should Have Lowered His Shoulder and Plowed Over Multiple Titans

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Sep 20th, 2026 · 4:47 PM EDT

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This sequence from Sunday’s game got some buzz on social media, and probably at your watch party:

"Lower your shoulder and go get the first down" – Drew Brees did NOT like Jalen Hurts protecting himself with a slide in the second quarter of Week 2 against the Titans pic.twitter.com/q8nePomNdP

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 20, 2026

Context –

It’s NFL Week 2. Second quarter of a 7-7 ballgame in Tennessee with a little under seven minutes on the clock. 3rd and 9, Jalen Hurts decides to take off and start running. The box score says he picked up seven yards with the slide to set up a 4th and 2, while it was listed as 4th and 3 on the live broadcast.

Could Hurts have lowered his shoulder and tried to obliterate several Titans there? Yeah, sure. Did he have to? No. You certainly want your franchise quarterback to avoid big hits like that. If this was late in the fourth quarter, or a playoff game, or something with much higher stakes, then absolutely lower the shoulder and try to reach the sticks.

In this case, the analytics come into play because you’re just across midfield with the scramble. Hurts knows, in the back of his mind, that if he can get it to 4th and short then the Eagles are probably going for it in that position. That’s a down, distance, and field position in which they’ll be aggressive. So he saved himself from a big collision while getting his team into position for a fourth down attempt, which they converted with a short pass to the Dontayvion Wicks.

Funny to hear this from Brees, by the way, who wasn’t exactly known for lowering the shoulder and trying to run guys over. Maybe he’s now living vicariously through a dual-threat QB while doing color commentary.