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Thanks to Hard Knocks, Two Preposterous Jalen Hurts Accusations Have Been Soundly Defeated
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One of the most talked-about sequences from the Chicago loss was the missed connection between Jalen Hurts and DeVonta Smith that would have resulted in a red zone first down, or maybe a touchdown.
At the time, astute observers noticed an adjustment at the line of scrimmage, with Hurts motioning to Smith after identifying a Bears blitz. Hurts was expecting Smitty to stop and sit, but he ran a slant instead, and it was confirmed postgame that the two just weren’t on the same page.
Then, more context on Tuesday night with the release of the first “Hard Knocks: In Season with the NFC East” episode:
“When I pointed like this, that’s my fault. I thought you were going to settle down…. ah fuck! That’s a play I gotta make. Y’all keep doing what y’all doing. Here we go. We’ll finish the next one. That’s a play I make.”
Right, so it wasn’t a “missed throw,” nor did Hurts go sit on the sidelines by himself and sulk. Knee-jerk social media reaction was all over QB1, thinking he simply made a bad throw, which wasn’t true.
There’s also this general thought that Hurts doesn’t do anything on the sidelines, because seemingly every TV shot shows him just sitting there by himself, but that’s also not true. We just don’t see every moment of sideline interaction between these guys, and unfortunately that void has been filled with this narrative that Hurts isn’t an accountability guy, which always seemed flimsy and fake.
It’s good to have a clip like this one because it defeats two stupid narratives in one fell swoop. It kills two narrative birds with one video clip stone. It was absurd to think that these guys don’t talk to each other, or can’t complete a 10-yard pass. They went hot off a recognized zero blitz and just weren’t on the same page. It was a communication thing, and that needs to be fixed, sure, but this, unsurprisingly, blown totally out of proportion.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com