Jan 09, 2025
PHILADELPHIA — Despite Saquon Barkley’s historic 2,000-yard rushing campaign, and despite having the best defense in the league in most major categories, the Eagles’ postseason hopes hang on the health of quarterback Jalen Hurts. Fortunately for the Birds, Hurts was upgraded to a full participant in Thursday’s practice after seeing limited action in his return to the field a day earlier, signaling he is progressing smoothly through concussion protocol following nearly three weeks on the shelf. Packers quarterback Jordan Love (throwing elbow) also was listed as a full participant Thursday, although Green Bay reporters were escorted out of warmups earlier than usual. Barkley, prepping for the Pack in his first playoff game as an Eagle and third of his career, doesn’t expect the team to hold back on Hurts come game time, such as with running plays or even the tush push. He plans on business as usual. “You don’t really change much,” Barkley said. “You don’t win 14 games by mistake. … The playoffs, obviously, it’s magnified because if you lose, you go home. But at the end of the day, the team that turns the ball over less is probably going to win the game, the team that creates more explosives is probably going to win. All the little things that go into winning football still stay the same. We’ve been doing a really good job of that, and we’ve got to continue to do that.” On Dec. 22 in Washington, Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu turned Hurts’ head into a ping-pong ball with a helmet-to-helmet hit that smacked the quarterback’s head into the ground. Hurts initially looked OK, popping right back up, and he tried to play it off. But up-close looks revealed he was wobbly and his eyes weren’t right, and doctors stepped in. Luvu, who previously was fined $11,255 but not flagged in real time for a facemask against Eagles receiver DeVonta Smith a month earlier, got away with another dirty play. Somehow the NFL noticed that Hurts was concussed yet didn’t notice the illegal hit that caused it. The unremarkable Luvu, on his third team in seven years after going undrafted out of Washington State, has rarely made highlight reels unless he has done something wrong. But he has pocketed nearly $30 million in the NFL so far. In other injury news, Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown (knee/rest) once again did not practice Thursday. He hinted at a knee issue last month, but downplayed it, saying, “Nobody’s healthy this time of year.” It didn’t seem to hamper him in games. Against Pittsburgh, Washington and Dallas, Brown pulled down a combined 19 catches for 243 yards and three touchdowns. Meanwhile, Barkley, who averaged 5.8 yards per carry on his way to 2,005 and 15 touchdowns during the regular season, is looking forward to the fan atmosphere at the Linc on Sunday. “The home games here are electric, so my expectation for the first home (playoff) game, I don’t really know how much further they can take it,” Barkley said. “Playing against them on the other side (with the Giants), and then playing a Monday night here, playing a Thursday night here, playing Sundays — the way that they show up to games shows how amazing our fanbase is, out of this world.” The Eagles, as nearly everyone knows, opted to rest Barkley in the regular-season finale against his former team rather than let him try to break Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards. Dickerson had said he didn’t want Barkley to break it, but later amended his remarks last Sunday. “I told him I would’ve liked to see him play at least a half to see if he had a chance to get it,” Dickerson told Jim Gray and Bill Belichick on the SiriusXM radio program ‘Let’s Go!’. “But I understand the most important thing is winning the Super Bowl. It’s not about records.”
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