Hurts bounces back as Eagles praise QB's resolve

PHILADELPHIA -- Quarterback Jalen Hurts had a rebound performance in the Eagles' 31-0 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, tossing three touchdowns with no interceptions following a highly scrutinized five-turnover game just six days earlier.

"I wouldn't want another quarterback, to be honest," linebacker Nakobe Dean said. "You see a guy that takes so much criticism in every aspect. Since he's been in the league, it seems like he's on top of the mountain one day in the public eye and in the next, they're trying to bury him. And you just see a guy that comes in with the same resolve, the same mindset each week to work and get better.

"To me, he can't do no wrong in my eyes. I don't care what nobody says."

Hurts finished 12-of-15 passing for 175 yards with a quarterback rating of 154.9. He added seven carries for 39 yards as the Eagles ended a three-game slide.

Philly was coming off a 22-19 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in which Hurts threw four interceptions and lost a fumble. Hurts, the reigning Super Bowl MVP, has not played up to expectations for much of this season; over a five-game stretch heading into Sunday, the offense was averaging just 16 points per game.

"Everybody's watching," Hurts said when asked if he's aware that teammates are looking to see how he responds. "That just comes with it. And it hasn't changed. I think everybody needs to remember where I come from and how I'm built. I just want to lead in the right way and set the right example. I've done the same thing since I went to the University of Alabama and everything that's been in front of me, and it's no different now."

Sunday was arguably Philadelphia's most complete game of the season, though the quality of opponent -- the Raiders have just two wins and their offense has struggled most of the season -- needs to be considered. The defense yielded just 75 total yards -- the fewest the franchise has allowed in a game since Dec. 4, 1955 (49 vs. the Chicago Cardinals), according to ESPN Research. The offense stayed committed to the run (Saquon Barkley had 22 carries for 78 yards and a score) while committing just three penalties.

The Eagles improved to 9-5 on the year and got a step closer to securing the NFC East.

"You control your own confidence; you control your own joy when there's a lot of noise out there; you control all that," said coach Nick Sirianni, who called the idea of benching Hurts at any point this season "ridiculous" last week.

"What I saw from the entire team for the last couple weeks, regardless of the circumstances, [is that] we've been committed to playing Eagles football and doing the things we need to do to play Eagles football. That's tough, detailed, together, and that happens during the week. If we rode the wave of the outside noise, then you're not able to do that. I just thought we did a great job the last couple of weeks of zoning in on what we needed to do and going to work every single day and not letting outside circumstances dictate anything about how we feel."

For all the ups and downs this season, Sunday was Hurts' fourth game with three passing touchdowns and zero interceptions, the most in a year of his career.

"His consistency is very reassuring," left tackle Jordan Mailata said. "It didn't matter what type of performance he has, the guy has a consistent routine during the week and the guys can see that the work doesn't change whether that's a win, loss, or draw. I expect the same this week. I already know he's probably onto the next. Just proud of him and the bounce back."