Eagles injury update: Jalen Hurts returns to practice ahead of playoffs originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The news everyone was waiting to hear: Jalen Hurts returned to practice on Wednesday.
“It will be there today,” Sirianni said shortly after noon Wednesday. “We’ll give you the injury report after practice. We’ll see how it goes. But we will give you the injury report after practice today.”
A few hours later, Hurts took the field at the Linc.
This was Hurts’ first time back on the practice field since suffering a concussion on December 22. Hurts missed two full weeks of practice and two games due to his concussion. Sirianni did not say if there will be restrictions on Hurts to start the week.
The Eagles practiced Wednesday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field because the NovaCare Complex fields are frozen. They will host the Packers at the Linc on Sunday at 4:30 pm in the wild card round.
The Eagles were without Hurts for the final two games of the regular season after he suffered a concussion against the Commanders on December 22. Hurts was ejected from the game after just 12 plays and has been in concussion protocol ever since.
Despite Hurts’ absence over the past few weeks, Sirianni said he’s not worried about rust.
“That’s why you practice,” Sirianni said. “That’s why you went through the practice process and all the things you do in practice to be on the same page to do everything there. We feel like we practice at a very high level of intensity. That’s why you go out and do these things.”
While Hurts’ return to practice doesn’t necessarily mean he will clear concussion protocol in time for Sunday’s game, all indications are that Hurts will return for the playoffs. On Tuesday, the Eagles even waived backup quarterback Ian Book, which was another strong sign about Hurts’ availability.
The game before suffering his concussion, Hurts had one of his best games of the season. Against the Steelers, he completed 78% of his passes for 290 yards and 2 touchdowns. That performance came after a close win over the Carolina Panthers that raised a lot of questions about the passing offense.
In 15 starts this year, Hurts has a 12-3 record, but was knocked out of Washington’s first-quarter loss. He completed 68.7% of his passes for 2,903 yards with 18 touchdowns and 5 interceptions in the regular season. He also ran for 630 yards and 14 touchdowns.
In the first 4 games of the season, Hurts turned the ball over 7 times, but in the last 11 games he only had 3.
With Hurts returning to practice on Wednesday, it seems likely the Eagles will have all 22 offensive and defensive starters healthy for the first round of the playoffs.
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