Jalen Hurts Earns Tom Brady Comparison After Clutch Eagles Win

Quarterback Jalen Hurts walked off Lincoln Financial Field with his arms extended in celebration as the rain-soaked Philadelphia Eagles fans in attendance cheered after a 37-34 overtime win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

And for good reason.

The Pro Bowl quarterback had just sprinted into the end zone for a 12-yard game-winning touchdown in overtime—his fifth score of the day. Despite trailing by 10 points at halftime, facing a three-point deficit with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, and again needing points in overtime, the Eagles won to advance to 10-1. As the come-from-behind win started to settle in, Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham proclaimed that Philly's QB should be recognized for his clutch gene, which led to a notable comparison.

"They always talk about Tom Brady with the drives at the end — I'm hoping Jalen starts getting that name," Graham told reporters after the game. "I'm happy that he went out there and finished the deal [with] a game-winning drive. Keep them coming. We love putting it in his hands at the end to give us a chance."

Hurts being compared to the "GOAT" (greatest of all time)—whose late-game magic led to 46 fourth-quarter comebacks during his NFL career—isn't the only elite company he finds himself in.

The 25-year-old became just the second NFL QB since 1950 to start 10-1 or better through 11 games in consecutive seasons, per Elias Sports, joining Peyton Manning. Philadelphia is now 27-2 in Hurts' last 29 regular-season starts, a stretch only matched by two QBs in the last 70 years—Jim McMahon and, yes, Brady. And, remarkably, the Eagles have won in each of the last eight instances they have trailed by 10 or more points with Hurts under center.

No other QB has done that in NFL history. Nobody else has even done it more than four times, according to CBS Sports.

"Great team effort and a great team win," Hurts said postgame. "You know I kind of had a little reflection moment in which I was thinking, 'What do you [reporters] want me to say?' We just continue to find ways to win. We play together and we have shown our resiliency day in and day out. Game in and game out, we have been challenged in a number of different ways. We always find a way, and that's something that you can't really take for granted. It's hard to quantify."

The Eagles and Hurts were certainly challenged during a first half to forget on Sunday. The fourth-year pro completed only four of his 11 first-half passes for 33 yards and a pick. His passer rating was in the single digits. Philly fans booed the Eagles off the field.

But they had plenty of reasons to cheer soon enough.

Hurts threw three touchdowns in a span of four pass attempts in the second half, including a third-and-15 heave to Olamide Zaccheaus for a 29-yard score—just one in a series of surreal plays that the Eagles QB made look routine. That play put Philly on top by four points in the fourth quarter. But the lead didn't last.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen connected with Gabe Davis for a seven-yard score with 1:52 remaining in regulation. Hurts didn't flinch.

Hurts completed five consecutive passes to start a drive that set up kicker Jake Elliott for a 59-yard field goal attempt, which he drilled through the not-so-ideal weather conditions. And so one of the best games of the 2023 season was extended a little longer. The Bills won the coin toss and got the first shot at scoring, which Graham was caught on the broadcast's mic saying wouldn't matter. It didn't.

Allen missed a wide-open Davis on what would have been a walk-off touchdown on the first drive of overtime. The Bills settled for a field goal, the Eagles got the ball back, and Hurts and company did the rest to improve to an NFL-best 10-1.

"He made a lot of really clutch plays in that second half," Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said of Hurts postgame. "Then the big one, obviously, at the end... You know he's clutch. He's been clutch for us, clutch for this city and clutch for this team for the last three years now. He just kept going, put his head down and worked."