As I was watching Jalen Hurts during Super Bowl LIX, it struck me that there’s an inevitability to his game that isn’t especially easy to quantify.
Hurts is listed as being 6-foot-1 and 223 lbs, and that really sounds like they’re underselling it. He’s a big guy on the football field, sturdy and seemingly capable of taking all measure of punishment a defense can deal out, as his short yardage exploits have demonstrated (Hurts has only missed a handful of games in his career).
Except, being physical is not really his game. He’s not a player who typically looks eager to initiate contact, and when you think of his highlight reel, the top plays don’t generally feature him trucking people with stiff arms and whatnot.
He’s fast, notably so, but not blindingly so, if that makes sense.
You’ll watch him play, and he’ll jump out at you as being just fast enough to burn a defense to the edge for 5-10 yards, but not fast enough or agile enough to turn that advantage into a 50-yard run (unless of course the defense isn’t sound, at which point, yes, like clockwork, he’ll gain exactly the yardage available to him).
Hurts has a good arm, but not the greatest arm. The ball generally gets where it needs to when it needs to, but there’s no wow factor to it either. Guys get open, and he finds them, with decent enough accuracy to get the completion.
He also misses throws, and he gets thrown off by pressure occasionally. And he’s gotten criticism for playing in “simple” schemes, as though making QB reads easier (and taking advantage of them) is a bad thing.
In short, he’s not the biggest, or the strongest, or the fastest, or even the most gifted or cerebral thrower, but here’s the thing:
He feels a little unstoppable.
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