Donovan McNabb defends Jalen Hurts against ‘lazy’ criticisms, says Eagles will return to Super Bowl form

The Philadelphia Eagles endured a historic collapse in 2023, leading plenty to question the team’s chances of a return to the Super Bowl. Franchise great Donovan McNabb isn’t among them, telling CBS Sports this week he envisions a quick turnaround after a “restart” from Jalen Hurts, while defending the quarterback against what he deemed “lazy” criticisms.

“I think for Jalen it’s really just a restart,” McNabb said of Hurts. “Obviously a new offense, a new offensive coordinator in Kellen Moore coming in. I’m sure he’s gonna work with him individually and make sure they’re on the same page. And maybe he’ll get a chance to put up some of those Dak Prescott numbers that Kellen was a part of (in Dallas).”

But didn’t Hurts regress in 2023, one year after an MVP-level breakout that ended with a Super Bowl defeat to Mahomes?

“He’s growing,” McNabb said. “(Even) guys like Patrick Mahomes, they’re growing. This is just his seventh year and we’re already talking about G.O.A.T. conversation with Patrick. And he’s still understanding the game and things that he’s able to do in this game. And when you look at the landscape of these young quarterbacks — and Jalen is in that as well — everyone is still trying to work on consistency in (their) game.”

One thing McNabb is especially confident Hurts doesn’t need to “reset”? His leadership.

“It’s lazy when (critics are) talking about, ‘He needs to be more animated, more vocal.’ And it’s like, wait a minute, you want your leaders to be rah-rah, head-banging guys that are bouncing around, but if they’re not winning, you’re gonna say, ‘Well he’s not a leader, he’s not a guy that people listen to.’ Now you’ve got a guy who just eight, nine months ago was in the Super Bowl. And everybody was talking about how great a leader he is — ‘He’s a little stoic but people love following him, love his interviews, blah, blah, blah.’ Now all of a sudden they’re losing and people are upset. I think for Jalen: Continue to be yourself. And while you’re being yourself, continue to work on your craft.”

And the Eagles as a whole? The three times they’ve reached the big game over the last 20 years, they’ve done so with different quarterback-head coach pairings — McNabb and Andy Reid in 1999, Nick Foles and Doug Pederson in 2017, then Hurts and Nick Sirianni in 2022. But McNabb likes the current combo to break the trend and get back to the Super Bowl stage.

“They have that team,” he said. “They have the coach. They have the players. … I think they have the opportunity of getting back. And the thing with this football team, to be honest with you, (if) they shore up the defense and create some special-teams opportunities for field position, I think we’re talking about Philadelphia back in the NFC championship at least.”