PHILADELPHIA — Eagles rookie Jalen Hurts will start at quarterback Sunday for a second straight week, against the Arizona Cardinals, coach Doug Pederson announced Monday.
“After going through the film and really looking back even to last week and the preparation and everything, I’m going to continue with Jalen this week as the starter,” he said.
Pederson also announced that starting safety Rodney McLeod will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL and that starting cornerback Darius Slay is in the concussion protocol. Fellow corner Avonte Maddox will “miss some time” with a knee injury, Pederson added. All three members of the starting secondary were injured Sunday.
Earlier Monday, when appearing on 94.1 WIP, Pederson praised Hurts’ performance against the New Orleans Saints‘ top-ranked defense in his first career start, which helped fuel a 24-21 Eagles win. But Pederson held back from saying the rookie would remain under center.
Hurts went 17-for-30 for 167 yards and a touchdown against New Orleans and ran 18 times for 106 yards. He became the fifth Eagles quarterback to rush for 100 yards in the Super Bowl era, joining Mike Vick, Donovan McNabb, Randall Cunningham and Jack Concannon. He took no sacks and turned the ball over once.
With the win, the Eagles snapped a four-game losing streak and remained 1½ games behind the division-leading Washington Football Team.
The Eagles benched quarterback Carson Wentz last week after his season-long struggles.
