The Josh Innes Show - Eagles Pull Of A Stunner

Episode Date: September 22, 2025

I'm fully aware that I bang on the Philly media people for dogging Jalen Hurts. But, the dude just isn't very good. I heard Greg Olsen say something about Hurts that I thought was so damning. Now, the dude does continue to win. But, for how long? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you're with Amex Platinum, you get access to exclusive dining experiences and an annual travel credit. So the best tapas in town might be in a new town altogether. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at Amex.ca. So I hate to jump on board the WIP slash Philadelphia Media train if people have just bang on Jalen Hertz because at the end of the day the guy wins games and you have

to get credit for winning games. But the guy is just not an impressive player. Like, congrats, you came back. That's impressive that you were to rally and beat the Rams and that's cool. But the fact that you're down 19 points at one point in that game is. is basically because your quarterback is not good. Either he's not good or they don't let him be good. But once you're down 19, you're allowed to throw the ball all over the place.

But let me play a couple of commercials and we'll talk about it. Yeah, good for him and they win games. I talked about this in the earlier episode. But when you watch Jalen Hertz play and you ask yourself, how many GMs across the league would take Jalen Hertz over the guy they have? Like, where would Jalen Hertz be? If you were starting a franchise today, now mind you, this guy that's been to two Super Bowls, one, one.

If you were starting a franchise today, how many quarterbacks would be taken over Hertz? You can have any guy you want, and every factor would obviously come in, whether it be age or whatever. But you're trying to win a Super Bowl right now. You're trying to win and you get to start a franchise. It's an expansion draft and you can take any quarterback from any team. There's a new rule you're allowed to take whatever quarterback you want. How far down the line would Jalen Hertz be? And he'd be behind the Mahomes and he'd be behind Lamar and he'd be behind Josh Allen.

He'd be behind Justin Herbert. Like there are guys that are clear. He'd be behind, go down the list of guys. How far down the list would you have to go for the quarterback to be taken to be Jalen Hurts? How far down that list? Now, there are guys that are probably better quarterbacks than him talent-wise, but they're also older, and you just maybe you wouldn't take a guy because he's in his early 30s or something. But just being a quarterback and you had to take someone to be the starting quarterback of your team, there aren't a lot of people taking Jalen Hertz because he's not very good. Like, there was something I saw interesting during the game, and I briefly alluded to it earlier.

But I'm watching it, and it's Greg Olson calling the game. And he's like, well, you know, it's not like Jalen Hurts did much in the first half, but they don't ask him to do a lot. And that's like they go out of their way to let you know that the reason Jalen Hurts doesn't do anything is because they don't ask him to do a lot. But you never hear that about any other quarterback in the league. Like there could be halves where Justin Herbert hands the ball off a bunch and only has 40 passing yards. But you're never going to hear an announcer go, yeah, they just don't ask him to do a lot. Justin Herbert's not asked to do a lot or Pat Mahomes doesn't ask to do a lot

or Josh Allen's not asked to do a lot You don't hear that about other players But you hear that about Jalen Hertz And the reason they say that about Jalen Hertz is because no, they don't ask him to do a lot Why don't they ask him to do a lot? Because he's not very good The only time he does anything of substance

offensively as a player and putting up numbers is when they are losing And you have to take into consideration that the defense changes a little bit when they're up 19 points, so they handle things a little bit differently. But, like, what I saw yesterday to me, like, I don't circle that game and go, wow, that's a statement game from Jalen Hertz that he can play. I circle that as, like, they won, and that's what they do with Jalen Hertz,

and you can't take away the fact that they win. But the fact that they're down 19 has a whole hell of a lot to do with Jalen Hertz and his inability to do anything effective when they're not down 19 and just saying, fuck it, let's go. Like, this guy has talent all over the field. A.J. Brown is a top five receiver and the guy barely touches the fucking ball because they can't get him the ball. And they can't get him the ball because Jalen Hertz isn't very good. And that's okay. They find ways to win. They continue to beat teams. They continue to run the ball well. They continue to do what they have to do. But as you saw yesterday. Like I don't view yesterday as a, well, you see when things are going poorly, they can still find a way with Jalen Hertz. I just view that as they're getting their ass kicked. in large part because Jalen Hertz is inept.

And then when they just kind of open things up and say, sling it, big guy, he can make plays. My question is, why don't they do that more often? And I think that A.J. Brown was sort of asking that in the post game. When he's like, you know, I wish we'd kind of just sling it around a little bit. And we got these guys, let them get the ball and let them make things happen. Instead, they run the offense like a fucking high school team. They run the offense like three yards in the cloud of dust with these dudes.

If you want me to believe that Jalen Hertz is good And you want me to see that Jalen Hertz is good And I already know that he's fine But if you want me to know that he's really fucking good Here's an idea Put the ball in his hands and let him throw to people But you don't And that's why, like why do you even pay A.J. Brown

Why do you have A.J. Brown If you're not going to throw the ball to A.J. Brown. And not when you're down 19 and you have no choice but to throw it to A.J. Brown. How about you don't fall down by 19 and the way you don't fall down by 19 is be pathetic for two quarters. So, and I get it. Like, people will rip me for that, and I understand it.

You know, like on Twitter yesterday, the whole world is ripping Jalen Hertz and they're ripping the Eagles, but then the Eagles rally, and now the McDougals come to his defense, and they tell me I'm a piece of shit, and that's fine. I expect that. I can handle it. But I consider me one of these dudes now, like, I just, I don't think Jalen Hertz is good. But it's a mirat – if Jalen Hertz had to start on his own

and be the quarterback of the Raiders, do you believe that Jalen Hertz would be any good? Like everybody says, a great starting quarterback changes a team, right? If you put Jalen Hertz in with the Titans right now, if he were the starter and Cam Ward were watching him as a backup waiting in the wings, do you believe that the Titans are better than the O and 3 they already are? Maybe a game would have been closer here or there, but are they really a better football team than the O and three? Are they still O and three?

Is Jalen Hertz finding ways to win? And that's why I kind of compared him to Dilfer. And you could say it's an exaggeration, but my point stands, and I thought it was a valid point, and I still do, that in 25 years from now, people of another generation are going to look at Jalen Hertz winning a Super Bowl and the same way we look at Trent Dilfer winning a Super Bowl. And by that, I mean, he was okay, and he wrote a really good fucking defense, and he rode the people around him and he won.

Is Jalen Hertz a more gifted athlete than Trent Dilfer? Sure. Did he have a more accomplished college career? Sure. Can he make plays that Trent Dilfer can't make? Sure. But my point is, we're going to look back on Jalen Hertz and we're going to go, eh, he was fine.

How did he go to two Super Bowls? And we'll probably go, how the fuck did Josh Allen not win a Super Bowl? Like, there are guys that are going to fall into that category, that are going to be like the Marino types where we go, holy shit, this guy was otherworldly. rock star talented and didn't win a Super Bowl. And then there's going to be the guys that did win a Super Bowl that were like, how the fuck did that guy win a Super Bowl? His numbers are terrible.

Like, he's just not very good. He's known for being the guy that's pushed two yards to get first downs. Like, how? And that will be Jalen Hertz. He will be that guy. He will be a Trent Dilfer. He is a more talented player than Trent Dilfer. But he is not a guy that you'd look at and go, oh, yeah, that guy carries teams to

championship. Oh, but Josh, he was the best player in the Super Bowl. Yeah, it's possible for you to be the best player on the field in certain games. And again, credit to the dude. And maybe he should, shoulda, could have had two. So again, credit the guy. But when I watch him, I get frustrated watching them play because I feel like there's no reason they should be winning these games because of how inept he is at times on the field. Yet, there they go. I think that's the part that annoys me about them. Part of it is it doesn't feel sustainable. But then again, it is because they do it every year and they find ways to win 13 games. I'm trying to think of another example, another comparison, another comp, if you will, for

Jalen Hertz that would be like a little more respectful than saying he's Trent Dilfer. I'm trying to think of another example of a guy, a Super Bowl winning dude that you look back on and go, how the fuck did this guy win a Super Bowl? because I do think he's a better player than Trent Delfare. I'm more talented guy than Trent Delfer. But at the end of him, he's got tons of talent everywhere on the field, a defense that's salty, good head coach, got all this shit. I'm trying to think.

I'll think of one. But I hate watching them play because their games are just, ugh, they're just slogs. Like, there's no real rhythm to what they do. It's a lot of just busted running plays. Like, it's just, it's not a enjoy. Now, it's more enjoyable than, say, watching the Texans, because the Texans are just dreadful. So when you watch them on offense, it's painful. It's not painful to watch the Eagles on offense.

It's just kind of blah. Like, you're watching it and you're like, there's just no rhythm. There's nothing sexy about it. There's nothing like, like, real talk, you watch the Colts play the last three weeks, and it's like, these dudes are just out here, bang, bang, bang, delivering 30-yard pass here, busting a 20-yard run here. The Eagles are just not even surgical. I don't think surgical is the word I'm looking for

They're just not even methodical It's just kind of blah Offensive and look they're winning games They continue to win So I can't rip them for that And I can't rip Jalen Hertz as he also finds ways to win But like Tebow right

You look at the guy like Tebow They're both super talented Quarterbacks at the college level And obviously Jalen Hertz is a better player at the pro level than Tebow was But in the same way that, like, Tebow, you're like, how the fuck did he win some of these games? That's how I feel about Jalen Hurts. I just don't think he's that good.

And most Philly people don't either. But then when he comes back and wins, you've got to sit there and go, oh, my God, this guy's great, blah, blah, blah. And he, blah. But I just, I don't get it. I don't buy it. I don't believe it. Like, we're going to look back 25 years from now, 30 years from now and go, huh, that guy. And then you're going to look at a guy like Justin Herbert who has every intangible, every tool,

everything you could ever imagine in a quarterback and he's not going to have a Super Bowl and we're going to go, how the fuck? It's like how Manning in theory should have had more. He went to, what, three and won two of them, one with Denver. And you're like, how did Peyton Manning not win seven of these? Then the guy like Brady, who was a six-round pick, has seven of them.

You know, like, I get it. Like, these are the things that happen. But I think we're going to look back and go, how the fuck did Justin Herbert and Josh Allen not have Super Bowls? And we're going to look at Hertz and go, Huh. This guy who, they are afraid to let him throw early in games. That is the only, like the play calling is so conservative. And again, on TV, they're like, well, they just don't, you know, they don't feel like they need to, you know, he's not needed.

They got to make sure that, you know, he's not asked to do a lot. Every quarterback is asked to do a lot. That's like the prerequisite for the job. You are asked to do a lot because you are the quarterback. They don't really ask him to do much. Why? So they can fall down by 19 and have no choice but to throw? I don't get that thinking. Anyway, more to come.