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Jalen Hurts will start quarterback in the Philadelphia Eagles’ NFL preseason opener Thursday night, and the former Alabama signalman wants to make sure his teammates are ready to play.
Hurts ran quizzes about his offensive teammates in the halls of the Eagles facility ahead of the Philadelphia preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“You want to make sure everyone knows what they’re doing,” Hurts said Tuesday. “It reassures you when you’re on the pitch. You have certain routes that have certain rules, certain things that activate against certain coverages, and you want to make sure everyone is doing it so that I don’t hesitate to worry that someone is wrong or being not aware of what he’s supposed to do.
“It takes communication, and I think that’s something, all of it, we just keep growing with it, keep learning from each other, keep learning this pattern.”
Hurts started the last four games of the 2020 season for the Eagles, and during the offseason, Philadelphia traded he replaced quarterback Carson Wentz to the Indianapolis Colts.
But new Eagles coach Nick Sirianni has refused to sign Hurts as Philadelphia’s No.1 quarterback for the 2021 season. In free agency this offseason, the Eagles have signed the 13-year veteran. Joe Flacco, who started 190 NFL games and won the MVP Award for Super Bowl XLVII.
On Tuesday, Sirianni said the Eagles’ quarterback rotation Thursday night would follow their training camp shift schedule, with Hurts leading 13-year-old veteran Joe Flacco and former Spain Park High School star Nick Mullens in the game.
“The same way it played out in training,” Sirianni said. “Jalen will go with the starters, then Joe will go after him and Nick will chase him.”
Sirianni said he believes it would be easier to assess Hurts’ efficiency and effectiveness in the new attack in a match than it has been in no tackling practices, as the quarterback rear will be free to use his elusive and his ability to create if the games go down.
“I ran into Tyler, my assistant, he’s the one whistling the bags (in practice), so I said he was a little premature on a few of those whistles the other day,” Sirianni said. “I really think this team knows how to train. They know, ‘Hey, we’ve got to practice and stay away from the quarterback,’ so they’re doing a good job. And there are things like, ‘Hey, would he have the bag over there?’ I do not know. The defense would say yes; the offense would say no. Now you will see this in the game because no two handed touches on Thursday. “
The Steelers and Eagles meet Thursday at 6:30 p.m. CDT at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Pittsburgh has already played a pre-season game. The Steelers beat the Dallas Cowboys 16-3 in the Hall of Fame game last week to kick off the NFL’s return to preseason.
Former Alabama All-American Landon Dickerson won’t get his first NFL action on Thursday night. The offensive lineman is on Philadelphia’s football non-injured roster and hasn’t trained with the team since training camp opened last month.
A second-round pick in the April 30 NFL Draft, Dickerson is recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament. He injured his knee on Dec. 19 in Alabama’s 52-46 victory over Florida in the SEC Championship game.
“I’m not going to put a schedule on Landon,” Sirianni said Tuesday, “but I know he’s working hard with the training staff to get ready to leave. I see him working at full speed in the gyms every day. meetings and speeding through the walkthroughs and watching the reps too, so I’m happy with his mental state. That’s all we can really judge about him right now – and where he’s at. in his rehabilitation program.
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
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