Jalen Hurts recalls meeting Aaron Rodgers for first time

The Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles will kick off on Sunday night. At 4-7, the Packers are fighting to stay alive in the hunt for the NFC Playoffs. On the opposite side of the proverbial coin, the 9-1 Eagles are hoping to increase their position as the top seed in the NFC. 

The matchup also pits back-to-back MVP Aaron Rodgers against Jalen Hurts, one of the favorites for this season’s MVP Award. 

The two quarterbacks could not be any more different, yet Hurts recently recounted one thing he learned from Rodgers when he first met him back in 2020.

Hurts first met Rodgers after the Packers defeated the Eagles on Dec. 6, 2020. 

After the game, Rodgers and Hurts had a brief exchange. Hurts had come into the game in relief of Carson Wentz and was named the Eagles’ starter the next week. 

According to the Delaware News Journal, Hurts said back then that he told Rodgers that he was trying to give the Eagles’ defense a good scout-team look at Rodgers that week in practice.

[Rodgers]: ‘Did you get the cadence down?’

[Hurts]: ‘I’m still working on that. Not on your level yet.’ It was a lot of fun talk.'

When asked what he took away from that game, and from watching Rodgers [and other quarterbacks] play, Hurts said, “I have a lot of respect for any quarterback that goes out there and plays the game in an efficient, winning way. I think when you look at the NFL right now, there are a ton of different quarterbacks that do it in their own way.”

In other words, Hurts saw that Rodgers and the Packers were winning because Rodgers was efficient in the way he played the quarterback position. 

Hurts does not have the same strengths as Rodgers, but he does have strengths that Rodgers does not have. Hurts learned that he did not have to be like Rodgers, he had to find a way to be efficient like Rodgers.

Fortunately for the Eagles, it appears that Hurts has done just that. Hurts has a passer rating of 106.5 to go with 15 touchdowns and just three interceptions. 

Unfortunately for the Packers, they will have to figure out a way to stop him on Sunday night.