The Eagles are soaring high—they can hardly see the ground. Now, after beating the Rams 37-20 in week 12, they have 7 straight wins taking their record to 9-2. You’d say form and consistency, aka momentum, is key. But, uh-huh, Jalen Hurts doesn’t believe there’s no such thing as momentum.

Hurts dropped a bombshell after the game: “Momentum is the fakest thing out there because it can end and begin at any moment.” Wait, what? No momentum? That’s like saying the two-minute drill doesn’t matter.

Now, contrast that with Patrick Mahomes, the poster boy for momentum. The Chiefs are sitting pretty at 10-1, and Mahomes has credited momentum so often it’s practically his post-game catchphrase. From preseason chatter to playoff pushes, Pat’s all about building and riding that energy.

“You want to have that momentum going into the regular season,” Mahomes said before the 2023 campaign. Even after the Chiefs’ lone loss this season (against the Bills in week 11), he pointed to shifting momentum as the game-changer: “I mean there’s just I think a couple plays here and there kind of change the momentum of the game.” It’s like he and Hurts are playing in two different universes.

But is Hurts wrong? Not necessarily. His take is more about staying grounded, focusing on each snap, each play, and not getting carried away. He explained it perfectly: “We just want to continue to build, learn from our mistakes, and play good ball.” That mindset might not come with flashy soundbites, but it’s working. The Eagles are sitting on a seven-game win streak for a reason.

So, who’s got it right—Mahomes or Hurts? Honestly, it’s probably a mix of both. You can see with this comparison of Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts’ 2024 season so far…

Mahomes thrives on momentum, using it as fuel to go and win the next game because of that. On the flip side, Hurts just believes in building, grinding, and working for each play. Different strokes for different QBs. Like they say: “To each its own.” And to be honest, if we are to shift our focus away from Mahomes (for a little) we might see Jalen hurting opposition defenses in ways they don’t have a reply to.

Jalen Hurts hails the ‘bad man’ for success

On a night when Jalen Hurts wasn’t exactly lighting up the stat sheet—179 passing yards and a single touchdown—his receivers and running backs decided to steal the show. And man, was it a show? After the Eagles’ 37-20 victory over the Rams, Hurts couldn’t help but hype up the real star of the night: Saquon Barkley. The guy was in video game mode, and Hurts was like all of us, watching in awe.

During his post-game interview, Hurts cracked up while he rattled off Barkley’s mind-blowing stats. When Stark turned the mic back to Hurts and asked what made him laugh, he could only smile, nodding at Barkley, and said, “He’s a bad man.” And, yeah, he wasn’t wrong. Barkley set a franchise record for the Eagles with 255 rushing yards, tacked on 302 total yards, and scored two touchdowns that went over 70 yards each. It was the kind of performance that makes the internet lose its collective mind—like a 2009 meltdown all over again.

But let’s not forget about Hurts. He deserves some praise, too. Sure, Barkley is all over the headline for rewriting the Eagles’ record books. But the man under center took it personally. Clearly, he was really doing it loudly as we can make it out by the numbers. But Hurts quietly made NFL history of his own—most games by a quarterback with 2+ rushing touchdowns (15!). And he has punched in 9 rushing touchdowns over the past five weeks alone. Not bad for a guy who wasn’t the headline act, right?