PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Out of NFL concussion protocol, Jalen Hurts is ready to roll for the Eagles.
With Hurts cleared, the NFC East champion Eagles (14-3) are close to full strength in the starting lineup for their NFC wild-card game Sunday against Green Bay.
“You always feel better when Jalen Hurts is on the field,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said Friday.
The Eagles quarterback hasn’t played since he suffered a concussion and left a Dec. 22 game early against Washington. The 26-year-old Hurts returned to practice this week, a sure sign he was healthy enough to make the postseason start. Hurts missed the final two games — where backups Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee led the Eagles to victories — but led the Eagles on a 10-game winning streak before he was injured in a loss to the Commanders.
The Eagles were a 4 1/2-point favorite on Monday to beat the Packers and had 7-1 odds to win the Super Bowl, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. On Friday, the Eagles moved to 5 1/2-point favorites to beat Green Bay.
There are five phases in the concussion protocol, with the final one clearance by an independent neurological consultant.
Hurts said he had never suffered a concussion but added, “I feel great now.”
The Eagles are a legitimate Super Bowl contender with Hurts in the lineup and should have the upper-hand against Green Bay when it comes to healthy quarterbacks. Packers QB Jordan Love said this week his elbow — injured in the regular-season finale — was still sore, and he felt pain when he did some limited throwing in practice.
“It's fun being around the guys. That's really the main thing there," Hurts said. “This team, these guys, are a big part of my routine. Just being around them. Taking ball. It's been a great week.”
Hurts, who played late in the season with a broken finger on his non-throwing hand, threw for 2,903 yards this season with 18 touchdowns and five interceptions. He threw only one interception after the NFC East champion Eagles returned from their Week 5 bye. Thanks to the tush push, Hurts has 14 rushing touchdowns this season.
“We're always careful with him,” Sirianni said. “He’s our quarterback so we always want to be careful with him. We always think about his health first and foremost because you never want him not to be on the field. You always want Jalen Hurts on the field."
The Eagles seemingly erased minor concerns about the health of their receivers when they were all cleared Friday to play.
The Eagles got a needed boost when tight end Dallas Goedert returned from a four-game absence with a knee injury and was productive in his return in the regular-season finale with four catches for 55 yards. Wide receivers A.J Brown, who had 67 catches for 1,079 yards, and DeVonta Smith both missed a practice this week for rest and minor injury recovery.
Banged-up or not, Geodert, Smith and Brown are going to play against the Packers (11-6).
“Any time you can have them all on the field at the same time, it's a good thing,” Sirianni said. “Those guys are really good players so we're excited about the opportunity they'll have together.”
As for the question of rest vs. rust late in the season, Sirianni had no concerns that Hurts’ production would suffer from the layoff or that he wouldn’t easily again find an instant connection with his receivers.
“They've got a lot of reps together prior to the last couple of weeks,” Sirianni said. “A lot, a lot of reps together. So that's not a concern of mine. I just feel like we're in a good spot going into this game.”
Hurts was 20 of 34 for 278 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions and led the Eagles to a 34-29 victory over the Packers in the season opener.
Hurts is a dual threat for the Eagles and his ability to run at any time is what has made him such a highly-paid — a $179.3 million guaranteed extension in 2023 — and dangerous — NFL MVP runner-up in 2022 — quarterback. He rushed for 630 yards this season. Hurts, though, was hurt against the Commanders after his head slammed against the ground on one run and he was hit in the helmet by Frankie Luvu at the end of another. Hurts had given a thumbs up that he was good to go but officials made him get tested for a concussion.
“I'm thankful that the refs and everyone, they did what they were supposed to do in that time,” Hurts said. “They made the right decision in that moment.”
Hey, at least the Eagles have the ninth 2,000-yard single-season rusher in NFL history in the backfield with Saquon Barkley if they really want to run.
So who backs up Hurts?
Pickett started the first game in Hurts' absence against Dallas but was forced out with injured ribs. McKee, a career-third stringer, took the first regular-season snaps of his NFL career in relief of Pickett and threw two touchdowns. He started last week against the Giants and threw for 269 yards and two touchdowns.
It's always a peace of mind for any playoff team to have solid backups just in case of emergency.
Just ask the Eagles.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) running with the ball during the first half of an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) walking off the field during the first half of an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) running with the ball during the first half of an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
CAIRO (AP) — The latest attack on the international airport in Saudi Arabia's capital of Riyadh killed 12 people and injured over 300 others, civil aviation authorities said early Sunday, with some in critical condition. A Saudi-led coalition blamed Iran-backed Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen.
It was the deadliest attack in any Gulf Arab country since the start of the Iran war, whose fronts have expanded to include the recent surge in fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces.
A missile struck a King Khalid International Airport complex housing terminals 3 and 4 for domestic flights, a regional official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media.
The Saudi statement said the dead included four Saudi citizens as well as two Bangladeshi nationals, a Palestinian, a U.S. citizen, an Egyptian, a Jordanian, a Syrian and a Sudanese. It said the injured were being treated at several hospitals.
Footage posted on social media following the attack and analyzed by The Associated Press shows emergency vehicles outside the airport.
The attack — the latest of several in the past week on the airport — is expected to increase Saudi pressure on allies including the United States to provide military support for the kingdom, which has seemingly tried to avoid all-out war with the Houthis.
Shortly after the attack on Saturday afternoon, U.S. President Donald Trump said he was evaluating whether the U.S. should join Saudi strikes against the rebels. “We may. We’re going to look at it,” he said. “We just found out about the recent attack. So we’ll make a decision. We move very quickly.”
Trump later Saturday said he planned to speak to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and said “what happened in Saudi Arabia is not acceptable.” Asked if the U.S. might get involved, Trump responded, “We’ll find out.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged in a social media post that an American citizen had been killed in the attack, which he condemned.
“These reprehensible attacks demonstrate a blatant disregard for innocent civilian life. They must stop now,” he said.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis blamed them for the attack, calling it a “fully-fledged war crime” and vowing a firm response. The airport has no military facilities.
There was no immediate statement from the rebels, who earlier Saturday accused Saudi Arabia of striking Sanaa International Airport in the Houthi-held Yemeni capital.
The Houthis claimed attacks earlier in the week on King Khalid International Airport that killed three Saudis, including a pilot. The surge in attacks, including against other Saudi airports, military facilities and oil infrastructure, has come in the week since a Saudi-led coalition launched a major military offensive against the Houthis.
Saudi civil aviation authorities earlier Saturday said airport operations were suspended. The airport had a heavy police presence, with all entrances blocked, and lights around the complex were dimmed. Flights diverted elsewhere, the Flightradar24 tracker said. Countries including the United States, Britain, Germany, Australia and Canada warned citizens to avoid the airport.
Also Saturday, U.S. Central Command said a fighter jet struck and disabled a commercial cargo vessel with a precision munition in the Gulf of Oman, part of U.S. efforts to maintain a naval blockade of Iranian ports. The Panama-flagged M/V Ocean Molica had departed an Iranian port and did not heed repeated warnings. The ship’s crew was unharmed, CENTCOM said.
The attacks on Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, have rattled markets and the region. And yet the Saudi energy ministry hours after the latest one was still promoting a major international energy conference set to begin in Riyadh on Sunday.
Until recently, the Houthis had been largely on the sidelines of the Iran war. Now the rebels are a way for Tehran to apply pressure on a key U.S. ally.
The Saudis and the Houthis began fighting in 2015 when the kingdom entered Yemen’s civil war on behalf of the internationally recognized government. Relative calm after a 2022 ceasefire ended in July when the Houthis resumed attacks, saying the Saudis fired on the Sanaa airport as a plane from Iran was trying to land. That revived anger over the Saudi-led blockade that has largely isolated Houthi-run areas.
Now fighting has escalated, with the Saudi-led coalition providing air support for Yemeni government forces attempting to reverse recent Houthi gains along the Red Sea. Those gains gave the rebels better surveillance of shipping on a corridor that is a crucial alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has been attacking ships.
While the Houthis have said they are only targeting Saudi shipping as part of a blockade in retaliation for the one imposed on them, concerns about wider attacks persist. The Houthis previously attacked dozens of ships after the war in Gaza began, calling it solidarity with Palestinians. A U.S. bombing campaign sharply limited that.
Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors and has asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt to deploy air defense support to the region, regional officials told the AP last month, with one noting that the U.S. has seen its own stock dwindle during the war with Iran.
Officials have said U.S. assistance has included intelligence sharing, target identification and planning for the latest offensive against the Houthis.
On Saturday, Saudi Arabia said its foreign minister and Omani counterpart spoke by phone about the importance of “supporting diplomatic solutions to de-escalate tensions” in the region. Oman, which lies across the Strait of Hormuz from Iran, has played a mediator role at times in the region.
The Houthis this week warned global airlines “for the last time” about the potential consequences of operating in Saudi airspace, which they described as a theater for their military operations.
Before the latest attack, Air India, FlyDubai, Lufthansa Group and Pakistan International Airlines were among airlines suspending flights to and from Riyadh and other Saudi airports for varying periods.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency had expanded its guidance on Saudi airspace, noting the Houthis’ ability to strike targets deeper inside the kingdom, including Riyadh, and a “greater focus on aviation infrastructure.”
The missile and drone attacks and interception efforts “create an increased risk of misidentification of civil aircraft,” it said.
Two regional officials said Houthi attacks on the Riyadh airport on Thursday damaged three planes. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to brief the media. The Saudi national carrier said one of its aircraft was damaged while it was on the ground, with no passengers on board.
Meanwhile, Saudi authorities warned the public this week that “filming, publishing or sharing information related to countering missiles and drones and their impact sites exposes you to legal liability.”
Anna reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Victoria Eastwood in Cairo, Collin Binkley in Washington and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed to this report.
This image from video obtained and verified by AP shows thick black smoke and flames rising from a fire at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
