Week 5

Some disclaimers to start with. I am a lifelong Birds fan. I am a board certified physician in a field that routinely treats blood clots, including superficial thrombophlebitis, which is the condition Hurts is reportedly dealing with. I am not in any way affiliated with the team and have no access to his medical records. This post is not medical advice.

All of that out of the way, let's talk about what the decision to place Hurts on IR likely means.

So first of all, all of the reporting has thus far made clear that the condition he is dealing with is superficial thrombophlebitis, not a deep vein thrombosis. The difference is in the name, but to put it in layman's terms, he has a clot and inflammation of his superficial or skin level small veins, rather than the larger veins deeper in his leg. This is more often a result of trauma than a deep vein clot, which is typically the result of things like surgery, prolonged immobilization, cancer, or conditions which cause the blood to clot too much.

The initial treatment in a healthy young person, in whom the clot is small and below the knee, is anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen, heat, and rest. Direct trauma to the area is not likely to dislodge the clot, and we do not put these patients on specific activity restrictions beyond advising them to manage pain and avoid activities which worsen their pain. This is what they initially did for him.

There has been substantial discussion about the flight situation and it bears covering here. The association between air travel (or any other long haul travel) and blood clots is much more well-established in deep vein clots. It is also much stronger with flights of 12 or more hours, particularly ones in which the passenger sleeps for some or all of the flight, due to the sedentary nature of the flight and the upright position impairing venous blood return from the legs. Having him return on the flight after diagnosis was very reasonable. Given he was aware of the issue, ensuring that he simply got up and walked the aisle during the flight every hour or so would mitigate a majority of any risk. And again, the diagnosis wasn't made til they were in London.

Now the change this week, with the movement (or propagation) of the clot higher up the calf. This is a known potential complication of thrombophlebitis. It's something we tell patients to watch for an monitor for as patients recover. This is the area where not having exact records limits my ability to prognosticate.

Typically, if a clot is still in the calf but has grown or migrated higher into the calf in spite of traditional therapy, that is an indication to start anticoagulants (AKA blood thinners). The goal of these medicines is to prevent any further growth of the clot and allow the body time to dissolve the existing clot.

For a calf-only case of thrombophlebitis in a young healthy patient with no other risk factors for deep vein thrombosis, the standard duration of these would be 45 days. So roughly 6 and a half weeks. Within a week of being off of these meds, Hurts could be cleared for full contact practices. He could continue to do non-contact activities while on these meds. So he could theoretically return by the Cardinals game if everything goes well and subsequent ultrasounds show the clot has resolved.

Again, this is the best-case (though I'd also say likely) scenario here, barring any setbacks and assuming Jalen doesn't opt for a 90 day course (which is not what any hematologist is likely to recommend).

This is different than athletes like Chris Bosh, who had an actual deep vein clot and ended up on lifelong blood thinners. This is exceptionally unlikely to be an issue for Jalen after this year.

Happy to answer any questions. Go birds.

Our record and team performance hasn’t been top notch, so naturally we’re being pessimistic.

Hurts is out and I'm seeing even more panic.

As your resident unc and fellow Eagle fan, take a deep breathe and relax! This franchise has been surviving on backup QBs for 25 years. Here's every season since 2002 where a backup had to start games because the starter went down:

2002 - Koy Detmer / AJ Feeley - 5-1 - NFC Championship
2005 - Mike McMahon / Koy Detmer - 2-5 - missed playoffs
2006 - Jeff Garcia - 5-1 - Won wild card
2007 - AJ Feeley - 0-2 - missed playoffs
2009 - Kevin Kolb - 1-1 - Wild card
2010 - Michael Vick - 8-3 - Won NFC East/Wild card
2011 - Vince Young - 1-2 - missed playoffs (dream team :/)
2012 - Nick Foles - 1-5 - missed playoffs
2013 - Nick Foles - 8-2 - Won NFC East
2014 - Mark Sanchez - 4-4 - 10-6, missed playoffs on tiebreaker
2015 - Mark Sanchez - 0-2 - missed playoffs
2017 - Nick Foles - 2-1, then 3-0 in playoffs - SUPER BOWL CHAMPS
2018 - Nick Foles - 4-1 - Divisional round (Double Doink)
2021 - Gardner Minshew - 1-0 - Playoffs
2022 - Gardner Minshew - 0-2 - Super Bowl appearance
2024 - Kenny Pickett / Tanner McKee - 2-0 - SUPER BOWL CHAMPS

TL;DR:
16 seasons with a backup starting games
10 made the playoffs = 62.5%
Backups combined: 44-32 (.579)

2 of our Super Bowl titles came in seasons where a backup started games

Garcia went 5-1 and won a playoff game. Vick turned a Kolb concussion into an MVP-caliber run. Foles did it THREE times and gave us a parade. Sanchez went .500 and we still went 10-6.

This team’s ethos and soul is built to survive when their backs are against the wall. Hungry dogs run faster. Go Birds, DH!! 🦅

Enjoy the season and hope for the best!

TLDR: Call the offense like they do when the Eagles are losing regardless of the actual score.

During the entire Sirianni era, this team has turtled whenever they have a lead. Playing conservatively in the past has worked when the offense and defense were both very good. But it has continued through 2025 and 2026 despite the offensive struggles.

This year against the Rams every 1st down in the 2nd half was a run until they lost the lead. Against Jags first two drives of the 4th quarter started with 1 yard runs. We can’t just keep going 3 and out and keep asking the defense to provide miracles. It’s not 2024 anymore. It’s not working.

The offense goes from functional but not great in the first half to worst in the league in the 2nd. It isn’t until their exhausted defense finally gives up the lead that the offense gets a sense of urgency.

The 2025-2026 Eagles would not have called The Dagger. They would have just punted. Being worried that Daniels or Mahomes would come back led to about the only two games in the Sirianni era that they continued scoring until the game was out of reach.

Sirianni needs to recognize that getting a lead isn’t good enough. Until you get a 3 score lead or a 5 score lead, treat every drive like they need to get points. And I don’t mean play the same way but throw arm punts on 3rd down. I mean come out aggressive and throwing on 1st down. And don’t just run just to run, get creative and start pulling these undersized linemen and using misdirection.

It’s not going to be a magic cure-all but 7 more points in the 2nd half of every game and we’d be 4-1 easily.

I started composing this before Hurts went on IR but I still believe this team could still win this division and then once they’re in the playoffs anything can happen.

He told viewers to "go Google superficial blood clot as opposed to a real blood clot."

Hurts is dealing with a serious, potentially life-altering ailment, and Michael Robinson is suggesting he's playing it up so the team can't blame this "lost season" on him. I'd say you can't make this shit up, but apparently you can. On the NFL's own network.

Come watch @ Delaney’s Irish Pub.

Retiring a trusty TV stand. Universal mount, all the original bolts are included. Rolls like a breeze or locks in place, level as shit. DM if interested, first pickup gets it free ($50 on Amazon).

Hi everyone, my husband and I are visiting from Germany as it’s been his dream to attend a home game. He wants to see the tailgate tomorrow before the game, but not sure what this looks like timing wise, like how early should we show up? and can we just walk through without knowing anyone?

I am by no mean throwing away the season, but things are a little bleak and maybe it would be good to focus on something more optimistic. Anybody in particular that you have been looking at in the draft? I've got a couple;

Dylan Stewart(Edge) South Carolina - This man reminds me of Jalen Carter so much, right down to the character concerns. He is probably the most athletically gifted prospect in the entire draft other than Smith. A lot of advanced analytics like him more than Simmons too, I don't particularly know if that translates but it is an interesting comparison. If he started sliding I would 100% be down to grab him.

Peter Clarke(TE) Temple - Here's one for the locals, London,UK born Peter Clarke put together an impressive season last year in ways that reflect on needs we probably are still gonna have at the end of the year. Tight end is definitely gonna be a glaring red mark after Goedart leaves in free agency, Calcaterra is suboptimal and we don't know what we have in Eli Stowers yet. Clarke brings not only a receiving dynamic to the field but an above average blocking edge as well. That tweet above is from October of 2025 and he's only progressively gotten better since.

LJ Martin(RB) BYU - Bigsby is gone after this year and I don't know about Shipley's durability, it would be good to pick up a running back to spell Barkley, or maybe even replace him eventually? Martin is has real good balance and is able to bounce off tackles well. He's patient and is good at letting blocks develop, along with solid hands on check downs and screens. He can be an all around weapon for our offense.

Jeremiah Smith(WR) Ohio St - Lol, could you imagine? I'm praying to all the gods for their blessings for Jeremiah Smith. It doesn't matter the we already have Devonta and Lemon, Jeremiah is generational.

Anybody you keen on us drafting?