In terms of the game, you really should have watched the fourth quarter as Hurts caught fire at the end of the third quarter into the fourth. He led two TDs drives, a two point conversion and also another drive that ended in a missed FG. If Brady did not lead a beautiful 6 minute drive to kill the game in the fourth, Hurts gets the ball and most likely wins the game given they were only down 6 and steam rolling on offense.
In terms of the Mac comparisons, this is my take away. Hurts for sure is an inaccurate QB compared to Mac and many others BUT what he did last night was take some deep shots and 2 of his deep shots results in massive PI calls against Tampa setting Philly up for 2 of their 3 TDs. That is what Mac really needed to do vs that Tampa JV secondary which would have helped the Pats get more than 19 points and really force the Tampa offense out of its run control game in the second half.
While Hurts did run for only 44 yards, he scored 2 TDs with his legs and also extended a ton of pass plays as well because he can scramble so well. That is the dynamic type of playing that is needed at QB to win in today's league. It is not necessarily pretty or efficient per se but it stresses a defense. Tampa's front 7 got gassed in the fourth from chasing Hurts which is what led to Philly's impressive fourth quarter as they could no longer contain him by setting the edge. It also opened the pass game because they were forced to crowd the line to stop him and when they chose to play coverage, he would hurt them with the short passes.
I am not saying by any means that I would want Hurts over Mac but dismissing Hurts and what his game brings to the table vs Mac is a bit myopic. He had Tampa's D on the ropes and a potential W after being down 21 until Brady sealed it with the 6 minute drive at the end.
