The Eagles have seven players on their roster who played under Alabama coach Nick Saban, who announced his retirement Wednesday. Hurts, who spent first three collegiate years with the Crimson Tide before transferring to Oklahoma, walked into his press conference wearing Alabama shorts.

The Eagles quarterback told reporters that “Coach Saban knows I have a ton of respect for him” after being asked what the historic coach meant to him.

“I think [it’s] a sad day for the game of football, just knowing how much he’s [meant] to the game, it’s surreal,” Hurts said. “He’s always been coaching ever since I’ve been alive and growing up; you know what he’s been and then knowing why I committed to that university because of the man he was and the intentions he had and the way he went about his business and his process.”

During an appearance Wednesday on WIP-FM (94.1), tight end Dallas Goedert suggested that the Eagles may have overlooked their last couple of games, doubling down on his comments after Sunday’s loss when he said that players were already looking ahead to the postseason four or five weeks ago.

“We lost a couple of games in the hard stretch and it’s like, ‘It’s OK, we’ll win the games at the end of the year, the three games at the end of the year that seem really winnable,’” Goedert said Wednesday. “We might have overlooked it, we might have just coasted and expected our talent to win games.”

When asked about Thursday about those comments, Goedert said his “statement probably got taken a little bit off the tracks.”

“It’s one of those things where everybody’s looking to find a reason [for] ‘what’s happened these last six weeks?’ But I’d say I think we’re all locked in and ready to go this week. It’s going to be pedal to the metal, making sure everything gets dialed in the way it’s supposed to.”

The sixth-year tight end, who is averaging 42.3 receiving yards per game this season, his lowest since 2019, has just one touchdown in five games since returning from a broken forearm. In the Eagles’ Week 3 matchup with the Bucs, Goedert finished with five receptions for 41 yards.

Tags:Goedert, Jalen Hurts, Nick Saban