The NFL schedule for the 2024 season was released, grabbing the immediate attention of football fans. It’s Patrick Mahomes vs Lamar Jackson, and Kirk Cousins vs. Russell Wilson that will be witnessed initially by the audience. And per the latest news from the schedule leak, one of the first opening games will also be between Joe Burrow and Jalen Hurts. Exciting times are ahead indeed!

Burrow and Hurts are one of the highest-paid QBs in the league. While the Eagles QB had a disappointing season last year, we also didn’t see much of Joe Burrow after he was ejected from the 2023 season due to his season-ending wrist injury. But thanks to the Eagles Nation page on X, we got a much-needed update about this $500M+ QB clash.

Can Joe Burrow beat Jalen Hurts despite coming off an injury?

The page took to X and confirmed that the Eagles and the Bengals will be going head-to-head in week 8 of the upcoming season. The post was captioned, “Eagles @ Bengals Week 8 at 4:25 PM.” The page later mentioned in the comments that, “If correct, this would be October 27th.”

An interesting thing to note here is that Jalen Hurts and Joe Burrow have only played once against each other. It was in 2020 when the game between the Eagles and Bengals resulted in a draw with a final score of 23-23. So, Jalen Hurts is 0-0-1 against Joe Burrow’s Bengals throughout his career.

However, though their first and only clash ended up in a draw, Jalen Hurts currently appears to be a better quarterback on paper. Hurts played 62 games in his career to Burrow’s 52. The Eagles QB also holds an overall 34-17-0 record to go opposite to Burrow’s 29-22-1. However, the Bengals QB steals the show with more career passing yards (14083) and a better pass completion rate (68%) than Hurts’ 63.4%.

However, Hurts is a 2x Pro Bowler, and Burrow only made it to the Pro Bowl once. Now, coming off an injury, it would be exciting to see whether Joe Burrow will show improvement in the future to go strong against the Eagles challenge.

The plight of the struggling QBs

It’s common news by now that Jalen Hurts suffered a finger injury before reaching the playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He played with a healing dislocated finger and couldn’t bring out his A-game. The team’s offense was predictable to add to the troubles. But this year will be different because the team has signed Saquon Barkley, hired a new OC, and even extended AJ Brown to show their commitment to being a stable offensive side. The story of Joe Burrow is a bit similar but slightly peculiar.

The Bengals QB also suffered a hand injury, but it eliminated him from competing throughout the season. Also, Burrow’s injury is unique in NFL’s history and there is a risk of him catching arthritis early in his life, according to reports surrounding the QB. The wrist injury has affected his dart thrower motion as well, which is an integral follow-through action. A couple of practice session videos suggest that his recovery is well underway.

There are parallels in their injury arc as well, except that Burrow had it a little worse. But after going through all these struggles, it would be incredible to see them bounce back and face each other in a clash to secure their first victory against each other.