Demarcus Lawrence doesn't want to hear the name Jalen Hurts. At least not until Sunday night, anyway.
That's when the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles square off in what should be a terrific battle and a huge early tilt toward determining the surprisingly good NFC East race.
But when Lawrence had a battery of Hurts questions hurled at him on Thursday, the ninth-year pro let it be known how he felt about throwing back bouquets at his rival's quarterback.
Asked if Hurts is playing better, Lawrence said, via The Athletic: "Has he played us? All right. All you need to write is (that) he hasn't played the Cowboys yet, so we don't know how good he is."
Lawrence did later call Hurts "a good QB" and praised the Eagles' offense in general, saying it arguably would be the best unit the Cowboys' defense has faced so far this season.
"They do have a pretty good offense," Lawrence said. "They (have) got a good WR corps, good QB, good O-line, so they're well-rounded."
Even so, it came with a caveat.
"But also, 'we 'Dem Boys,' " Lawrence said, per The Dallas Morning News. "Remember that. Don't worry about it. Y'all will see it on Sunday."
Hurts' numbers so far this season are up virtually across the board for the 5-0 Eagles. In 15 starts in 2021, Hurts completed 61.3% of his passes, averaged 7.3 yards per attempt and 209.6 pass yards per game. In five games this season, Hurts is completing 67.9% of his passes and averaging 8.5 yards per attempt and 271.8 pass yards per game.
And even though his rushing average is down a bit from 2021, Hurts already has more rushing scores (six) than games played this season. He ran for 10 TDs last season.
Yet Lawrence doesn't believe Hurts is suddenly an unstoppable force free of weaknesses.
"I think (Hurts) knows his system better," Lawrence said. "I think he's making better reads and stuff like that. But I think there are still areas that he struggles in, so just attack (those) areas."
Despite speeding up his time to throw this season dramatically, Hurts remains vulnerable to pressure -- in fact, even more so than in 2021. He's been sacked 11 times in 170 dropbacks, for a 6.5% sack rate, this season. In 2021, his sack rate was 5.7% (26 sacks in 458 dropbacks).
Lawrence, who has three sacks this season and recorded a fumble-return TD in Sunday's win over the Rams, continued to be asked about Hurts on Thursday. And he let Dallas-area media know exactly how he felt about that.
"How about this, that's the last question I'm going to hear about Hurts," Lawrence said. "For real though. Because I really don't care."
Lawrence added: "Y'all (are) asking me questions like I should be worried about (the Eagles). Never worried. Never scared. Never quivering from any situation. But I just want y'all to understand that we (are) coming to play, too."
Sunday night's showdown can't come fast enough.
