Jalen Hurts trolls ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt following Eagles win against Commanders

Thursday night’s Eagles win against the Washington Commanders streamed on Amazon’s Prime Video, but it was an ESPN host who received some collateral damage.

Following the Birds’ win, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts appeared on SportsCenter with veteran anchor Scott Van Pelt, a Bethesda, Md., resident who grew up a Washington fan.

“Hey, Scott. How are you feeling?” Hurts asked mockingly. “You’re a DMV guy, huh?”

“I mean, is this what we’re going to do?” an amused Van Pelt shot back.

“No joke, everyone knows what you are. They’re trying to build down here, but, you know, we look forward to seeing you in our neighborhood in a while,” Van Pelt added. “I know there will be a lot of Philly fans in the building.”

“I like D.C.,” a smiling Hurts responded before ending the interview.

“The man comes out, puts on sunglasses, and heckling me on my show,” Van Pelt said.

Van Pelt grew up in the D.C. area rooting for Washington, and his four-minute rant savaging former owner Dan Snyder and former president Bruce Allen went viral back in 2019. Recall that during Snyder’s 21-year tenure as owner, the team notched just two playoff wins and burned through nine different head coaches.

The veteran SportsCenter anchor and Monday Night Countdown host, who has been with the network 23 years, even allowed himself to get sucked back into rooting for the team when they hired Ron Rivera as head coach back in 2019. We know how that turned out — Rivera was fired four years later with a 26-40 record as Washington’s head coach.

“If I’m Charlie Brown getting ready to run up and kick the football, and I’m flat on my back flying through the air getting ready to land on my back after they hoodwink me again, then so be it,” Van Pelt told the Washington Post in 2020.

The Eagles will travel down to Landover, Md., to face the Commanders at Northwest Stadium in Week 16 on Dec. 22, the Sunday before Christmas. Keep your eye on that one for a possible flex opportunity into Sunday Night Football, especially after the Birds were demoted off NBC’s prime-time game earlier this season.

Week 16′s Sunday Night Football game is currently scheduled to feature the 4-6 Tampa Bay Buccaneers against the lowly 3-6 Dallas Cowboys. It’s almost unheard of for a network to move out of a Cowboys game in a prime-time spot, but America’s Team could be awful enough this season to warrant it.

The NFL did flex the Cowboys off Sunday Night Football in 2020, moving their Week 15 game against the San Francisco 49ers to 1 p.m. and replacing it with New York Giants vs. Cleveland Browns. So while it’s rare, the NFL doesn’t want a terrible game in prime time if the league can avoid it.

As of now, the Eagles are scheduled to play one Sunday Night Football game — next week against the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 24, the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

Speaking of demotion, keep an eye on the Eagles’ Week 17 matchup against the Cowboys, which is currently slated for Fox’s national 4:25 p.m. window. That one could end up getting moved to 1 p.m.

A reminder of how the NFL’s flexible scheduling rules work: