Since it’s going to be an inevitable subject of discussion these next two weeks, let’s just get this out of the way now:
Yes, it was just the Jets. Moreover, it was against a Jets team that spent the entire week game-planning against Jalen Hurts. And, no, Gardner Minshew is not a starting-caliber quarterback. He’s a decent backup.
With that said, there were clearly things that Minshew did that Hurts does not, and you can see them regardless of the quality of the opponent. He stood in the pocket. He read the field, went through his progressions, and identified the open receiver. He threw accurate balls in, at least, the short area of the field. And he showed that you do not need to be an elite veteran quarterback to do these things.
And because Minshew was capable of that, Sirianni’s passing offense looked much better than it did in those first seven weeks. Which is what I had argued for some time after that Tampa Bay game when Hurts went up against an injured Bucs secondary and performed terribly.
This is not an argument for starting Minshew over Hurts going forward. But these are the things people rightfully question when discussing Hurts' ability to be a starting QB.