In last week’s win over the Green Bay Packers, the Philadelphia Eagles(11-1) ran for 363 yards. Hurts had a team-record 157 yards rushing. The running game led the way for Philadelphia.
This week, against the Titans(7-5), Hurts and the Eagles found a different way to win. Hurts was 29/39 for 380 yards and four touchdowns, including one on the ground, as Philadelphia rolled over the Titans 35-10 at Lincoln Financial Field to move to 11-1.
“Nothing good ever gets done if every man doesn’t do their job and dominate their box, and that’s what we strive to do. I come up here, and I give these analogies about steakhouses or whatever, but that’s our reality,” Hurts said after the win. “We work really hard, and we prepare really hard, and sometimes it just looks different. Regardless of how we’re attacking a defense, we just want to execute in whatever it is we’re doing.”
The offense scored 35 points and had 453 yards of total offense. Conversely, the defense was relentless as they recorded six sacks, held the Titans to 209 total yards, and limited Derrick Henry to just 30 yards on 11 carries.
However, Philadelphia did have 12 penalties, despite that, the Eagles played a complete game for the first time this season.
“Obviously, we played well at every phase of this game: offense, defense, and special teams. Offensively, we have things we have to clean up, some pre-snap penalties,” Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said. “So, we’ll get better from that. There are some ways we can do that and clean that up. I have to do a better job coaching it, and we’ll clean that up.
“But that was a pretty complete game for us, and I think that is a really good football team. I have a lot of respect for the players and coaches over there, and I just think that is a good football team.”
A subplot of this game was A.J. Brown going against his former team. Brown got revenge after catching five passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns; the two touchdown receptions were 40 and 29 yards.
“This one meant a lot to me,” Brown said. “Early on, I had mixed emotions about the trade and everything, and I’d be lying to you to say I didn’t circle this game.”
Before his first touchdown, Brown appeared to have caught a touchdown, but he was ruled out of bounds. On the next play, after a collision with Titans corner Kristian Fulton, Brown broke wide open and Hurts connected with him to give the Eagles a 14-7 lead in the second quarter.
“Yeah, I think that was huge,” Brown said of the touchdown. “I just think that shows the faith [Eagles QB Jalen Hurts] has in me. Just to come right back to me. I had regular out, but Jalen told me when I was leaving the huddle, he said, ‘pump it.’ So, I was like, ‘let’s do it.’”
Regarding the defense, they held Titans running back Derrick Henry in check, which, according to Eagles DE Brandon Graham, was the defense’s attitude coming into the game.
I felt like everyone’s attitude was to stop [Titans RB] Derrick [Henry]. That is all we kept hearing. That is what they are going to do. They are going to run the ball, screen us, and play quick ball with play-action and deep shots. That is exactly what we got, and I feel like we started from the jump with meeting them at the line and making tackles.”
The Eagles hope to keep the winning going next Sunday at MetLife Stadium against the Giants.
Notes:
Philadelphia (363 rushing on 11/27/22 vs. Green Bay; 386 passing on 12/4/22 vs. Tennessee) is the first NFL team to throw for 350+ yards after rushing for 350+ yards the previous week since the 1987 Los Angeles Raiders (356 rushing on 11/30/87; 360 passing on 12/6/87).
Overall, the Eagles produced 453 total yards (386 passing; 67 rushing), marking the second time this season that they registered 450+ total yards in consecutive games (also 9/11/22-9/19/22). Philadelphia is one of only three NFL teams to have at least 4 games with 450+ total yards this year, joining Kansas City (5) and Miami (4).
The Eagles have scored 35+ points in back-to-back games for the first time since 11/5/17-11/19/17 (also 2).
