For the second week in a row, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts did not have his best game, but just like in Week 1, he and his teammates found a way.
Hurts completed 18 of 23 passes for 193 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. In addition, he ran for 35 yards and added two more touchdowns on the ground as the Eagles defeated the Minnesota Vikings 34-28 in the team’s home opener on Thursday night.
“For us, we found a way to get it done,” Hurts said after the win. “The reality is that the league is different from moment to moment. For us, we just continue to grow. Obviously, there were a ton of guys that made plays out there, not just myself. But there were a lot more plays out there for us to make.”
While Hurts has not been putting up eye-popping numbers, he’s getting the job done. In fact, Philadelphia has won 19 of its last 20 regular-season games Hurts. Since 2021, Hurts’ .750 winning percentage (24-8) leads all NFL quarterbacks.
After two weeks, teams are trying to limit the big plays this offense got last season in the passing game. The offense does not look entirely in sync; at this point, Hurts believes the team is finding its way.
“I think we are a work in progress,” he said. “What better way to be a work in progress than sitting on two wins out of the gate in ten days, or however many days it was. We strive for progress, not perfection. Obviously, we all have a standard for ourselves. Obviously, we demand the most of ourselves because of everything that we go through together, all the work that we put in together, and all of those things. We are going to continue to keep chipping away.
“In fact, the same things that I’m saying now I’d be saying if we lost. But the reality is winning is the only thing that matters, and everything is done with winning in mind. For us, we just want to continue to grow as a team, continue to develop, and find that identity for us and continue to grow together.”
In the second half, cameras caught an animated A.J. Brown talking with Hurts on Philly’s sideline. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni was seen saying something to both guys. Brown did not speak after the game, but Hurts explained Brown’s reaction.
“I think everybody wants to make plays, and everybody wants to contribute,” he said. “I have no worry about him; he’s a great player, a great teammate, a great friend, and we’ll do anything and everything to win.”
Sirianni says things will remain private.
“The conversations we have on the field are going to be private, and the conversations we have in our locker room are going to be private,” Sirianni said. “You don’t need to know what was going on right there.”
It’s all about getting wins, and that’s what the Eagles are doing right now, winning. As the schedule toughens up, this team will have to better if they want to continue winning.
Swifty!!
-Philadelphia rushed for 259 yards and 3 TDs on 48 attempts, averaging 5.4 yards per carry. It was the 2nd-most rushing yards of the Nick Sirianni era (since 2021), behind a 363-yard performance on 11/27/22 vs. Green Bay. The Eagles’ leading rusher was newcomer D’Andre Swift, who totaled a career-high 175 yards in the win.
-D’Andre Swift’s 175-yard effort marked his fifth career game with 100+ rushing yards and was the most by an Eagle since LeSean McCoy on 12/8/13 (217 yards). Swift’s last 100+ yard game was on 9/11/22 vs. Philadelphia with Detroit (144 yards).
Smitty!!
DeVonta Smith registered 131 yards and 1 TD on four receptions (32.8 avg.). It marked the 2nd-most receiving yards of his career (169 yards on 9/25/22 at Washington). Smith became the first Eagle to record multiple 50+ yard receptions in a single game since
DeSean Jackson accomplished the feat on 9/8/19 vs. Washington. Smith caught a 54-yard reception in the first quarter to set up a FG by Jake Elliott that gave the
Eagles a 3-0 advantage early in the game. He also hauled in a 63-yard TD from Jalen Hurts during the third quarter to make it a 27-7 score.
