MINNEAPOLIS – Sometimes, there just aren’t enough adjectives to describe what Jalen Hurts did on a sunny but chilly Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis. So, Jordan Mailata invented one.
“He’s got a swaggerness to him,” said the Eagles’ left tackle about his quarterback.
Mailata went on to talk about what he saw in the huddle from Hurts.
“When he’s in control, you can see the look in his eye,” he said. “…he had that sharpness to his eye. He’ll probably deny everything I just said. You guys know him…But I see that look in his eye when he’s in that mode.”
Usually, Hurts saves his best for the postseason, where he has a better record at 6-3 than all the other quarterbacks offered up as being better than him, except for Patrick Mahomes. He has played brilliantly in two Super Bowls, winning one and being denied a chance to win another on a late holding penalty on James Bradberry in the one loss.
Against the Vikings, underneath their irretractable roof, he posted a perfect passer rating, 158.3, for the first time, to become just the third Eagles QB to do that, joining Nick Foles in Oakland in 2013 and Donovan McNabb against Detroit in 2007.
Jalen Hurts’ Arm Too Much For Vikings
Hurts completed 19 of 23 passes for 326 yards and three touchdowns. The yards were his most since he threw for 380 against Tennessee in December 2022. The six longest plays the Eagles had were all Hurts completions that covered 79, 45, 37, 28, 26, and 21 yards. He went 5 of 5 for 216 yards and three TDs on passes of 20-plus yards.
And he did that against a Brian Flores-coached defense. Flores is known as one of the game’s best coordinators, along with the Eagles’ Vic Fangio, but Hurts shredded whatever Flores threw at him.
And the Eagles picked on Isaiah Rodgers, who was on the cover of the team’s game program and won a Super Bowl ring in Philly last year. Rodgers couldn’t keep up with DeVonta Smith on a 79-yard touchdown on the Eagles’ first possession of the second half to go up 21-9. He also allowed A.J. Brown to get loose for a 45-yard catch on third-and-nine late in the game to help the Eagles seal the win.
“Tough situation for him,” said Smith. “They’re playing a certain coverage, and he had a certain responsibility. We attacked it.”
It was far from tough for Smith and A.J. Brown. Both went over 100 yards, with Smith notching a career-high 183 yards receiving on 11 catches and Brown making four catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns.
Hurts scrambled to keep plays alive and not be so quick to run. The Eagles were 0-for-5 on third downs in the first half, but went 3-for-5 on the money down in the second.
Hurts hit Smith on third-and-15 for 28 yards to keep a live a drive that ended in a missed Jake Elliott field goal and scrambled to find Brown on the sideline for a 14-yard gain on third-and-14. That was the drive that ended in Brown’s 26-yard TD to give the Eagles a 28-19 lead with 6:35 to play.
And with pressure in his face, he hit Brown for 45 yards on third-and-nine that basically allowed the Eagles to run out the clock from there.
“That’s where Jalen Hurts is so dangerous, you know, he’s able to run on a scramble play, he’s able to throw on scramble plays,” said head coach Nick Sirianni. “So made a lot of good plays like that.”
Added Smith about the scramble plays: “That’s not something that you just draw up and do. In practice, if it happens, it happens. But when it does happen, just being on the same page. Having guys in certain spots … It’s not something you can necessarily practice, so when it happens, it happens.”
Hurts was making it happen. And then some.
