September 08, 2024
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Jalen Hurts had rough stretches Friday night in Brazil, but ultimately helped pull the Eagles through.
The play wasn't there on a 3rd and 13 within the red zone, but the Eagles were up and what could've been a chip-shot field goal on fourth down would've made for an eight-point swing over the Packers.
But Jalen Hurts tried to salvage it. He rolled right to escape pressure, then signaled to A.J. Brown and threw across his body to the middle of the end zone.
Brown slipped, but it didn't matter. The pass was off and Green Bay cornerback Jaire Alexander had already cut underneath to pick it.
The Packers had the ball back and drove it down for a field goal to make it only a two-point game with just under eight minutes left to play.
Hurts and the Eagles went on to kill a ton of clock, tack on a field goal late, and survive for the 34-29 win on Friday night down in Brazil, but the turnover that kept the Packers in it? That one was bad, and Hurts knew it.
"I definitely could have avoided some of those things," Hurts said postgame. "I put us in a bad spot as a team, but in the end, we made some crucial plays to extend drives, crucial plays down the field, crucial plays on defense, and even showing up on special teams as well. That's what it's all about, but you're going to keep pressing forward, keep pressing forward."
Jaire Alexander picks it off in the end zone!
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The other things were at the very start, when Hurts and the Eagles' offense looked all out of sorts.
On their first possession of the season, a slippery field led to running back Saquon Barkley slipping five yards back on a pitch play. Then, after an incomplete pass went out of Brown's reach, Hurts tried to loft a pass over the middle to DeVonta Smith that fell way short and into the hands of Packers safety Xavier McKinney instead.
Then on take two, a miscommunication between Hurts and Cam Jurgens at center led to an early snap and a fumble recovered by Green Bay.
It was a mess, bailed out by the defense standing tall and holding the Packers to only two field goals for the first quarter, and finally snapped out of on drive No. 3, when Hurts hit Barkley on a wheel route off play action for an 18-yard touchdown and the Eagles' first lead – capping off an 11-play, 70-yard scoring drive.
The good started piling up from there. Barkley got going on the ground as the star of the whole show, Hurts started finding Brown and Smith more, and the Eagles produced points on each of their next three drives to either keep pace with Green Bay or pull ahead.
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📂 A.J. BROWN 67 YARDS TD pic.twitter.com/P1nOxXaqC1
Hurts settled in and started looking like the quarterback who went nearly the whole summer without throwing an interception in training camp, and more importantly, the guy under center the Eagles would need to take more charge to rebound from last season's disastrous collapse.
But then the pick on that red-zone 3rd and 13 happened – needlessly so – and the Eagles were suddenly back on their heels, looking to just hold on.
They were able to when Hurts led a drive that took 7:25 off the clock on the back of some pivotal rushes and completions, then put them up five with a short Jake Elliott field goal, but it did put the game on the defense to close out with 27 seconds left for the Packers still to strike.
No one was breathing easy, nor shedding the concerns that the issues that plagued the Eagles' offense in the back half of last year had been addressed.
"He's going to want some plays back, obviously," head coach Nick Sirianni said of Hurts postgame. "But I thought Jalen started it as far as the dawg mentality of playing through and handling adversity. It wasn't perfect. It wasn't perfect, by any means. We can help him out with some play calls here and there as well. But I thought he responded good."
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And for as uneven as Friday night did get at times, the Eagles did still produce 34 points with Hurts throwing for 278 yards and two touchdowns.
The good-bad scale for the Eagles did tip in favor of good in the end, but still in a situation where Hurts has a lot to prove after a 2023 that saw his turnover rate spike as the Eagles crashed and burned.
And with a lot still to work on coming off Week 1.
"It really doesn't happen the way that it happened today, as many balls that were on the ground and as many turnovers as I had, finding a way to win the game," Hurts said. "Those are things that I'll learn from, and then we'll learn from and address those things. But I think in the end, you got to have a short-term memory, have a short-term memory process for everything that happens.
"Hey, move on. You know? Move on and play the next play, because your guys next to you are needing you."
MORE: Barkley makes his mark in Eagles debut
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