Sunday was arguably the most complete game of Hurts’ career. We’ve seen him beat bad teams with his arm and good teams with his legs, but not so much good teams with his arm. Make no mistake, Minnesota is a respectable opponent. If we can blow them out, we can at least compete in close games with the top dogs.
Almost Plays
4-9:19 Cox Forced Fumble
While the Vikings ended up recovering the fumble, this play still ended up going for negative yardage thanks to Cox. Ignore the score, anyone who watched knows that we were giving the Vikings opportunities to get back in this game, and every defensive play mattered. This wouldn’t have even been the wildest comeback of the weekend, hence why coaches instruct to play to the final whistle. This play was especially huge because it was on third down and pushed Minnesota off the field.
Group Plays
Hat Trick
I put all three of these together for a reason. All three of these came on a critical down in a close game. Anyone who watches sports TV enough will hear anchors bring up critical downs, e.g. 3rd and 4th, which dejects a defense by preventing them from getting off the field. In three key instances, the defense earned themselves a ticket off the field with three big stops from three different players: Darius Slay, James Bradberry, and TJ Edwards.
Individual Plays
1-11:47 Hurts 3rd down conversion
Keeping with the theme of third downs, this play was what PFF would likely categorize as a “big time throw.” Finding AJ Brown, Hurts threads it past the fingertips of the defender for a key conversion. This is one of multiple examples that affirm the reports of Hurts throwing the ball with more confidence.
3- 2:28 Maddox Pick
I assume you guys remember the Cre’Von LeBlanc interception against the Saints in the 2018-19 playoffs? How he extended his entire body to catch what was essentially a jump ball? This is reminiscent of that, except when this pick came, the game was far out of reach for Minnesota. Or rather, perhaps this play was what ended up being the nail in the coffin.
3- 10:00 Slay INT
Now that’s what I call a pick play! Aikman helpfully pointed out this interception was on Jefferson letting Slay get underneath him on the route, but a pick is a pick. This was one of the key moments I was talking about that the Vikings squandered (not that I’m complaining or anything). Unlike the Cox forced fumble, this one stayed with the Eagles.
4- 7:15 Slay Pick
If you thought Slay would stop at one, I’ve got bad news for you (or good news, depending on who you are). Cousins was off on his throws all night, but does a bear show mercy if it sees a deer limping in the forest, or does he make it dinner? All night long, Jefferson was Slay’s dinner, and that’s not even mentioning the two or three dropped interceptions Slay could’ve had.
2-2:00 Hurts 2 minute drill
Truth be told, I would not have risked going down the field, even with three timeouts left, but that just shows why I’m not a coach in the NFL (that and my abject lack of understanding of coverages). I know that you have to play aggressive, and in this case, it worked about as well as you could hope: extending the lead to three scores (24-7).
1-9:12 Hurts TD
While I lamented that the Eagles didn’t have a true power back with the absence of Jordan Howard. Little did I know, Hurts was the power back we were looking for all along (as a later play will demonstrate)! It’s hardly surprising someone who can squat 600 pounds can bulldoze his way through defenders like Hurts can, I just didn’t expect it to be our starting quarterback.
2-2:08 Hurts TD
Oh hey, it’s the powerful run I was referring to earlier! Truly, one of the more impressive (and important) runs of the night. With a little help from Dallas Goedert’s downfield blocking, Hurts further put Minnesota in a precarious position to open the second half.
2-15:00 Quez TD
May the Football Gods forgive my hubris, but this was the throw that had me thinking “Super Bowl.” I already knew Hurts could make plays with his legs, but I couldn’t think of an instance where a running team won a Super Bowl. Wide open or not, this was the play that made me want to stop worrying, the play that told me we can at least compete with respectable teams, and that we may be deep in the playoffs very soon.
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Dylan Patrowicz is a featured writer at The Birds Blitz. For more from Dylan, check out his archive and read through our Eagles articles for the latest news about the Birds.
