The Eagles are 2-0, and the last thing that should get lost in the noise is how they got there. They were down 20-17 with two minutes left and no timeouts, and Jalen Hurts answered with a nine-play, 65-yard march that ended in a win instead of a tie. DeVonta Smith and Darius Cooper came through with the kind of playmaking that turned a shaky afternoon into a victory.
It wasn’t clean. It wasn’t consistent.
At times, it was flat-out messy. But the result was real, and the stadium made sure it felt that way.
Birds fans were everywhere. You could hear the Titans getting booed as they came out of the tunnel, and on television the lower bowl behind the Eagles bench looked almost entirely green.
The offense was all over the place from the jump. Saquon Barkley got blown up on the first snap and had to head to the blue medical tent.
A Tank Bigsby screen then lost yardage, and even after the Eagles pushed the ball downfield and converted on third and long, the drive ended in a rough red zone interception by Hurts. DeVonta Smith was covered on the play, too.
Bigsby, though, gave the offense something different. His north-south style stood out, the kind of straight-line running that can squeeze out the ugly yard or two. He should be more involved, whether Barkley is healthy or not.
The first tush push of the season technically didn’t count because Tennessee lined up offside and drew the flag. The Eagles did convert later on a fourth-quarter attempt, so they’re officially 1 for 1 on the year.
There were a few individual bright spots mixed into the chaos. Makai Lemon made a strong third-down catch to keep a second drive alive, took a hit, and held on.
He also hustled back to stop a pick 6. Other than that, he was quiet, and the Eagles need to get him going because he’s a first round pick.
Hollywood Brown got the kind of touch work he was looking for on a designed sweep that picked up eight yards. He had another one in the fourth quarter, but that play came back for holding.
There was also a lot of bad screen work. The Eagles were terrible at it.
One missed block and the play was dead. In the first half especially, they weren’t even using bubble screens to the receivers.
They threw two screens to running backs that went backward.
Still, Hurts and Smith found a way to land a huge shot on second-and-19. Cam Jurgens got rocked on a stunt and run over by Jeffery Simmons, but Drew Kendall and Tyler Steen handled the other side well enough to give Hurts time to find Smith in the corner. FOX even caught Hurts giving props to Kendall and Steen after the touchdown.
Smith nearly had another jaw-dropper later. It didn’t count, but it was a ridiculous catch.
Jake Elliott’s 58-yarder was another major kick, but even that drive had the same problem: another screen that went nowhere, and the pass to Barkley couldn’t be completed. After the Eagles took an end-zone shot on first down, they needed something easy on the next snap. They didn’t get it, and the sequence turned into third and long.
The defense had its own rough stretches. Right before halftime, it felt like they conceded a field goal and played third and 13 as if it were third and 30. Then, after Tennessee tied it at 17, the Eagles defense didn’t show much resistance at all.
Losing Dallas Goedert mattered, too. The three-and-out after the Titans scored went to Johnny Mundt, Darius Cooper, and Johnny Mundt again.
Cooper probably should have caught one of those. At that point, it was fair to wonder where Makai Lemon and Tay Wicks were, and whether Smith had somehow been quadruple teamed on the possession.
There was one call that really stood out for all the wrong reasons: the orbit motion, swing pass, screen look to Lemon on second and 7. They had already run it twice last week for negative yardage, and this time it cost them five more.
That left them in third and 12, and Hurts underthrew Smith for his second interception of the day. Simmons was in his face, and that likely affected the throw.
Jalen Carter’s name barely came up all day until he sacked Cam Ward on first and goal, and that ended up forcing Tennessee into a field goal attempt.
And then there was the finish. The Eagles got the ball back with the game on the line, Hurts took over, and the drive ended with the kind of winning sequence teams remember.
The Eagles didn’t need perfect. They needed a response.
They got one.
In Other News...
Eagles Suddenly Have A Dallas Goedert Problem They Can't Ignore
Saquon Barkleys stinger against the Titans looked like the kind of in-game scare the Eagles could absorb, especially with early signs pointing to him being fine. The tighter concern came from the same game, where Dallas Goedert left with a knee injury and never returned, creating a far more complicated problem for an offense that leans on him as a reliable middle-of-the-field option.
The exact severity is still unclear, with outside medical projections ranging from an MCL sprain to a meniscus issue, and the uncertainty is what makes this linger. Philadelphia is already dealing with injury strain at tight end, so whether the answer comes from the current room or from outside help, the Eagles may soon have to decide how aggressively they want to reinforce the position. [Read more 🡒]
Jalen Hurts Had A Message After An Eagles Win Titans Fans Wont Like
Jeffery Simmons made it clear before kickoff that Tennessees plan was to keep Jalen Hurts from escaping the pocket and to cut off his running lanes, and for much of the day the Titans did enough of that to make life uncomfortable. Hurts was under pressure and sacked three times, but the Eagles kept hanging around, and when the game tightened late, the quarterback had one more answer left.
With the outcome in the balance, Hurts guided a 65-yard drive in the final two minutes and finished it with a touchdown pass to Darius Cooper to seal a 24-20 win. The comeback left Philadelphia at 2-0, and Hurts postgame message was the kind Titans fans probably did not want to hear after all that talk about containing him. [Read more 🡒]
Eagles Are 2-0 But This Win Exposed A Real Offensive Problem
The Eagles are 2-0, and the latest win still managed to leave a familiar aftertaste on offense. Jalen Hurts did what he has so often done in big moments, steering a game-winning drive despite throwing two interceptions, but the path there was bumpy enough to keep attention on the parts of the unit that did not hold up as well as the result suggests.
The issues were scattered, but the offensive line drew the sharpest focus, with Cam Jurgens and Drew Kendall both part of a front that struggled to provide much comfort. Philadelphia also had to navigate injuries and uneven play at tight end, while the running game never really found a rhythm, leaving the Eagles with a win and a reminder that the current version of the offense still has some real questions to answer. [Read more 🡒]