The Philadelphia Eagles are 5-2 after beating the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday! Final score: 28 to 22.
The losing streak is over. After dropping back-to-back games to the Denver Broncos and New York Giants, the Eagles rebounded with an important win.
As has consistently been the case for the Eagles this season, it wasn’t pretty. But this team ultimately overcame a myriad of injuries and early offensive ineptitude.
The Birds were able to prevail in no small part due to Jalen Hurts, who followed up his worst game of the season with his best. Hurts’ line: 19/23 (82.6% completion), 326 yards (14.2 average!), 3 touchdowns, zero interceptions, and a perfect 158.3 passer rating. Most importantly, Hurts made the throw that iced the game late in the fourth quarter to turn a 3rd-and-9 into a first down that allowed the Eagles to run the clock out.
It’s been said all season that the Eagles simply have too much talent on offense for the passing game to be as ineffective. And this game was proof. DeVona Smith’s career day resulted in nine catches for 183 yards and two touch downs. A.J. Brown had four grabs for 121 yards and a score.
Can the Eagles keep this up? Probably not quite to this extent. But with the run game continuing to struggle (Saquon Barkley had 18 carries for 44 yards behind an offensive line that hasn’t helped him very much), this team may have found their identity as a passing attack.
We’ll see.
For now, the turmoil that would’ve come with the Eagles losing three straight losses has been avoided.
Next up for the Eagles: a home game against the aforementioned Giants. The Birds will be looking to avenge their Week 6 loss to the G-Men.
Read on for a recap and stay tuned for BGN’s postgame coverage.
FIRST QUARTER
- The Vikings won the coin toss and elected to defer to make the Eagles receive first. Beginning at their own 35-yard line, the offense opened the game with two straight Saquon Barkley runs for a first down. And then two more Barkley runs to get to third down. Facing 3rd-and-5, a short Jalen Hurts completion to DeVonta Smith set up fourth down. Facing 4th-and-1, the Eagles went Brotherly Shove for a first down. Tank Bigsby (!) took his first Eagles carry for a first down. Then Hurts ran out of bounds for a loss (has happened way too often this year) and Barkley caught a pass behind the line of scrimmage for a loss. Facing 3rd-and-13, the Eagles went coward’s draw to set up a shorter fourth down. Facing 4th-and-4 from the plus 37-yard line, Nick Sirianni kept the offense on the field … and Hurts had all day to connect with A.J. Brown down the left sideline for a touchdown! Encouraging start! Good to see A.J. making a second effort there to get open. 75 yards in 12 plays for the TD. EAGLES 7, VIKINGS 0.
- Jake Elliott’s kickoff bounced in the landing zone and through the end zone to make the Vikings start at their own 20-yard line. Nice job by the Eagles’ kicker. Facing 3rd-and-6, Carson Wentz hit Adam Thielen for a first down. Wentz hit a WIDE OPEN Jordan Addison down the right sideline with Quinyon Mitchell as the closest defender in the area, and not so close. Mitchell was lucky that Wentz underthrew the ball so much because a better throw and it’s an easy touchdown. Facing 3rd-and-10 after two bad misses by Wentz, a shotgun snap went over Wentz’s head and Azeez Ojulari touched the quarterback down. Facing 4th-and-32 (lol), the Vikings attempted a 59-yard field goal … and drilled it. Eagles defense was fortunate to only allow three points; bad throws by Wentz covered up some busted coverages. EAGLES 7, VIKINGS 3.
- The Eagles took over at their own 34-yard line. A Hurts completion to DeVonta Smith to set up 3rd-and-1 was challenged by the Vikings. Kevin O’Connell’s red flag was unsuccessful, costing the Vikings one challenge and one timeout. Facing 3rd-and-1, the Eagles were lined up for Brotherly Shove but A.J. Brown was flagged for a false start. Facing 3rd-and-6, a downfield DeVonta couldn’t hold on to a leaping catch that would’ve been a really good grab. Hurts’ throw was a tad too high. Three plays, four yards, punt.
- The Vikings took over at their own 16-yard line. They remembered they had Justin Jefferson and Wentz got the ball to him for a first down to end the first quarter.
SECOND QUARTER
- Facing 3rd-and-5, Jalen Carter got quick pressure on Carson Wentz, who threw a pick-six right to Jalyx Hunt, who dropped into coverage, for an Eagles touchdown! Wentz turning the ball over!? Shocking! Not just about Wentz being bad, though; good call by Vic Fangio on the simulated pressure. EAGLES 14, VIKINGS 3.
- Patrick Johnson drew an offensive holding call while setting the edge. Then Wentz threw a pass backwards and out of bounds for a loss of eight yards. Then Wentz rolled out right and threw an absolute gift of an interception downfield to Andrew Mukuba. Don’t think Eagles fans miss this experience!
- The Eagles took over at the plus 44-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-14 after two under-center plays resulted in a loss, Hurts’ third down dump off to Will Shipley gained just seven yards. So, three plays, three yards gained … and a punt … despite starting in plus territory after Vikings turnover. Bad offense.
- The Vikings took over at their own 20-yard line. Wentz completed a pass downfield for 26 yards. Mukuba had a really bad missed tackle in the open field to allow Jefferson to take a short catch for 40 yards. The Vikings quickly moved into the red zone. Cooper DeJean broke up what would’ve been a fade pass touchdown to Jefferson in the end zone. Facing 3rd-and-1, Wentz sailed his pass out of bounds. Facing 4th-and-1, Wentz hit Jordan Mason for a touchdown … but the Vikings got called for holding to negate the score. Moro Ojomo drew the penalty on the Vikings’ third-string center. Kevin O’Connell sent out the field goal team to make it a one-score game again. Four-point penalty for the Vikings. Bad job by the Eagles defense to allow a seven-play, 64-yard drive … but good job to at least hold Minny to a field goal. EAGLES 14, VIKINGS 6.
- Needing the offense to come alive, the Eagles started at their own 31-yard line. Barkley ran for a loss on a play where Jordan Mailata also got called for holding, which was accepted. Hurts got sacked on a play where Barkley also got called for holding (forced by former Eagles linebacker Eric Wilson), which was accepted. Facing 3rd-and-20, Hurts dumped off to Goedert to bring up a third straight punt.
- The Vikings took over at their own 32-yard line with 4:20 remaining in the first half. Facing 3rd-and-4 at midfield, Wentz ran around and threw the ball out of bounds to bring up a punt.
- The Eagles took over at their own 11-yard line with 0:59 on the clock and three timeouts to work with. Hurts immediately completed a pass to DeVonta for six yards. Hurts hit DeVonta again for 16 yards and the Eagles took their first timeout at 0:34, but not before some time was wasted before Sirianni was granted the timeout. Hurts threw to A.J. Brown over the middle but Harrison Smith broke it up. Hurts took a sack and Sirianni let it run out to end the first half. Surrender. Pretty bad job to get zero points there.
THIRD QUARTER
- The Vikings started at their own 48-yard line after the Eagles’ kickoff coverage allowed a 38-yard return. Two explosive runs by Jordan Mason helped the Vikings move into the red zone. Facing 3rd-and-18 after a dumb intentional grounding penalty by Wentz (he’s so bad!), Wentz checked down to make a short field goal shorter. EAGLES 14, VIKINGS 9.
- The Eagles took over at their own 16-yard line after another special teams penalty, this one on Cooper DeJean. Operating from under center (!!!), the Eagles utilized PLAY ACTION (GASP) and Hurts unleashed a dime to DeVonta Smith deep down the field (with old friend Isaiah Rodgers trailing) for a touchdown! The longest player of DeVonta’s career! With the second-longest also coming against the Vikings back in 2023. EAGLES 21, VIKINGS 9.
- The Vikings took over at their own 40-yard line after Jake Elliott’s kickoff was short of the landing zone. Jalyx Hunt got called for pass interference on a flea flicker to allow a first down. Hard to blame an edge rusher for not playing perfect coverage downfield. Nakobe Dean exploded into the backfield for a TFL to knock the Vikings’ offense back. Facing 3rd-and-4, Wentz hit Jalen Nailor for a first down with Adoree’ Jackson allowing the catch. Jackson got banged up after leading with his helmet on a tackle to give way to Kelee Ringo entering the game. The Vikings moved into the red zone. Wentz to Addison gave the Vikings first-and-goal at the 5-yard line. Two plays later, a Mason wildcat touchdown run just barely produced a touchdown (originally ruled short of the goal line but overturned via replay assist). Eight-play, 60-yard TD drive by the Vikes. EAGLES 21, VIKINGS 16.
- The Eagles took over at their own 30-yard line. An explosive run by Barkley was called back due to a blatant Tyler Steen holding penalty. Facing 3rd-and-15 after a throw to Bigsby lost yardage, Hurts stepped up and scrambled left to find DeVonta for a first down. Really nice play by the QB and the WR. The Eagles’ first first down conversion of the game, late in the third quarter. Hurts hit DeVonta again for another first down into field goal range. A toss to Barkley resulted in no gain to end the third quarter.
FOURTH QUARTER
- Facing 3rd-and-5, a Barkley carry resulted in no gain. The run was clearly designed to set up a shorter fourth down attempt (if no first down gained) … but why take the ball out of Hurts’ hands when he was playing really well on that drive? Sirianni brought in Elliott for a 42-yard field goal attempt … which went wide right. Wow. No good reason to miss that in a dome. But didn’t love kicking the field goal there in the first place, especially after running a third down play with the mindset of going for it on fourth.
- The Vikings took over at their own 32-yard line. Wentz led the Vikings into the red zone once again. Facing 3rd-and-5, Moro Ojomo got to Wentz for a sack that saved four points. Vikings had to settle for 35-yard field goal. EAGLES 21, VIKINGS 19.
- The Eagles took over at their own 30-yard line. Barkley got dropped for a four-yard loss with the Birds running into a heavy box. Facing 3rd-and-13, Hurts survived a collapsing pocket and rolled right to hit Brown on a comeback for a first down. Big-time conversion. Barkley spun out of a TFL to pick up a first down but then got banged up. Hurts hit a wide open DeVonta after having a lot of time to throw to move the Eagles outside of the red zone. Hurts then hit A.J. Brown with a great strike over the middle for a touchdown! Great drive by the Eagles’ QB to give his team to a two-possession lead with 6:35 left in the game. EAGLES 28, VIKINGS 19.
- The Vikings took over at their own 28-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-10 after picking up two first downs, a scrambling Wentz made Jihaad Campbell miss in the open field to run for a first down. That’s one the rookie would really like to have back. Facing 3rd-and-10, Wentz had all day to throw (no pass rush) and Wentz took off running for another first down. Brutal. Facing 3rd-and-2, Wentz hit a diving T.J. Hockenson for a touchdown. After review, it was determined that the ball didn’t survive the ground and the TD ruling was overturned. Didn’t think that was a catch but didn’t think the refs could’ve stood with the ruling on the field. Facing 4th-and-2, Wentz hit Addison on the out route (a problematic pattern for the Eagles’ defense all day) for a first down. Josh Uche got to Wentz for a big sack. Then Wentz checked down to Hockenson with the clock ticking. Then the Vikings rushed to get a play off before the two-minute warning and Wentz’s throw was incomplete. Bad clock management by the Vikings and good job by the Eagles’ defense to at least force the Vikings to reach 2:00 before allowing a score. The Vikings settled for a 29-yard field goal that came a little close to hitting the right upright. Big-time bend but don’t break effort from the Eagles’ defense. EAGLES 28, VIKINGS 22.
- Needing the Eagles’ offense to close out the game, Xavier Gipson had a nice return to allow the offense to start at the minus 44-yard line. The Eagles should’ve put the ball in Hurts’ hands … but they started with a Barkley run for just one yard. Hurts threw the ball (good decision!) on second down but his throw against the blitz to Brown was a little behind the wide receiver. Facing 3rd-and-9, the Eagles nearly got hit with delay of game but Sirianni was credited with a timeout. Facing 3rd-and-9 for real, Brown burned Isaiah Rodgers down the field and Hurts hit the wide receiver to effectively ice the game! HUGE. Great game management by the coaching staff, great throw by Hurts, great catch by Brown. Facing 3rd-and-13 with 0:47 on the clock, the Eagles let Hurts drift back and waste time for a loss. Hurts took a knee on fourth down to hit 0:00 and win the game. Losing streak over!
FINAL SCORE: EAGLES 28, VIKINGS 22
EAGLES LINEUP NOTES
- Xavier Gipson, not Tank Bigsby, was lined up at kick returner next to Will Shipley in his first game active for the Eagles.
- Azeez Ojulari started at edge rusher.
- Jihaad Campbell started at off-ball linebacker but also lined up at edge rusher with Nakobe Dean coming in on defense.
- Brett Toth took over at center for an injured Cam Jurgens.
- Kelee Ringo took over for an injured Kelee Ringo.
EAGLES INJURY NEWS
- Cam Jurgens (knee) visited the medical tent after the Eagles’ first drive. He was on the field for the Eagles’ second drive. He was not on the field for the Eagles’ first drive of the second quarter with Brett Toth replacing him. Jurgens was later ruled out.
- Azeez Ojulari (hamstring) headed inside the tunnel after the Vikings’ first drive. He was later ruled out.
- Will Shipley got banged up on the Eagles’ second kick return. He returned to play on special teams several snaps later. Shipley went back to the medical tent in the second quarter.
- DeVonta Smith got banged up on the Eagles’ second drive. He quickly returned to the game. DeVonta was shown in pain again in the fourth quarter.
- Jeremiah Trotter Jr. (ankle) headed inside the tunnel late in the first quarter. He was later ruled out.
- Adoree’ Jackson (concussion) got banged up in the third quarter after leading with his helmet on a tackle attempt. He was quickly ruled out.
- Saquon Barkley got banged up in the fourth quarter. He was evaluated for a concussion and was cleared to return.
- Moro Ojomo got banged up in the fourth quarter after Kelee Ringo put a big shot on him (friendly fire). He was evaluated for a concussion.