Jalen Hurts forced a throw into double coverage, one of his worst passes in years, and was picked off. A.J. Brown — he of the nearly 1,500 yards receiving a year ago — threw a tantrum on the sidelines when the ball did not come his way.
And yes, already, in the Eagles’ home opener, fans booed the National Football Conference champions in the first half when a string of offensive plays went nowhere.
All that, and Philadelphia are 2-0.
Photo: AP
The Eagles already knew they would be tested as they try to return to the Super Bowl. Oh, it will not be easy, but they have been sloppy and feisty, and those highlight-reel plays are behind last year’s pace, but they will take it.
Hurts on Thursday ran for a pair of one-yard touchdowns and threw a 63-yard touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith, while D’Andre Swift ran for 175 yards and a score as the Eagles held off the turnover-prone Minnesota Vikings 34-28.
“We’re a work in progress,” Hurts said. “We strive for progress, not perfection. We want to grow and find our identity.”
Hurts shook off a sluggish passing performance in the first half and woke up the crowd when he connected with Smith for the scoring strike in the third quarter that made it 27-7.
It almost was not enough.
Kirk Cousins hit Jordan Addison for a 62-yard touchdown that made it 27-14 in the fourth quarter and found K.J. Osborn for a 10-yard touchdown that cut it to 27-21 and put the Eagles on edge, but Swift scored on a two-yard run for a 34-21 lead with 4 minutes, 13 seconds left and the Vikings did not have enough time to score twice.
“He showed a vision, an explosiveness,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said.
Cousins threw for 364 yards and four touchdowns, two to T.J. Hockenson. Jefferson had 11 catches for 159 yards.
“Very deflating,” Jefferson said.
Hurts finished 18 of 23 for 193 yards — mostly to Smith, who also hauled in a 54-yard catch. He finished with 131 yards on four receptions.
Jake Elliott kicked a pair of field goals for the Eagles, including a 61-yarder to conclude the first half after Jefferson’s fumble.
Maybe it is the adjustment to new offensive coordinator Brian Johnson, maybe it was the short week, maybe it was Hurts and the bulk of the starters sitting out pre-season games, but whatever the reason, the Eagles were sluggish early for the second straight week and lacked that big-play spark that made them a must-watch offense last season.
The Vikings blitzed and pressured Hurts early and he could not break plays open as easily as he routinely did last season.
“We didn’t play our cleanest game,” Sirianni said.
“I think the first week was a cleaner game for the defense, and not as clean for the offense and vice versa with tonight. We are 2-0. A lot of teams would like to be sitting 2-0. When you are in this position, and guys don’t know that we aren’t playing to the best of our abilities, that’s when you can make a lot of growth,” he said.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
RSS