NEWSLETTER
It’s amazing what a good offensive line can do for a team. The Philadelphia Eagles looked like a completely different team before they leaned on their line on Thursday night.
Jalen Hurts started the game with an underthrow to DeVonta Smith, despite Smith hauling it in for a big gain. Hurts threw a pass behind a wide-open Dallas Goedert. He also threw a rough interception on the Eagles’ third drive of the night after his defense took the ball away from the Vikings (courtesy of an Avonte Maddox strip of Alex Mattison).
With Jalen Hurts looking out of sorts and the Eagles offense sputtering, Nick Sirianni leaned on his stout offensive line in a big way on Philadelphia’s first drive of the second quarter. Philadelphia put together a 16-play, 75-yard drive that featured 13 run plays to just three passes.
Sirianni’s plan worked, and the Eagles punched it in for their first touchdown of the day, a seven-yard run for D’Andre Swift. Going back to the basics changed the trajectory of this ballgame, and the Eagles stuck with it, eventually running — literally — out to a 20-point lead in the third quarter.
Minnesota made things close, in typical Vikings fashion. Kirk Cousins and the Vikings scored three touchdowns in the final quarter-and-a-half, something that they lived by last season when they won the NFC North. However, it was too little, too late for the Vikings by that point. Philadelphia’s run game was too much for the Vikings.
The Eagles ran for 259 yards on a whopping 48 rushing attempts. By comparison, Jalen Hurts registered only 23 pass attempts. The Eagles had 24 first downs, 19 of which came on the ground — and three of their four touchdowns came on the ground, even though two of them came on QB sneaks by Jalen Hurts. By the way, if you need a visualization of how good the Eagles offensive line is, just watch those replays and admire the push they create in front of Hurts.
The hometown kid D’Andre Swift ran for 175 yards on 28 carries and logged a rushing and receiving touchdown in his return to Philadelphia, the place he grew up and played his youth and high school football.
For the Vikings, they fall to 0-2 and have matchups with the Chargers, Chiefs, and 49ers in three of their next five games. Their running game has been non-existent, and their defense hasn’t been much better. If they can’t figure those two things out, they could be looking at a very generous 2-5 by the time Week 8 rolls around.
