Jalen Hurts and the Eagles blast the Bengals, 37-17, for third straight win

CINCINNATI — The Eagles came here, to the place where they put chili on top of spaghetti, and found a sense of normalcy.

They scored points on their first possession for the first time all season, got their first takeaway in over a month, and used a balanced offensive attack to blow past the Cincinnati Bengals, 37-17, Sunday at Paycor Stadium.

Here’s our instant analysis after a win that bumped the Eagles’ record to 5-2.

DeVonta Smith had two quiet performances after returning from the concussion he suffered in Week 3. He had just three catches on four targets two weeks ago (although one of them went for a critical score). And while the Eagles pounded the ball on the ground last week in North Jersey, Smith was targeted just twice and had one catch for minus-2 yards.

Nick Sirianni lauded the way Smith blocked during that win, but the Eagles are paying Smith to do a lot more than that.

Smith had just two catches for 9 yards by halftime Sunday. But he made his mark in the second half.

Jalen Hurts hit Smith on the sideline for a 15-yard gain on a third-and-5 three plays into the third quarter, extending a drive that later ended with Hurts running the ball into the end zone.

The next series brought the explosive play the Eagles are making a hallmark of their offense. On a second-and-8 from Cincinnati’s 45-yard line, Hurts took a shotgun snap and faked a handoff to Saquon Barkley. Hurts then dropped back, shuffled to his right, and launched a deep throw to Smith, who was in one-on-one coverage with Bengals safety Geno Stone. Smith jumped in the air and Stone never had a chance. The touchdown and Jake Elliott’s extra point gave the Eagles a 24-17 lead. The throw, according to Next Gen Stats, traveled 59.3 yards in the air, the longest completion of Hurts’ career.

“Jalen, he trusts me to go up there if it’s one-on-one to win the 50-50 ball,” Smith said.

After the Eagles turned the Bengals over early in the fourth quarter, Hurts connected twice with Smith on passes that moved the chains and kept the clock moving.

“We got a lot of talent and we got a lot of mouths to feed, and so that’s something we have to navigate as a team,” Hurts said of Smith’s response Sunday. “But the one thing I’m confident in is everyone being ready when their opportunity and their number is called. He made some huge plays down the stretch of the game, down the field.”

Smith finished with six catches on seven targets for 85 yards.

“Just going out there and doing my job, whether I get a lot of targets or I get a few targets,” Smith said, “I try to do the best I can with the most of my opportunities.”

For the third consecutive game, Hurts played clean, turnover-free football. The Eagles are on a three-game winning streak. Correlation? You bet.

Hurts was everything the Eagles need him to be once again Sunday. He completed 16 of his 20 pass attempts for 236 yards and one touchdown. He ran 10 times for another 37 and three touchdowns. Hurts scored twice via Tush Push near the Cincinnati goal line.

His other rushing score came on the Eagles’ first possession out of halftime. On first-and-goal from the 7-yard line, Hurts appeared to call an audible at the line. He then took a shotgun snap, read the movement of Cincinnati defensive end Myles Murphy, and kept the ball himself instead of handing the ball off to Barkley. Hurts ran easily into the end zone to give the Eagles a 17-10 lead.

Behind a banged-up offensive line missing two starters, Hurts also was not sacked.

The Eagles ran the ball 39 times and Barkley might’ve had one of the quietest 108-yard outings — his fourth 100-plus-yard performance of the season — that you may ever see.

“I don’t think we’re there yet,” Hurts said of the offense in general. “I think we’re slowly finding it and trying to piece things together.”

The Eagles hadn’t secured a turnover since their Week 3 win in New Orleans. Their inability to cause turnovers, while sometimes being too careless with the ball on offense, was not a sustainable path.

They finally got the ball back in a big spot Sunday. The Bengals were driving, down 27-17, early in the fourth quarter when Joe Burrow tried to connect with Ja’Marr Chase down the right sideline. Isaiah Rodgers made a play on the ball and tipped it into the waiting hands of C.J. Gardner-Johnson. The Eagles scored on the ensuing possession, putting the game away in the process.

“I always tell my corners, I got you over the top,” Gardner-Johnson said.

The Eagles recovered a Mike Gesicki fumble on Cincinnati’s next series.

“Bulks,” Gardner-Johnson said. “They come in bulks. So once one starts coming, they all start rolling.”

If the Eagles lost Sunday, you could point directly at their defensive third-down numbers and have your answer why.

The Eagles often forced the Bengals into third-and-long situations, and the Bengals often found a way out, sometimes simply because of Burrow’s accuracy and ability to extend plays. Cincinnati converted all five of its third-down plays on its game-opening, 17-play scoring drive that ate 10 minutes off the clock.

The Bengals later converted a third-and-8 and a third-and-6 on their touchdown drive that evened the score at 17 late in the third quarter.

On the day, Cincinnati was 10-for-13 on third down, something the Eagles will need to clean up.

But while the Bengals were efficient on third down, one of the biggest Eagles plays came on fourth down. The Bengals opted to try to convert a fourth-and-1 from their own 39-yard line while trailing 24-17 late in the third quarter. Burrow motioned Chase across the formation and then threw to him in the flat. But Cooper DeJean closed quickly on the play and made a strong tackle on Chase, whom the Eagles mostly held in check for short gains while his running mate, Tee Higgins, missed the game with an injury.

“When you keep your eyes in the right spot, like Coach tells us, you can’t get outflanked and little gadget plays ain’t going to fool us,” Gardner-Johnson said. “Special play by Coop. That’s a veteran play. Those plays don’t happen all the time from rookies.”

Sirianni likened the fourth-down stop to an extra turnover.

“We were plus-two on the turnover battle today and we’ll treat it as plus-three because any fourth-down stop is huge,” he said. “At the end of the day, good players playing with good fundamentals equals good plays.”

Eagles cornerback Darius Slay limped back to the locker room in the third quarter with a groin injury. He was later ruled out and replaced by Rodgers.

Slay has been banged up in recent weeks. He exited the Week 6 game against the Cleveland Browns with a knee injury.