Eagles grades: Jalen Hurts comes through with his best game in the overtime victory

Grades on the Eagles’ 34-31 overtime win over the Commanders on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field:

Jalen Hurts had easily his best game of the season. He completed 25 of 37 passes for 319 yards and two touchdowns. He had a number of tight-window tosses and was delicate on deep throws to his receivers. Hurts had a nifty escape in the fourth quarter for 24 yards and tear-dropped a late touchdown pass to A.J. Brown. Hurts hasn’t looked as electric on the ground, but that’s a topic for another day.

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Yards on the ground were tougher to come by than they were in the last two games, but D’Andre Swift ran hard and always seemed to fall forward when tackled. He ended up with 56 yards on 14 carries. Kenneth Gainwell had a couple of solid gains. He fumbled in the red zone, and luckily Lane Johnson was there to recover, but the play call was dubious on third down. Rashaad Penny was inactive again.

A.J. Brown was simply amazing in his second 100-yard-receiving game in as many weeks. He notched his first touchdown of the year — a 59-yard catch-and-zigzag-through-the-secondary beauty — and capped the day off with a go-ahead score with under two minutes left in regulation. DeVonta Smith nearly matched Brown’s first touchdown with a 37-yard jump-ball grab before the half. Dallas Goedert had only two catches and has yet to break out this season, but he had a nice, diving 17-yard reception in the third quarter. Olamide Zaccheaus, in place of injured slot receiver Quez Watkins, had a big snag over the middle on third down late in the game.

Hurts had enough time on many of his drops. Right tackle Lane Johnson battled defensive end Montez Sweat and kept Hurts’ backside clean for almost the entire day. Center Jason Kelce and left guard Landon Dickerson did yeoman’s work vs. Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen in the middle. It was tough sledding in the run game, however. Jordan Mailata had, overall, a shaky outing. He allowed a first-half sack and was called for a false start late. Cam Jurgens left at the half with a foot injury and was replaced by Sua Opeta, who held up.

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Haason Reddick had his first sack of the season and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Washington quarterback Sam Howell got the ball out quick to offset the pass rush, but there was still consistent pressure. Josh Sweat recorded another sack and has 2½ in four games. Jalen Carter wasn’t as disruptive rushing the passer, but still got push up the middle. Brandon Graham nearly forced an interception with a hit on Howell in the second quarter. The Eagles’ run defense wasn’t as stout as in previous games. But the front, led by Jordan Davis, Fletcher Cox, Milton Williams, and Carter, did a lot of the heavy lifting.

Nicholas Morrow finished with a career-best three sacks. He and Zach Cunningham registered 10-plus tackles, many of them in run support, but the former was out of his gap on Brian Robinson’s game-tying run in the fourth. Cunningham was shaky in coverage as Washington attacked the middle of the field early. Edge rusher Nolan Smith was a wrinkle, playing off the ball in the second quarter. But it looked like he didn’t get deep enough and the Eagles were beaten on third down.

The Eagles didn’t allow a passing touchdown for the first 59 minutes, 59 seconds. But receiver Jahan Dotson got in front of Josh Jobe for the game-tying touchdown catch in regulation. Jobe’s coverage was otherwise sticky — in the best way — for most of the day. He had a few pass breakups and helped keep the explosive Terry McLaurin from going off. Darius Slay was in coverage on a 35-yard catch by receiver Dyami Brown on third-and-long. He may have been looking for help that never arrived. His soft coverage allowed too many completions underneath. James Bradberry took a third-down holding penalty in the red zone and allowed a costly catch over the middle on the Commanders’ final drive of regulartion.

Terrell Edmunds had a bad early series, dropping the would-be interception forced by Graham, drawing an unnecessary roughness personal foul, and getting trucked by Robinson at the goal line. He settled down some afterward, but took another unnecessary roughness penalty with a late hit on Howell in the fourth. Reed Blankenship was otherwise efficient on the back end with regular starter Justin Evans and rookie Sydney Brown both out. He had tight coverage on a Howell third-down pass to McLaurin in overtime.

Jake Elliott won another game with an overtime 54-yard field goal. He was perfect on all his kicks — four field goals and three extra points. New punter Braden Mann has not impressed on first impression. His first two punts — a high, short one and a longer, low one — resulted with the same below-average 35 net yards. He was better on his third boot. Britain Covey had three punt returns for 38 yards.

The Eagles moved to 4-0 despite an uneven performance. Sean Desai’s defense had trouble containing Howell through the air, especially in the first half. But he dialed up some timely blitzes and forced outs after the break. Brian Johnson had some very good calls in the pass game. Situationally, especially in the red zone, he had some questionable calls. The third-and-2 pass at the Washington 30-yard line might have been too aggressive. Nick Sirianni’s decision to kick a field goal, after a failed fourth down, was uncharacteristically conservative. Sirianni’s clock management before the half wasn’t sharp. He probably should have called a timeout after Smith’s 50-50 reception and the Eagles had to eventually settle for a field goal. Eleven penalties were too many.