Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is dynamic in perhaps his most mature outing to beat the Lions
Hurts used his legs, made good decisions, and went to A.J. Brown often in the Eagles' 38-35 win in Detroit.
DETROIT — Like his all-maroon attire, Jalen Hurts can make what could look ugly for most downright dashing.
When the Eagles’ offense wasn’t clicking early against the Lions, Hurts came to the rescue with scrambles that turned busted plays into first downs.
“His legs were huge,” coach Nick Sirianni said. “What an unbelievable thing to be able to have as a coach. ‘Oh, we called that. It didn’t work? He made it right.’”
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It wasn’t just Hurts’ mobility that propelled the Eagles to a 38-35 hold-on-for-dear-life win in the season opener Sunday. The quarterback threw for 243 yards, including 155 on 10 receptions by wide receiver A.J. Brown.
But Hurts’ ability to make something out of nothing on the ground gave the Eagles an edge and seemingly frustrated the Lions until safety Tracy Walker delivered a helmet-to-helmet blow to the quarterback after he gave himself up at the end of yet another third-down converting scramble.
“It’s not the first time it’s happened, it’s probably not the last time it’s going to happen,” Hurts said of the late hit. “It just comes with the game. Just get right back up and keep going on the next play.”
Walker didn’t get that opportunity. When Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert and then wide receiver Zach Pascal approached and questioned the safety in defense of Hurts, he threw a punch at the latter and was ejected after committing multiple personal fouls.
“He swung at me,” Pascal said. “He hit me dead in my face for no reason.”
Hurts hooked up with Goedert for a 22-yard screen on the next play. And one play later, running back Boston Scott plowed into the end zone from a yard out to give the Eagles a 38-21 lead. The Lions, undaunted, scored the next 14 points against a leaky Jonathan Gannon defense.
But when the Eagles got the ball back with just under four minutes left, running backs Miles Sanders and Scott, and Hurts — with a sneak on fourth-and-1 at the Lions’ 40 with just a minute left — sealed the sloppy victory.
“It didn’t meet my standards today,” Hurts said of the Eagles’ performance. “I’ll just say that.”
Hurts was dynamic, though. And more importantly, he was diligent with the ball. He had zero turnovers — as did the entire offense — and he made few mental errors. When he escaped the pocket, he always had two hands on the ball. And when pressure forced him to the sideline and no one was open, he threw the ball away.
“As a quarterback, that is the best play sometimes,” Hurts said. “You have to throw the ball away. You’d like to avoid putting yourself in that position. There are things I’m going to have to learn from, everybody on offense.
“For me, the ball touches my hand every play and I just want to make sure the team is in the best position.”
It may not have been Hurts’ best game statistically or even aesthetically, but it may have been the third-year quarterback’s most mature outing.
There were mistakes, of course. He left the pocket too early a few times, most notably on a fourth-quarter third down when he seemingly had a few receivers open and the Eagles needed to slow the Lions’ momentum.
And Hurts kind of bungled the possession just before the half. He threw short of Kenneth Gainwell and was lucky his running back didn’t catch the ball with 14 seconds remaining and the Eagles out of timeouts. After his third-down pass was batted at the line, Sirianni had some choice words for his quarterback as he came to the sideline.
But when so many other Eagles players and coaches had a disappointing first game, it’s hard to nitpick the quarterback. Hurts had several nice throws, the most impressive a deep dime he dropped into Brown’s bucket before his mental error to Gainwell.
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It was Hurts in the run game, though, who gave the Lions fits. All told, he rushed 17 times for 90 yards. He scored the Eagles’ first touchdown when he kept on a zone-read play on fourth down at the 1-yard line. And when he had to scramble, he gained 77 yards on 11 tries.
“He bailed us out numerous times,” center Jason Kelce said. “There were numerous blitz pickups we need to get corrected. That’s the benefit of having a guy with such versatility.”
Hurts is essentially plus-one with the Lions having to account for him in the run game. Sanders, who finished with 96 yards on 13 carries, including his first touchdown since December 2020 and a pivotal 24-yard burst on third down late in the fourth, said that the Eagles knew Detroit would aggressively try to stop the run after they were gashed on the ground a year ago.
“We knew the linebackers would be very downhill, shooting through the gaps,” Sanders said. “And during the game, they had one linebacker just watching us the whole game — the running backs and Jalen.”
The Lions were also aggressive in how they hit Hurts as he slid. A few early scrambles could have garnered unnecessary-roughness penalties. It’s a risk he takes any time he’s in the open field. Unlike some of his predecessors at the position, Hurts typically does well to protect himself.
But as was evident in the Eagles’ preseason opener when New York Jets linebacker Quincy Williams hit him well after he had run out of bounds, Hurts can be vulnerable to overzealous defenders.
There is also the concern about the cumulative effect of getting hit.
“I don’t,” Hurts said when asked about his level of worry.
He also got pummeled in the pocket when Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone was flagged for unnecessary roughness after he tackled the quarterback following a handoff. But Hurts seemed to get up a little slow after the Walker blow.
His teammates once again came to his defense.
“He hit [Hurts] in the helmet, like clearly,” Pascal said. “I went up to him to ask him [why,] it wasn’t even that type of game, and he just popped off on me. So, I went blank. I just lost it.”
Hurts, as is his nature, kept his cool after the hit and whenever the pocket collapsed.
“He had some big third-down runs, scrambling,” Brown said. “When I saw him take off and looked where he needed to, I said, ‘I’m pretty sure he’s going to get it.’ If you look on the film and you see me, when he takes off, I’m like ‘OK, first down. Let’s go.’
“That’s what I expect from him.”
Not many can pull out as many rabbits or pull off a matching shirt-pants maroon ensemble. But Hurts did.