The 7 seconds that showed why the Eagles are a strong bet for the Super Bowl
Hurts had an eternity to throw a touchdown pass to Jahan Dotson, as the Eagles have an offensive line that can steal an opponent’s soul.
Eat a Tastykake.
Whistle the opening bars of “Gonna Fly Now.”
Ride a unicycle in two complete circles.
These are some of the things that Jalen Hurts had enough time and space to do before throwing an 11-yard touchdown pass to Jahan Dotson a minute-and-a-half into the Eagles’ 22-10 wild-card win over the Packers on Sunday. He did not do any of them. Nor did he pull out a chair and read a couple of pages of Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life.
» READ MORE: A.J. Brown and the lessons from ‘Inner Excellence’ sideline book reading: ‘Clear mind and unburdened heart’
But he could have.
Truth be told, the game felt over because of it.
It wasn’t. Not officially, anyway. While the Packers never really looked like a team capable of scoring a touchdown, let alone overcoming a two-possession deficit, they at least coaxed a couple of nervous glances at the scoreboard and some second-half boos out of the home crowd.
Green Bay cut it to 10-3 early in the third quarter and 16-10 early in the fourth. But the Eagles answered both times, and they did it for the same reason Hurts was able to find Dotson streaking across the back of the end zone early in the first quarter. They have an offensive line that is the kind of unit that can steal an opponent’s soul.
What does 6.75 seconds feel like?
You can let Jordan Mailata know when you find out. Because it sure didn’t feel like this. The ol’ internal clock ticks a lot differently when you are engaged with a 6-foot-5, 277-pound defensive lineman. As Hurts dropped back on second-and-9 from the Green Bay 11-yard line with 13:36 to go in the first quarter on Sunday, Mailata had one benchmark to measure the passage of time.
Was Rashan Gary still in front of him?
“You’ve just got to give him as much time as possible,” the Eagles left tackle said. “It’s what Lane [Johnson] and I talk about. Just give the man as much time as possible. Doesn’t matter how long you’re blocking for. The play’s not over until the whistle blows. That’s kind of the mindset.”
» READ MORE: Zack Baun and the Eagles defense save the day as Jalen Hurts struggles
Of course, 6.75 seconds looks a lot different from the outside. Like art, really. True beauty. A sight powerful enough to reduce a grown man to tears, provided that man’s name was Jeff Stoutland. That’s what Mailata would have seen had he had eyes in the back of his helmet and an undivided attention. Five large men in midnight green jerseys, spaced in near symmetry, spread in a near-perfect arc, four men in white flailing helplessly in front.
Because we live in the age that we do, we have a precise accounting of the geometry. No Packers defender got within 2.5 feet of Hurts the entire time he had the ball. In fact, Hurts had so much space and time that it almost seemed to unnerve him. Roughly three seconds into the drop back, you can see his own internal alarm clock begin to blare. He takes a couple steps up as if to scramble, and then realizes the pocket is still expanding.
“It was kind of like a scramble drill in the pocket,” the quarterback said later. “That’s what it turned into.”
He made the most of it. On his initial drop back, he saw nobody open. That remained unchanged at the top of his drop, and after those two hesitant steps forward. But then Hurts dropped back again, and refocused his eyes on the end zone, where Dotson was breaking free along the end line.
“That was a great job by him staying alive and working the back of the end zone,” Hurts said.
Hurts probably could have pushed it well past seven seconds if he’d wanted to. Then again, rare is the occasion on an NFL field where 6.75 isn’t enough. In fact, according to ESPN, it was the second-longest time-to-throw of any touchdown pass in Hurts’ career.
“Obviously, great protection,” head coach Nick Srianni said. “And that takes a lot of patience for a quarterback when in that particular case, when you’re not on rhythm but you’re not getting pressured to actually stay and go. He did that last year at Tampa to OZ [former Eagles wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus]. They were very similar plays. I remember how cool we thought that was that there wasn’t pressure, he was able to just sit in there and find what happened — he was just very calm, cool, collected. Obviously, a great job by the offensive line to keep the protection for that long. Then Jahan found his way — he fought through some contact and found his way to get open. It was a full team effort there. It really was a spectacular play by Jalen and the offensive line there and then Jahan finishing it.”
» READ MORE: Jahan Dotson fought through and found his way to making his first TD catch with the Eagles
The Eagles are advancing in the playoffs because of it. To the divisional round, where they will face the winner of Monday night’s Rams-Vikings game. Potentially, much further. Those seven seconds should serve as a warning to the rest of the NFC.
Not that Mailata is counting.
“It didn’t feel like seven seconds,” Mailata said. “Just keep the guy in front of you as long as you can and try not to get a holding call.”