Eagles-Steelers analysis: The unstoppable A.J. Brown-Jalen Hurts connection moves the Birds to 7-0

After their bye week, the Eagles picked up right where they left off.

Any notion of rust was quickly dispelled in the Eagles’ 35-13 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field. It’s the second time in franchise history the Eagles have started 7-0 and the first since 2004.

Here’s our analysis on the game:

After catching his third touchdown pass of the first half, it looked like A.J. Brown ran out of celebrations.

In lieu of an elaborate dance or stunt, Brown simply counted the two defensive backs Pittsburgh deployed to slow him down, much to the disapproval of the nearest official. The star receiver elicited a 15-yard penalty on the ensuing kickoff, but it was a drop in the bucket compared to the bevy of big-time catches Brown pulled off to give the Eagles a decisive early lead.

There was the 39-yard touchdown catch while double-covered on the Eagles’ opening drive. The pass looked like it was overthrown at first with Steelers defender Minkah Fitzpatrick tracking it, but Brown ripped the ball out of the air before the All-Pro safety could secure it.

» READ MORE: A.J. Brown is stacking — and wearing — Benjamins, and he was money for the Eagles in beating the Steelers

The pass on the next touchdown was tailor-made for Brown as he sprinted down the sideline with Ahkello Witherspoon trailing in coverage. Brown caught the ball in stride for a 27-yard score. The next series, Brown got past Witherspoon again and found the end zone on a 29-yarder as Fitzpatrick bounced off the 6-foot-1, 226-pound receiver.

Brown’s stat line was shocking midway through the second quarter. He had five catches for 113 yards and three touchdowns with six minutes left in the first half. He finished with six catches for a career-high 156 receiving yards and three touchdowns after setting up a second-half scoring drive with an impressive run-after-catch that netted 43 yards.

Brown is the first Eagles wide receiver to have three touchdown catches in a game since Riley Cooper in 2013.

After the game, he said he was disappointed he didn’t have more, pointing to a second-half drop and a few missed opportunities.

“It’s my ball or nobody’s ball,” Brown said after the game. “... I’m really kind of upset right now because I know — I had a big day, but I could have had an even bigger day if I made the most of those opportunities, so there’s definitely room for improvement.”

The 25-year-old has been productive all season but hadn’t surpassed 100 receiving yards since the season opener against the Detroit Lions. Against the Steelers, Brown once again proved that he can take over games for stretches with his ball-winning ability and prowess after the catch.

“I’ve seen all of these guys do amazing things,” quarterback Jalen Hurts said after the game. “I’ve seen DeVonta Smith do crazy things in college, I’ve seen A.J., as a friend, as a fan, take slants 70 [yards]. I’ve seen Dallas Goedert make the craziest catches in the game or in practice. So when I see them make those plays in the game, better yet, when I’m playing with them in the game, I’ve got my popcorn ready after I throw them the ball.”

Hurts continues to show progress. He had a handful of perfectly placed passes against a Steelers secondary led by Fitzpatrick, his former Alabama teammate. He finished 19-for-28 for 285 yards and had career highs of four touchdown passes and a 140.6 quarterback rating.

Hurts has typically been accurate on deep passes, and both of the second-quarter touchdown throws to Brown were put in spots where only Brown could make a play on the ball. Even on an incomplete pass to Brown midway through the third quarter, Hurts threw an excellent ball.

“I think it’s about being able to be a threat in many different ways,” Hurts said when asked about his progress this year. “That’s something that a guy like me has the ability to do. Naturally being able to run, we’ll call it a dual threat but I like to call it a triple threat. You have to be able to kill them with your legs at times, make the throws when you need to in the passing game, and kill them with your mind and with what you see and how you react.”

» READ MORE: In Eagles’ rout of Steelers, Jalen Hurts keeps proving how far he has come as a QB

The explosive plays aside, Hurts also continued winning in the other category the coaching staff consistently harps on: zero turnovers. Aside from a middle-field throw that Fitzpatrick nearly jumped on in the first half, Hurts hardly put the ball in harm’s way.

“He went out there and he executed today in the air,” coach Nick Sirianni said. “He threw some great deep balls and read the defense well. He just continues to develop.”

For the first time all season, the Eagles kept their foot on the gas.

After taking a 21-10 lead into halftime, the Eagles started the second half with a scoring drive and kept the offensive onslaught coming throughout the remainder of the half.

Offensive coordinator Shane Steichen called a play-action pass that led to Zach Pascal being wide-open downfield on the opening series of the second half. Hurts hit Pascal for a 34-yard touchdown, the receiver’s first of the season.

Sirianni said the staff spent the bye week identifying areas of improvement and potentially problematic tendencies. The lack of second-half production was likely among the things explored and the early returns on the plans for better execution are encouraging.

“I thought we played a pretty complete game and we needed to today to close that out,” Sirianni said. “We really wanted to emphasize how we start the second half. We had some second-half woes, and we really traced it back to how we started second halves. It was good to be able to go down and execute today to start things off and set the tone.”

Staying aggressive even with a double-digit lead will be important for the Eagles against the better teams in the league, although it might be a while before they face one of them.

The Eagles’ new-look pass rush is off to a solid start.

Newly acquired edge rusher Robert Quinn played a handful of snaps in his first game since the Eagles sent a fourth-round pick to the Chicago Bears for him last week. On one of his first plays, he was a part of a personnel package that lined up Haason Reddick over a guard.

Reddick looped around the formation on a stunt and was rewarded with a beeline to Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett for a sack on the game’s opening possession. The Eagles went back to the look in the second half and got Brandon Graham a pressure, but the play was negated by a defensive holding penalty.

The Eagles finished with six sacks, including two by defensive tackle Javon Hargrave against his former team.

“It feels wonderful,” Hargrave said. “To just have a day against the old team, I can’t really explain it.”

Defensive tackle Jordan Davis left the game early with an ankle injury that will reportedly sideline him four to six weeks.

According to an NFL Network report, Davis has a high ankle sprain. He went through the locker room on crutches with a walking boot on his right leg after the game.

The first-round rookie’s absence will be a difficult one to mask for the Eagles defense. Davis is the lone true nose tackle on the active roster and had become a staple of the base five-down fronts the group uses particularly often against the run. Hargrave can play nose tackle and did so plenty last year, but the team might need to add another stout interior lineman to the roster while Davis heals.

The Eagles used mostly even fronts without Davis in the second half, which Hargrave said was partly due to Davis’s absence and partly because the Steelers were throwing more often to try to make up the deficit.

“I think it’s a little bit of both,” Hargrave said. “With Jordan being down, we were short with our base front, we didn’t have a lot of people to rotate with. That definitely played a huge part.”