PHILADELPHIA − Jalen Hurts wasn’t the only Eagles player back at full strength after suffering a shoulder injury last month.
So was the rest of the team as the Eagles completely dominated an opponent, in this case the New York Giants, for the first time since, well, their first meeting against the Giants back on Dec. 11.
And so were the fans, who started filling the lots early Saturday morning by buying tickets to the Philadelphia Wings lacrosse game, then kept partying during the game as the Eagles took a four-touchdown lead in the first half and cruised to a 38-7 win over the Giants in the NFC Divisional Round on Saturday night.
And yes, the players felt the exuberance from the crowd in the Eagles’ second home playoff game in five years.
“The Philly fans have been drinking since 9 a.m. at the lacrosse (game),” tight end Dallas Goedert said. “8 a.m., 7. Whatever it was. They were loud. They were passionate. It was everything I expected.”
Added cornerback Darius Slay: “This is my type of game. So I went out there, like, ‘Damn. I felt like all 80,000 of us was playing together.'”
The Eagles will face the winner of the Dallas Cowboys-San Francisco 49ers game on Sunday in the NFC Championship game next Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field at 3 p.m., with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.
But there’s no need to look further than Hurts’ performance to see what the Eagles have been missing since his shoulder injury.
On the second play of the game, Hurts hit DeVonta Smith for 40 yards, setting up the first touchdown. In all, Hurts completed 16 of 24 passes for 154 yards and 2 touchdowns. More importantly, at least for the status of his shoulder, he ran 9 times for 34 yards, and didn’t seem worse for the wear despite taking some big hits.
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“We all know that adds an extra dymanic to what we can do, so I think that kind of answers itself,” Hurts said about his running.
But don’t take that to mean that Hurts was 100%, which he signaled by giving his standard answer of “good enough” when asked how his shoulder felt during the game.
Hurts also survived a big hit on his shoulder in the third quarter when he was hit as he was beginning his throwing motion. Hurts fumbled the ball, then dove on it as a Giants defender fell on top of him. Hurts got up and continued.
But Hurts’ presence as a running threat opened up the entire offense. Hurts had plenty of help from a running attack that gained 268 yards, led by Kenny Gainwell with 112 yards on 12 carries, culminating with his 35-yard TD run with 1:51 to go.
Miles Sanders had 90 yards on 17 carries. Giants killer Boston Scott added a TD run.
“Seemed like the old Jalen to me,” Sanders said. “I’m not going to lie. Just proud of him. He asks everybody for their best, and we’re going to do that just for him because he gives us (his) best.”
On defense, the Eagles shut down the Giants’ running game and rarely let quarterback Daniel Jones have enough time to throw.
Hurts set the tone early.
He started out a perfect 7-for-7 for 89 yards and 2 TDs on the Eagles first two drives. The first was a 16-yard completion to Goedert, who caught the ball with his left hand in stride and continued into the end zone. The second was a 9-yard TD to DeVonta Smith.
If there were any doubts on Hurts’ shoulder, he answered on the second play when he threw deep to Smith.
The Eagles also put the read-option back into their offense against the Giants, using it twice in the first quarter. Hurts gained 9 yards on the second try, and took a hit on his torso. He was fine.
The Eagles showed they aren’t nearly as dynamic if Hurts is strictly a pocket passer, like he was in the last meeting against the Giants, on Jan. 8 in the Eagles’ 22-16 win. Hurts clearly stayed away from contact as he threw 35 times while running only 9 times, and 3 of those runs were kneel-downs at the end of the game. Hurts also did not have any designed runs called for him.
That was not the case Saturday night.
“We’ve played good football to this date, but we know that we can keep getting better,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “Our goal is to just get better from this. We like where we are at right now. We have a great offensive line, great backs. We have great receivers, great quarterback. We have great tight ends. We’re just ready to go to the next challenge.”
After the Eagles opened with a touchdown, Haason Reddick sacked Jones on back-to-back plays on third and fourth downs starting at the Eagles’ 35.
On the next possession, James Bradberry intercepted his former team. The Eagles didn’t score on that drive.
But that was a temporary break. Sanders started the next drive by running on 6 straight plays down to the Giants’ 20. Then Scott finished off the drive with a 3-yard TD to make it 21-0 midway through the second quarter.
Hurts capped off the next drive with a 5-yard TD to the left side, untouched to make it 28-0 with 43 seconds left in the first half.
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Even when the Giants got something going offensively in the third quarter, the Eagles made sure the Giants took a lot of time off the clock.
So when Matt Breida scored on an 8-yard TD run, it culminated a drive that took up 6:01 of the third quarter.
Soon after, the Eagles embarked on a drive that used up 7:56 of the fourth quarter. It hardly mattered that it ended up with a field goal.
The Giants never had a chance.
“You work really hard for these opportunities,” Hurts said. “They’re not a dime a dozen. You work really hard for them, and I’m just very eager to continue to grow.”
Boston Scott, Giant killer
For some reason, Eagles running back Boston Scott has great success against the Giants when it comes to touchdowns. Scott scored on a 3-yard run in the second quarter, giving the Eagles a 21-0 lead. That was Scott’s 11th career touchdown against the Giants in 9 games. He has 7 more TDs in 54 other games.
Miles Sanders did all the work on that drive, carrying the ball six straight times for 43 yards as the Eagles worked down the field.
Reddick 2 sacks, Bradberry INT
Haason Reddick had two huge sacks back-to-back on the Giants’ first possession. The first came on 3rd-and-3 from the Eagles’ 35. That knocked the Giants back 5 yards. But they went for it on 4th-and-8. This time, Reddick sacked Giants QB Daniel Jones for an 8-yard loss, giving the Eagles the ball at the 48.
They quickly drove down the field and scored.
Then cornerback James Bradberry, a former Giant, intercepted Jones at midfield, just as the first quarter ended.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
