PHILADELPHIA − Jalen Hurts put on a show through the first half.
The Eagles quarterback completed 17 of 20 passes for 251 yards and a touchdown. He also had two rushing touchdowns, the last one from the 26-yard line. Hurts had 50 more rushing.
The last TD, when Hurts ran down the right sideline and appeared to be going out of bounds before cutting back inside and barreling over a defender. That gave the Eagles a 21-7 lead.
Incredibly, the Eagles got the ball back at their 5 yard line with 1:21 remaining. Hurts led them down the field, completing passes of 19 and 23 yards to Dallas Goedert to get to the Vikings’ 20-yard line with 6 seconds left.
Jake Elliott kicked a 38-yard field goal as time expired and the Eagles had a 24-7 lead at the break.
The Vikings couldn’t stop the Eagles, who racked up 347 yards of offense in the first half alone.
Hurts completed his first 11 passes, for 151 yards before throwing his first incompletion on a pass that Dallas Goedert couldn’t hold onto.
Hurts ran the ball in from the 3 to give the Eagles the early lead on their opening drive. Then he hooked up with Quez Watkins on a 53-yard bomb in which Watkins was 10 yards beyond the closest defender.
The Vikings got back into the game on Irv Smith’s 2-yard touchdown reception with 9:39 left in the half. But Hurts once again took the Eagles down the field. He completed two straight passes to Smith, then Boston Scott’s 16-yard run got the Eagles to the Vikings’ 34.
A few plays later, Hurts took off down the right sideline and the Eagles led by 14.
The Eagles were trying to improve to 2-0 for the first time since the 2016 season.
Eagles D stepping up
The Eagles’ defensive picked things up in the third quarter, twice intercepting Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins. The first was by Darius Slay at the Eagles’ goal line as Cousins was attempting a pass into the end zone for Justin Jefferson.
As Cousins threw the ball, Javon Hargrave hit his arm on the follow through, thus preventing Cousins from getting enough on the ball to get it over Slay. Slay returned it to the Eagles’ 19 yard line.
Avonte Maddox had the second interception, coming after the Vikings blocked Jake Elliott’s field goal attempt. Kris Boyd picked up the blocked field goal and returned it to the Eagles’ 30. On third down, Maddox picked off Cousins.
DeVonta Smith sighting
It didn’t take long for DeVonta Smith to catch his first pass. It came on the very first play of the game as Hurts threw to Smith over the middle. The play went for five yards.
Smith was shut out in the Eagles’ opener last week against the Detroit Lions. It was the first time that Smith was held without a catch both in college and the NFL. Smith had at least one catch in every game last season. And he had at least one catch in every game during his four seasons at Alabama.
The Eagles went down the field and scored, with Hurts running the ball in from the 3. On the drive, Hurts completed all five passes he attempted for 63 yards. He spread the ball around to Smith, Dallas Goedert, Zach Pascal and A.J. Brown.
Smith had 4 catches for 48 yards in the first half.
A lot of penalties
The Eagles were called for three illegal receiver downfield penalties in the first quarter alone. Two were on left guard Landon Dickerson, the other on right guard Isaac Seumalo.
In all, the Eagles were flagged 4 times for 26 yards in the first quarter.
Reddick finally gets a homecoming
Haason Reddick has played in 81 games in his NFL career ever since the Arizona Cardinals made him their first-round pick in the 2017 draft.
But the Eagles’ game against the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night was only Reddick’s second career game at Lincoln Financial Field in the NFL, and the first since his rookie season.
Of course, Reddick, the South Jersey native is very familiar with the Linc, having played his home games there for four years while at Temple. But the atmosphere wasn’t nearly the same. The Linc was never packed for a Temple game the way it is for Eagles’ games.
“I’m not going to get caught up in that hype. I’m just focused right now on being better than I was Week 1, fixing the things I didn’t do right in Week 1. That’s all I’m going to focused on.
“It’s Philly man, that’s all I can say.”
Reagor’s return
For the Vikings, Jalen Reagor made his return to Philadelphia after the Eagles traded him on Aug. 31. The Eagles got back a conditional fourth-round pick in 2024 and a seventh-round pick in 2023. Reagor is serving as the Vikings’ punt returner.
Reagor was seen on the field before the game shaking hands with Eagles GM Howie Roseman, and hugging special teams coordinator Michael Clay. He also exchanged hugs with DeVonta Smith among other receivers.
Reagor touched the ball once in the first half, on a jet sweep. He gained 17 yards.
Eagles inactives
For the Eagles, the inactives for the game were QB Ian Book, S Reed Blankenship, RB Trey Sermon, DE Janarius Robinson, G Josh Sills and TE Grant Calcaterra.
Numbers to watch
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts came into the game ranked fourth among NFL quarterbacks in total yards (passing and rushing) in his first 20 career starts. For Hurts, his 20th start came last week. Hurts has 5,422 yards, trailing only Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow. … Hurts is also ranked first in explosive plays (the Eagles define them as passes of at least 16 yards and runs of at least 10) per game since the start of the 2021 season. He averages 7.3, ahead of Lamar Jackson (6.8) and Herbert (6.5) …
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
