INDIANAPOLIS − The way Jalen Hurts sees it, Eagles star tight end Dallas Goedert probably had the same reaction that most Eagles fans had watching the offense combust throughout the first three-plus quarters.
“(Goedert) was probably screaming at the TV, going crazy,” Hurts said.
Of course, that reaction could describe the euphoria the Eagles felt after they pulled out a hard-fought 17-16 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, rallying from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
The win wasn’t clinched until Hurts scored on a 7-yard quarterback draw with 1:20 left, running up the middle as if the Colts’ defense parted like the Red Sea. Three plays earlier, Hurts converted a 4th-and-2 for a first down.
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If Hurts ends up being named the MVP of the league, look no further than that fourth quarter drive.
“I told him myself, ‘Hey, the ball is in your hands. Just play ball. Do what you gotta do. Win the game,'” Eagles wide receiver Quez Watkins told the Delaware News Journal/Delawareonline.com. “Honestly, I wanted the ball in his hands. Fourth-and-2, fourth-and-anything − I wanted the ball in his hands.
“I just know he’s gonna go get it. I don’t care who he has to run through.”
Hurts ran through everyone.
But Hurts’ heroics wouldn’t have mattered, for example, if Haason Reddick didn’t sack Matt Ryan on 3rd-and-goal from the 5 with about five minutes remaining. The Colts had to settle for a field goal, keeping the Eagles within a touchdown for their final drive.
And none of that would’ve mattered if Eagles general manager Howie Roseman doesn’t sign veteran defensive tackle Linval Joseph to a contract last Wednesday, followed one day later by signing veteran defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.
Both had played the previous 12 seasons in the NFL, but neither had played a down this season. Yet Joseph played 40% of the defensive snaps with just two practices, Suh 26% with just one practice.
Just like that, a run defense that had been gashed for an average of 160 yards per game in the previous two games, coinciding with rookie Jordan Davis going on injured reserve with a sprained ankle, held the Colts to just 99.
Colts running back Jonathan Taylor had 49 yards on 7 carries on the Colts’ first drive, finishing it off with his 1-yard TD. He had 35 yards on 15 carries the rest of the game.
“I knew before we got here, they were banged up,” Suh said about the Eagles’ defensive line. “We needed to come in and step up. Whenever our number was called, we were ready to go.”
Joseph was on the field at nose tackle for the first two plays of the game. Taylor rushed twice for 4 yards. Then he came off the field on a 3rd-and-6, and Ryan hit Michael Pittman for 24 yards and a first down. Joseph stayed on the sidelines the next two plays as Taylor picked up 28 and 9 yards.
Joseph didn’t come off the field much after that. He and Suh combined for 7 tackles and a sack. Joseph said he’ll worry about soreness later.
“If we were winning by two touchdowns, you probably wouldn’t have seen that much of me because now we’re rushing (the quarterback),” he said. “But when the game is close, and they’re running the ball, I’m expecting to be on the field.”
All of that set everything up for Hurts. Of course, it took until the fourth quarter because the offense couldn’t get out of its own way.
In the first quarter, the Eagles committed three straight penalties, giving them a 1st-and-35. Needless to say, the Eagles ended up punting. Jason Kelce snapped a ball over Hurts’ head on 2nd-and-goal from the 2 in the second quarter. The Eagles settled for a field goal.
On the first play of the second half, Colts defensive end Yannick Ngakoue blew past Jordan Mailata and Miles Sanders on his way to sacking Hurts, who fumbled, giving the Colts the ball at the Eagles’ 22.
The Eagles’ held the Colts to a field goal. That was big, too.
Then in the fourth quarter, just after Watkins’ 22-yard touchdown catch pulled the Eagles to within 13-10, the Eagles recovered Taylor’s fumble. But a few plays later, A.J. Brown fumbled the ball back to the Colts.
That eventually resulted in the Colts’ field goal with 4:37 left.
Then Hurts took over.
“I knew we were going to have to (show our guts),” Joseph said about Hurts. “That’s just what it is. It was that moment. It was do or die. Who wants it more? Who’s going to step up? He did that …. We scored, and the rest was history.”
Hurts did it both with his arm and his legs. Hurts ran for 86 yards, but 52 of them came in the fourth quarter. But he also made the clutch pass when necessary, like the 22-yard TD to Watkins, as he finished 18 of 25 for 172 yards.
And he also used his smarts. On the final drive, Hurts was scrambling on 3rd-and-2 from the Eagles’ 33 and seemingly had nowhere to go. At the last moment, he saw Sanders running wide open deep. He threw the ball as far as he could, and Sanders ended up drawing a 39-yard pass interference call, taking the Eagles to the Colts’ 28.
Then the Eagles faced that 4th-and-2 from the 9 with 2 minutes left. If the Eagles don’t convert, the game is over. Hurts got the first down. Then on third down, he took a quarterback draw up the middle for the game-winning touchdown.
“There was never a doubt,” Hurts said when asked if he believed the Eagles would rally to win.
No doubt, Goedert was screaming at his TV, this time in jubilation.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
