PHILADELPHIA − Jalen Hurts wasn’t the only Eagles player back at full strength.
So was the rest of the team as the Eagles completely dominated an opponent for the first time, well, since their first meeting against the Giants back on Dec. 11.
The next week, Hurts suffered a sprained shoulder against the Bears, and the Eagles sort of limped through the rest of the regular season.
But with two weeks to rest and recover, and behind an enthusiastic crowd, 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.
It was the same score as the Eagles’ last home playoff victory, five years to the day over the Vikings in the NFC Championship game.
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.
It didn’t take long for Hurts to show that he was back to full strength.
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.
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Even more importantly, the Eagles built a big enough lead that Hurts could rest over the last 3 minutes of the game.
He 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.
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.
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 as the Eagles marched down the field.
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 were finished.
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.
Eagles inactives has 2 DBs
There was one surprise with the Eagles’ game-day roster as safety Anthony Harris was left off it even though he received a practice-squad elevation. The Eagles could have used the depth with injured slot cornerback Avonte Maddox sitting out his third straight game with a toe injury while Chauncey Gardner-Johnson is only playing in his second game since returning from injured reserve.
.In addition to Maddox and Harris, the Eagles’ other inactives were QB Ian Book, RB Trey Sermon, LB Kyron Johnson and G Josh Sills.
Harris was a starting safety for the Eagles last season. The Eagles released him just before the season started. He then signed with the Broncos’ practice squad and got into three games The Broncos released him Dec. 6, and the Eagles signed him to their practice squad a week later.
This was his first time getting the elevation as an Eagle.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
