PHILADELPHIA − There was plenty of scoring and drama in the first half alone Sunday night as the Eagles took a 27-20 lead over the Green Bay Packers at the break.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts ran, not passed, for 102 yards in the first quarter alone.
He was at 145 yards after three quarters, breaking the team record for rushing yards by an Eagles quarterback set by Michael Vick with 130 yards in a Dec. 2010 game against the Giants.
Hurts and Sanders both went over 100 yards Sunday night for the first time since Dec. 2020 game against the Saints.
At halftime, Hurts had a career-high 126 yards rushing on 10 carries and 128 yards passing on 11-for-17 passing. His final pass of the first half was a 30-yard touchdown pass to Quez Watkins with 13 seconds left.
In all, the Eagles had 295 yards of offense in the first half alone.
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw two first-half interceptions, both to players who have never had one in their careers in Josiah Scott and Reed Blankenship. Blankenship was in the game because Chauncey Gardner-Johnson left with a rib injury in the first quarter.
Each team’s kicker missed an extra point.
The action started early. On the third play, facing a 3rd-and-10, Hurts took off and gained 24 yards. Later in the drive, he ran for 28 yards before Kenny Gainwell capped the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run.
Scott then intercepted Rodgers, setting the Eagles up at Green Bay’s 29. Miles Sanders converted that with a 15-yard touchdown run for a 13-0 lead as Jake Elliott missed the extra point.
Then Rodgers and the Packers got going. A.J. Dillon scored from 20 yards out. Then Green Bay took over at the Eagles’ 37 after Hurts was stuffed twice in a row on quarterback sneaks on 3rd-and-1, then 4th-and-1.
Rodgers turned that in to a touchdown with an 11-yard pass to Randall Cobb for a 14-13 Green Bay lead.
But the Eagles answered with Sanders’ 2-yard TD run, set up by Hurts’ 42-yard run on 3rd-and-2.
Then the hijinks ensued as Blankenship picked off Rodgers at the Eagles’ 22. The Eagles drove down to Green Bay’s 22, facing a 3rd-and-8. Hurts hit A.J. Brown for a short gain, but Brown fumbled and Quay Walker picked it up and returned it 63 yards to the Eagles’ 13.
Rodgers converted that with a 23-yard TD pass to Aaron Jones. The extra point missed, leaving the two teams tied at 20-20 with 7:41 left in the first half.
Not for much longer, however, as Hurts finished the half with his strike to Watkins.
The Eagles were hoping to improve to 10-1 for the fifth time in team history. The other four times, the Eagles either won a championship (1949, 2017) or played for one (1980, 2004).
Packers star injured
Rodgers left the game after Green Bay’s field goal with 2:03 left in the third quarter with an oblique injury. Up until that point, Rodgers was 11-for-16 for 140 yards with 2 TDs and 2 INTs.
Rodgers revealed last week that he’d been playing with a broken thumb the past several weeks.
Jordan Love, the Packers’ first-round pick in 2019, took over in the fourth quarter.
Career high for Sanders
The Eagles were playing their 11th game, but already Sanders set a career high for rushing yards in a season. He needed 110 yards to tie his previous career high of 867 yards in 2020. Sanders had surpassed that total in the third quarter.
Sanders is well on his way to his first-ever 1,000-yard season. Sanders’ mark in 2020 came in only 12 games.
Eagles sneak fails (twice), starter injured
The Eagles had faced a 3rd-and-1 at their 37 late in the first quarter, and they went to their customary quarterback sneak. It didn’t work, setting up 4th-and-1. The Eagles went for it on fourth down. The snap was fumbled. Sanders recovered, but he was short of the first-down marker.
The Packers took over at the Eagles’ 37 and scored, taking a 14-13 lead. On that drive, Gardner-Johnson suffered a rib injury. He was helped off the field and onto a cart.
The Eagles regained the lead 20-14 on the next possession as Hurts’ 42-yard run brought the Eagles to the Packers’ 3. Hurts had 102 yards rushing on 6 carries in the first quarter.
Eagles have a sack party
Fletcher Cox was among those sacked Rodgers. For Cox, it was his fourth sack of the season, but first since Week 3 against the Washington Commanders.
Josh Sweat also had a sack and Brandon Graham and Haason Reddick shared one. The Eagles came into the game with 33 sacks.
Delaware native leaves with injury
Darnell Savage’s homecoming lasted two plays. The Packers safety who starred at Caravel Academy left the game on the third play with a foot injury. Facing a 3rd-and-10, Savage came up to the line of scrimmage to tackle Jalen Hurts, who decided to run. Hurts ended up gaining 24 yards on the play for a first down.
At halftime, Savage was ruled out for the rest of the game.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
