‘That Was Huge’: Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown Pull Philadelphia Eagles ‘Out of a Rut’
PHILADELPHIA – The Christmas Day crowd at Lincoln Financial Field crowd was chanting “Run the ball, run the ball” – until the Philadelphia Eagles found themselves in a 3rd and 15 situation, which swelled to 3rd and 20 on a Jason Kelce false start penalty.
The New York Giants were riding high, having just gotten a 76-yard pick-six touchdown and two-point conversion to trim their deficit to just three points.
A punt there and who knows, maybe the Eagles lose their fourth in a row?
Instead, Jalen Hurts climbed the pocket, keeping the play alive. With plenty of space in front of him, he chose to fire a pass to A.J. Brown, who was trying to be as small and invisible as his 6-1, 225-pound frame would allow in front of the Giants’ bench.
Hurts launched and Brown caught it for a 32-yard gain. The drive was alive, and the Eagles finished it with a 5-yard touchdown run from D’Andre Swift with 11:07 to go in the final quarter.
Every point mattered in what turned into a 33-25 win that wasn’t sealed until the final play of the game when rookie Kelee Ringo intercepted Tyrod Taylor’s pass in the end zone.
Brown’s catch delivered for the Eagles’ in the second half. They had led 20-3 at halftime, and suddenly, after Swift’s TD, New York’s three-point deficit was now 27-18.
It was that connection between Hurts and Brown that may have been the impetus to keeping the Eagles’ hopes of repeating as NFC East champs alive. They need to win out or have the Dallas Cowboys lose one of their final two.
The pick-six put all the momentum on New York’s side until Brown’s catch. The interception came when tight end Dallas Goedert fell, allowing Adoree Jackson an easy catch-and-run score.
“Man, I won’t be able to sleep tonight,” said Goedert. “I slipped, I fell, I have to clean up my detail. I’ll have to look at the film, but I probably cut off the wrong foot, and lost my footing. I can’t do that in that situation. Can’t do that ever. I’m glad we got playmakers on this team that were able to make plays in big situations to help us overcome that.”
He was talking about the Hurts and Brown connection in that throw and catch that gave Philly the momentum back.
“That was huge,” said the tight end. “I went up to him and said, ‘Thank you.’ I said, ‘I love you.’ I appreciate it because I didn’t want to be the reason that we lost the game. So, I’m really glad we were able to pull it out and get the win, and it took a contribution from everybody. A really special team win.”
Brown ended his day with six catches on 11 targets and 80 yards. Hurts threw for 301 yards, completing 24 of 38 throws for a 63 percent percentage. He had completed less than 60 percent of his throws in three of his last four and his drought of not having a touchdown in nine straight quarters, dating back to Dec. 3, ended with a 36-yard touchdown to DeVonta Smith.
Hurts also added his 15th rushing touchdown of the season, which broke the NFL record for most rushing scores by a quarterback that had been held by Cam Newton, who ran for 14 in his rookie season of 2011.
For Brown, he now has 101 catches this season, the most ever in a single season for a receiver in Eagles history. No receiver in their history had ever topped 100.
It was the connection between Hurts ad Brown, however, that saved the day, and maybe the season.
“There aren’t a lot of plays you can draw up on 3rd and 20, so it was just an unbelievable individual effort by Jalen, A.J., the offensive line giving Jalen enough time to escape and step up in the pocket and fire the ball to A.J.,” said head coach Nick Sirianni. “So, yeah, that to me is the key. When you’re in a little bit of a rut…someone has to pull us out. …A.J. did just that in that particular case.”
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