Five years after the Eagles defeated the Vikings at Lincoln Financial Field to advance to the Super Bowl, Philadelphia welcomed Minnesota back to town on Monday night with similar grit. Despite high hopes after beating the Packers in Week 1, Kevin O’Connell’s upstarts looked lifeless from start to finish, while Nick Ciliani’s Hawks were arguably young quarterback Jalen Hertz. The best performance of my career. Combined with an opportunistic defense, Hurts helped the birdies to a 24-7 victory, which wasn’t as close as the final score suggested.
Here’s some instant info from Monday night’s primetime matchup:
Why the Eagles won
Jalen Hurts is officially a team-level quarterback, and Jonathan Gannon’s defense finally gives him a great addition. After beating the Lions with mostly legs in Week 1, Hurts was the prime-time total, slicing Minnesota’s secondary game from start to finish and rumbled as the top QB rusher of the week . He’s accurate, efficient, and even throws it deep, using his wheels only when needed. It was a truly ground-breaking show that got everyone involved – AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, even Miles Sanders and Boston Scott.
Defensively, Gannon’s force was equally impressive, limiting Justin Jefferson to early short-range targets, completely eliminating Darwin Cook-led charging attacks and beating Kirk Cousins twice in the red zone. Star corner Darius Slay grabbed the headlines, passing Jefferson in coverage and nullifying Kevin O’Connell’s offense in nearly every way. At the end of the night, Slay had two picks and could easily have five, benefiting from Gannon deploying more blitzes.
Why the Vikings lost
The open space they enjoyed in the opening round of the season against the Packers is nowhere to be found. Kirk Cousins, backed by zero runs, was often unable to connect with his elite receiving team, then was forced to run late while desperately looking for sparks. Kevin O’Connell’s favored ball didn’t react at all, Darwin Cook had no impact at all, and pass receivers took turns taking key shots — no bigger than Owen Smith Jr.’s potential score.
Defensively, Ed Donatell’s strong lineup lost all the enthusiasm from the previous week, playing soft screens to get Jalen Hurts sailing, especially Camlyn Byner Camryn Bynum struggled on the back end in two Eagles TD drives. Minnesota’s energy levels never seem to be there, averaging less than four yards per pass attempt, going into tapering hours of action. Patrick Peterson tried to rekindle their fight with a field goal, but otherwise, the club was out of luck.
turning point
You could point to Jalen Hurts’ second or third TD, which announced the Eagles won it in front of their roaring home crowd. The former saw Hurts drive a perfect deep throw to Quez Watkins for 53 yards to give Philadelphia a 14-0 lead, and the latter saw the QB bulldozer pass a series of Vikings defenders for 26 yards TD run to keep the team two points ahead. Minnesota still trails by more than a few points for the remainder of the game.
Gameplay
It belongs to Hurts, whose first-half scramble for scoring was a big reminder that he’s one of the best double threats in the NFL at the position:
what’s next
The Eagles (2-0) will travel to Washington for their first NFC East game of the year against the Commanders (1-1), which lost to the Lions on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Vikings (1-1) will return home to face Detroit.