HURTS SO GOOD
ROOKIE STARTING QB LEADS BIRDS TO BLOCKBUSTER COMEBACK
PHILADELPHIA » How Jalen Mills really got the ball away from Craig Robinson on the onside kick is between him and Robinson.
Make that Mills and Duke Riley, who grew up in New Orleans and was instrumental in collaborating Sunday on one of the biggest plays of the Eagles’ season.
The Saints got within 2421 with 1:24 left, then kicker Thomas Morstead squibbed one to the left that began rolling right into a pile of his teammates. Replays showed the ball hitting the shoe of an Eagles player, meaning it didn’t have to go 10 yards by rule.
“In my head I’m just looking for the ball,” said Riley, who had six tackles and an interception. “I could see a lot of people but the ball didn’t go 10 yards. But I think one of our guys tried to touch it. Then one of their guys kicked it so I dove on it. I just reached out with my arms and pulled it closer to me and Jalen landed on top of my arms. So it was kind of like we both had it. I was just telling him the whole time, we ain’t letting go. I don’t care if we stay here until 12 o’clock tonight, we’re not letting that ball go. We wanted to come up with the win.”
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who fumbled the previous series to set up the late TD by the Saints, killed the rest of the clock.
It was a fitting reward for Riley, who had a premonition he would make a big play or two after talking to his family. The interception in the first half – just the fourth of the season for the Eagles – set up a 44-yard field goal by Jake Elliott, giving the Eagles a 10-0 lead in the second quarter. Mills got a piece of that throw, Riley doing the rest.
“Sometimes you feel like you are going to make a play,” Riley said. “Well, I always feel like I’m going to make a play but sometimes luck is just on your side. But they were all excited. I love everybody on the team. Everybody on the team loves me. That’s the thing, the more energy we can create like that, the more explosive plays, the more turnovers we can get for the offense, the more for this team, it just brings everybody together.”
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The Eagles lost three starting defensive backs in the game, Avonte Maddox (knee) exiting in the first half, Darius Slay (concussion) and Rodney McLeod (knee) in the second half.
Slay and McLeod were hurt on the same play as they blitzed Taysom Hill, who found Alvin Kamara for an
11-yard gain setting up the first of two TDs for the Saints in the third quarter.
That left the Eagles playing Kevon Seymour, who just joined the club, at cornerback and rookie safety K’von Wallace to play centerfield. There wasn’t much Seymour could do in single coverage on Hill’s 37-yard TD throw to Emmanuel Sanders.
Eagles defensive linemen Malik Jackson (concussion) and Derek Barnett (leg) got hurt on the next series, Jackson leaving for X-rays.
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Former Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins found himself on the wrong end of a straight arm by Miles Sanders, who pushed him aside on an 82-yard scoring run
that gave the Eagles a 17-0 lead.
“It’s my job to get him down and make sure that a bad play doesn’t turn worse,” Jenkins said. “I didn’t do that, so that touchdown is on me.”
Jenkins applauded the decision-making of Hurts, who ran for 106 yards and threw for 167 yards and one TD, enabling the Eagles to snap a four-game losing streak.
“I think it’s obvious that his ability to run not only put stress on us as a defense in the run game but also in the pass game,” Jenkins said. “His ability to scramble just adds another element. You need all 11 to be able to stop the run.”
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Wide receiver JJ ArcegaWhiteside was active for his first game in six weeks. He wasn’t targeted by Hurts. Ostensibly the Eagles scratched rookie John Hightower to roll with Arcega-Whiteside and rookie Quez Watkins, active for just the fourth time this season.