Seems like old times for Smith, Hurts
Birds’ duo in sync once again
Mercedes-Benz Stadium is the site of some of Jalen Hurts’ greatest failings.
The last time Hurts played there, two years ago, he and Oklahoma were routed, 63-28, by the eventual FBC champion LSU Tigers in the national semifinals. Joe Burrow threw seven scoring passes for the Tigers.
The last time Hurts and DeVonta Smith played together at Mercedes-Benz, Smith caught the winning touchdown pass in overtime for Alabama — from Tua Tagovailoa, who stepped in at the half for the ineffective Hurts, who later transferred to Oklahoma.
That changed Sunday when Hurts hooked up with Smith for the first of three touchdown passes, lifting the Eagles to a 32-6 drubbing of the Atlanta Falcons.
Hurts completed 77.1 percent of his passes for 264 yards and a 126.4 rating largely because of Smith, who hauled in a team-high six for 71 yards, including the score. Smith’s first touch for an 18yard score put the Eagles ahead for good in the first quarter. “Like old times,” Hurts said. That was exactly the start the Eagles wanted, Hurts and Smith taking control to set the tone. It wouldn’t have happened without tight end Zach Ertz, who correctly lined up outside of Smith. When Smith cut across, Ertz stood stationary, and rubbed off the defender just enough to free the receiver.
Hurts floated the ball while Ertz was setting his pick. The timing was something you see multiple times in a game from Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski.
“We rep it so much that you just get used to it,” Smith said. “When I saw it was man (coverage) I knew it was going to be a play.”
Hurts means a lot more to the offense than being a thrower and scrambler. The second-year quarterback refused to be rattled. That’s the guy Smith remembered from their days at ‘Bama.
“I mean, he’s a leader,” Smith
said. “When things are wrong, he’s the one picking everybody up. When things are right, he’s the one telling us to keep pushing. Him and the offensive line. They’re the ones that are going to lead the team. And they did.”
Smith’s success opened up the field for Jalen Reagor, who wound up with six catches for 49 yards, including a 23-yard score with a bubble screen. The only error Smith made was failing to get hold of the ball after his first NFL TD.
“They took it from me,” he said. “They’ll find me.”
After the game, Hurts stopped himself before answering the first question.
“Just a little recap from me,” Hurts said. “I think it’s good to win opening day for us. All the hard work we put in. All the different changes we endured and had to overcome and persevere through. The coaching, the new values as a football team and buying into it and coming out here with a win and starting off the right way, I think that’s good. We started off well.”
Hurts then took questions.
On this Sunday, however, it was all about how he answered.
• • • Hurts and the Eagles produced 434 yards and 24 first downs to 260 and 19 first downs for the Falcons and Matt Ryan.
Four of the Falcons’ first downs came via penalties, the Eagles committing 14 for 89 yards compared to 12 for 99 for their hosts.
The calls weren’t all the fault of referee Scott Novak and his crew. But the Eagles benefited from two blown calls, one in which Ertz clearly dropped what went into the books as a 28-yard reception. The Falcons chose not to challenge and Hurts quickly and smartly ran another play.
Late in the first half, tight end Dallas Goedert made a diving, sprawling TD catch that replay views disputed. But the officiating crew in New York upheld the call, even though it looked like Goedert didn’t get both hands under the ball before it touched the ground. Nick Sirianni is looking forward to watching the video.
Six of the Eagles’ penalties were on the offensive line that otherwise wore down the Falcons.
••• Speaking of Sirianni, he passionately reminded his guys to keep a “dog mentality” throughout the game. Dog mentality? “Dog mentality to us means that no matter what happens on one play, whether it was an interception, whether it was a touchdown, whether it was a minus run, whether it was a 20-yard run, whether it was a sack, no matter what happened, play the next play,” Sirianni said. “Be in the moment. Our analogy is just like a dog would when you open the cage and he goes to hunt. That was the main message.”
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The defense came up big early in the game, stopping the Falcons at the 3and 2-yard lines on the first two possessions. It’s not the first time Ryan has been stymied in close by the Eagles. Just rewind to the 2017 divisional round of the playoffs at the Linc.
But the Eagles smartly blanketed Ryan’s receivers, realizing that the old guy wasn’t going to beat him with his legs.
“When they first came out they were driving down and we held them in the red zone,” defensive end Brandon Graham said. “We were talking about it out there. They don’t score. They don’t score, they don’t win. It’s only the first round. We’ve got plenty more rounds to go, but so far so good.”
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NOTES » Linebacker Eric Wilson led the Eagles with nine tackles. Nickel back Avonte Smith had eight stops and helped make a non-factor out of tight end Kyle Pitts, the high-profile first-round pick of the Falcons. Pitts had trouble getting open. He finished with four catches for 31 yards. … Javon Hargrave (six tackles) had two sacks, Hassan Ridgeway one for the Eagles. … Eagles punter Aaryn Siposs had a net average of 44.5 yards, dropping four inside the 20-yard line of the Falcons. … Quez Watkins caught Hurts’ first three throws, gaining 23 yards and that was it. He also averaged 22 yards on kickoff returns. … Reagor averaged 4.8 yards on three punt returns.