Philadelphia Eagles: 3 takeaways from a Hurts-led upset win over Saints
By David Esser
The Philadelphia Eagles have upset the New Orleans Saints by a score of 24-21.
Despite entering the ballgame as massive underdogs, the Philadelphia Eagles did what they did best and roped us all back into the team with a gutsy performance against all odds.
In Jalen Hurts‘ first career start, the Eagles rallied at home and were able to stave off the now 10-3 New Orleans Saints. It wasn’t the prettiest of wins, but they got it done nevertheless, and they’ll now at least have something to play for over these next few weeks.
Here are my instant takeaways from the victory:
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Jalen Hurts looked pretty good!
People are going to undeniably hype up Hurts’ first start more than it deserves (just due to the nature of the Philadelphia QB position), but the rookie undoubtedly showed up against a very strong New Orleans defense.
He finished the afternoon with 167 passing yards and 106 rushing yards, and threw one touchdown to Alshon Jeffery on a fourth-down conversion.
Hurts was just 17-30 throwing the football (56.7%) which is pretty bad all things considered, but his ability to repeatedly extends plays with his legs was the main driving force to the Eagles offensive success today. He averaged 5.9 yards per carry, and was a constant threat in the RPO game – which in turn opened things up for Miles Sanders on the ground (115 yards, 1 TD).
Hurts’ 106 rushing yards was just the second time in NFL history where a rookie quarterback has run for over 100 yards in their debut – the other being Lamar Jackson.
It wasn’t some jaw-dropping, magical performance from Hurts, but it was definitely something to build off of. He should in theory only play better against weaker opponents moving forward.