The Eagles made a statement in prime time with a dominant 24-7 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football in the home opener at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles gave fans plenty to cheer about as quarterback Jalen Hurts was masterful, throwing 333 yards on 26-of-31 passes. He opened the game and connected with his first 11 passes, setting another high in his career. Hurts had one touchdown passing — a BOM for Quez Watkins for 53 yards — and two hasty scores, as well as another 57 yards on the ground.
The defense held out at the end of the deal after the Eagles ran to a 24-7 lead at halftime by holding the Vikings scoreless in the second half. Cornerback Darius Slay put himself in position to become the NFC Defensive Player of the Week with two interceptions and five pass breakups while keeping Vikings star wide receiver Justin Jefferson in check. The defense forced three rounds — all interceptions from Kirk Cousins — and the Eagles lead 2-0 with their first NFC East showdown next Sunday in Washington. Here’s how the game unfolded:
• The Eagles took the opening kick-off, marching 82 yards in 11 games as Jalen Hurts completed the drive by rushing through three Vikings defensive players for a 3-yard touchdown run, his second of the season. DeVonta Smith caught his first pass of the season on the first play of scrimmage, a 5-yard gain. The main play of the drive was a third-and-13 pass to A.J. Brown, his first eagle reception at Lincoln Financial Field, for a 19-yard win at the Minnesota 10-yard line. Hurts was 5-for-5 for 63 yards with additions to four different receivers. Miles Sanders added 14 meters of soil on two carriers. Eagles lead 7-0 with 9:09 to go in the first quarter.
• The Eagles ended the first quarter 7-0 when the defense forced two punts. Darius Slay broke a pass intended for wide receiver Justin Jefferson in third on the Vikings’ first drive. Next, James Bradberry denied a pass intended for tight end Irv Cross to end the second drive. The Vikings only had 10 yards of offense in the first quarter.
• WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW! Jalen Hurts went deep to Quez Watkins, who came behind the entire Minnesota defense for a 53-yard touchdown to extend the Eagles lead to 14-0 with 14:52 left in the first half. Hurts is 10-of-10 for 154 yards and a touchdown.
• The Vikings answer back to the Watkins with a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. The Vikings converted two third-down situations — a third-and-1 with an end round to Jalen Reagor for 17 yards and then a third-and-6 with a pass to K.J. Osborne for 15 yards. Tight end Irv Smith caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to get Minnesota on the board.
• Jalen Hurts completed his first 11 passes. The first omission came with 7:08 left in the first half on a well-placed ball to end Dallas Goedert in traffic tight that the Vikings could break.
• With 1:58 to go in the top half, the Eagles extend their lead with a 26-yard touchdown from Jalen Hurts. The ride started with back-to-back passes to DeVonta Smith who won 19 yards and 16 yards, respectively. Two games later, Boston Scott ran to center for a 16 win and two games later, Miles Sanders added 9 yards to the ground for the scoring game. Eagles lead 21-7.
• Like last week in Detroit, the Eagles took advantage of a drive at the end of the half to extend their lead to 24-7 at halftime. Jalen Hurts, secured on their 5-yard line, opened with a 9-yard win on a designed run. After converting the first down, the Eagles faced a third-and-6 when the Vikings called timeout. Hurts his DeVonta Smith for 16 yards, then tied with Dallas Goedert on back-to-back plays from 19 and 24 yards, respectively, to put the team in position for a 38-yard field goal when the half expired.
• Jalen Hurts finished the first half with 251 passing yards on 17-of-20 attempts, 50 rushing yards and three total touchdowns. Dallas Goedert leads the pass catchers with 64 yards, but Quez Watkins (69 yards) and DeVonta Smith (64) are right behind him.
SECOND HALF
• A promising Vikings drive was thwarted by Darius Slay’s first interception of the year on a Kirk Cousins pass intended for Justin Jefferson. Slay followed Jefferson for much of the night. The Vikings were on the goal line on the Eagles’ 19-yard line before the interception.
• After the turnover, the Eagles were poised to skip three more runs, but the Vikings blocked Jake Elliott’s 41-yard attempt. Patrick Peterson turned down the offer and Minnesota returned it to the Eagles’ 30-yard line. The Eagles got into scoring position thanks to two additions to A.J. Brown who provided 23 and 12 yards respectively.
• The defense took it away again after the blocked field goal. Kirk Cousins’ third and seventh attempts at Adam Thielen were intercepted by Avonte Maddox for his first pick of the season. Maddox returned it to the Eagles’ 15-yard line.
• It was all defense for the Eagles in the second half. Fletcher Cox came with a sack and a forced fumble that the Vikings recovered to end a drive and give the Eagles the ball back with only 8:18 left in the game and the score still 24-7.
• The Vikings force a turnover as Kenneth Gainwell failed to collect quarterback Jalen Hurts’ short pass on a corner or Texas route and it was intercepted by former Eagle Jordan Hicks. It was returned 19 yards to the Eagles’ 9-yard line.
• SLAY SLAY SLAY!!! The Pro Bowl cornerback registered his second interception of the game in the end zone on a pass intended for wide receiver Justin Jefferson to give the Eagles the ball back with 7:07 left.
The Vikings went just 1-for-4 in the red zone when defensive end Josh Sweat ended the night with a sack from quarterback Kirk Cousins in the final game of the game—a third goal from the Eagles’ 11-yard line who went for a loss of 7 yards.