No Shoulder Problem For Hurts
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Shara Talia Taylor
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
QB Jalen Hurts came back refreshed after an off week and led the Philadelphia Eagles to a resounding 38-7 victory over the New York Giants Saturday evening in the NFL Divisional playoff game in the City of Brotherly Love.
Philadelphia took the lead early and kept the advantage with Hurts making connections and Eagles defense maintaining pressure on Giants quarterback Daniel Jones. Hurts may not be completely healed from his shoulder injury sustained in week 15, but his level of play indicated otherwise.
“Every team comes into this thing (game) trying to accomplish the same thing,” the Eagles tweeted Hurts saying after the game. “Now once you climb that mountain it gets harder. It gets more treacherous as you get to the top, but we take it day by day.”
Hurts completed 16 of 24 passes for 154 yds and threw zero interceptions. Hurts worked quickly after the kickoff, handing off to running back Miles Sanders, linking with wide receiver Devonta Smith for a 40 yd pass and connecting several other passes before throwing to tight end Dallas Goedert for the Eagles’ first touchdown on the opening drive.
Defense went to work and outside linebacker Haason Reddick got the ball back from the Giants on their first possession with a quarterback sack. The Eagles defense had five total recorded sacks for the game. With 1:21 remaining in the first quarter Hurts passed to Smith for a touchdown on the Eagles next possession.
Less than eight minutes remained in the second quarter, when Hurts handed the ball off to running back Boston Scott who ran the ball in for a touchdown. Hurts later rushed 5yards for the fourth touchdown with less than 45 seconds remaining in the game. Philadelphia led 28-0 at halftime.
The Eagles did not score in the third quarter. Jake Elliott kicked a 30-yard field goal with less than six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter extending the lead to 31-7. Eagles backup quarterback Gardner Minshew entered the game and handed off to running back Kenneth Gainwell for the final touchdown of the game.
“So happy for everybody in here,” the Eagles tweeted coach Nick Sirianni saying to players . “It takes everybody to get to where we got right now. We get to go and play to go to the Super Bowl next week in our house.”
“The win tonight, man it was beautiful,” Hurts said. “You know I always kind of measure it by how many fans were there for pre-game warm-ups and I think it was pretty thick so it’s exciting. The spirit, the pride behind what we are doing, we just want to continue doing good things for the city.”
The Eagles look prepared for their next match against the San Francisco 49ers for the NFC Championship game back in Philadelphia on Sunday. The Niners, behind rookie quarterback Brock Purdy (19-29, 214 yards) held off the Dallas Cowboys 19-12. Dallas’ quarterback Dak Prescott, after torching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the week before, resorted to his turnover self. Prescott finished his day completing 23 of 37 passes for 206 yards but threw 2 costly interceptions. The Dallas Cowboys, owned by Jerry Jones have not been to the Super Bowl in 27 years.
Sports Editor Andrew Rosario contributed to this article.
