Game Ball, Turning Point, and More from Eagles' 27-17 Win
PHILADELPHIA – The Eagles moved to 7-7 with their 27-17, come-from-behind win over the Washington Football Team on Tuesday night.
It was a gritty win that was much needed to keep the Eagles’ playoff hopes alive.
“Just good teams win in December, and my message basically was you take care of business in December,” said head coach Nick Sirianni. “You enjoy it for the night and then you move on to the next one and that's really our message all the way through.
“But we're on to the next one. And so, we enjoyed it because we played a good complementary football game and played good [in all phases] offense, defense, and special teams, and we'll get back to work (Wednesday).”
There isn’t much time to enjoy this win since the New York Giants are due on Sunday at 1.
Sirianni explained how the Eagles will prepare on such a short week.
He said the players will come in for a lift on Wednesday, but that’s it for that day.
RELATED: Offensive Onslaught Buries Washington as Eagles Move to 7-7
“They need - just they need a break from our coaches,” said Sirianni. “They just need a mental break from us. It's been a long week, as you guys can imagine.
“So, I think the best thing that we can do is they can come in (Wednesday), get a little break from us, and then we'll get back - that will give the coaches a little bit more time to work on New York. Then we'll be back with the players as coaches on Thursday. It's important for our guys - I've always been brought up, God, family, football and so with Christmas coming up, we have work to do, and we've got to get all our work done.
“But I'm going to make sure on Saturday instead of starting at 8 o’clock, we start a little bit later on Saturday to make sure that we're spending time with our family opening gifts on Christmas.”
Here’s more from the win:
GAME BALL
Jalen Hurts. The quarterback hadn’t played in nearly a month after suffering an ankle sprain on Nov. 28 against the Giants.
Yet he showed no signs of the injury and played, in Sirianni’s words, the best game he’s seen him play. The coach has said that a few times this year, but there’s no question the QB is showing growth, especially by staying in the pocket and looing to throw rather than run. When he does get outside the pocket he is doing a better job of making off-schedule plays.
The 28-yard completion to DeVonta Smith in the first quarter that was initially ruled out of bounds, but challenged by Sirianni and overturned, is an example.
Hurts completed 20 of 26 throws (76.9 percent) for 296 yards with one TD, one INT, and a passer rating of 110.4. he got better as the game went along.
He has produced team-highs in rushing yards (733) and rushing TDs (10) this year and is the third QB in NFL history to rush for 700-plus yards and 10-plus TDs in a season, joining Kyler Murray in 2020 (819 yards, 11 TDs) and Cam Newton in 2011 (706 yards, 14 TDs).
TURNING POINT
It had to be the Eagles’ first drive of the third quarter. Exiting the locker room tied at 10-10, they took the kickoff and marched 75 yards in just six plays and 2:34.
Miles Sanders’ 37-yard run was huge as was the play that followed, a 20-yard completion to Dallas Goedert to set the ball up at Washington’s 1-yard line. From there, Jalen Hurts plunged in from there for his 10th rushing touchdown of the season.
The TD put the Eagles ahead 17-10, but, more importantly, it made a short-handed Washington team have to come from behind, something the WFT has struggled to do this year even when completely healthy.
BIGGEST PLAY
Jalen Reagor’s 34-yard catch-and-run off a wide receiver screen with less than eight minutes to play couldn’t have come at a better time.
Washington had just cut the lead to 20-17 minutes earlier and the Eagles were facing a third-and-six at their own 47. The last thing they needed was to punt away the ball.
Jalen Hurts and Reagor made sure they didn’t.
The QB said he audibled to the call that helped set up Greg Ward’s TD with 7:46 to play in the game that helped seal it.
“Yeah I got to a play I thought would be good versus the look we were getting,” said Hurts. “Jalen did a really good job of getting loose with the ball in his hands. That was a crucial drive in the game. That was a crucial drive in the game. That kind of put the game away and finished it off with Ward making the touchdown catch.”
10 BY THE NUMBERS
0: As superb as Miles Sanders was he is still without a touchdown this season.
7: Wins for the Eagles after just four last year and give head coach Nick Sirianni credit. He called a masterful game in winning No. 7 on Tuesday night.
8: Sacks for Javon Hargrave on a team that has just 23 of them. He split one with Fletcher Cox against Washington.
26: Yards rushing for Antonio Gibson, who entered the game seventh in the league in rushing with 836 yards.
53.8: Percent converting third downs into first downs. The Eagles went into the game with the fourth-highest percentage of third-down conversions at 45.5 percent.
57: Yards receiving for Jalen Reagor, which was a career-high.
131: Yards rushing for Miles Sanders, a new career-high
135: Yards receiving for Dallas Goedert, a new career-high, snapping his previous career-high of 105 set in the Eagles’ most recent game, against the New York Jets on Dec. 5.
172: Yards needed for DeVonta Smith to have 913 yards and break DeSean Jackson’s rookie record for most yards in a season.
519: Total yards of offense the Eagles had, which was a season-high.
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
