Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts: ‘We weathered the storm as a team’

The 2024 NFL season got off to an unpromising start for Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. Intercepted on his second pass and charged with a lost fumble on Philadelphia’s second possession, Hurts still came away with a season-opening 34-29 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Friday night.

“Just keep the main thing the main thing,” Hurts said after the NFL’s first game in South America. “Keep pressing on. I think how we responded as a team, we all experienced some adversity. But we all dug deep and kept pressing forward. It’s all things that you can control, and we continued to find our rhythm as a football team. But it’s always good to be able to figure that out with a win.”

On Philadelphia’s third snap of the season, former Alabama teammate Xavier McKinney picked off Hurts and returned the football to the Eagles 19-yard line. But Green Bay got only a field goal.  On the Eagles’ second possession, an early snap by new center Cam Jurgens caught Hurts off-guard, and the Packers recovered the loose football at the Philadelphia 13-yard line. But again, Green Bay got only a field goal.

“They showed up and had my back big-time at that moment off those two turnovers,” Hurts said of the Eagles defense. “Those are things I control and have to be better at, and I take accountability for that. But that’s what it’s about. … How do we respond from it? In the end, it always comes down to how you respond to it. And I always say: Keep the main thing the main thing. And the main thing is playing each play and giving it your best and learning from it and moving forward.

“And so I’m really happy with just how we weathered the storm as a team. We’ve been talking about it. I’ve been preaching it. A lot of guys have been preaching it. What type of team are we going to be? What type of teammates are we going to be? What type of approach will we have and will we handle adversity when it comes? And so we take pride in that.”

So when Hurts went 5-for-5, including an 18-yard touchdown pass to running back Saquon Barkley, on an 11-play, 70-yard drive on the Eagles’ third possession, Philadelphia had a 7-6 advantage with 12:38 left in the first half after the first of the game’s seven lead changes.

“We couldn’t have played a worse first quarter offensively,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “… And then we came back down the field, and he hit Saquon with an unbelievable throw. He’s going to want some plays back, obviously, but I thought Jalen started it as far as the dog mentality of playing through and handling the adversity.”

The former Alabama standout had another go-ahead touchdown pass when he connected with wide receiver AJ Brown for a 67-yard score 51 seconds into the second half.

JALEN HURTS TO AJ BROWN. 67-YARD TD TO START THE SECOND HALF.

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— NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2024

The final lead change of the game came on Barkley’s 2-yard run as Philadelphia went up 31-26 with 4:26 left in the third quarter.  Hurts threw another interception when he was picked off by cornerback Jaire Alexander in the end zone on a throw from the Green Bay 14-yard line with 12:53 to play.  But when Philadelphia regained possession at its 30-yard line with a two-point lead and 7:52 to play, Hurts led the Eagles on a clock-eating drive that ended 16 plays later on Jake Elliott’s field goal with 27 seconds remaining.

Hurts had run for 11 yards on 10 carries before Philadelphia’s final possession, then ran for 22 yards on three carries on the drive, including bulling his way for an 8-yard, first-down run. Hurts also had two first-down completions to former Alabama teammate DeVonta Smith on the series.

Hurts too STRONG.

📺: #GBvsPHI on Peacock pic.twitter.com/mHetOGgaL8

— NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2024

“Jalen and DeVonta connected on some huge plays,” Sirianni said. “That’s tough football. Four-minute football is tough football, and our guys really responded. … That four-minute football when things haven’t been going great, man, I thought (Hurts) did some really good things in clutch moments.”

In his first game operating coordinator Kellen Moore’s offense, Hurts completed 20-of-34 passes for 278 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions and ran 13 times for 33 yards.  “I think Coach did a great job,” Hurts said, “and I’ll continue to get that rhythm with him.”  Philadelphia plays the Atlanta Falcons at 7:15 p.m. Sept. 16 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.