The Philadelphia Eagles are away at U.S Bank Stadium (the location of their Super Bowl LII win in February 2018) to face the Minnesota Vikings. The Birds, favored by 2.5 points on the road, are trying to avoid losing their third straight game after starting the season 4-0. It’ll be very interesting to see if […]
The Philadelphia Eagles are away at U.S Bank Stadium (the location of their Super Bowl LII win in February 2018) to face the Minnesota Vikings. The Birds, favored by 2.5 points on the road, are trying to avoid losing their third straight game after starting the season 4-0.
It’ll be very interesting to see if Nick Siranni can help turn things or if the Eagles will continue to struggle. Can the Birds get things turned around? Or are they really about to lose to Carson Wentz?!
Follow along here for live score updates, highlights, injury news, analysis, and more before this article ultimately turns into our game recap. The best place to actually discuss the game as it happens is still in our open threads for each quarter, the first of which you can find here.
FIRST QUARTER
- The Vikings won the coin toss and elected to defer to make the Eagles receive first. Beginning at their own 35-yard line, the offense opened the game with two straight Saquon Barkley runs for a first down. And then two more Barkley runs to get to third down. Facing 3rd-and-5, a short Jalen Hurts completion to DeVonta Smith set up fourth down. Facing 4th-and-1, the Eagles went Brotherly Shove for a first down. Tank Bigsby (!) took his first Eagles carry for a first down. Then Hurts ran out of bounds for a loss (has happened way too often this year) and Barkley caught a pass behind the line of scrimmage for a loss. Facing 3rd-and-13, the Eagles went coward’s draw to set up a shorter fourth down. Facing 4th-and-4 from the plus 37-yard line, Nick Sirianni kept the offense on the field … and Hurts had all day to connect with A.J. Brown down the left sideline for a touchdown! Encouraging start! Good to see A.J. making a second effort there to get open. 75 yards in 12 plays for the TD. EAGLES 7, VIKINGS 0.
- Jake Elliott’s kickoff bounced in the landing zone and through the end zone to make the Vikings start at their own 20-yard line. Nice job by the Eagles’ kicker. Facing 3rd-and-6, Carson Wentz hit Adam Thielen for a first down. Wentz hit a WIDE OPEN Jordan Addison down the right sideline with Quinyon Mitchell as the closest defender in the area, and not so close. Mitchell was lucky that Wentz underthrew the ball so much because a better throw and it’s an easy touchdown. Facing 3rd-and-10 after two bad misses by Wentz, a shotgun snap went over Wentz’s head and Azeez Ojulari touched the quarterback down. Facing 4th-and-32 (lol), the Vikings attempted a 59-yard field goal … and drilled it. Eagles defense was fortunate to only allow three points; bad throws by Wentz covered up some busted coverages. EAGLES 7, VIKINGS 3.
- The Eagles took over at their own 34-yard line. A Hurts completion to DeVonta Smith to set up 3rd-and-1 was challenged by the Vikings. Kevin O’Connell’s red flag was unsuccessful, costing the Vikings one challenge and one timeout. Facing 3rd-and-1, the Eagles were lined up for Brotherly Shove but A.J. Brown was flagged for a false start. Facing 3rd-and-6, a downfield DeVonta couldn’t hold on to a leaping catch that would’ve been a really good grab. Hurts’ throw was a tad too high. Three plays, four yards, punt.
- The Vikings took over at their own 16-yard line. They remembered they had Justin Jefferson and Wentz got the ball to him for a first down to end the first quarter.
SECOND QUARTER
- Facing 3rd-and-5, Jalen Carter got quick pressure on Carson Wentz, who threw a pick-six right to Jalyx Hunt, who dropped into coverage, for an Eagles touchdown! Wentz turning the ball over!? Shocking! Not just about Wentz being bad, though; good call by Vic Fangio on the simulated pressure. EAGLES 14, VIKINGS 3.
- Patrick Johnson drew an offensive holding call while setting the edge. Then Wentz threw a pass backwards and out of bounds for a loss of eight yards. Then Wentz rolled out right and threw an absolute gift of an interception downfield to Andrew Mukuba. Don’t think Eagles fans miss this experience!
- The Eagles took over at the plus 44-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-14 after two under-center plays resulted in a loss, Hurts’ third down dump off to Will Shipley gained just seven yards. So, three plays, three yards gained … and a punt … despite starting in plus territory after Vikings turnover. Bad offense.
- The Vikings took over at their own 20-yard line. Wentz completed a pass downfield for 26 yards. Mukuba had a really bad missed tackle in the open field to allow Jefferson to take a short catch for 40 yards. The Vikings quickly moved into the red zone. Cooper DeJean broke up what would’ve been a fade pass touchdown to Jefferson in the end zone. Facing 3rd-and-1, Wentz sailed his pass out of bounds. Facing 4th-and-1, Wentz hit Jordan Mason for a touchdown … but the Vikings got called for holding to negate the score. Moro Ojomo drew the penalty on the Vikings’ third-string center. Kevin O’Connell sent out the field goal team to make it a one-score game again. Four-point penalty for the Vikings. Bad job by the Eagles defense to allow a seven-play, 64-yard drive … but good job to at least hold Minny to a field goal. EAGLES 14, VIKINGS 6.
- Needing the offense to come alive, the Eagles started at their own 31-yard line. Barkley ran for a loss on a play where Jordan Mailata also got called for holding, which was accepted. Hurts got sacked on a play where Barkley also got called for holding (forced by former Eagles linebacker Eric Wilson), which was accepted. Facing 3rd-and-20, Hurts dumped off to Goedert to bring up a third straight punt.
- The Vikings took over at their own 32-yard line with 4:20 remaining in the first half. Facing 3rd-and-4 at midfield, Wentz ran around and threw the ball out of bounds to bring up a punt.
- The Eagles took over at their own 11-yard line with 0:59 on the clock and three timeouts to work with. Hurts immediately completed a pass to DeVonta for six yards. Hurts hit DeVonta again for 16 yards and the Eagles took their first timeout at 0:34, but not before some time was wasted before Sirianni was granted the timeout. Hurts threw to A.J. Brown over the middle but Harrison Smith broke it up. Hurts took a sack and Sirianni let it run out to end the first half. Surrender. Pretty bad job to get zero points there.
THIRD QUARTER
- Updates to come …
FOURTH QUARTER
- Updates to come …
EAGLES LINEUP NOTES
- Xavier Gipson, not Tank Bigsby, was lined up at kick returner next to Will Shipley in his first game active for the Eagles.
- Azeez Ojulari started at edge rusher.
- Jihaad Campbell started at off-ball linebacker but also lined up at edge rusher with Nakobe Dean coming in on defense.
- Brett Toth took over at center for an injured Cam Jurgens.
EAGLES INJURY NEWS
- Cam Jurgens (knee) visited the medical tent after the Eagles’ first drive. He was on the field for the Eagles’ second drive. He was not on the field for the Eagles’ first drive of the second quarter with Brett Toth replacing him.
- Azeez Ojulari (hamstring) headed inside the tunnel after the Vikings’ first drive.
- Will Shipley got banged up on the Eagles’ second kick return. He returned to play on special teams several snaps later. Shipley went back to the medical tent in the second quarter.
- DeVonta Smith got banged up on the Eagles’ second drive. He quickly returned to the game.
- Jeremiah Trotter Jr. (ankle) headed inside the tunnel late in the first quarter.
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