The Eagles were able to pull off a win over the Vikings in Week 7, and did so with one of the most impressive passing games in Jalen Hurts’ career. The quarterback spoke to reporters afterward and talked about losing motivated him, how the offense worked together as a collective, and also how DeVonta Smith called his shot.
“You don’t have a game like that without the guys around you. So, I give a lot of credit to them. I give a lot of credit to the collective of everyone, hanging in there, and enduring the game. It’s team football in the end — just happy to come out here and figure out a way to win the football game.
That’s a really good team, a really good defense. And, it was a challenge. They presented a ton of challenges towards us but we were able to endure and find a way to win, and I’m very thankful for that.“
Here’s what else the QB had to say:
On being motivated by losing
“The feeling of losing, simple as that. I know there’s a clip to confirm where I said that, we’re not losers anymore — comin’ off the field. Because that’s all I could think about throughout these last two weeks. Having opportunities to finish the game, to finish the fourth quarter. I really think this is the first time we’ve finished the fourth quarter, and finished in the second half.
So, those things come up, and that’s important in this game. I think definitely there was some fire there. But within that fire, you have to be the calm, and focus on executing your job. And that’s all I was reiterating to the guys out there.”
On some of the changes this week
- Hurts acknowledged that he spoke about wanting to be under center more earlier in the week. They wanted to establish themselves in the run game, and ultimately, this was what they thought the best game plan was for this week. They were glad that their formula for this game worked, and they’ll start figuring out the formula they’ll want to use next week.
- The QB said that they did a lot of different things in third down situations, and they knew coming into the game that they were going to have to find ways to make plays on third down. He noted that the Vikings made some plays of their own on third down, but the Eagles were able to make plays when they needed to.
- Hurts said he’ll have to watch the film to see what happened with the offense after their hot start, but he credited collaboration on the sideline for turning things around in-game.
- The run game still hasn’t found a rhythm, but Hurts wanted to be clear that Saquon Barkley is the best, but that doesn’t mean he should feel as though he shoulders the burden of their success. It’s a team effort and requires everyone to be performing at their highest level, consistently.
On DeVonta Smith calling his shot
“He had a lot of confidence in that look, had a lot of confidence in that. He was chirpin’ about it, and it ended up getting called. I’d say, great feel by [DeVonta Smith], great execution from the guys up front, and then great call by [Kevin Patullo] to get to it.”
On getting the ball to the WRs
”To be honest, I really didn’t want to say directly what we were going to do when y’all asked me earlier in the week, because I’m just not that type of competitor to put that out there. But the thing was to come in and establish the run. That’s what we wanted to come in and do, and the game just flowed the way it did. And we were able to be efficient in the pass game. [Kevin Patullo] was very timely, and I think we were able to doctor up some things on the sideline and work through some things, but those guys made big time plays. [DeVonta Smith] had a hell of a day — tough, size, ain’t nothing to him, the way he plays. So, it’s good to see. It’s good to see.
I think I said this on the field to Pam [Oliver, post-game], but it ain’t about — identity is important. Don’t get me wrong. That is very important to have an identity and be able to establish an identity. But for a long time now, we found ways to win games. We found ways to win games in a ton of different ways, and I think when you say we find ways to lose games, and we lost games kind of in the same way. So, being critical of ourselves and knowing that the identity is important, but as this thing goes along, it’s about winning.”
Other notables
- Hurts talked about how cool it was to see Jalyx Hunt make the pick 6 play, especially given that he missed the opportunity for an interception last week. He explained how they talked about it as a team, the coaches coached him up and put him in position to practice that play, and then Hunt went out and made that play. It was cool to see that process go full circle, and Hurts gave a lot of credit to the coaches for that.
- The QB was complimentary of the offensive line and the job they did all game, and specifically called out Brett Toth, who he said welcomed the challenge of stepping in for Cam Jurgens at center.
- He gave a lot of credit to Vikings DC Brian Flores who he said put players in positions to make a lot of plays, it just so happened that the Eagles were able to make more plays and in key moments.
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