Eagles beat Bengals as Jalen Hurts outshines Joe Burrow, 37 to 17

The Philadelphia Eagles are 5-2 after beating the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium on Sunday afternoon! Final score: 37 to 17.

Now THAT was a win that should make one feel pretty encouraged about this team’s overall outlook! There’s no “but it was only the [bad team]” caveat this week.

Jalen Hurts outshined Joe Burrow in this one, going 16/20 (80% completion) for 236 yards (11.8 average), 1 TD, 0 INT, and a 132.5 passer rating. He also ran 10 times for 37 yards and three touchdowns. Four scores and seven years ago zero turnovers! Third straight game with zero Hurts giveaways. Hurts completed all of his attempts after a bad throw decision to Kenny Gainwell that was in jeopardy of being picked on the Eagles’ second drive. He was mostly in complete control out there and the offensive output reflected as much.

Vic Fangio’s defense had a bit of a rough start but ultimately came up with two takeaways and a fourth down stop that allowed the offense to really take control of the game. Saquon Barkley, who reached 108 yards on 22 attempts, helped to ice the game with the offensive line bullying the Bengals’ defense in the fourth quarter.

All told, this was a game that had the feel of one of the Eagles’ 2022 victories as opposed to their nail-biting 2023 efforts. Maybe this team is truly for real after all?!

We’ll see if the Eagles can make it four straight wins with a home game against Doug Pederson’s Jacksonville Jaguars next weekend!

Read on for a recap and stay tuned for BGN’s postgame coverage.

FIRST QUARTER

• The Eagles won the opening coin toss and elected to defer, per usual. The Bengals started at their own 30-yard line after Braden Mann kicked it deep into the end zone to help neutralize dangerous Bengals returner Charlie Jones. Facing 3rd-and-1 after two short gains, Joe Burrow hit a leaping Mike Gesicki with Reed Blankenship trailing slightly behind for a first down. Nakobe Dean blew up a screen in the backfield for a TFL to knock the Bengals off schedule. Facing 3rd-and-8, Burrow got the ball out lightning quick to hit Ja’Marr Chase for another first down. Facing 3rd-and-6, the Bengals tried to go tempo to catch the Eagles off guard but the referees prevented Burrow from snapping the ball due to a Bengals player running on and off the field (which allowed the Eagles a chance to sub as well) … but a Burrow checkdown picked up yet another first down anyway. Facing 3rd-and-2, a bubble screen to Chase picked up yet another first down. Jalen Carter instantly won a one-on-one to force Burrow into dirting a ball (off of Nolan Smith’s helmet). Facing 3rd-and-6, Burrow hit an open Gesicki over the middle for yet another first down to set up goal-to-go. Burrow scrambled right and hit Chase, who was being covered by Nolan Smith (who dropped into zone coverage) for some reason, in the end zone for a touchdown. 17 plays, 70 yards, 10:04 off the clock (longest opening drive in the NFL this season in terms of time) … and the first touchdown that the Eagles have allowed since Week 4. EAGLES 0, BENGALS 7.
• The Eagles took over at their own 27-yard line after Kenny Gainwell took the ball out of the end zone on the kick return. Saquon Barkley picked up seven yards on the Eagles’ first play from scrimmage. Who could’ve guessed the Eagles would open with a run? Then Jalen Hurts stepped up in a collapsing pocket to take off running for Philly’s first first down. Second straight game with a first down on the opening drive! And just the third on an Eagles opening drive this season! Then Hurts hit an open A.J. Brown over the middle for a gain into Bengals territory. A Barkley run picked up another first down into the red zone. Hurts to DeVonta Smith on a bubble screen lost two yards, putting DeVonta at negative four yards on his last two catches. A Hurts run for another first down got called back by a Tyler Steen holding penalty. Looked like a pretty weak call.

SECOND QUARTER

• With the offense set back to 2nd-and-22, the Eagles went horizontal with a swing pass to Barkley that picked up seven. Maybe … try to go vertical instead? Facing 3rd-and-15, Hurts could’ve given A.J. Brown a chance to make a play but instead overthrew him by a considerable amount. Suboptimal. The Eagles had to settle for a 39-yard Jake Elliott field goal make. EAGLES 3, BENGALS 7.

• The Bengals’ backup tight end was wide open for an instant gain into Eagles territory. Nolan Smith won quickly and got to Burrow for a big 12-yard sack (with Milton Williams helping him clean up to give each of them half of a sack). Cooper DeJean had a Burrow pass bounce off his hands, failing to make the catch for the interception. Facing 3rd-and-22, Burrow stayed alive against pressure, rolled right, and hit an uncovered Gesicki (after DeJean came up to go after Burrow when he clearly should’ve stayed in coverage with so long to go) who ran after the catch to pick up a first down. Pretty bad job by the defense to allow a first down conversion there with a completion short of the sticks! Facing 3rd-and-7, Burrow hit Gesicki — who made a pretty sick one-handed catch — with Avonte Maddox trailing (teams continue to pick on him). Facing 3rd-and-3, rookie Jermaine Burton couldn’t make a contested jump ball play in the end zone with Darius Slay’s coverage helping to disrupt the catch point. Big pass breakup to save four points. The Bengals settled for a 27-yard field goal instead of going for it on 4th-and-3 at the 9-yard line. Zac Taylor with a gift to the Eagles’ defense there considering the Bengals opened the game 7/8 on third down conversions. EAGLES 3, BENGALS 10.
• The Eagles took over at their own 30-yard line and started by throwing with Hurts incomplete to DeVonta outside the numbers for what would’ve only been a short gain anyway. Then Hurts dirted a ball on a screen to Barkley that would’ve been called back if it worked anyway due to a penalty on Landon Dickerson. Facing 3rd-and-10, Hurts to Brown short of the sticks picked up just nine yards. Facing 4th-and-1 from their own 39-yard line, Nick Sirianni got aggressive and went with the Brotherly Shove to pick up the first down. Good job by the head coach. Lane Johnson went down in pain and Jack Driscoll entered the game at right tackle. Johnson missed a play and re-entered the game. Facing 3rd-and-3, Hurts checked down to Kenny Gainwell despite Logan Wilson being all over the running back. Wasn’t too far away from being a pick (definitely a turnover-worthy play, which he didn’t have in either of his last two games) but instead Wilson disrupted Gainwell to prevent a catch that would’ve resulted in a loss or no gain anyway. Pretty bad stuff. Sirianni decided not to go for it on 4th-and-3 from the minus 48-yard line. Would like to see more aggression there, especially with the way the defense started (read: not well).
• The Bengals took over at their own 20-yard line after a Mann punt bounced into the end zone for a touchback after no one was around to down it. Burrow delivered a great pass to Jermaine Burton, who made an over-the-shoulder catch to beat Darius Slay down the right sideline. Facing 3rd-and-7, the Eagles sent extra pressure to force Burrow into a quick pass and Blankenship knocked the ball out of Gesicki’s hands for a near-tipped pick that was instead an incompletion. Nice job by both Fangio and Blankenship there. Evan McPherson’s 54-yard field goal attempt hooked left, no good.
• The Eagles took over at their own 44-yard line after the missed kick. They started with a Barkley run that picked up seven. Another Barkley run set up third down. Facing 3rd-and-1, the Eagles went Brotherly Shove for a first down. Hurts took advantage of a clean pocket and hit Grant Calcaterra for the tight end’s first catch and another first down. With the clock ticking down to the two-minute warning and the Eagles seemingly intent on not actually running a play and instead merely trying to draw the Bengals offside, DeVonta Smith got called for a false start. Very dumb! DeVonta made a catch for positive yardage (!) this time … and then Tyler Steen got called for unnecessary roughness for trying to push DeVonta forward after the whistle had been blown. Terrible. Facing 3rd-and-16 instead of 3rd-and-short, Hurts made a good throw over the middle to Brown in a tight window. Hurts then faked a dropback and took off running up the middle for a 12-yard run to the 4-yard line. The Eagles brought in Jack Driscoll to report as eligible … and then had to burn a timeout due to being confused prior to the snap. On 1st-and-goal, Barkley got hit in the backfield for a loss. On 2nd-and-goal, a flag was thrown for illegal hands to the face on the Bengals against A.J. Brown. On 1st-and-goal from the 3-yard line now, a Barkley carry got to the 1.5-yard line. On 2nd-and-goal, a Brotherly Shove got to the half-yard line. The Eagles took their second timeout with 0:25 on the clock. Facing 3rd-and-goal, the Eagles went Brotherly Shove but got stopped short of the goal line. The play went under review … and was called a touchdown with the ball breaking the goal line. The Eagles lined up for a two-point conversion … but only to try to draw the Bengals offsides. The Eagles called their final timeout and kicked the extra point for a tie game. EAGLES 10, BENGALS 10.

• The Bengals took over at their own 28-yard line with 0:18 left and zero timeouts to work with. Burrow’s downfield pass was nearly picked off by Quinyon Mitchell along the left sideline … but the rookie couldn’t manage to both hold on and stay inbounds. Had he done so, the Eagles might’ve been able to set up a Hail Mary or long field goal attempt. Instead, the Bengals took a knee to end the first half.

THIRD QUARTER

• The Eagles start the second half at their own 30-yard line. The Eagles went with another Barkley run to start a drive. And then another to bring up third down. Facing 3rd-and-5, DeVonta got open outside the numbers beyond the marker for a first down. Hurts held the ball and delivered to a wide open Calcaterra to move into plus territory. Then Hurts had a play-action completion (!) over the middle (!!) to Jack Stoll (!!!), who was hurt after getting tackled. The ball popped out but the refs whistled Stoll’s forward progress stopped before then. Facing 3rd-and-3, Barkley took a carry for goal-to-go first down. Then Hurts took off running untouched for a touchdown and the lead! Hurts in a rhythm after an uneven start. EAGLES 17, BENGALS 10.

• Facing 3rd-and-6, Burrow hit Gesicki just beyond the marker. Burrow completed a pass for another first down … but Darius Slay signaled that the ball hit the field and was incomplete. Multiple defenders called for Sirianni to throw the challenge flag, to which the head coach obliged … just in time before the Bengals got a snap off. Sirianni’s successful challenge knocked the Bengals back to third down. Facing 3rd-and-8, Burrow stepped up against pressure and took off running for a first down despite getting tripped from behind by Zack Baun. Darius Slay limped off the field, prompting Isaiah Rodgers to enter the game. The Bengals drove to just outside of the red zone. Then they drove to goal-to-go from the 8-yard line. DeJean made a great one-on-one tackle in space where a lot of other defenders probably miss the receiver and allow a touchdown there. But then the Bengals scored on a Chase Brown rushing touchdown one play later anyway. EAGLES 17, BENGALS 17.

• The Eagles started the drive with a pass with Hurts hitting an open Brown on a comeback for a first down immediately into plus territory. Then Hurts aired it out deep on play-action to DeVonta, who made the over-the-shoulder grab in the end zone for the score! Boom. Quick strike response to go 70 yards in just three plays. EAGLES 24, BENGALS 17.

• Facing 3rd-and-1 after Zack Baun made a good tackle on a run short of the marker, the Bengals burned their first timeout with the offense not in sync. Facing 3rd-and-1 again, Brandon Graham came up to stuff the Bengals’ run. Facing 4th-and-1, DeJean flew up to make an open field tackle on Chase for a turnover on downs! HUGE stop by a defense that really needed to get one. Pretty awesome play by a rookie.
• The Eagles took over at the plus 37-yard line and Barkley tripped on a run to end the third quarter.

FOURTH QUARTER

• Facing 3rd-and-10 after a Hurts run for no gain, the Eagles had to burn a timeout with Hurts having an issue getting his shoe back on (no, seriously). Hurts had to get an entirely new cleat with Dallas Goedert unsuccessfully trying to untie the laces on the original one. Hurts completed a pass short of the sticks to Brown to set up fourth down. Facing 4th-and-3, Sirianni opted for the 49-yard field goal attempt that Jake Elliott made to create a two-possession lead. EAGLES 27, BENGALS 17.
• Burrow aired it out deep and had his pass deflected by Isaiah Rodgers … into the waiting hands of C.J. Gardner-Johnson for an interception! Just the Eagles’ third takeaway this season with Blankenship having the other two. (Lol at the terrible job by the broadcast booth having no idea there was a turnover at first.)

• The Eagles took over at their own 15-yard line with 12:16 left in the game. The Eagles pounded the rock three straight times. Facing 3rd-and-7, Hurts hit DeVonta over the middle for a first down. Hurts to DeVonta produced another first down just shy of midfield. Then Barkley broke a run for 19 yards into plus territory. Hurts to Calcaterra resulted in another first down. Check out this offense clicking! Barkley dropped his shoulder to run through contact and tightrope along the sideline to go out at the 1-yard line (tough development for his touchdown stock). The Eagles capped off the 12-play, 85-yard drive that took 7:37 off the clock with a Brotherly Shove to go up three scores. Talk about making a statement! EAGLES 34, BENGALS 17.

• Baun punched the ball out of Gesicki’s control after a short catch for a Dean recovery! Two straight takeaways?!

• The Eagles took over at the plus 33-yard line. Kenny Gainwell took over at running back for clock-killing duty with other backups also entering the game (but Hurts curiously still remaining in). That is, before Gainwell had a shoe issue (what’s going on?!) that allowed Will Shipley to enter the game. Facing 3rd-and-5, Shipley burst through the line for a touchdown! … that got called back for holding on Nick Gates. Bummer to take away that play away from the rookie running back. Shipley’s next carry went for a four-yard loss. Much less exciting. Elliott made his 47-yard field goal attempt. EAGLES 37, BENGALS 17.

• The Bengals pulled Burrow to put backup quarterback Chase Browning in the game for garbage time action.

FINAL SCORE: EAGLES WIN, 37 to 17

EAGLES LINEUP NOTES

• Braden Mann handled kickoff duty after Jake Elliott took a kick there last week.

EAGLES INJURY REPORT

• Lane Johnson went down in pain midway through the second quarter. With Fred Johnson already starting at left tackle, Jack Driscoll entered the game at right tackle. Lane returned after missing one play due to his left ankle/leg getting rolled up on.
• Jack Stoll got banged up early in the third quarter. He returned on the Eagles’ next drive. The Eagles entered this game with just two healthy tight ends with Dallas Goedert out.
• Darius Slay (groin) limped off the field midway in the third quarter. Isaiah Rodgers came in at cornerback. Slay gingerly walked to the locker room. He was originally ruled questionable to return and later ruled out.