“Fly Eagles Fly! On the road to victory! Fight Eagles Fight! Score a touchdown! 1, 2, 3! Hit'em low! Hit'em high! And watch our Eagles Fly! Fly Eagles Fly! On the road to victory! E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles!”
Goodness gracious, talk about a win. Heading into a Monday Night Football, few expected to see the Birds blowing out the Minnesota Vikings in their first game back in the City of Brotherly Love since that fateful day in 2018 when Philly punched its ticket to the Super Bowl with a win over Mike Zimmer's squad. In Week 1, the Vikings were by far the better team; they beat the bricks off of the Green Bay Packers in a near-buzzer-to-buzzer beatdown over Aaron Rodgers and company, whereas the Eagles had to really hold on for a win over a surprisingly fun but likely middle-of-the-road Detroit Lions squad.
And yet, against all of the odds and the expectations by “experts,” Philly began the game with the ball and basically controlled the tenor of the game from start to finish. They got big plays on both sides of the ball, stifled the Vikings' defense just as often, and practically booed Jalen Reagor out of the building in a game he declared was all about “revenge.”
W@UnibetUS | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/dPNQDEZWht
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) September 20, 2022
3 takeaways from the Philadelphia Eagles' Week 2 MNF win
3. Big-time defensive play
After an uncomfortable Week 1 effort that saw the Eagles' defense give up a ton of yards in the middle of the field, Jonathan Gannon changed up his philosophy ever so slightly and put his players in the best position to succeed.
Placing Darius Slay on Justin Jefferson for the majority of the contest, Slay kept the LSU product off the stat sheet for much of the contest while scooping up two of Kirk Cousins' three interceptions. Factor in a dominant run-stuffing front when Jordan Davis, Fletcher Cox, and Javon Hargrave were all on the field together, and a sack each by Fletcher Cox and Josh Sweat, and Philly unquestionably took a step in the right direction in Week 2.
2. Justin Jefferson didn't burn the Birds
Speaking of Justin Jefferson, after dominating a Green Bay defense that had no idea how to cover him, the third-year LSU product had a tough time finding his footing in South Philadelphia. Facing off against one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL instead of a zone-heavy defense that occasionally saw him lined up on linebackers, Jefferson struggled to find space to operate, struggled to get open enough for Cousins to target him consistently, and ultimately struggled to impact a game that desperately needed his fingerprints on the final score.
1 Jalen Hurts led an electric Eagles offense
Heading into Week 2, more than a few Philadelphia fans tabbed Philly's first Monday Night Football contest of the season as a sort of measuring stick for Jalen Hurts. If he played well, maybe a section of the small but incredibly vocal segment of anti-Hurts fans would finally relent and embrace QB1. And if he struggled? Well, folks would certainly hear about it on WIP in the morning.
Fortunately, Hurts dominated against a Minnesota defense that lucked into ex-Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Ed Donatell and was able to amass 333 passing yards and a passing touchdown versus a single interception. Factor in Hurts' 57 yards and two touchdowns on the ground – which is actually a pretty low number for the OklaBama product – and this was a dominant effort for a second-year quarterback looking to fully establish himself as a franchise quarterback.
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