Jalen Hurts Returns, Helps Stake Eagles to 16-0 Halftime Lead vs. Giants

The QB threw for 140 yards with 12 completions, Boston Scott scored the lone touchdown, running in from 8 yards, and Jake Elliott kicked three field goals
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The Eagles wasted little time in throwing Jalen Hurts back into the fire when they took the field against the New York Giants in Week 18 on Sunday.

Playing his first game since Dec. 18, the coaching staff had their quarterback throw six times on the team’s opening possession.

Even with that, however, the offense wasn’t quite the same as before injuring his throwing shoulder on Dec. 18 and missing the previous two games.

The QB didn’t take any chances running the ball and there were some timing issues, which was to be expected. He also took a 10-yard sack after being in first-and-goal with less than two minutes to play in the half on a play that appeared to be designed for a quick release and another sack one play later on the same drive.

Hurts, however, showed nice velocity on his throws, including one to tight end Dallas Goedert over the middle for seven yards.

The Eagles did enough to take a 16-0 lead at halftime on the strength of three Jake Elliott field goals covering 32, 39, and 52 yards.

On the first drive that featured all throws, Hurts completed three-of-six, pushing the offense to the New York 14 before having to settle for a 32-yard field goal from Jake Elliott to grab a 3-0 lead.

The first throw by Hurts was a quick slant to his good friend A.J. Brown who turned it into a 35-yard gain to break the franchise record for most yards receiving in a season held by Mike Quick, who had 1,409 in 1983.

The Eagles added to their lead, getting DeVonta Smith involved. Smith had a catch to break the franchise record for most receptions in a season that had been held by Irving Fryar who had 88 in 1996.

This time, the Eagles didn’t stall out. They kept matching and eventually got an 8-yard TD run from Boston Scott, who has 17 career touchdowns with 10 of those against the Giants.

It was a perfectly balanced scoring march, with six passes and six runs.

In a game the Eagles must win to clinch the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs and a bye next week, Hurts finished the half 12-for-18 with 140 yards and a passer rating of 90.0.

Brown had three catches for 83 yards; Smith three for 23; and Goedert four for 20.

Miles Sanders had eight runs for 27 yards; Scott had four for 20.

The Giants rested several key players, including defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence and RB Saquon Barkley. They also used Davis Webb at quarterback.

Drafted in 2017, Webb had never thrown a pass in the NFL until Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field. He was 9-for-22 with 55 yards.

His best drive was aided by an out-of-bounds hit from linebacker T.J. Edwards. New York reached the Eagles’ 29 and then tried a fake field goal, with holder Jamie Gillan trying to roll right and find a tight end.

Eagles LB Christian Elliss took that option away. Gillan veered left where several tacklers smothered him with Zech McPhearson leading the way.

The play counted as a sack, the Eagles' only one of the half. It gave them 69, three away from tying the NFL record of 72 set in 1984 by the Chicago Bears.

It was the only sack, but the defense pressured Webb at every turn, with Haason Reddick all over the place and even Robert Quinn forcing Webb to move.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.


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Ed Kracz
ED KRACZ

Ed Kracz has been covering the Eagles full-time for over a decade and has written about Philadelphia sports since 1996. He wrote about the Phillies in the 2008 and 2009 World Series, the Flyers in their 2010 Stanely Cup playoff run to the finals, and was in Minnesota when the Eagles secured their first-ever Super Bowl win in 2017. Ed has received multiple writing awards as a sports journalist, including several top-five finishes in the Associated Press Sports Editors awards.