Jalen Hurts stakes Eagles to 24-7 Halftime Lead on Monday Night Football

The Eagles QB completed his first 11 throws and helped Philadelphia roll up 327 yards of total offense in the first two quarters

PHILADELPHIA - Jalen Hurts played a near-perfect first half to help the Eagles open a 24-7 lead at halftime of their home opener against the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football.

The Eagles quarterback completed his first 11 passes and ended the half with 17 completions in 20 attempts for 251 yards and a passer rating of 135.4. 

He also ran for 50 yards and two touchdowns, including a brilliant 26-yard sweep right after a nifty fake handoff to Miles Sanders, and a 3-yard plunge to open the scoring.

Hurts also threw his first touchdown pass of the season. He hit a wide-open Quez Watkins for a 53-yard strike on the first play of the second quarter to give Philadelphia a 14-0 lead.

Watkins ended the half with two catches for 69 yards.

The Vikings cut the deficit to 14-7 on a two-yard throw to tight end Irv Smith. The drive was kept going on a 17-yard jet sweep run by former Eagles first-round pick Jalen Reagor on third-and-one.

Hurts then made it 21-7 with a 26-yard touchdown run with 1:58 to play in the half.

His 3-yard TD run earlier came on the Eagles' first possession of the game.

That drive covered 11 plays and 82 yards and was kept alive with a pair of third-down conversions. The first was a 19-yard completion to A.J. Brown on third-and-13. The other was an 8-yard throw to Zach Pascal on third-and-four.

The Eagles had three illegal-man-downfield penalties in the first half, two on Landon Dickerson, the other on Isaac Seumalo. They overcame two of them by continuing marches for touchdowns.

The Eagles tacked on a field goal at the end of the first half after the Eagles' defense held the Vikings' high-powered offense to just 93 yards of offense.

That final drive to those points began at their 5-yard line with 1:21 to play in the second quarter.

Hurts again showed his brilliance having his way in the passing game, driving the offense into position for a 38-yard field goal from Jake Elliott as time expired. The march covered eight plays and 75 yards in 1:21 to account for the 24-7 lead.

DeVonta Smith, who was held without a catch last week, had five in the first half for 64 yards. Tight end Dallas Goedert had four receptions for 74 yards.

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.