RANT SPORTS – Hurts Hurting Eagles? Not Yet, But…
At just past 5:15 p.m. (Eastern Time) on Sunday, Jalen Hurts completed a 10-yard pass to Devonta Smith for a first down. It was his sixth completion in his first six attempts as the Eagles’ wild-card game against the Green Bay Packers at Lincoln Financial Field got under way.
At that point, you could have excused yourself, gone into another room, watched the 1935 movie Bride of Frankenstein, and then come back and you would not have missed a single Jalen Hurts completion.
It would be well into the third quarter (4:41 remaining) before Hurts connected─once again to Smith, this time for 28 yards.
Clock on the Wall: 6:44:40 p.m.
Elapsed Time: One hour, 29 minutes, 33 seconds.
Net Result: Seven incompletions.
Hurts then did immediately connect on two more passes, including Dallas Goedert’s 24-yard stiff-armed beauty of a touchdown. Hurts would complete seven of his final eight passes on the day.
We rifled through the Eagles last 48 postseason games (back through the 1960 NFL Championship) and there was just one other quarter in which the Eagles attempted at least one pass and failed to complete any. That was the Jan. 9, 2010 Wild Card game in Dallas ─ Donovan McNabb’s last as an Eagle ─ when McNabb was 0-for-3 in a dreadful first period that would eventually morph into a 34-14 dreary loss. (There were three other postseason quarters in which the Birds never even attempted a pass, mostly fourth quarters icing a victory.)
OUT OF THE GATE
While the Eagles offense took a nice mid-game siesta long enough to watch a miniseries (three series, 14 plays, 10 net yards), it was able to strike pay dirt early, thanks to a Packers turnover.
Oren Burks forced a fumble by Green Bay’s Keisean Nixon on the opening kickoff and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. recovered at the Packers’ 28-yard-line. Three plays later Hurts hit Jahan Dotson with a 11-yard scoring strike across the middle, giving the Eagles a 7-0 lead after just 1:39.
It was the second quickest score from the beginning of a postseason game the Birds have ever notched, topped only by a Duce Staley 20-yard romp through a frigid Buccaneers defense just 52 seconds into the ill-fated 2002 NFC title game that would be the Eagles’ last contest at Veterans Stadium.
Wilbert Montgomery’s 42-yard scamper that shook South Philly to its core just 2:11 into the 1980 NFC Championship Game at the Vet is the only other time the Eagles scored within the first four minutes of a postseason game.
TROTTER TRASH TALK
By being Johnny-on-the-spot right from the opening gun (see above), rookie linebacker Trotter already leads his father ─ an Eagles all-timer at linebacker no matter how you slice it ─ in one category:
“Fumbles recovered in a postseason game.”
It took Junior all of seven seconds to notch his. Dad was never able to snag one in 11 career playoff games with the Birds.
Wonder if that will get mentioned around the dinner table at the next family get together.
