Jalen Hurts ran for a pair of 1-yard touchdowns and threw a 63-yard TD pass to DeVonta Smith, D’Andre Swift ran for 175 yards and a score, and the NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles held off the turnover-prone Minnesota Vikings 34-28
ByDAN GELSTON AP sports writer
September 14, 2023, 11:33 PM
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) celebrates his touchdown with Philadelphia Eagles running back D’Andre Swift (0) during the second half of an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA — Jalen Hurts ran for a pair of 1-yard touchdowns and threw a 63-yard TD pass to DeVonta Smith, D’Andre Swift ran for 175 yards and a score, and the NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles held off the turnover-prone Minnesota Vikings 34-28 on Thursday night.
Hurts, the MVP runner-up, shook off a sluggish passing performance in the first half and woke up the crowd when he connected with Smith for the scoring strike in the third quarter that made it 27-7.
“We Own UR SKOL Tonight,” one Eagles fan sign read after the TD.
It almost wasn’t enough.
Kirk Cousins hit Jordan Addison for a 62-yard touchdown that made it 27-14 in the fourth and found K.J. Osborn for a 10-yard TD that cut it to 27-21 and put the Eagles (2-0) on edge.
But Swift scored on a 2-yard run for a 34-21 lead with 4:13 left and the Vikings didn’t have enough time to score twice.
Minnesota (0-2), which had three first-half turnovers in a season-opening loss to Tampa Bay, lost three fumbles in the first half in Philly and four overall. In perhaps the most deflating moment for the Vikings, Justin Jefferson fumbled a 30-yard catch into the end zone and out of bounds for a touchback with Minnesota trailing 10-7 in the second quarter.
Cousins threw for 364 yards and four touchdowns. Jefferson had 11 catches for 159 yards.
Hurts finished 18 of 23 for 193 yards.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
