Clutch final drive saved Eagles after lackluster performance vs. Browns originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
It was the Eagles’ best drive of the day.
And they didn’t score.
With 3:57 left Sunday, after an impressive goal-line stand by the Eagles’ defense, Browns kicker Hopkins made a 31-yard field goal that reduced the Eagles’ lead to 20-16.
The Browns never got the ball again.
On a day when the offense sputtered much of the game, they came up huge when they had to.
The Eagles got the ball back on their own 24-yard-line with 3:48 left holding a four-point lead. They chipped away for six plays, gaining 20 yards, before ending the suspense on Jalen Hurts’ 40-yard strike to A.J. Brown – on an audible – down to the Browns’ 12-yard-line after the two-minute warning.
Ballgame.
“We’ve lost a couple of games in four minutes where we have given the ball back to the offense,” Nick Sirianni said. “We had the mindset of, ‘Hey, we’re going to end with this ball in our hands.’”
The drive began with a four-yard Saquon Barkley run and then Hurts scrambles of four and six yards to move the chains. Barkley picked up a yard on 1st-and-10 to give the Eagles a 2nd-and-9 on their own 39 at 2:14.
That’s when Hurts found Jahan Dotson of all people just past the sticks on the left sideline. Dotson – who had all of 25 receiving yards in the Eagles’ first four games – deftly dragged his left foot at the very last instant to make it a legal catch and give the Eagles a fresh set of downs and a first down just inside midfield.
The 10-yarder was Dotson’s longest reception since Howie Roseman traded a 3rd-round pick to the Commanders in August for the former 1st-rounb pick.
“Walking out at halftime, I told (Dotson) to just stay ready,” Hurts said. “Be ready. ‘I don’t know when it’s going to come, I don’t know how it’s going to look, I don’t know where it’s going to hit, but it’s going to come at some point, we’re going to need you.’ And he showed up, got the toe, dragged (it) in.”
The Browns only had one time out left, so one more first down would lock things up for the Eagles. And that came two plays later, after Barkley lost a yard on 1st-and-10.
Hurts heaved a deep ball to Brown, who soared up in the air with Browns corner Greg Newsome and came down with the ball at the 12-yard-line.
“We saw a look that we liked and we made the play,” Brown said. “Whenever I get 1-on-1, I want the ball because I’m trying to change the game.”
It was the Eagles’ longest pass play in the final two minutes of a game they were leading in at least 30 years, and it came on a Hurts audible at the line of scrimmage when he saw man coverage on Brown.
“It was a good job by Jalen and A.J. talking at the line of scrimmage, figuring out what the best play to go to was,” Sirianni said. “A little bit of a check there. Good players making great plays.”
Brown caught six passes for 116 yards in his first game since the opener in São Paulo. He’s already hit 100- yards in just 36 games as an Eagle. Only six players in franchise history have more (Pete Retzlaff, Mike Quick, DeSean Jackson, Harold Carmichael, Tommy McDonald, Pete Pihos).
Hurts has the 2nd-most 40-yard completions in the NFL this year with five – one fewer than Jared Goff. Brown now has 11 catches of at least 40 yards as an Eagle.
“He’s really good at catching the deep ball,” Hurts said. “He tracks it well. He knows how to use his body well. He’s very strong, and I think he’s gotten faster, too, so he made some great catches.”
Barkley was 3-for-4 rushing on the final drive (and 6-for-5 in the second half), but Hurts completed both pass attempts for 50 yards and had two productive scrambles.
“Kellen called a perfect game at the end of that game,” Sirianni said. “He threw it when he needed to throw it, he ran it when he needed to run it, our guys executed.
“(The Browns) did a good job stopping the run. I can’t say enough good things about (Browns and former Eagles defensive coordinator) Jim Schwartz. I think this city would agree that he’s a hell of a defensive coordinator. … Our guys just made a play in a four-minute scenario.”
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