Eagles notebook: A memorable 1st NFL sack for Jalyx Hunt originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Eagles third-round pick Jalyx Hunt got some extended playing time in the blowout over the Giants and made the most of it.
The 23-year-old picked up his first-career sack in the fourth quarter.
“It was crazy, man. It was cool,” Hunt said this week. “The coolest part, though, was just coming off the field and everybody was like, ‘Congratulations!’ That was cool. That was real cool. I’m mad we didn’t get the ball on the strip sack. That would have been cool to get on the takeaway board.”
As Hunt made his way to the Eagles’ sideline at MetLife Stadium, he was mobbed by his teammates, who were all excited to see him get on the board.
They have all watched the work he has put in since arriving in Philly.
“That was huge,” Bryce Huff said after the game. “Jalyx works just as hard as everybody else. We go out there, put out the same time on that field. To see him be able to get home was great.”
Before Sunday, Hunt had played just five total defensive snaps. He played nine against the Giants and got his first-career sack.
The best reaction of his teammates came from Josh Sweat.
“Sweaty was like, ‘It’s not your fault they ain’t block you,’” Hunt said.
It wasn’t just a sack from Hunt; it was a strip-sack. The Eagles have been emphasizing turnovers — they have just two all season — so Hunt said he was going for the ball. But he didn’t even realize he had knocked it loose from Drew Lock until he tried to get up and celebrate and got hit in the face by a player running to the ball.
What dance did Hunt have lined up?
“Y’all gonna have to see,” he said. “I gotta get another one.”
A bridge to cross … at some point
In his second game as a punt returner in the NFL, Cooper DeJean was really impressive against the Giants on Sunday.
While it wasn’t the best punt return performance the Eagles have ever had in the Meadowlands, DeJean did field three punts for 45 yards and had a long of 28. DeJean looked so good it’s fair to wonder what happens down the line whenever Britain Covey is ready to return from Injured Reserve.
“Yeah, it’s always a luxury when you have two viable options back there,” special teams coordinator Michael Clay said. “They both started off with good averages thus far. You know, Coop, he’s starting to get up there with his average. I know he averaged about 15.0 last game. It was like 13.0 the previous game, and you know Covey, he was up there as a top three punt returner last year.
“It’s always nice that you have luxury that you can now do things in your game plan that you may not have been able to do. Very similar to back in the day when New England had double returners with (Julian) Edelman and (Danny) Amendola right there, you have got some opportunities. But again we’ll cross that bridge when we have to. We are hoping Covey gets back healthy and speedy recovery. But again we are very confident in Coop going forward.”
The other thing to keep in mind is that DeJean has a much bigger role on defense than Covey does on offense. In the last two weeks, DeJean has been the Eagles’ starting nickel cornerback and has played a ton of snaps.
On Tuesday, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio admitted he does worry about DeJean’s returning punts. But he also said he won’t address that with the team.
“NaVorro Bowman, going back to my San Francisco days, who was an All-Pro there for three straight years, he covered every punt for us for three straight years,” Fangio said. “And I didn’t like that, either. So, you’ve just got to deal with it.”
One of the most physical players
Eagles edge rusher Josh Sweat is getting into a little bit of a groove in recent weeks with sacks in three consecutive games and at least one QB hit in all seven games this year.
But production aside, there’s something that Nick Sirianni really loves about Sweat’s game.
“I think Josh Sweat is one of the most physical guys on this football team,” Sirianni said. “Defensive ends are always judged on how many sacks did you get, right? And I get that, and that’s part of it. But the way he plays the run, and the way he puts his hands on tight ends, and the way he puts his hands on tackles, and the violence that he plays with is critical to our success on how he plays on the edge of our defense.
“So I feel like every week when I’m watching the tape, I’m writing up there as I look at the tape: 19, plus, physical, 19, plus, violent, 19, plus, way to use your hands. It’s just over and over and over again. And it was good to see him the last couple weeks get the sacks because he’s always in pursuit.
“I think there was a really good play that he made in that Giants game where they thumped the edge with the tight end, and he got skinny and then got himself back on the tackle and was an unbelievable rush when the attention was going to him. When you can beat a rush when two guys are blocking you, that’s impressive, and he was able to do that. And he’s been able to do that throughout his career. Yeah, he sets a tone for our defense with the way he plays with his physicality, and we’ll expect him to keep doing that because that’s the type of guy he is.”
There were plenty of questions about the 27-year-old Sweat entering the 2024 season, especially as he returned on a reworked one-year deal. Even though he has made a Pro Bowl and has been a double-digit sack guy, it was hard to know what to expect from Sweat in 2024.
Through six games, Sweat had 3 sacks, 7 QB hits, 4 TFLs and 14 tackles. He’s been a big part of the defense.
Going for it on 4th down
The bad news: The Eagles were really bad on third downs against the Giants.
The good news: They were perfect on fourth down.
Last Sunday, the Eagles converted just 1 of 13 attempts on third down but were then 3-for-3 on fourth downs in their 28-3 win over the Giants.
“Obviously, we’ve got to be more efficient on third down,” Sirianni said. “We kind of count some of those third downs if you convert on fourth down because you’re playing, like you said, to set it up as a win.”
Sunday might have been Sirianni’s best game of the season managing situations. And it stood out in stark contrast when Giants coach Brian Daboll elected to kick a field goal from the +20-yard line on third down with 9 seconds left in the first half.
The Eagles scored touchdowns on two of their fourth-down conversions and scored after their other fourth-down conversion. It was a huge key in the game.
It’s an aggressive philosophy that the organization shares. And during games, it’s really important that the play caller, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, knows the situation. He has to know when the Eagles are in four-down territory.
“We are really talking about it the entire drive,” Moore said. “You know, preliminary, and as the drive extends, constant communication, just so we can play previous downs, you know, dependent on how that fourth down situation will play out. So I think we do an excellent job of it.”
This season, the Eagles have converted 10 of 14 fourth down tries — 71.4%. While that ranks seventh in the NFL after just seven weeks of the season, the Eagles have been good on fourth downs for a while. Since the start of the 2022 season, the Eagles have the best fourth-down conversion rate in the NFL, converting on 70.8% of their attempts.
Hopefully, there’s a winner
In their long history, the Eagles have had just 27 ties all-time. They have had just two this century and both have come against the Bengals.
You probably remember the one in 2008, when the final score read 13-13. That’s when Donovan McNabb infamously admitted that he didn’t realize an NFL game could end in a tie. The Eagles were down 13-3 early in the third quarter before McNabb hit L.J. Smith for a touchdown pass in the third quarter and then David Akers tied the game with a 27-yard field goal with 5:18 left in the fourth quarter at Paul Brown Stadium before playing a scoreless overtime.
In 2020, the Eagles and Bengals ended up in a 23-23 tie at the Linc in a game that dropped both their records to 0-2-1. Doug Pederson’s Eagles got a Carson Wentz touchdown run with just 21 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. In that game, Wentz threw for 225 yards and rushed for 65 but also threw two interceptions. Miles Sanders rushed for 95 yards in that game.
The Eagles and Bengals have tied twice in their last four games against each other. The last time the Eagles beat the Bengals was a 16-7 win on Christmas Eve in 2000. Since then, they are 0-3-2 against the Bengals. And the Eagles have never won in Cincinnati — they’re 0-4-1 all-time out there.
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