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Tim McManus, ESPN Staff WriterDec 15, 2024, 10:34 PM ET
- Tim McManus covers the Philadelphia Eagles for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2016 after covering the Eagles for Philadelphia Magazine’s Birds 24/7, a site he helped create, since 2010. You can follow him on Twitter @Tim_McManus.
PHILADELPHIA — Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts said he is dealing with a broken finger on his non-throwing hand and that it did affect him Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers. But he still did enough to elevate a slumping passing game and move the Eagles past a week of drama for their franchise-record 10th consecutive win.
“So that’s what you all wanted to see, huh?” Hurts asked as he sat down for his postgame news conference following Philadelphia’s 27-13 victory.
It was definitely what receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith wanted to see. Both voiced their frustrations about the passing game following last week’s narrow win over the Carolina Panthers in which Hurts finished with just 108 yards through the air — the third consecutive week he was held under 180 yards.
Brown’s comments that “passing” was the issue on offense and that there was little sideline communication with Hurts to get things fixed led to Brandon Graham‘s assertion that Hurts and Brown were no longer close like they once were. That set off a media firestorm that consumed much of the week.
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Brown said he and Hurts “did let the team know that we’re on the same page and nothing’s wrong or anything like that.”
Inside the Eagles practice facility, Smith said a lot of “tough” and “uncomfortable” conversations were had. Brown spoke of extra meetings between players and coaches that emphasized improving details and communication in the passing game.
All that helped fuel a highly efficient passing performance, with Hurts going 25-of-32 for 290 yards with a pair of touchdowns.
Brown and Smith each went over 100 yards, marking the fourth time they’ve achieved the feat and setting a new record for the most such games by a duo in Eagles history.
“The approach was a little different this week. The grass will be green where you water it and we decided to water [the pass game], and you kind of saw the fruits of our labor in that,” Hurts said.
Hurts and Brown connected for a 5-yard touchdown pass late in the first quarter to put Philadelphia up 10-3. They then broke into a choreographed dance celebration.
“That was our moment to tell everybody to shut up,” Brown said.
Hurts injured the ring finger on his left hand last Sunday against the Panthers and was listed as a full participant on the injury report throughout the week. He wore a glove on his left hand against the Steelers, which is not his common practice.
“That was our moment to tell everybody to shut up,” A.J. Brown said of his choreographed TD celebration with Jalen Hurts. Matt Slocum/AP
Hurts did lose a fumble when T.J. Watt punched the ball out on a first-quarter scramble, but otherwise played a clean game.
“I can say I don’t think it got any worse today,” Hurts said of the finger. “If it’s shattered, it’s shattered. It is what it is.”
The Eagles improved to 12-2 and moved into a virtual tie with Detroit for the top seed in the NFC after the Lions fell to the Buffalo Bills.
The defense continued to outperform expectations while the offense showed it is capable of getting the job done in a variety of ways on a night when Saquon Barkley (19 carries, 65 yards) was largely held in check.
“We know what the end goal is, especially me, DeVonta and Jalen … We’re trying to get to the end and we’re trying to finish,” Brown said. “It’s good we won 10 games but we’re not satisfied with that, honestly. In our minds, we haven’t done nothing. That’s our mindset. It’s easy for us to have these tough conversations to call each other out because we know what we want at the end. It makes it easier when we’re close.”
