Second-year quarterback Jalen Hurts showed out in Week 1, helping the Philadelphia Eagles dominate the Atlanta Falcons 32-6. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni gets his first NFL win. Falcons’ head coach Arthur Smith will have to wait at least another week for his first NFL victory.
Post game notes courtesy of Eagles:
KEY OFFENSIVE NOTES
Philadelphia capped its 7-play, 75-yard opening drive with an 18-yard TD pass from Jalen Hurts to rookie DeVonta Smith, giving the Eagles a 7-3 advantage in the first quarter.
Smith became the first Eagles WR to catch a TD in their NFL debut since Marvin Hargrove on 9/16/90 vs. Phoenix (34-yard TD). He also became the first Eagles WR to do so on the road since Cris Carter on 11/1/87 at St. Louis (22-yard TD).
Quez Watkins tied his single-game career high for receptions (3, last: 12/20/20 at Arizona) on the opening drive by registering a catch on the first 3 offensive plays of the game.
Hurts completed 4-of-4 attempts for 41 yards and 1 TD while adding 1 rush for 13 yards on the opening drive.
Jalen Hurts engineered a 12-play, 62-yard TD drive (9-yard pass to Dallas Goedert with 0:02 remaining) to close the second quarter and move the Eagles to a 15-6 halftime lead. Hurts completed 5-of-7 attempts for 46 yards and 1 TD and rushed 3 times for 24 yards on the possession.
Hurts finished the first half 18-of-24 (75.0%) for 169 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs and a 121.7 passer rating and led the Eagles with 37 rushing yards through two quarters. He reached his 2nd career game with multiple passing TDs in the first half (3 TDs on 12/20/20 at Arizona).
Hurts has now led 3 TD drives in the final two minutes of a first half in his career.
Goedert entered today T-8th among NFL TEs in receiving TDs since 2018.
Miles Sanders logged the 2-point conversion following the Goedert TD. He now has 4 career 2-point conversions (last: 11/30/20 vs. Seattle), which are the most by any Eagles player since 1990 (entered today T-1st in the NFL in 2-point conversions since 2019).
Philadelphia jumped out to a 22-6 lead in the third quarter after rookie Kenneth Gainwell capped a 6-play, 50-yard scoring drive with his first career rushing TD (8 yards).
DeVonta Smith (receiving) and Kenneth Gainwell (rushing) are the first Eagles rookie duo to score TDs in the same game since Jalen Hurts (rushing) and Quez Watkins (receiving) on 12/20/20 at Arizona. This is the first time that two Eagles rookies scored TDs in a season opener since at least 1950, according to Pro Football Reference.
The Eagles extended their lead to 29-6 after Jalen Reagor posted a 22-yard TD reception with 4:20 remaining in the game to finish a 2-play, 22-yard drive.
Reagor set a new career-high in receptions (6) and Jalen Hurts tied a career-high in TD passes (3) with the TD catch.
Jake Elliott finished off Philadelphia’s scoring after hitting on a 43-yard FG with 1:14 remaining in the game.
Elliott’s 6 points today puts him 1 point behind Tommy McDonald for the 8th-most points in Eagles history. The FG also puts him 1 away from tying Sam Baker for the 3rd-most FGs in Philadelphia history.
DeVonta Smith‘s 6 receptions ties the Eagles WR rookie record for receptions in their debut, which was set by DeSean Jackson on 9/7/08 vs. St. Louis. His 71 yards is also the most by an Eagles rookie WR in their debut since Jackson’s 106 yards in the same game.
KEY DEFENSIVE NOTES
The Eagles defense limited Atlanta to 2 FGs and 0 TDs in the season opener. It is the first time Philadelphia has not given up a TD in a game since their 23-9 win vs. Dallas on 11/1/20.
In total, the Eagles defense allowed only 260 yards (136 passing, 124 rushing) and sacked Matt Ryan three times.
Philadelphia allowed a total of 102 yards (88 passing, 14 rushing) in the second half. The Eagles also allowed only 114 yards after the Falcons’ first two offensive drives, both of which resulted in FGs.
Javon Hargrave tied his single-game career-high in sacks (2.0) after bringing down Matt Ryan twice in the fourth quarter.
Hargrave last posted 2.0 sacks in a game on 12/13/20 vs. New Orleans.
ADDITIONAL EAGLES NOTES
Philadelphia has won 5 of its last 6 season openers dating back to 2016. The Eagles entered today’s game tied for the best Week 1 winning percentage in the NFL since 2011.
Philadelphia has captured 4 of its last 5 overall games vs. Atlanta. Including the postseason, the Eagles own a 12-5 record (.706) against the Falcons since the 2000 campaign.
The 26-point win is the Eagles’ largest margin of victory on the road in a season opener since defeating Carolina by 28 points by the score of 38-10 on 9/13/09. It is the largest in any game since defeating Minnesota by 26 in the NFC Championship game on 1/21/18.
Jalen Hurts (23 years, 36 days) became the youngest Eagles QB to start in a season opener in the Super Bowl era, eclipsing Carson Wentz (23 years, 256 days) on 9/11/16 vs. Cleveland.
Jason Kelce extended his streak of consecutive regular-season games started to 106, which is the longest active streak among NFL centers (longest streak by an Eagles center since the 1970 merger). Kelce’s streak is the longest by any NFL center since Chris Myers from 2007-14 (123 games).
Zach Ertz appeared in his 118th career game, which is tied with Charles Smith (1974-81) for the 5th-most by a WR or TE in Eagles history, trailing only Harold Carmichael (180, 1971-83), Brent Celek (175, 2007-17), Bobby Walston (148, 1951-62) and Pete Retzlaff (132, 1956-66).