Inside the Eagles game-winning drive and a biblical TD that didnt go as planned

INDIANAPOLIS — It’s common for game-winning touchdowns to be dramatized, but in the Philadelphia Eagles’ locker room after their 17-16 win over the Indianapolis Colts, the description of Jalen Hurts’ memorable run reached a different level.

“It was biblical out there,” Jordan Mailata said.

The reference wasn’t to how Hurts played, although the praise for his poise is a quarterback version of deification.

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Mailata was describing the touchdown run itself.

Hurts dropped back at the Colts’ 7-yard line and saw the entire line split in front of him. If the Colts wore red, it would be described as parting like the Red Sea. Hence Mailata’s reference.

“Even though it was a terrible game overall as a whole, when the moment counted, everyone executed,” he said. “The rest of the game? Holy s—.”

The Eagles rebounded from their first loss of the season to advance to 9-1, and the outcome is what will resonate. The way they reached the result didn’t scream juggernaut, even if the record does.

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Eagles edge Colts behind late offensive surge, Hurts' heroics

Philadelphia scored only three points through three quarters. Sunday was the first time the Eagles overcame a deficit of at least 10 points entering the fourth quarter since December 2010, when DeSean Jackson’s punt return prompted the memorable Miracle at the New Meadowlands.

Before the Eagles erased the Colts’ 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, coach Nick Sirianni offered Hurts a message. It was welcomed, albeit unnecessary. Hurts knew what the moment required.

“Just telling me to be who I am,” Hurts said. “I said, ‘I got you.’ Really simple.”

The Eagles won their first eight games of the season and didn’t trail in the second half until the ninth. Naturally, one subject of curiosity about the team has been what it would do and how it would respond in a need-to-score, fourth-quarter drive with the game on the line.

In last week’s loss to Washington, the Eagles went three-and-out late in the fourth quarter with the chance to take the lead. On Sunday against the Colts, they were in a similar situation.

It would be more dramatic if Hurts offered some type of rousing speech before the Eagles’ game-winning drive Sunday, if he stood in the huddle before his decisive touchdown run and spotted a movie star in the distance to ease his teammates, a la Joe Montana and John Candy.

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With Hurts, there’s no need.

“I have not seen that guy rattled too much,” Jason Kelce said. “I think that does rub off on other guys. I really think he’s been great in scenarios like that in the end of the game for a while.”

After the Eagles’ defense limited the Colts to a field goal to keep it a one-possession game with the clock dipping below five minutes, Hurts took the field with 4:37 remaining and an opportunity to salvage the afternoon.

He threw the ball away while under pressure on first down before connecting with A.J. Brown on an 8-yard curl. On third-and-2, the Eagles had their biggest gain of the game — albeit not by design.

Hurts shuffled in the pocket to buy time when he couldn’t find an open receiver. Miles Sanders, who was supposed to be an outlet, raced down the sideline when Hurts still possessed the ball after the initial read. The linebacker in coverage remained near the middle of the field, leaving Sanders wide open. Hurts spotted his running back and heaved the ball downfield. At that point, Sanders made a play that will be immortalized on Sirianni’s teach tapes.

“He underthrew it a little bit and that’s when I was like, ‘I gotta make this a PI.’ So act like I’m coming back to the ball,” Sanders said.

The Colts linebacker, trying to keep a touchdown off the board, tackled Sanders before the ball reached him at the Colts’ 28-yard line. It was a 39-yard gain, even though it didn’t show up in the box score. The Eagles teach their pass catchers to plant their right foot in the ground and come back and drive through the football in that situation. Sanders executed it to perfection and asked his head coach if it will be added to Sirianni’s instructional videos.

“You’re damn right you made the teach tape!” Sirianni said. “Forevermore, we’ll be able to show Miles Sanders (and) how to play a deep ball if it’s underthrown.”

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That play put the Eagles in striking distance and also left Sirianni playing both the Colts and the clock with more than three minutes remaining in the game. They needed a touchdown, sure, but any coach is mindful not to give the opponent too much time.

The Eagles reached the two-minute warning with five consecutive running plays, moving 19 yards to set up a fourth-and-2 at the 9-yard line.

At that point, Sirianni made one of his more curious coaching decisions. The Eagles came out of the two-minute warning by rushing to the line of scrimmage in a quarterback sneak formation. They tried to draw the Colts offside. It didn’t work, and the Eagles burned a timeout — their second of the half, and one they would have needed had they not converted the fourth down.

“There is a little bit of strategy to that timeout after the two-minute call that I would rather not get into … just so our opponents don’t know, obviously,” Sirianni said.

“Just trying to draw them offsides,” Kelce said of the play. “Fourth-and-2, it’s going to be a much easier play to draw them offside, if you don’t take the offside, you take the timeout, you run whatever play you’re going to run anyways.”

The play they were going to run was a quarterback draw by Hurts, who lined up in an empty formation and found a crevice behind Mailata to dive for the first down at the 6-yard line. The Eagles failed to find the end zone on their next two runs, setting up a third-and-goal at the 7. This was the play that became the highlight of the afternoon.

Hurts set up in shotgun with Boston Scott in front of him, and three receivers and a tight end split wide. The call was a quarterback draw, although it was designed differently from how it looked.

“It was not designed to go up the middle,” Kelce said. “It was designed to hit on the side. Defensive tackle made a nice play. We had run a couple of times before, he seemed (like) he was ready for it. But it opened it up in the middle. (Scott) and Jalen did a great job of course correcting.”

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The Eagles ran a pin block with Kelce pulling toward his right. That’s the direction that the defensive tackle veered. The linebackers spread out in coverage. Suddenly, there was nothing in front of Hurts except the end zone and the Colts’ mascot.

“That’s one nice thing about a draw, especially a lead draw, there’s a little bit of room for, ‘Hey, this is wide open, let’s run it right here,’” Kelce said.

“That s— only happens when everyone is on the same page,” Mailata said.

Hurts followed Scott, although there were no defenders for Scott to obstruct. It was the easiest touchdown Hurts could imagine.

“That was one that was in the bag and we pulled it out, and I think we pulled it out at the right time,” Hurts said. “Hell of a call by coach. Hell of execution by the O-linemen. We found a way.”

HURTSSS SZNNNNN#PHIvsIND | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/rYQ250PIx2

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 20, 2022

Sirianni acknowledged he missed Hurts’ reaching the end zone. He looked down for a moment before he saw assistant coach Kevin Patullo celebrating.

The Colts’ mascot gyrated in front of Hurts, who danced back. There was reason to celebrate. Jake Elliott’s extra point gave the Eagles their first lead of the game, and the 11-play, 75-yard drive was their best of the afternoon.

“We were in that situation last week, and if we executed to our standard — and have positive plays and don’t turn the ball over — good things happen,” Hurts said. “I know there was an example last week a couple times where good things didn’t happen because we didn’t control the things we can control. … Protected the ball when it mattered most on that last drive, and we won the game.”

Spend enough time around the Eagles, and you might become fatigued hearing about “dawg mentality.” But Sirianni preaches the concept because he wants the players to forget what happened earlier in the series, or earlier in games, or earlier in the season. Mailata thought Sunday was an example. It didn’t matter that they looked “terrible” earlier in the game; when it mattered, they won.

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Hurts’ 16 rushes were his most since Week 4 and more than his past two games combined. Hurts said he didn’t set out to run more Sunday, only that he tries to “read and react” and “make it as simple as I possibly can.”

Kelce pointed to Sunday’s drive as an example of how Hurts’ legs “keep a defense honest” in late-game situations. Hurts only passed the ball three times on the final drive. Sanders’ big gain on the pass interference and the clock were factors, but it was also emblematic of the way Sirianni views his quarterback. Sirianni said the Eagles want the ball “in the player’s hands that you trust to make the plays,” and in critical moments, they trust their offensive line and they trust their quarterback.

Hurts wondered what Dallas Goedert must have been thinking watching the game on television back in the Philadelphia area.

The answer?

MVP!

— Dallas Goedert (@goedert33) November 20, 2022

He’s not alone in that sentiment.

“I can’t speak more about the bloke,” Mailata said. “Love that kid. F—ing love that kid. Happy with the way he leads this team.”

(Photo of Jalen Hurts: Armond Feffer / USA Today)

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