Quick Thinking By Jalen Hurts Led To Huge Play To Set Up Eagles’ Comeback Win Over Saints

The Philadelphia Eagles have had a strange start to the season. They’re 2-1, but Jalen Hurts and his teammates haven’t had a run-of-the-mill NFL game yet, with all three coming down to the final minute and involving strange circumstances.

On Sunday, the team came back twice from fourth-quarter deficits to beat the previously unbeaten Saints, 15-12. A huge play from Jalen Hurts to Dallas Goedert was the catalyst on the game-winning drive, and it came about due to quick thinking from Jalen Hurts.

The Eagles trailed 6-0 in the fourth-quarter before Saquon Barkley broke off a long touchdown run to take a lead. After the Saints scored, the Eagles found themselves with the ball with just under two minutes remaining and needing a touchdown to avoid an 0-2 start.

They got the big play they needed, with Jalen Hurts finding Dallas Goedert on this play.

How did Dallas Goedert end up so wide open on the play? The Eagles ran a mesh concept. In mesh concepts, there are at least two drag or shallow crossing routes each going the opposite way of each other. Against man coverage, the goal is to create natural pick for their defenders to give them an extra step of separation. A perfectly thrown pass will lead to huge yards after the catch as a player should be able to turn upfield. That’s exactly what happened here.

But, according to new footage, that wasn’t the original play call. Instead, they changed into that mesh concept at the line of scrimmage, with Jalen Hurts making a great pre-snap read.

Saquon Barkley went on to punch it in, and the Eagles won, 15-12.

Hurts hasn’t been at his best this year, and needs to improve. But, that was a big play not just for him but for the vibes in Philadelphia, which were going to be be pretty bad if the Eagles lost.