Jalen Hurts to A.J. Brown connection scorches Steelers in Eagles win, 35 to 13

The Philadelphia Eagles are 7-0 after defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday afternoon! Final score: 35 to 13.

The headline gives the story of the story of this game away. The Steelers clearly had no answer to stop the lethal Jalen Hurts to A.J. Brown connection.

This performance was an encouraging one for the Eagles’ starting quarterback after he only averaged 199.3 yards per game in his last three starts. Hurts was very sharp after a bit of a slow start to the game. He finished 19/28 for 285 yards (10.2 average), 4 TD, 0 INT, and a 140.6 passer rating.

Brown was basically unguardable. He roasted the Steelers’ coverage deep in addition to making plays underneath and gobbling up yards after the catch. He finished with six grabs for 156 yards and three touchdowns. I’m going to say it was a probably a good decision for Howie Roseman to trade for Brown.

The Eagles were able to get out to so comfortable of a lead that they pulled their starters on offense with over nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Nice to be able to do that with a short turnaround to their Week 9 Thursday Night Football game on the road against the Houston Texans up next.

Read on for a recap and stay tuned for BGN’s postgame coverage, including the BGN Radio postgame show!

FIRST QUARTER

• The Eagles won the coin toss and elected to defer, per usual. The Steelers started out on offense first. Pittsburgh went three-and-out with a stunting Haason Reddick sacking Kenny Pickett on third down to force a punt. Violent takedown.

• The Eagles got to 3rd-and-1 and moved the chains with a Miles Sanders run to the right side. A.J. Brown dropped a pass on a comeback (tight coverage by the Steelers defender) to bring up a 3rd-and-9. The Eagles ran a screen to Dallas Goedert to set up 4th-and-2. On fourth down from Pittsburgh’s 44-yard line, Nick Sirianni correctly went for it and Goedert was able to somewhat awkwardly catch a short pass for another first down. Hurts aired it out to A.J. Brown and the wide receiver went up and got the ball in the end zone for a touchdown despite two defenders in the area. Value of a legit WR1. Good to see the offense hit a big play down the field after seeing a lot of short passing game stuff in previous weeks. EAGLES 7, STEELERS 0.

• A stunting Brandon Graham (lot of effective stunts early on) had a big hit on Pickett for a sack ... that was wiped out by a James Bradberry defensive holding penalty. The Steelers moved into Eagles territory with a 12-yard draw run up the middle 2nd-and-13. How does that happen? Pickett took off running to bring up 1st-and-goal from the 7-yard line. The Steelers got to 3rd-and-goal from the 2-yard line and Pickett’s fade for Diante Johnson was overthrown for an incompletion. Mike Tomlin inexplicably sent his backup kicker out to kick a field goal down seven points as an 11.5-point underdog on the road ... but the Eagles bailed the Steelers out. Brandon Graham committed a defensive delay of game penalty (???), which moved the ball to the 1-yard line. The Steelers then ran a trick play with Chase Claypool passing to Derek Watt for a touchdown. Really bad drive from the defense. Two real costly penalties. EAGLES 7, STEELERS 7.

• Hurts threw a dangerous pass over the middle that could’ve been picked off. Hurts aired out a ball that was a bit underthrown to Quez Watkins where the wide receiver couldn’t make the catch. The Eagles picked up a first down with the combination of a 9-yard completion to Brown and a Steelers offside penalty.

SECOND QUARTER

A pass over the middle (a previous weakness for Hurts) to DeVonta Smith brought up 3rd-and-2. On third down, the Eagles ran play-action and Dallas Goedert leaked out wide open for a catch-and-run. Nice design there to take advantage of the Steelers being focused on stopping a carry up the middle. On 3rd-and-8, Hurts hit Brown with perfect touch for the WR’s second touchdown of the day. Nice throw. Steelers lacking an answer for No. 11. EAGLES 14, STEELERS 7.

• The Steelers got set back to 2nd-and-19 with their billionth illegal formation penalty and Avonte Maddox making a tackle for loss on a quick throw. Fletcher Cox came up with a tackle for no gain with the Steelers doing the Birds a favor by inexplicably running the ball to set up 3rd-and-19. The Eagles forced the Steelers to punt and DeVonta Smith, not Britain Covey, was back for the return. Only three yards on the return with DeVonta not having a ton of room to work with.
• Hurts completed a pass to DeVonta that resulted in a 10-yard loss due to poor blocking. Maybe keep going vertical instead of horizontal? The Eagles went three-and-out after a checkdown to Kenneth Gainwell on third down.
• The Steelers took over at their own 22-yard line. Darius Slay nearly picked Pickett ... and then Johnson nearly caught the tipped ball ... but the WR couldn’t hold on. Pickett’s third down pass was overthrown and nearly picked off by Marcus Epps. Ball went through the safety’s hands. Two dropped interceptions on one drive.
• Hurts made nice throws to Goedert and then DeVonta to move the Eagles to the Steelers’ 29-yard line. From there, Hurts pump faked and threw another fade to Brown and Pittsburgh once again had no answer. A.J. Brown is kinda good, huh?! Brown got called for taunting for pointing at the Steelers’ DBs after the play. Whatever. He deserved the right to do that. EAGLES 21, STEELERS 7.

• Pickett ran for nine yards to bring up a 4th-and-1 that was converted with a QB sneak. The Steelers moved into Eagles territory. Then they drove into the red zone. On 3rd-and-7 from the 18-yard line, Pickett tried to run the up middle but Milton Williams was able to get a hand on him to make the QB fall down for a credited sack. The Steelers settled for a Nick Sciba field goal from 38 yards out. EAGLES 21, STEELERS 10.
• The Eagles took over at their own 35-yard line with 0:55 on the clock after an illegal formation penalty on the Steelers. Hurts threw a little behind an open DeVonta over the middle and the WR couldn’t hold on. Hurts was sacked on 3rd-and-15 to bring up a punt.
• The Steelers took over at their own 22-yard line and Javon Hargrave put an end to the first half by sacking Pickett.

THIRD QUARTER

• Miles Sanders ran through a big hole opened up by the offensive line to gain 21 yards. The Steelers blew a coverage by having two defenders focus on Goedert on a fake TE screen, allowing Zach Pascal to get wide open down the left sideline. EAGLES 28, STEELERS 10.

• The Eagles got the Steelers to 4th-and-2 but then gave up a first on a fake punt. Feels like it’s been forever since the Birds got a stop on one of those. Michael Clay’s special teams unit continues to be a weak point. The Steelers got to 4th-and-3 and converted it with a throw to a wide open Najee Harris in the flat. A Pickett pass completed to Claypool short of the sticks should’ve brought up 2nd-and-6 or so but the receiver was able to run through bad tackling and power his way to a first. Eagles just have not been a clean tackling team this year. The Steelers moved into the red zone but Pickett’s third down pass was incomplete. Pittsburgh kicked the 29-yard field goal to make it a two-possession game. EAGLES 28, STEELERS 13.
• The Steelers’ backup kicker kicked the ball out of bounds on the ensuing kickoff, allowing the Eagles to start at their own 40-yard line. Brown dropped a throw right to his hands on a slant. Rough one, he still would’ve been running if he had caught that. Goedert made an impressive one-handed catch on a ball thrown behind him for a first down. Hurts threw another good deep ball to Brown in the end zone but the WR couldn’t make the play. Wouldn’t have counted anyway due to a (rare) holding call on Jason Kelce. The Eagles ended up having to punt. Zech McPhearson made a great diving effort to keep Arryn Siposs’s punt out of the end zone. A Steelers player (wisely) picked up the ball to try to advance it, only to get tackled in the end zone. The crowd at The Linc was calling for a safety but it was not since Pittsburgh was entitled to a free advance after Philly’s coverage team touched the ball. McPhearson’s valiant effort ended up having the ball spotted at the 1-yard line.

• The Steelers were backed up and yet they were able to get to their own 42-yard line to end the first half. No thanks to pass interference on James Bradberry and Najee Harris busting an 18-yard run up the middle.

FOURTH QUARTER

• Reddick JUST missed a chance to sack Pickett before Hargrave successfully got to the rookie QB to log a forced fumble. Avonte Maddox scooped for the recovery. Key turnover to stop a drive that shouldn’t have gotten as far as it did.

• Hurts threw over the middle to Brown, who set up the defense by pretending to run straight after his catch before reversing course and finding a bunch of open field. He almost broke it for his fourth touchdown but the Steelers were able to get him down with a diving tackle from behind. So close! Not matter, though, with Sanders ending the drive with an 11-yard touchdown run to the left side. EAGLES 35, STEELERS 13.

• C.J. Gardner-Johnson picked up a sack after being unblocked as a blitzing slot corner to force a punt. Nice wrinkle by Jonathan Gannon.

• The Eagles took over at their own 10-yard line with 9:24 on the clock. Gardner Minshew entered the game for the first time all year to relieve Hurts. Other backups came in as well. The Eagles went three-and-out.
• Marlon Tuipulotu picked up his first career sack. The Steelers overcame it and drove into the red zone. T.J. Edwards tipped Pickett’s pass over the middle to set up an easy pick for CJGJ in the end zone. Nice way to close it out.

• The Eagles’ backups were able to run the clock out to end the game.

FINAL SCORE: EAGLES WIN, 35 to 13

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INJURIES

• Jordan Davis got banged up late in the second quarter. He was carted off the field and ruled out with an ankle injury.
• Josiah Scott was carted off and was initially ruled questionable to return with an ankle injury.

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PREVIEW

The Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers are meeting in a Week 8 matchup at Lincoln Financial Field. The Battle of Pennsylvania. The Keystone Bowl.

The Birds should be well-rested coming off of their bye. They outmatch the Steelers on paper and they need to do it on the field as well to remain undefeated.

It would be nice to see a big game through the air from Jalen Hurts after he’s averaged just under 200 yards (199.3) in his last three starts. It would also be nice to see a big moment from newly acquired pass rusher Robert Quinn.

Bleeding Green Nation will be covering this game with live updates in the form of highlights, commentary, analysis, etc. Make sure to follow along and refresh the page often.

(NOTE: This is NOT a game thread; it’s a live blog that will turn into a game recap. Use BGN’s designated game threads for each quarter to discuss in-game happenings. The first quarter thread is HERE.)