Jalyx Hunt’s pick-six and timely sacks help Eagles defense deliver in win over Vikings

MINNEAPOLIS — Jalyx Hunt dropped an interception last week and there were repercussions, even if he claimed that he never saw the ball. First came the teasing teammates, who wondered why the former college safety couldn’t catch the ball. Then came the coaching adjustment.

Eagles edge rushers don’t normally go through the full catch circuit drills during practices. They spend more time during individual drill sessions working on pass-rushing techniques. But after Hunt failed to pull in an interception in an embarrassing loss to the New York Giants, Nick Sirianni made the edge rushers go through the catch circuit during practice last week.

It paid off Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings when Hunt dropped into coverage early in the second quarter, picked off Carson Wentz, and returned the interception 42 yards to give the Eagles a 14-3 lead in a game they never trailed at U.S. Bank Stadium.

“I didn’t see last week’s,” Hunt said later. “Everybody made fun of me. I’ll take that to the chin. Can’t say nothing now.”

The spin through the catch circuit may be here to stay, Hunt said.

Hunt’s touchdown was the signature play for an Eagles defense that needed a bounce-back performance after it was bullied at times last week vs. the Giants. The Eagles weren’t perfect defensively Sunday, but they made impact plays when it mattered. They bent — the Vikings took six trips to the red zone — but they did not break. The Vikings kicked five field goals in those six trips.

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Hunt is part of a maligned pass-rush unit that hasn’t gotten home consistently. After Za’Darius Smith’s surprise retirement last Monday following the mini-bye, Patrick Johnson was the lone healthy Eagles edge rusher with a sack this season. The Eagles entered Sunday with just nine sacks, and only six teams had fewer. They got key contributions in that regard from Moro Ojomo and Joshua Uche at pivotal points.

First up was Ojomo, an interior rusher. The Vikings were threatening to take the lead four minutes into the fourth quarter when Ojomo sacked Wentz for a 7-yard loss on a third-and-5 from the Eagles’ 10-yard line, forcing a field goal that kept the Eagles in front, 21-19. Then came Uche’s sack off the edge, again on a play from the 10-yard line, this time on a first-and-goal inside three minutes to play. Uche dropped Wentz for an 8-yard loss, and the Vikings eventually were forced to kick another field goal.

The Eagles entered Sunday ranked eighth in the NFL in red zone defense, having allowed touchdowns on only 52.9% of their opponents’ red zone trips.

“Everything gets tighter down there,” linebacker Zack Baun said. “It makes it hard to score, especially when you’re playing good defense.”

The Eagles had other key plays besides the sacks, like when Cooper DeJean broke up a sure touchdown from Wentz to Justin Jefferson in the end zone, another play that resulted in the Vikings eventually kicking a field goal — a four-point swing.

There were moving parts for much of Sunday, too. The Eagles inserted Nakobe Dean back into an off-ball linebacker role and moved rookie Jihaad Campbell to the edge for more snaps. Their edge rushing plans took a hit, too, when Azeez Ojulari went down with a hamstring injury in the first half and never returned. Baun said Campbell still saw a similar amount of edge work as planned, but the Eagles were down to three regular edge rushers for most of the game.

“It’s plug-and-play,” Baun said of all the moving parts. “All of us can play multiple different positions. Just let us know and we’ll go out there and do it.”

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Hunt’s big play came in a non-rushing role, and showed that Vic Fangio, despite his defense’s mounting injuries, can still scheme ways to make a big impact. The Eagles showed a blitz and sent Baun from the linebacker spot. But they dropped Hunt and rushed four. The Vikings had Jefferson matched up with rookie safety Drew Mukuba — who also had a second-quarter interception — in the slot. Jefferson unsurprisingly beat Mukuba badly, but Wentz never saw Hunt.

The simulated pressure the Eagles showed also allowed Jalen Carter to not be doubled, and he was in Wentz’s face almost instantly and crushed the quarterback as he released the ball.

Hunt started his college career at Cornell as a safety and said those skills help him in those spots.

“I’m way more comfortable than, I’d say, a lot of outside linebackers, especially in space,” he said. “I understand what routes might be going on behind me.” Hunt said he didn’t notice Jefferson matched up with Mukuba one-on-one in the slot. “I just know where I needed to be,” he said.

News broke before the game that Brandon Graham is considering ending his seven-month-long retirement and rejoining the Eagles, and while Ojulari’s status is unknown, his injury underscored the Eagles’ needs at that position, especially as Nolan Smith (triceps) remains on injured reserve.

But even an undermanned pass rush found a way when it mattered to get to Wentz and help preserve an Eagles win.

Much has been made about the pass rush’s inability to get home at times. “Yeah, y’all have,” Hunt said when that fact was mentioned to him Sunday after the game.

“Not to listen to y’all and just to keep working,” he said when asked what Sunday showed. “We know it’s hard to get sacks in this league. They get paid, we get paid, and sacks take a lot of effort, a lot of scheming. You’ve got to be rushing the right way when your time comes, and the time came, Uche great rush off the edge, Mo with his brainpower.”

Players like to say sacks come in bunches, and time will tell if Sunday was the start of something more for a defense that needs to get going.

“They’re hungry,” Baun said. “They know where they’re at right now, the rush, and the linebackers as well, too, we haven’t gotten home too much either. We know where we’re at in that department and it just makes you hungrier to do it.”

There’s still a lot to improve on, Uche said.

“But it’s just great to have that spark,” he said. “Once you get a spark on it turns into a big fire, so we just got to keep rolling.”