Perfection from Hurts | Sports Daily Newsletter

Once again, the Eagles could not get their running game going yesterday against the Minnesota Vikings. Jalen Hurts and his wide receivers made sure that did not matter. Hurts threw for 326 yards, compiled a perfect passer rating of 158.3, and threw three long touchdown passes in a 28-22 victory.

DeVonta Smith caught nine passes for a career-high 183 yards and a touchdown. And we likely will get no complaints this week from A.J. Brown, who had 121 receiving yards and two scores. Saquon Barkley managed only 44 yards on 18 carries, but the passing game picked up the slack.

“Saquon is the best,” Hurts said. “I don’t want him to feel like he’s carrying that by himself. It is a group effort. Everyone is involved in that. Everyone has to look inward and say, ‘Well, how can we help get something going the way it needs to go?’ Offensively as a unit, as a team, it doesn’t matter how it looks. In hindsight, it’s about finding ways to win games. But we want to make sure all areas of our yard are green and in a good place.” Jeff McLane has his grades on the game.

Whatever the Eagles needed against the Vikings, Hurts gave it to them, Mike Sielski writes. And they needed a lot.

In a bit of concerning news for the offense, center Cam Jurgens left the game in the first quarter with a right knee injury.

Against a Vikings offense that seemed to keep shooting itself in the foot, Vic Fangio’s defense bent but did not break. It helped to get a huge play from linebacker Jalyx Hunt, who picked off Carson Wentz and returned the ball 42 yards for a touchdown. Moro Ojomo and Joshua Uche sacked Wentz in two more big plays for the Birds.

The Vikings had a unique way of trying to stop the Tush Push, which came to light during Fox’s broadcast.

More coverage from Sunday’s Eagles win can be found here

— Jim Swan, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

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The Eagles’ corps of edge rushers took another hit Sunday when Azeez Ojulari went down with a hamstring injury in the first half and never returned. Perhaps help is on the way, though. Defensive end Brandon Graham, 37, is considering ending his retirement after seven months and rejoining the Eagles, league sources told The Inquirer. An ESPN report said Graham was “strongly considering” it.

The 76ers figured they were getting an athletic wing with elite defensive skills when they drafted VJ Edgecombe third overall in the NBA draft. Turns out, they might have picked up a more complete package.

The Sixers entrusted Edgecombe with handling the ball Friday in a preseason victory against Minnesota and the rookie looked good in that role. “He makes good decisions,” says Tyrese Maxey, who was freed up to score with Edgecombe on the ball.

Maybe Paul George will be in the mix for the Sixers soon, too. Coming back from knee surgery in July, George “looked good” in a full practice yesterday, coach Nick Nurse said.

Noah Cates scored the decisive goal for the Flyers on Saturday in a 2-1 overtime victory against the Minnesota Wild. Afterward, Cates raved about teammate Owen Tippett. “He can be a one-man show with his speed,” Cates said. Tippett showed his speed and more as he scored his third goal of the season. Goalie Dan Vladař also made a big impression, Jackie Spiegel writes in her takeaways from the game.

Meanwhile, 20-year-old star Matvei Michkov played only 12 minutes, 7 seconds against the Wild, sitting out the end of regulation and all of overtime. Coach Rick Tocchet explains why Michkov wound up on the bench.

Penn State’s comeback effort ran out of gas Saturday in a 25-24 loss to Iowa, dropping the Nittany Lions to 0-4 in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions showed fight under interim coach Terry Smith, though.

“I think our guys played hard. I think our guys left it out there,” Smith said. “They gave everything they had. There was no one who didn’t give great effort. We just have to execute.”

Meanwhile, in a 49-14 rout of Charlotte, Temple posted its first conference road win since 2019.

Penn remained unbeaten in the Ivy League by beating Columbia, 35-21.

Oct. 20, 1985: Kenny Jackson scored on a 36-yard touchdown pass from Ron Jaworski in the fourth quarter to lift the Eagles past the Dallas Cowboys, 16-14, at Veterans Stadium.

Brandon Graham is weighing a possible return to the Eagles after a seven-month retirement. One member of the Eagles defense talked about how much he misses the veteran defensive end. Can you tell who said the above? Check your answer here.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Olivia Reiner, Jeff McLane, Jeff Neiburg, Gabriela Carroll, Mike Sielski, Keith Pompey, Jackie Spiegel, Jonathan Tannenwald, Sean McKeown, Greg Finberg, and Ryan Mack.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Thank you for reading, as always. I’ll see you in Tuesday’s newsletter. — Jim Swan