Oct 19, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) warms up before the game against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images Jeffrey Becker
Entering Sunday afternoon's Philadelphia Eagles-Minnesota Vikings matchup, the Vikings' pass defense ranked second in the NFL, and their rushing defense ranked No. 24.
So naturally, the Eagles' rushing game was held to just 45 yards, and the passing game absolutely exploded en route to a 28-22 victory.
Here are a few takeaways from Sunday's win:
Can you remember the last time Jalen Hurts threw for over 300 yards?
If you can't, don't feel bad, because it was 22 games ago. He threw for 311 yards against the New Orleans Saints on Sept. 24, 2024.
Sunday against the Vikings, Hurts threw for 326 yards, good for his highest total since he threw for 340 against the Washington Commanders on Sept. 25, 2022.
This was easily Hurts' best performance of 2025, and it's up there with the best performances of his career. He earned a perfect 158.3 passer rating and threw three touchdowns with no interceptions.
This was also a career game for DeVonta Smith. Skinny Batman registered the longest catch of his career in the third quarter, a 79-yard touchdown reception:
The longest catch of DeVonta Smith’s career is good for 6️⃣ pic.twitter.com/DDIIcggCrN
Smith's 183 receiving yards were also a career high. He was everywhere on Sunday, pulling in nine catches on 11 targets.
A.J. Brown had his best performance of the season as well, tallying 121 yards on four catches. He capped off the Eagles' first drive of the game with a 37-yard touchdown reception on fourth down:
Jalen Hurts connects with A.J. Brown for a 4th down touchdown! pic.twitter.com/X4HPV29bbg
Brown repeatedly showed up when it counted. His second touchdown reception of the day put an exclamation point on the Eagles' victory:
A.J. Brown has TWO tuddys on the day! pic.twitter.com/uxnd4h6IAt
And on the last drive of the game, Brown's 45-yard catch on 3rd and 9 sealed the deal.
All in all, Hurts, Brown and Smith lifted the Eagles to victory today.
All that being said, I sound like a broken record, but Kevin Patullo's offense still has work to do.
There were multiple questionable playcalls in the game, particularly in the first half. After the Eagles opened the game with a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, they proceeded to go three-and-out on the next three drives. They repeatedly backed themselves up into third-and-long, and those third down play calls felt like the Birds had preemptively given up on the drive.
It just makes no sense. When the pass game was humming in the beginning of fourth quarter, Patullo elected to run on 3rd and 5, and Saquon Barkley was stuffed at the line of scrimmage. Jake Elliott then had a rare missed field goal from 42 yards out. The Eagles are lucky that that missed kick didn't come back to bite them.
The Birds are also still struggling with penalties and with snapping the ball before time on the play clock expires. Luckily Hurts balled out today, because Patullo would catch a lot more flack otherwise.
Also, Carson Wentz is still Carson Wentz.
With an extremely limited defensive line and an extremely leaky secondary, Fangio and the Eagles defense schemed their way to success.
On the Vikings' second drive of the game, Jalen Carter got up in Wentz's face to force a Jalyx Hunt pick-six:
Jalen Carter SPEARS Carson Wentz and sets up a Jalyx Hunt pick-six! pic.twitter.com/wtR4GD2TkV
And then on the very next drive, known ball hawk Andrew Mukuba picked of an errant deep throw by Wentz:
Andrew Mukuba nabs the Eagles’ second interception of the second quarter off of Carson Wentz! pic.twitter.com/7Q1arMBqU1
The Birds got after Wentz all day. Their two sacks came at pivotal moments. Moro Ojomo in particular had a clutch sack, stopping the Vikings from scoring a touchdown in what was a one-score game at that point:
Moro Ojomo comes up CLUTCH with the 3rd-down sack💪
(via @Eaglesfans9) pic.twitter.com/uamU3o6zx4
The defense kept the Eagles in the game while the offense struggled to get anything going in the first half, and then Hurts and Smith took over for them in the second half.
The Eagles will face the New York Giants next Sunday for the second time in two weeks. This time the game will be on the Birds' home turf. Let's see if they perform any better against Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo this time around.
