All four On Pattison staffers polled predicted that the Eagles would lose to the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday at Paycor Stadium.
All four On Pattison staffers were wrong, fortunately for the Eagles.
For the first time ever, the Eagles earned a victory in Cincinnati, outscoring the Bengals 27-7 in the second half to earn a 37-17 victory.
Here are four takeaways as the Eagles move to 5-2.
In his first two games after returning from a concussion, Smith recorded just four catches for 62 yards. The former Heisman Trophy winner actually finished last week's 28-3 victory over the New York Giants with -2 receiving yards.
Suffice to say, the Eagles needed Smith — who they rewarded in the offseason with a three-year/$75 million extension that guaranteed hime $51 million — to get going.
He did just that Sunday afternoon in the Jungle, recording six catches for a team-high 85 yards. Smith's biggest play of the day came in the form of a 46-yard touchdown reception from Jalen Hurts late in the third quarter:
HURTS LAUNCHES DEEP TO DEVONTA SMITH.
46-YARD TOUCHDOWN.
📺: #PHIvsCIN on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/u4yjFvgeOi
For as impressive as A.J. Brown and Saquon Barkley have been this season, Smith had underwhelmed coming into the day. The Eagles have major resources invested in Smith, though, and Sunday was perhaps the start of him reminding everyone why that's the case.
It looked early in the game like Joe Burrow might carve up the Eagles. Instead, it was Hurts who had the bigger day of the two star quarterbacks.
Hurts threw the aforementioned touchdown pass to Smith, completing 16 of 20 pass attempts on the day for 236 yards.
On the ground, Hurts found the end zone three times. Two came courtesy of the tush push, but he kept the ball on a read-option early in the third quarter, getting to the edge and rushing for a seven-yard touchdown:
HURTS LAUNCHES DEEP TO DEVONTA SMITH.
46-YARD TOUCHDOWN.
📺: #PHIvsCIN on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/u4yjFvgeOi
The shoelaces on his Jordan 5 cleats were the only thing that didn't work well for Hurts today:
Jalen Hurts is wearing mix-match Air Jordan 4 and 11 PEs after a malfunction with his cleats 😳🔥 https://t.co/iA08BPRDjq pic.twitter.com/D6ZkdUQbmt
For the seventh time in seven games, the Eagles finished the first quarter with a zero on the scoreboard.
There is some context worth mentioning in this case, though.
First of all, the Eagles won the opening toss and deferred to the second half. The Bengals then went on a 17-play, 70-yard drive that took 10:04 seconds off the clock. It was, as Ian Eagle noted on the CBS telecast, the longest drive in the NFL this season.
The Eagles got the ball for the first time with less than five minutes remaining in the first quarter, so this wasn't like prior weeks where the Eagles had multiple drives in the first stanza and didn't score. When time expired on the first quarter, the Eagles hadn't even completed their first drive.
What is problematic is that the Bengals capped off a lengthy first drive with a touchdown. A 10-play drive for the Eagles ended in a 39-yard field goal from Jake Elliott, rather than a touchdown.
Not scoring in the first quarter can be excused to a degree Sunday, though nearly two months of being held scoreless to open the game is an inexcusable trend overall. This is becoming one of the defining themes of offensive coordinator Kellen Moore's first season in Philadelphia.
The Eagles will host the Jacksonville Jaguars at Lincoln Financial Field in Week 9. It will be Doug Pederson's second time returning to Philadelphia as a visiting head coach.
This game was initially supposed to be on Sunday Night Football, but was flexed out in favor of Indianapolis Colts and Minnesota Vikings. Jags-Eagles will instead be a 4:05 ET start time on CBS.
At the very least, there's going to be plenty of intrigue surrounding the aesthetics of next Sunday's game, as the Eagles will wear their popular Kelly Green throwback uniforms for the first of two times this season.
