Jalen Hurts’ Clutch Late-Game Heroics Power Eagles Again: ‘He Didn’t Flinch’
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts walks off the field after an NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/John Amis)
Say it again for everyone. Everyone is better than Jalen Hurts until it’s time to be Jalen Hurts.
The Eagles’ 2026 season hasn’t gotten off to the most dominant start, but they have found a way to start the year 2-0. Week 1 saw the team tested in a tense division battle with the Washington Commanders, but a late fourth-quarter touchdown from Dallas Goedert and a huge stop on a potential game-tying two-point conversion gave them their first victory of the year.
In Week 2, the similarities were there, mainly with the Eagles blowing a second-half double-digit lead to the Tennessee Titans. This time, however, Philadelphia found itself in a situation most teams hate to be in. Trailing with under two minutes to play, and to add to the difficulty, they had no timeouts remaining.
Sunday at Nissan Stadium was a tale of two halves. In the first half, the Eagles offense had a few solid drives that ended up leading to touchdowns from DeVonta Smith and Tank Bigsby. They took a 14-10 lead into the half, eventually extending the lead to seven points after a field goal, but following that field goal, the tide began to shift.
The Eagles looked tired on both sides of the ball. The offense couldn’t move, causing the defense to be out of the field more and more, and the defense being tired allowed the Titans to get some offense rolling late.
A late interception allowed Tennessee to get the ball back with six minutes left to play, and the Titans picked up big gains from Elic Ayomanor and Tyjae Spears to set themselves up for a first-and-goal from the 10. The Eagles defense managed to get a stop and held Tennessee to a field goal, making it 20-17 Titans with under two minutes to play.
The Eagles needed a great drive to at least get in field goal range to tie the game, but Hurts had other ideas.
It had been an alright day for the seven-year Eagles quarterback, as Hurts was battling what felt like every disadvantage possible throughout the game. He was without his starting running back, Saquon Barkley, who suffered a stinger on the first play of the game and played limited snaps the remainder of the game, and his starting tight end and safety blanket, Goedert, who suffered a knee injury early on.
Add to that, the Eagles’ offensive line was starting Drew Kendall at center, and the rest of his offensive line, mainly Cam Jurgens, was providing little to no help throughout the game. It felt like a revolving door once again up front, as Hurts was facing at times only a four-man pass rush against five blocking linemen, and the Eagles still had no answer.
Multiple times during the game, Hurts faced heavy pressure from Tennessee’s pass rush, something Titans star defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons said earlier in the week they’d be doing. “We just need to make Jalen Hurts be a QB,” Simmons said on how the Titans would be able to beat the Eagles. It was prevalent early on that Hurts’ arm was going to be on full display, as with Barkley down, the run game essentially vanished for the remainder of the day.
He was thrown into his biggest test of the day playing “QB” on his last drive, and to say he answered the call would be an understatement.
Hurts led the Eagles on a nine-play, 65-yard touchdown drive, capping it off with a toe-tapping three-yard touchdown pass to Darius Cooper for his first career touchdown. On the drive, Hurts went an impressive six-for-eight on passes for 61 yards, good enough for a 135.9 rating.
“He didn’t flinch,” Smith said postgame. “We had some mistakes out there, things that we could have been better at. But you know, at the end of the day, he didn’t flinch; we needed it, and he drove us right down the field.”
It was a clutch drive, and for Hurts, it was his 15th career game-winning drive with Philadelphia. Ice in the veins mentally has been his M.O. his entire career. He continues to find ways to win. The Eagles have a .702 win percentage with Hurts as their quarterback, a 59-25 record over his seven years in the league.
“When you talk about those moments, end-of-minute, two-minute drives, game-winning drives, you don’t think about the moment itself,” Hurts said. “You think about what led you to the moment, the foundation. Throwing at UCF. Spending time in Houston. Talking through tape. Breaking things down. Getting on the same page. Just the chemistry, and trying to build that, the effort to build that chemistry is very important for moments like this.”
His cool, comfortable mental approach is on display all game long. Hurts had two costly interceptions in the win, one on the first drive of the game inside the 10, and another, while not fully his fault, due to a defensive lineman tackling him during the throw. He brushed both of those mistakes off, and when the time came to pull out a win, Hurts’ mentality was no different.
“Let’s go put it in right here. Let’s go put it in right here,” Lane Johnson said. “There was really no hesitation. Backs against the wall, and Jalen made a great throw.”
All week long, Hurts heard the noise surrounding the Titans’ game plan from Simmons about making him play like a quarterback, and when given the opportunity after the game, Hurts let Simmons know that he had to prove him wrong.
Hurts isn’t the most outgoing player in the league. He doesn’t talk smack before games; he doesn’t start beef. He prefers to let the performances on the field do the talking, and once again he found a way to prove people wrong. Even after games, Hurts doesn’t gloat; he continues to blow off the talk, appreciate the win, and give credit to his team for the win.
“I heard it. I’m happy we won,” Hurts said. “It was great execution, great mentality, great focus, and great assistant togetherness and being able to persevere.”
At the end of the day, people will continue to criticize Hurts and not call him a good quarterback. While he may not be the type of pocket-passing, 50-passing-touchdowns-in-a-year type of quarterback, Hurts finds ways to do the most important task asked of a field general. He wins.
No matter what the situation, he finds ways. No running game, no tight end, offensive line in shambles, defense can’t get a stop. Doesn’t matter; Jalen Hurts’ clutch gene is unlike almost anyone in the league.
“That motherf***er balled out [Sunday],” Jordan Mailata said. “Jalen really got in his bag [Sunday].”
Matt Brown
Matt has been a Philadelphia sports fan all his life and spent four years at Penn State University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Sports Studies. He previously covered Penn State’s field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball teams while writing for a Penn State blog called Onward State. He has now covered the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers for Philly Sports Reports since October 2024 and wants to pursue a career in Sports Journalism.
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