On a day when the Eagles were penalized seven times, committed three turnovers, got no sacks from their edge rushers, dropped a pick-6, allowed a 70-yard touchdown pass for the first time in five years, allowed 163 rushing yards and gave up the lead three times, A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith showed up.
As always.
Everything else might be going wrong around them, but Brown and Smith are just too good to be denied. And they were both huge in the Eagles’ season-opening 34-29 win over the Packers Friday night at Corinthians Arena in São Paulo, Brazil.
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Brown caught five passes for 119 yards and a touchdown, and all five of his receptions went for first downs, and Smith had seven catches for 84 yards with another five first downs. So between the two of them, they caught 12 passes and 10 of them moved the sticks.
Are they the best tandem in the league?
“They're pretty damn good,” Jalen Hurts said post-game. “I say they're the best. It's the way they come into work every day, intentional about the little details they do.
“They showed up big-time tonight, showed up big-time in crucial moments, made some big-time plays that changed the game. That's what it's all about.”
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This was the seventh time Brown and Smith have combined for 200 yards in a game. That’s the 2nd-most in franchise history by a receiver duo. Tommy McDonald and Pete Retzlaff did it 11 times between 1957 and 1963. DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin did it five times, as did Fred Barnett and Calvin Williams.
The Packers had the 9th-best pass defense in the NFL last year and added Xavier McKinney to their secondary this year.
But they had no answer for Brown and Smith Friday night.
Brown and Smith each had signature moments in the win over the Packers.
For Brown, it was his 67-yard touchdown catch on the second play of the second half. Brown went back and forth with Pro Bowl corner Jaire Alexander all night, but on this snap, he lost Alexander with a double move, caught a perfect Hurts pass in stride and raced diagonally across the field into the end zone, Alexander was helpless to catch him.
It was Hurts’ longest touchdown pass during the Nick Sirianni Era – he had an 81-yarder to DeSean Jackson as a rookie in 2020 – and it was the 10th TD catch of at least 50 yards for Brown,
“It was just execution on the play, great execution on the play,” Hurts said. “Dialed it up, A.J. ran a great route, got on the ball, let him do the rest. It’s always good to be able to change the momentum of a game like that. Just got to do a better job of finishing.”
As for Smith, he had a huge 4th-down conversion on a 2nd-quarter field goal drive and then he really showed up on the clinching 16-play, 67-yard field goal drive that gave the Eagles a five-point lead with 27 seconds left.
Most of that drive was Saquon Barkley, but Hurts did complete two crucial passes – both on 2nd-and-long, both to Smith and both for first downs.
Ballgame.
“That drive started with, what, eight minutes left in the game? And we gave them the ball back with 27 seconds. Why? Because Jalen and DeVonta connected on some huge plays.”
Brown now has 3,071 yards since joining the Eagles. That’s the 3rd-most yards ever by a player in his first 35 games with a specific team, behind Odell Beckham Jr. (3,431 with the Giants) and Justin Jefferson (3,248) with the Vikings.
And Smith’s 3,262 yards are 3rd-most by an Eagle in his first 51 career games, behind only Jackson (3,580) and Mike Quick (3,515).
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