D’Andre Swift rushed for a career-high 175 yards and a touchdown as the Philadelphia Eagles turned to their running game to defeat the Minnesota Vikings 34-28 in the NFL on Thursday.
The Eagles, beaten in last season’s Super Bowl by the Kansas City Chiefs, move to 2-0 on the season while the Vikings, who went 13-4 last season, have lost both their season openers.
After the Vikings opened up a 7-3 lead early in the second, Philadelphia scored 24 straight points and never looked back — helped by turnovers from Minnesota.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts struggled with the passing game in the first half in Philadelphia but he too showed his value on the ground.
Hurts ran in a pair of one-yard touchdowns as well as finding an open DeVonta Smith with a 63-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter to give Philadelphia a 27-7 lead.
The Vikings gave themselves a chance when quarterback Kirk Cousins found Jordan Addison with a throw down the middle for a 62-yard touchdown.
Minnesota made it a six-point game when K.J Osborn scored on a 10-yard pass from Cousins but the Eagles responded on the next drive with Swift finishing off a 75-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run to give them a 34-21 lead with 4:13 left.
Cousins connected with tight-end T.J. Hockenson with 1:10 left in the game but the Eagles held firm.
The Vikings paid the price for turnovers, giving up four fumbles, three of them in the first half of the game.
The most crucial was just before half-time when receiver Justin Jefferson lost the ball attempting a touchdown, allowing the Eagles possession with a touchback.
Just as in their win at New England in week one, the Eagles were far from the levels produced last season but Hurts said they had shown they know how to grind out victories.
“I think the reality is that when you have so much success and you win, you do it in certain types of ways, it becomes how you win. The reality is all we are going to do is win,” he told Amazon Prime.
Philadelphia ran for a total of 259 yards and center Jason Kelce said they had ground down the Vikings with their running game.
“We’re really happy to be able to assert our will and over the course of the game you felt it just pile up,” he said.
“We know we have got things that we have got to clean up. We had a lot of opportunities on offense and we need to put up more points. The game should not have been that close,” he said.
Despite the loss Cousins can take some comfort from his own display, throwing four touchdowns and 364 yards with no interceptions.
