September 20, 2026
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect/USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
Tennessee Titans coach Robert Saleh didn't have Jalen Hurts' number this time.
Sixty five yards stood between the Eagles and another insufferable loss in Nashville, the kind of loss for the Eagles that validates every skeptic's biggest fear, the kind that can cause panic and finger-pointing from outside and from within.
Then out onto the scorching hot Nissan Stadium field came Jalen Hurts, without one of his favorite targets, as injured tight end Dallas Goedert watched from the sideline, and with a banged-up Saquon Barkley trying to gut through a shoulder stinger, and with his reconfigured offensive line just trying to hold it together for one final possession.
With the game spiraling the wrong way for the Eagles, Hurts never flinched. He never never looked as if his signature composure and poise would suddenly evaporate into the suffocating humidity engulfing the Music City.
He had thrown an interception on his prior pass, thanks to getting clobbered by Titans star Jeffery Simmons during his throwing motion that left his pass for wide open DeVonta Smith underthrown, but nobody would have known as he and Smith carried the offense down the field – four yards here, nine yard there, then six more as the Eagles ventured into Titans territory.
Then came a gorgeous 19-yarder on 3rd-and-6, again to the Slim Reaper, with under 20 seconds to play and within earshot of the Titans end zone, setting up his 3-yard touchdown pass to Darius Cooper on the Eagles' final play of the game.
Final score: Eagles 24, Titans 20.
Hurts had done it again.
His 14th career game-winning drive, in a stadium where the Eagles had never won and wouldn't have another chance to.
"That's who he is," head coach Nick Sirianni said of his Super Bowl champion. "That doesn’t surprise me. He's that on a daily basis. He's constantly in the moment. It’s a great example of your habits take over in these moments. You can’t expect to be somebody different if you haven't practiced that the entire team, and that’s who Jalen is."
The Titans dared Hurts to be a quarterback, and that's exactly what he was, surgical and precise to turn their own words against them.
Did Hurts hear Simmons brazenly say during the week that all the Titans need to do was "make Jalen Hurts be a QB?"
"I heard it," Hurts said after, taking his typical high road. "Happy we won."
The Eagles' offense might still look erratic at times, might still endure lulls and pitfalls that suddenly surface, and still has much to figure out and improve over the next few weeks with an upgrade in opponent ahead for each of the next three weeks, starting with the reigning NFC North champion Bears next Monday night in Chicago.
But with Hurts getting more comfortable within Sean Mannion's scheme, the Eagles showed they can overcome growing pains, and Hurts again showed he can be a weapon even when working from inside the pocket.
"Oh, he didn't flinch," Smith said after. "We needed it. Drove us right down there."
Robert Saleh had already beaten Hurts as head coach of the Jets in 2023. Once again, he schemed up a plan intended to limit Hurts' backbreaking scrambles – Hurts only ran for 16 yards – and probably felt good about that plant when the Titans went up 20-17 with 1:56 to play.
But Saleh had no answers for Hurts when it mattered most, as Hurts carved up his secondary on the final drive, with Smith toe-tapping his way to first downs, with Tay Wicks finding a Hurts pass for 20 more, and then with Cooper catching the first touchdown of his career in the back of the end zone, a meaningful first for the second-year pro and for Hurts against the coach on the opposite sideline.
"Finally good to get him," Hurts said. "He has posed some great challenges, obviously. I kinda checked that off. It was great execution, great mentality, great focus and a great togetherness – and being able to persevere."
Hurts acknowledged that missing Goedert, Barkley not at 100 percent, and the offensive line figuring out new starters at two spots made things "a challenge as a unit for us collectively."
"And I'm happy with how we weathered through that," he added, surely no pun intended about the near 100-degree temps.
"More importantly, just this theme of building in-game chemistry," he later added. "It all goes back to that, setting in our experiences together, every player, every coach. Got a new o-line coming out there week 2. That's not what we intended on it being all offseason and all spring."
Hurts reflected on the offseason workouts in Florida and Houston, the extra group film study, and learning the new offense while also incorporating new pieces like Tay Wicks, Hollywood Brown and Makai Lemon.
Those are the moments, he said, that built the foundation for those final 107 seconds.
"End of game, two minute drive, and game wining drives. You don't think about the moment itself, you think about what led you to that moment," he said. "Just the chemistry in trying to build – and effort to build – that chemistry is very important in moments like this.
"So great job by Coop, great job by Smitty battling, and just way to find a way to win."
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