What an ending!

When Jalen Hurts fumbled on the Eagles’ opening drive of the third quarter, and then Matthew Stafford threw a 10-yard touchdown to Kyren Williams to extend the Rams’ lead to 26-7, I thought the game was over.

As a fan, I tried to hold out “hope.” But with the way the Eagles were playing, a potential comeback seemed impossible.

But everything right happened, including some luck.

Jordan Davis blocked a field-goal attempt by the Rams’ Joshua Karty on the final play of the game and returned it 61 yards to the end zone, the Eagles’ second blocked kick of the fourth quarter, to propel them to a thrilling 33-26 victory over the Rams.

The Eagles scored 26 unanswered points to improve to 3-0 on the season, getting an important NFC win, which could come back to haunt the Rams, in terms of playoff seeding.

Now, as great as the win was, let’s get one thing out of the way — what in the world was that first-half playcalling?

Hurts was 4 for 8 with 17 yards in the first half. He threw EIGHT times!! They kept running the ball, into coverage, by the way. Nothing was working. The offense looked horrible. The Eagles went three-and-out on four straight drives to end the first half.

Luckily for the Eagles, their defense held the Rams to four field goals in the first half. Yes, the Rams got a TD, but this could have been much worse. It’s really hard to blame everything on the defense in the first half. Sure, one stop would have been nice, but they were constantly on the field. 

The second half was an entirely different story, especially offensively. The Eagles looked like the team from last season, making one of the best comebacks in franchise history. This is up there with DeSean Jackson’s punt return in the Miracle at the Meadowlands in 2010 to cap a 20-point comeback.

I don’t know who played the calls in the second half. Maybe Nick Sirianni took over, because I doubt Kevin Patullo magically got better at calling plays in just one halftime, but they finally let Hurts throw, which we all know he can do. He has proven it time and time again. Just let him drop back and throw.

He went 17 for 24 for 209 yards and three TD passes in the second half. As usually when Hurts is on, he took the game over. He was clutch. He showed again how he is a proven winner, and he is now 17-0 in his last 17 starts.

He orchestrated scoring drives of 79, 87 and 91 yards.

Let Hurts do his thing!!

I am not taking anything away from the running game. Saquon Barkley is a monster, but the Rams did a great job of containing him. Yet, in the first half, they kept running. The Rams knew it and were there to swallow up the plays. I am not a professional coach or play caller, but I know you need to mix up pass and run plays to keep the defense guessing.

That happened in the second half. The Eagles did everything right, and let’s hope that continues each week. 

The Rams led 26-21 in the fourth quarter, and the Eagles defense made a huge stop on fourth-and-1. At that moment, I was thrilled they had a chance to take the lead. But the Rams forced a fourth-and-7 at midfield. Well, OK. The Eagle should just punt, right? Well, they decided to go for it, and the pass was incomplete.

That was a heartbreaker, for me.

The Rams were set up perfectly to score again and, with 12 minutes, 18 seconds left, the Rams were set up to make it 29-21 with a successful field goal.

I thought that was the game, barring a miracle.

And a miracle happened.

Carter blocked his 36-yard attempt, resulting in a 17-play, 91-yard TD drive to give the Eagles’ a 27-26 lead.

And that fourth-down TD pass to DeVonta Smith? Definition of clutch, which is why Hurts is easily a top-5 quarterback.

There’s no argument about that.

AJ Brown was finally used, and look how that played out. He made some big catches, including on third-and-10 on the aforementioned drive. 

Brown finished with six catches for 109 yards. Smith finished with 60 yards on eight catches. It’s hard to stop those two, especially Brown. Keep throwing them the ball!

That was the offense we wanted to see! It just took 150 minutes into the season to see it. But the Eagles are 3-0 and the team seemed to find their mojo. Now, let’s hope that continues.

The first half was frustrating, but the adjustments, and the win, made up for it. They were outgained 222-31 through early in the third quarter, but outgained the Rams 257-134 and outscored them 26-0 the rest of the way. Their ability to overcome adversity is massive.

Again, the Eagles have yet to play a full 60 minutes, but they are 3-0. They are finding ways to win, but it cannot be like that each week. 

And speaking of adjustments, the defense did just that. … again. 

In the first game of the season, Cowboys scored 20 first-half points in the first game, and nothing after that. The Chiefs only scored one TD in the second half last week. On Sunday, the Rams got 26 in the first half and only seven in the second. 

Overall, the Eagles have allowed 56 points before halftime this year and 14 in the second half.

Vic Fangio is making great adjustments. Now, the only thing I want to see is them to play the first half like the second.