CINCINNATI — The Eagles and Bengals looked evenly matched heading into their Sunday meeting at Paycor Stadium.
They both came into the afternoon on two-game winning streaks, thanks to victories over the Giants and Browns. They both were expected to be Super Bowl contenders this season, but got off to slow starts. They both needed a win to really thrust themselves back into that conversation.
And then there’s this: Two of the previous four games between the teams had ended in a tie, including the infamous 2008 game when Donovan McNabb thought he’d get a chance to win the game in the second overtime after the Bengals missed a field goal at the end of the first one.
There is, of course, no second overtime during the regular season.
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The Eagles and Bengals also played a tie game the last time the teams met four years ago at Lincoln Financial Field. That one finished 23-23 and both teams had losing seasons. Evenly matched.
This, for the longest time, looked like it might be headed for another tie. It was 10-10 at the half and 17-17 in the middle of the third quarter.
But then the Eagles made a series of plays, two on offense and three on defense, to take control on their way to a 37-17 victory. With their third straight win since the bye week, the Eagles improved to 5-2 and this was the most impressive of them all for a variety of reasons.
It’s safe to say they are a good team.
Down 7-0 and 10-3, they scored 34 of the game’s final 41 points.
Credit Jalen Hurts, who had perhaps his best game of the season. He completed 16 of 20 passes for 236 yards and a touchdown in another turnover-free performance. He also ran for 37 yards and three touchdowns. Credit DeVonta Smith, who came up with the game’s biggest catch a week after having just one reception for minus two yards. He finished with six catches for 85 yards. Credit the defense, which turned all the momentum the Eagles’ way with consecutive stops after a rough early going.
After the Bengals evened the score at 17-17 with 4:16 left in the third quarter on a touchdown run by Sydney Brown’s twin brother Chase, the Eagles needed just 97 seconds to regain the lead.
Hurts got the drive started with a 23-yard connection to A.J. Brown (five catches for 84 yards) and finished it off two plays later with a 45-yard touchdown throw to Smith to make it 24-17.
Then the Eagles’ defense came through with its two biggest plays of the game — stops by the oldest player on the team (Brandon Graham) and the youngest guy on the team (Cooper DeJean). Graham, 36, stopped Zach Moss for no gain on a third-and-one play and on fourth down, DeJean dragged down Bengals star receiver Ja’Marr Chase for a two-yard loss.
That led to a Jake Elliott field goal that put the Eagles up by 10.
The defense struck again on the Bengals’ next offensive series. The team had not forced a turnover since Week 3, but got a huge one early in the fourth quarter. Burrow tried to go deep to Chase on a first-down play, but Isaiah Rodgers, in for an injured Darius Slay, tipped the pass into the hands of C.J. Gardner-Johnson for an interception.
Saquon Barkley (22 carries for 108 yards) took over the next series as the Eagles milked the clock by giving their star running back the ball seven times. He covered 57 yards on a series that ended with Hurts’ third touchdown of the game, giving the Eagles a 34-17 lead.
Another takeaway, this time on a strip by Nakobe Dean, sealed the win for the Eagles.
It was even impossible to get upset at the Eagles for not scoring in the first quarter of this one, although that dubious streak did continue.
This time it was more about a slow start from the defense rather than the offense.
Burrow and the Bengals had five third-down conversions and ate up more than 10 minutes of clock on their opening drive before scoring on a two-yard pass to star receiver Ja’Marr Chase. Burrow completed 11 of 12 passes on the 17-play drive, none bigger than a third-and-8 throw that Chase turned into a first down.
By the time the Eagles took their first offensive snap there was only 4:51 left in the first quarter. Hurts took the Eagles from their own 27 to the Cincinnati 16 before the quarter ended with two negative plays.
Smith’s first catch of the day went for a two-yard loss and then Tyler Steen was flagged for holding to negate a nine-yard gain by Hurts.
The Eagles eventually settled for a 39-yard field goal from Elliott that made it 7-3.
For the record, the Eagles have now gone seven first quarters this season and nine over the last two seasons without scoring a single point.
Cincinnati went on two more long drives in the first half, but they resulted in just three points.
An 11-play, 61-yard drive stalled inside the 10-yard line when Darius Slay broke up a third-down pass intended for Jermaine Burton. The Bengals settled for a field goal. After a six-play, 44-yard drive stalled after two Burrow incompletions and the Eagles got excellent field possession for their final drive of the first half when Evan McPherson pulled a 54-yard field goal attempt wide left.
The Eagles capitalized by going 56 yards for a score on a Hurts’ quarterback push into the end zone. The biggest play of the drive came on a third-and-16 play when Hurts found Brown for a 17-yard gain at the Cincinnati 16.
Hurts picked up 12 yards on a quarterback draw on the next play and eventually scored from the 1-yard line to even the score with 22 seconds left in the first half.
The Eagles got the ball back to start the second half and Hurts immediately led the offense on another touchdown drive by completing all three of his passes for 49 yards, including a 28-yarder to tight end Grant Calcaterra.
Barkley converted on third-and-three with an eight-yard run to the Bengals’ seven and Hurts ran a bootleg on the next play to score his second touchdown of the game.
Burrow and the Bengals answered with a 13-play, 70-yard drive that included two more third-down conversions, but the rest of the day belonged to the Eagles, who, if nothing else, proved they are no longer on even footing with the Bengals.
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Bob Brookover can be reached at rbrookover@njadvancemedia.com
