CINCINNATI — Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley led Philadelphia to another impressive performance on Sunday.
The Eagles are picking up speed at the right time.
Hurts rushed for three touchdowns and passed for another TD, helping Philadelphia pound the Cincinnati Bengals 37-17 for their third consecutive victory.
“We’re executing at a high level right now,” said DeVonta Smith, who had a terrific 45-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter. “Guys are in the right spots at the right time.”
Hurts was 16-for-20 passing for 236 yards. He also had 10 carries for 37 yards.
Saquon Barkey rushed for 108 yards as Philadelphia (5-2) won for the fourth time in five games overall. The Eagles scored the last 20 points of the afternoon.
“I think today was a great team win, a great showing as a team,” Hurts said. “When you play like that on defense and you’re able to stop an offense capable of playing at a high level and with the star players they have on that team, that’s a great job.”
Hurts’ 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter capped an 85-yard march that ate up 7:37 of the clock, giving Philadelphia a 34-17 lead with 4 1/2 minutes left. That drive followed a Burrow interception.
“The team we just played, they’re a really good football team,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “They’ve won a lot of games, and so I thought that was awesome to be able to do that and go get the points off of that and take the time off the clock.”
Nakobe Dean then recovered a Mike Gesicki fumble, and Jake Elliott kicked a 47-yard field goal to help close it out.
Smith had six catches for 85 yards, and A.J. Brown had five for 84. The Eagles piled up 397 yards on offense.
Cincinnati (3-5) finished with just 58 yards rushing, continuing a season-long problem. Burrow was 26 for 37 for 234 yards and a touchdown.
The Bengals had won two in a row, beating the Giants and Browns — the same teams the Eagles took down in their previous two games. They started the season 1-4 and were trying to get back to .500 against Philadelphia.
The Bengals have hammered on their need to start faster in games. On the first possession, it looked as if it might be their day.
Their opening drive went 70 yards, took more than 10 minutes off the clock and ended with a 2-yard TD pass from Burrow to Ja’Marr Chase. Cincinnati was 5 for 5 on third down on the drive.
But it stalled on its second drive, and Evan McPherson kicked a 27-yard field goal. Cincinnati managed only one more score — a 4-yard run by Chase Brown in the third — the rest of the way.
“Second half wasn’t good enough,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “Didn’t make enough plays. Lost the turnover battle. They scored on every possession in the second half.”
It was the first NFL matchup between 24-year-old twin brothers Chase and Sydney Brown. Sydney is a second-year safety for the Eagles. The twins played for the University of Illinois before they were drafted in 2023.
Chase had 12 carries for 32 yards. Sydney also got into the game for Philadelphia.
Eagles: CB Darius Slay sustained a groin injury in the second half.
Bengals: OT Orlando Brown went out with a right knee injury in the first half. … The Bengals were without WR Tee Higgins, who sustained a quad injury in practice last week.
Eagles: Host the Jacksonville Jaguars next Sunday.
Bengals: Host Las Vegas Raiders next Sunday.
.___
AP NFL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
