Eagles lay down the smack talk and silence tush-push doubters on way to undefeated start

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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jalen Hurts caught some smack talk from Kansas City’s Chris Jones in the waning seconds of another Eagles’ win — and second straight over the Chiefs, counting the Super Bowl — and essentially summed up his response in one word.

Scoreboard.

Hurts, running back Saquon Barkley and the rest of the offense helped Philadelphia move to 2-0 with another win where big plays and big stats have vanished from the game.

Jones, the star defensive lineman perhaps frustrated by Kansas City's 0-2 start, was caught popping off at Hurts on the TV broadcast hot mic. Jones shouted at Hurts that the QB “didn’t even have 100 yards," as the Eagles secured a 20-17 victory that was fueled more by their stingy and opportunistic defense.

Hurts barked back that the Super Bowl champion Eagles won the game and told Jones to shut up.

Well, with a few choice words tossed in the response.

Hurts was right. The Eagles won again, even though Hurts has only 253 yards passing and no touchdowns, Barkley has only 148 yards rushing and receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith have a combined 13 receptions through the first two games.

“At times, it hasn't looked pretty altogether, but we've found a way to win,” coach Nick Sirianni said Monday. “By no means are we a finished product.”

The Eagles already knocked off one postseason team from last season. On deck, an NFC postseason rematch Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams that should be played under a sunny sky rather than a snowstorm that hit Lincoln Financial Field in January.

Love it or loathe it, the tush push is (mostly) unstoppable.

Hurts scored a touchdown on a tush push and the Eagles used the play seven times to help hand the Chiefs their first three-game losing streak with quarterback Patrick Mahomes and send them to their first 0-2 start since 2014.

“I think it always comes down to those guys up front and Jalen had a lot of success with that play,” Sirianni said. "We’ll continue to use it to our advantage.”

The NFL tried to ban to the tush push following a proposal from the Green Bay Packers in the offseason but fell two votes short of eliminating it.

“We know that we have to be perfect with it. With how we come off the football, timing it up, all those different things, because again, we know we have to be perfect with it,” Sirianni said.

Hurts held on to the ball, handled pressure and thrived in the tush push.

Yet, he threw for just 101 yards and former 1,000-yard receivers in Brown and Smith seemingly have been nonfactors — especially as the Eagles try to stretch the ball — leading to Philly scrapping out wins instead of the blowouts that dotted last season's schedule.

“We have to be more explosive,” Sirianni said Monday. “The players always have to go out and execute and I trust our players fully. You're always looking to win the explosive play battle. The last two weeks, we haven't won it. But we've protected the football.”

Jalen Carter — Carter did not receive any more game punishment beyond his ejection in the season opener before a defensive snap for spitting on a player. Carter was on the field for the first defensive snap against the Chiefs and made it through the rest of the game without incident. Carter was fined $57,222 for the spitting infraction, the equivalent of his game check for Week 1 because the NFL considered the punishment a one-game suspension with time served.

“To me, I'm a week behind with everybody in the league,” Carter said. “I've got some catching up to do.”

Grant Calcaterra — The Eagles are winning without Brown or Smith or Barkley lighting up the stat sheet. So with tight end Dallas Goedert out with a sprained knee, the Eagles turned to Calcaterra. He had just one catch for six yards.

“The production wasn't as high as maybe when Dallas is in the game,” Sirianni said.

DT Jordan Davis limped off in the second half but returned to the game.

The Eagles are 18-1 over their last 19 games (including playoffs), which marks the most wins over any 19-game stretch in franchise history.

Is this week's game against the Rams where Barkley breaks out? He has just 148 yards rushing through two games, far off his 2,000-yard pace from a year ago. Against the Rams in last season's playoffs, Barkley had touchdown runs of 78 and 62 yards and finished with 205 yards rushing in a 28-22 win at the Linc.

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