Vikings vs Eagles: Thursday Night NFL Football Highlights

The Philadelphia Eagles could not escape the first booing of the 2023 season from the home crowd, not even on a night when the home team won the game. They won’t be the last, either. But since Jalen Hurts and company restored Philadelphia to its former glory, there has been little cause for unrest in the City of Brotherly Love.

The Eagles defeated the Minnesota Vikings, 34-28, on the year’s first “Thursday Night Football” game. However, the offense occasionally appeared slow, repeating its 25-20 victory over the New England Patriots the previous week.

Vikings vs Eagles Highlights

On Thursday night, the Eagles hung on to upset the Vikings 34-28. For the Eagles, D’Andre Swift carried the ball 28 times for 175 yards and a score.

Kirk Cousins led the Vikings with 364 yards and four touchdowns, but Minnesota could not recover from a 27-7 hole thanks to four turnovers that contributed to the loss. Check the NFL Week 1 Score.

Thursday Night NFL Football

Despite this, the Vikings’ starting centers, Garrett Bradbury (lower back) and Christian Darrisaw (ankle), were unavailable due to the short week, leaving them without a response against the Eagles’ defensive front.

D’Andre Swift, a Philadelphia native, led the offense on the ground in his home debut with 28 runs for a career-high 175 yards. Swift only ran the ball once for 3 yards last week.

In the second quarter, an offensive line-led drive that lasted 7 minutes 55 seconds featured 13 run plays compared to only three throws. Jalen Hurts, the quarterback, used the famous “Philly Push” play to score two running touchdowns. On his way to four catches for 143 yards, including a 63-yard touchdown catch, receiver DeVonta Smith wriggled loose and showed off his catch-making skills.

Hurts completed 18 of 23 passes for 193 passing yards and one interception. He ran for 35 yards on 12 attempts as well.

Four turnovers by the Vikings show they didn’t make it easy on themselves, either. Brandon Powell, who returns punts, fumbled on his first return of the game in the first quarter, giving away what would have been an excellent field position.

Justin Jefferson, a wide receiver, had yet another spectacular stat line (11 receptions, 159 yards). Still, he also made the game’s worst mistake when he fumbled while attempting to stretch the ball over the goal line after a tremendous completion.

After a replay check, it was decided that the ball had crossed the line, activating the touchback rule and radically altering the game’s dynamic before halftime. 34 seconds before halftime, kicker Jake Elliott made a 61-yard field goal to bring the score to 13-7, tying a career-best.  

Kirk Cousins, the quarterback, and running back Alexander Mattison both fumbled, with the latter happening during a Josh Sweat strip sack that gave the Eagles excellent field position inside the Vikings’ 10-yard line.

The Eagles led the Vikings by 20 points at one point, but they didn’t thrash them like in Week 2 of the previous campaign, a “Monday Night Football” game. With 7:41 left, Kirk Cousins hit a wide-open K.J. Osborn in the back of the end zone, cutting the deficit to one possession. Before that, Cousins responded to Smith’s huge touchdown with a 62-yard touchdown pass to rookie Jordan Addison.

To advance the NFL football game in the fourth quarter, the Eagles had a 15-play, 44-yard drive that lasted around nine minutes and produced no scores.

Swift cut through the defense on the Eagles’ subsequent drive to put them four yards from the end zone. Swift slammed it in to score his first touchdown for the Eagles, giving Philadelphia a 34-21 lead.

There were 70 seconds left on the clock when Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson (seven receptions, 66 yards) grabbed his second short touchdown of the contest, maintaining the six-point lead.