Things did not go well in the first half for the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football as they trail the Philadelphia Eagles 24-7 in a half dominated by Jalen Hurts and the Eagles.
The Vikings struggled to move the football and there were too many missed opportunities, including the dropped touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to Irv Smith Jr. on the outside.
Throughout the half, there were three major takeaways from the first half, including a struggling defense.
The secondary needs to communicate and not blow coverages
The Vikings defense has been struggling in the secondary tonight and a lot of it is due to blown coverages. On the deep touchdown pass to Quez Watkins, we saw the perfect example of it. The go route from the slot combined with the out route from the tight end is meant to put the corner and safety in conflict. The achieved that against the Vikings playing quarters coverage. When the tight end cuts out, the corner Cam Dantzler needs to pass off the receiver to the safety and Cam Bynum needs to run with him. They both go for the tight end leading to an easy touchdown. They need to communicate and fix it moving forward.
This was Jalen Hurts' coming out party
The Eagles went into this season with a question at quarterback. Is Hurts the guy and can he continue to grow or will they need to try and find one during the 2023 offseason? This game has shown a lot and has really been a coming out party for Hurts.
Each year since his freshman season at Alabama, Hurts has shown real development and become a better passerby adding to his repertoire. In the first half, he showed that and then some. Hurts was making great, confident decisions and was throwing both over the middle and with anticipation, both of which he wasn’t able to do last season. The Eagles invested heavily this offseason into seeing if Hurts was the guy and their investment is currently paying dividends.
Special teams has been excellent
The Vikings struggled in the first half across the board but the special teams units were not an issue. The kickoff unit did a great job harnessing the Eagles return units and prevented them from starting beyond the 20-yard line. The punt team did a great job pinning the Eagles inside of the 10-yard line as well. Even though the special teams units have been playing well, the offense and defense need to match what they are doing.