Hurts Buys Philadelphia Another Narrow Escape in Nashville

Jalen Hurts hit Darius Cooper for a 3-yard touchdown with 9 seconds left, and the Eagles beat the Titans 24-20 in Nashville. Philadelphia is 2-0 after another game it spent most of the afternoon trying to give away.

The throw was Cooper’s first NFL score. It also closed a day of two Hurts interceptions, a shuffled offensive line, 89 rushing yards, and a defense that still has not taken the ball this season.

Darius Cooper Was Open in the Back of the End Zone

Joey Slye’s 33-yard field goal put Tennessee up 20-17 with 1:56 left. The Eagles had no timeouts. Hurts went 6 of 8 for 61 yards on a nine-play, 65-yard drive that ate 1:47 off the clock.

DeVonta Smith beat the sideline for 19 yards to the 3 with 14 seconds left, the catch that made the last snap possible. Hurts then found Cooper, a second-year receiver, sitting alone in the back of the end zone. Cooper finished with 2 catches for 26 yards. The other was a 23-yard gain.

He was not even the first read. Cooper said after the game he had lined up to pick for Smith, then became the second option when Tennessee played the route a different way.

It was literally like everything just stopped. Like, it was just slow motion. I just seen the ball floating. Like I said, I just wanted to make sure I caught it. That’s why I jumped for it.

Darius Cooper, Eagles wide receiver, locker room in Nashville

He tried to spin the ball after he scored. He said the spin was terrible and that he is probably done with that celebration. Jake Elliott’s extra point made it 24-20. Cam Ward got the Titans near midfield, then threw the last ball into the turf as time ran out.

DARIUS COOPER GIVES THE EAGLES THE LEAD

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Two Picks and a Stinger on the First Play

Saquon Barkley was stuffed on the first offensive play, Jeffery Simmons and a pile of linemen landing on him. The Eagles called it a stinger. Barkley went to the tent, then to the locker room, and did not play again until the third quarter. He finished with 4 carries for 9 yards.

Philadelphia still marched. The opening series went 15 plays before Hurts, on third-and-goal from the 8, threw into coverage for Smith. Amani Hooker picked it in the end zone and returned it 92 yards to the Eagles’ 10. Makai Lemon ran him down and saved a defensive touchdown. Ward sneaked in from the 1 with 4:22 left in the first quarter, and Tennessee led 7-0 after a 4-play, 10-yard burst.

The second pick arrived with the score tied at 17 and about six minutes left. Hurts went deep for Smith down the left sideline. Simmons hit his arm. Marcus Harris leaped for the ball at the Titans’ 17. That takeaway set up the 10-play, 69-yard march that ended with Slye’s 33-yard kick and a 20-17 lead.

Hurts’ first interception was a bad decision. The second was a throw that died when he got hit. Tennessee turned the two giveaways into 10 points. Philadelphia turned Tennessee’s zero giveaways into none.

HOW THE POINTS LANDED

1. First quarter, 4:22: Ward 1-yard run (Slye kick). Titans 7-0.
2. Second quarter, 12:49: Tank Bigsby 2-yard run (Elliott kick). Tied 7-7.
3. Second quarter, 1:49: Smith 22-yard pass from Hurts (Elliott kick). Eagles 14-7.
4. Second quarter, 0:00: Slye 37-yard field goal. Eagles 14-10.
5. Third quarter, 8:08: Elliott 58-yard field goal. Eagles 17-10.
6. Third quarter, 0:57: Ward 1-yard run (Slye kick). Tied 17-17.
7. Fourth quarter, 1:56: Slye 33-yard field goal. Titans 20-17.
8. Fourth quarter, 0:09: Cooper 3-yard pass from Hurts (Elliott kick). Eagles 24-20.

The every scoring drive of the afternoon sits on Tennessee’s game sheet, including Elliott’s 58-yard kick that barely cleared and Ward’s second 1-yard score at the end of a 12-play, 69-yard, 7:11 slog.

Cam Jurgens Took Left Guard Against Jeffery Simmons

Landon Dickerson, the starting left guard, went on injured reserve last week after a knee injury that followed a rough opener against Washington. The Eagles did not simply slide the next guard in. They moved Cam Jurgens, their starting center since 2024, to left guard and started Drew Kendall at center.

Jurgens had not played left guard in a game since Nebraska and high school. Kendall, a 2025 fifth-round pick, had been the more natural center. The idea was to put Jurgens on Simmons and keep Kendall in the spot where he started 37 games at Boston College. Jurgens said left-guard sets on Simmons to open the day were a big challenge. He also said he was eager to watch the tape.

THE LINE THEY RAN OUT THERE

• Left guard: Jurgens, playing the position in a game for the first time as a pro, with Simmons across from him.
• Center: Kendall, a second-year lineman who had been preparing at guard, shoved back to his college spot.
• The missing piece: Dickerson, on injured reserve, after the Week 1 tape and the knee made the job a longer absence.
• The tax: Hurts was sacked three times, the run game finished at 89 yards, and Barkley never got going after the first-play hit.

Bigsby, in for Barkley, carried 13 times for 33 yards and the tying 2-yard run. Will Shipley added 7 carries for 24. Hurts ran 5 times for 16. Dallas Goedert hurt a knee in the second quarter, caught 1 pass for 4 yards, and did not return. The passing game had to carry a unit that had spent the offseason building around a different five up front.

Kendall, coaches said, played with confidence and was ready for the moment. Ready did not mean clean. Protection leaked, the ground game stalled, and Simmons still got home for a sack. The last drive still went 65 yards because Hurts, Smith, Dontayvion Wicks (5 catches, 74 yards), and Cooper kept converting.

Cleats Melted on a 157-Degree Field

Nissan Stadium kicked off at noon local time under a heat warning. The air was 95 degrees. The heat index sat at 105. The game broadcast measured the artificial turf at 157 degrees.

Nick Sirianni did not play a snap and still needed an IV. He described the afternoon in one unprintable burst, then thanked his players for lasting in it. Jordan Mailata said the heat sits in the turf and bounces back into the body, and he used the day as another argument for grass fields. Jurgens had to change cleats more than once because they melted. He compared halftime to a pit crew getting him ready for the second half.

HEAT INSIDE THE BOWL

• Turf: 157 degrees on the artificial surface, per the broadcast.
• Air: 95 degrees at kickoff, with a heat index of 105.
• Sideline fix: Water sprayed on cleats so the soles would not keep cooking.
• Coach: Sirianni took an IV after the game and still called the win a fight.

Attendance was listed at 68,567, and the building sounded more green than navy for long stretches. That did not cool the field. It just meant a road team that already had to replace a guard, a running back for a half, and a tight end also had to do it on a surface hot enough to ruin shoes.

They fought and they clawed and they scratched and did anything they had to do to get the win.

Nick Sirianni, Eagles head coach, postgame in Nashville

Simmons Told Hurts to Be a Quarterback

Simmons spent the week telling anyone who asked that Tennessee needed to make Hurts be a quarterback: stop the runs, keep him in the pocket, make him throw. Nolan Smith, asked about those remarks before the game, declined to talk down Ward and said he was not in the business of tearing people down.

Hurts heard it. After the win he said so, in those words. When Simmons came over for a handshake, Hurts told him he had to finish what Simmons had started. The finishing was the 65-yard drive, not a speech.

Hurts completed 26 of 37 for 264 yards, 2 touchdowns, and two interceptions. Smith caught 10 for 117 and the 22-yard score that made it 14-7. The pocket work on the last series was on time. The first-quarter ball to Hooker was not. Both are on the same line of the box score.

Sirianni’s read was simpler than the dare. He said habits take over in those minutes, and that you cannot become someone else if you have not practiced being that person. Hurts, he said, is that person every day. The Eagles needed him to be, because the rest of the operation had already spent the afternoon on a tightrope.

A 2-0 Record Built on Six Combined Points

Philadelphia outgained Tennessee 341 yards to 291 and held the ball for 36:25 to 23:35. The Eagles converted 11 of 18 third downs and 23 first downs to 14. They also rushed for 89 yards while the Titans ran for 122, with Tony Pollard’s 14 carries for 64 and Tyjae Spears’ 7 for 41 doing the damage Ward’s arm did not.

Ward went 13 of 20 for 183 yards, no touchdowns, and no interceptions. Both of his scores were 1-yard runs. Elic Ayomanor caught 2 balls for 69 yards, including a 41-yard hurdle over Marcus Epps that helped set up the late field goal. Tennessee did enough to win a home game against a Super Bowl roster. It left 0-2 anyway, the same hole it opened last season and the year before.

NASHVILLE BY THE BOX

The Week 1 win over Washington was 24-22. This one was 24-20. That is a combined margin of 6 points, two one-score games, and still no defensive takeaway. Season figures show no takeaway in two games, with opponents yet to throw an interception to this defense and yet to lose a fumble to it.

They fly next for a Monday night trip to Chicago on September 28 at 8:15 p.m. ET. Soldier Field will not be 157 degrees. The left-guard job, the run game, and a defense that has not taken the ball will be on the plane with them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Darius Cooper?

Cooper is a 5-foot-11, 210-pound wide receiver from St. Louis who played at Tarleton State, went undrafted in 2025, and made Philadelphia’s roster as a special-teams piece. He finished that first season with 9 catches for 92 yards, had no catches and 4 special-teams tackles in the Week 1 win over Washington, and wore No. 80 when he scored the first touchdown of his career on Sunday.

What was the air temperature at Nissan Stadium?

Kickoff air temperature was 95 degrees with a heat index of 105, under a heat warning that ran through the afternoon in middle Tennessee, while the turf reading of 157 degrees was a surface number from the broadcast, not the air.

Why did Cam Jurgens play left guard?

Dickerson’s knee sent him to injured reserve after Week 1, and the club chose to keep Kendall at center, where he started 37 games at Boston College, while sliding Jurgens, who had started at right guard in 2023, over to face Simmons rather than asking a second-year lineman to block him on an island.

Did Saquon Barkley finish the game?

He returned to start the third quarter after the stinger evaluation, wearing extra neck protection, and handled those 4 carries for 9 yards, so he was on the field for the second half even if the run game never resembled the 15-carry, 83-yard opener against Washington.