How did DeVonta Smith get so open? Breaking down Eagles 63-yard TD vs. Vikings

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Quarterback Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles struggled to move the ball in the first half Thursday night against Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ aggressive zero-blitzing system.

The Eagles were trying to pass the ball underneath, but the Vikings off-corners are trained to trigger quickly on short throws. Historically, Hurts has struggled against the blitz, so the best answers the Eagles had against the Vikings were to run the ball and try their best to wad up the pressures and throw deep. The result: They finished with an astounding 71.1 percent success rate running the ball, hit two key deep balls and scored 34 points.

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The defense certainly helped, putting the Eagles in scoring positing with four takeaways, but they also were short-handed and conceded five explosive pass plays (20 yards or over) and 28 points. The Eagles’ offense needed to find its groove against a unique Vikings defense and did.

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On Philadelphia’s longest play of the day, a 63-yard touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith, Hurts checked Smith into a deep route and how the play unfolded caused a coverage bust. In Hurts’ words after the game, “It just kinda happened.”

Oh man, @DeVontaSmith_6 🔥 A dime from @JalenHurts, and the @Eagles extend their lead, 27-7.#MINvsPHI on Prime Video
Also available on #NFLPlus https://t.co/eMkDgB2kEz pic.twitter.com/ncoYYl5tLo

— NFL (@NFL) September 15, 2023

Hurts has provided fantastic, detailed play breakdowns in postgame news conferences before, so I was initially surprised he didn’t here. But after attempting to decipher exactly what the defense was trying to do, I understand where Hurts was coming from.

11:03 remaining in the third quarter, third-and-4

The situation was third-and-4, which means the defense had to have an answer for quick passes. The Vikings came out in what some coaches call a “diamond” front with three interior linemen, two edge linebackers and an inside linebacker. All six front players blitzed and outnumbered the Eagles’ five offensive linemen as running back D’Andre Swift released on a route.

On the back end, the defense appeared to be in Cover 0 (man-to-man with no deep safety). Cornerback Akayleb Evans was covering Smith to the top of the screen and playing with outside leverage. Safety Camryn Bynum was also playing with outside leverage on the other side of the formation against tight end Dallas Goedert. This is unusual in this situation because you don’t want to give a quick slant for the first down. The best explanation is that the weakside safety, Harrison Smith, was supposed to roll down and help on any short in-breaking route by Smith or Goedert.

After the snap, Harrison Smith read Hurts’ eyes and opened up to help on Goedert. DeVonta Smith took an outside release but didn’t run at full speed, presumably to try to beat Evans with tempo. Evans seemed slow to open up and might have wanted to trigger on the running back, knowing the offense only needed 4 yards. Evans also might have been confused about the coverage and thought Harrison Smith would help him deep.

Once DeVonta Smith closed the cushion, he took off while Evans still had his eyes in the backfield. We can’t know for sure if Evans or Harrison Smith was at fault without knowing the defensive call, but based on what everyone else was doing and the fact that Smith is a 12-year veteran, Evans seems most likely to be at fault.

Swift’s release out of the backfield seemed to have drawn Evans’ eyes up, but it also meant the offense had one less blocker than the defense had rushers. Hurts took a hit from an unblocked defender, linebacker Jordan Hicks, but stood strong to deliver the ball to Smith.

That @JalenHurts TD throw is even more impressive when you consider the pass pressure 😱#MINvsPHI on Prime Video
Also available on #NFLPlus https://t.co/eMkDgB1MP1 pic.twitter.com/nrZUnoW9hM

— NFL (@NFL) September 15, 2023

The Eagles’ offense had been out of sync for the first five quarters of the season but found a nice rhythm against the Vikings with a bruising run game — they just called a simple zone read over and over again — and hitting Smith on a couple of long passes. They’ll see another aggressive blitzing defense against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next week, but the Buccaneers are much stouter against the run than the Vikings, so they may have to be even more efficient throwing deep than they were Thursday night.

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(Photo: Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)

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