Philadelphia Eagles

Steelers fall to Eagles, 27-13

Posted on by Tony

PHILADELPHIA – Oftentimes on the road, teams have to survive the wave of emotion provided for the home team by their crowd.

Sometimes it works. Other times, not so much.

The Eagles rode that early wave of emotion and jumped out to a 17-3 lead, only to see the Steelers get back into the game late in the first half.

But a costly fumble in the third quarter led to a Philadelphia touchdown as the Eagles pulled away in the second half en route to an 27-13 victory here at Lincoln Financial Field over the Steelers.

Playing in a city in which they hadn’t won since 1965, a span of 10 games and without injured starters in wide receiver George Pickens, safety DeShon Elliott and defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi, the Steelers needed to play flawless football against the Eagles (12-2), winners of nine consecutive games coming into the contest.

They didn’t manage that, as some key penalties and a mishandled pitch by quarterback Russell Wilson to Najee Harris with the Steelers driving in the third quarter ended a drive in which the Steelers could have scored a game-tying touchdown.

Despite the loss, the Steelers (10-4) remain in first place in the AFC North standings, a game ahead of the Ravens (9-5), whom they faced next Saturday in Baltimore. They also clinched a berth in the AFC playoffs with Miami’s loss at Houston and a loss by Indianapolis at Denver.

The Eagles came out humming, as Jalen Hurts utilized a no-huddle offense to keep the Steelers from making defensive substitutions, moving right down the field after stopping Pittsburgh on its opening possession.

But Hurts was nearly sacked on third down, escaping the pass rush before being tackled by Alex Highsmith after a one-yard gain. That led to a 34-yard Jake Elliott field goal and a 3-0 lead.

The Steelers defense appeared to set the offense up well on Philadelphia’s next possession, as T.J. Watt forced a Hurts fumble at the end of a run, with Beanie Bishop recovering the loose ball at the Philadelphia 45.

But Russell Wilson was sacked on third down and the Steelers were forced to punt. Mark Robinson, however, forced return man Cooper DeJean to fumble, and Nick Herbig recovered the loose ball at the Eagles’ 11.

On first down, Wilson threw a screen pass to Harris that he took to the Philadelphia 4, but Darnell Washington blocked an Eagles defender through the end zone on the play and a scrum ensued following the play. The Steelers were penalized for unnecessary roughness, moving the ball back to the 19, and they settled for a field goal to tie the game at 3-3.

The field goal was the 37th of the season for Boswell, breaking his own team record.

The Eagles again went no-huddle on their next possession and went 70 yards in just 6 plays, scoring on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Hurts to A.J. Brown to take a 10-3 lead just before the end of the first quarter.

After another three-and-out by the Steelers offense, the Eagles got the ball back at the Pittsburgh 45 following a 23-yard punt return by DeJean.

That set up a 2-yard touchdown pass from Hurts to DeVonta Smith on third-and-goal that put the Eagles ahead 17-3 with just over nine minutes left in the first half.

At that point, the Steelers had yet to record a first down in the game and were 0-5 on third downs.

But Wilson and the offense finally got rolling on their next possession, as Wilson completed a 17-yard pass to Ben Skowronek on first down and the Steelers drove the length of the field in 11 plays to score on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Wilson to tight end Pat Freiermuth.

Trailing 17-10, the defense got the stop the Steelers needed to get the ball back at the end of the first half, as Watt had a pair of sacks, pushing him over 10 for the team-record sixth time in his career, to force another Philadelphia punt.

After a short punt, the Steelers got into position for a 49-yard Boswell field goal that cut Philadelphia’s lead to 17-13 at the half.

The Eagles got the ball to open the second half and moved into field goal range, getting a 41-yard Elliott field goal to increase their lead to 20-13 midway through the third quarter.

The Steelers hit a flea-flicker for a 31-yard gain on their first play of the ensuing possession and had moved inside the Philadelphia 30 when Najee Harris couldn’t handle a pitch from Wilson, muffing it. Cornerback Darius Slay recovered the loose ball, giving the Eagles the ball back at their own 26.

The Eagles turned that into a two-touchdown lead, as Hurts led Philadelphia to the 1 at the end of the third quarter and then scored on his second attempt from there on a QB sneak to push the lead to 27-13 with 14:17 remaining in the game.

Watt had seven tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble in the game before leaving late with a sprained ankle.

The Steelers held Saquon Barkley, the league’s leading rusher who was on pace to break the single-season rushing record, to 65 yards on 19 carries, a 3.4 yards per carry average well below his 6.1 yards per attempt average coming into the game. But Hurts completed 25 of 32 passes for 290 yards.

Brown caught 8 passes for 110 yards, while Smith had 10 catches for 109 yards.

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