On Sunday, December 15, a big match-up was in store for NFL fans with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers playing each other in Lincoln Financial Field. Coming into this game people were calling it the “state championship” with both teams coming out of Pennsylvania. Stakes were high for these bragging rights as well as both teams being near the top of their division with the Steelers being 10-3 and the Eagles being 11-2 coming into the game.
After kickoff the Eagles were already looking more dominant, starting off their first drive with a field goal and forcing multiple punts for the Steelers in the first quarter. Things swayed for the Steelers when they forced a Jalen Hurts fumble. Things didn’t go anywhere for the Steelers after getting the ball on Philly’s 45 yard line.
During the punt return, Eagle’s returner Cooper DeJean fumbled the ball giving Pittsburgh the ball on the 11 yard line. They were held to a field goal after multiple penalties making the score 3-3. The Eagles would go on a great drive that would end in an A.J. Brown touchdown to end the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Steelers’ struggles would continue as well as the Eagles’ success with them scoring another touchdown. Then the Steelers would go on a good drive after Darius Slay suffered a minor injury taking him out of the game for a while, and it would end in their only touchdown to Pat Freiermuth. After this the Steelers would get the ball back after a bad punt to have them within field goal range and Chris Boswell would make a 49 yard field goal to make the game 17-13 going into halftime.
The Eagles would go on to make a 41 yard field goal and when the Steelers got the ball back a miscommunication caused a Najee Harris fumble at Philadelphia’s 34 yard line. They would end the third quarter with the ball and would score a touchdown within the first minute of the fourth quarter to extend the lead to two touchdowns. The Eagles would force a Steelers punt and they would run down the clock to end the game 27-13 with the Eagles winning.
Key contributors in the game were Jalen Hurts with 290 yards and 2 passing touchdowns, A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith both ended with over 100 yards and a touchdown, and Nakobe Dean with 10 tackles. The Pittsburgh Steelers struggled on offense and defense with their key stats being the 2 fumbles they would cause as well as T.J. Watt with 5 tackles and 2 sacks.
