Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts threw for 279 yards and three touchdowns to help his side to victory over the Miami Dolphins, despite also throwing three interceptions – one of which was returned for a touchdown

Jalen Hurts rebounded from a pick-six to hit AJ Brown with the go-ahead touchdown on the next drive and threw for 279 yards and combined for three scores as the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Miami Dolphins 31-17 on Sunday night.

The Super Bowl teams from last season, the champion Kansas City Chiefs and Eagles, are now the only 6-1 teams in the NFL.

Eagles signal-caller Hurts, who played the second half with a brace on his leg and hobbled off the field at full-time, overcame two more interceptions but found Brown 10 times for 137 yards to defeat his former Alabama college teammate Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins (5-2).

“I don’t want to put his business out there, but just know he’s a tough individual” wide receiver Brown said of Hurts’ mystery injury, which the quarterback declined to elaborate on either. “He’s putting us in good positions to win.”

The big play which sealed the win, however, came in the fourth quarter from the cornerback nicknamed ‘Big Play’ Slay. Trailing 24-17 in the fourth, Tagovailoa went deep on a pass intended for Raheem Mostert which was picked by Darius Slay near the goal line and returned 16 yards.

With the Eagles wearing throwback Kelly green jerseys, Slay added one more defensive highlight in a team colour once worn by Reggie White.

The Eagles deployed their quarterback push play for first downs on a clock-eating drive late in the fourth before Hurts hit Brown for a 42-yard reception and Kenneth Gainwell sealed the win with a three-yard touchdown run.

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill caught the ball for a first-half touchdown

As he has been much of the season, Hurts was more erratic than dynamic. Still, the 25-year-old threw a 14-yard TD pass to Brown for a 24-17 lead with 15 seconds left in the third.

Hurts ran into trouble earlier in the third when he faked a hand-off and his short pass was tipped into the hands of linebacker Jerome Baker. Baker returned the interception 22 yards for the score and a 17-all game. Hurts – who threw three interceptions in last week’s loss against the Jets – had only six interceptions a year ago when he was the NFL MVP runner-up.

Dolphins quarterback Tagovailoa was 23 of 32 for 216 yards in his first head-to-head matchup against Hurts in the NFL, with the pair forever linked by their tenures under coach Nick Saban at Alabama.

More specifically, the 2017 season national championship game when Saban benched Hurts, who had led the Crimson Tide to two national title games, at the half and replaced him with Tagovailoa, who came off the bench and threw three touchdown passes to secure the team’s fifth national championship. He was all out of dramatic rallies in this one, though.

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver AJ Brown grabbed a touchdown in the second half to set his side on course for victory

Hurts threw a 19-yard TD pass to Dallas Goedert for a 10-3 lead in the second quarter, but the Eagles had a minor scare when Brown spent time in the medical tent. The wideout sure seemed fine when he dashed out of the tent and onto the field on fourth-and-three and hauled in a 32-yard pass which took the Eagles to the one-yard line.

Next, Hurts lined up under center and the offensive line surged forward, with the quarterback getting big push from behind into the end zone for a 17-3 lead. Yet Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill sped past two defenders and Tagovailoa found him alone in stride for a touchdown with 39 seconds left that pulled them to 17-10.

Dolphins linebacker Jaelan Phillips flapped his arms like an Eagle as he ran off the field into the locker room and had reason to crow – he got past Lane Johnson and sacked Hurts, the first sack allowed by the tackle since 2020. The teams swapped field goals in the first quarter as well.

“If you’re going to lose games, you want it to be against a really good team and you want it to hurt,” Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said.

“You have to feel what it’s like to play such a good team on the road. Your margin for error is so small. It’s an important building block along your progression for the season.”