The feeling gnawed at him the previous two weeks, that lousy taste of losing a football game – no, two of them – and for someone as competitive and as successful as Jalen Hurts, it becomes the driving force.

And with Hurts, the sixth-year Eagles quarterback, who is already a superhuman competitor, piling on two consecutive losses put him on a certain kind of edge. The time ticked slowly on the way to Sunday's kickoff in Minnesota, so when it arrived, he was zeroed in. Beyond zeroed in.

Locked in to the ultimate degree.

Hurts then went out on Sunday and had, literally, a perfect game: He completed 19 of 23 passes for 326 yards and three touchdowns. He averaged a whopping 12.2 yards per pass attempt. He was cool and efficient and explosive, and when the Vikings' vaunted blitz came, Hurts adjusted and hit right back.

In the very critical 28-22 Eagles victory, Hurts became the third Eagles' quarterback in team history to compile a perfect 158.3 passer rating. All he cared about, though, was getting the victory that raised the Eagles' record to 5-2.

"That's all I can think about throughout these last two weeks, having opportunities to finish the game, to finish the fourth quarter, I really think this is the first time finishing the fourth quarter and finishing the second half," Hurt said. "Those things come up, and that's important in this game. [I] think definitely there was some fire there, but within that fire, you have to be the calm, focus on executing your job. And that's all I was reiterating to the guys out there, bigger than just myself and the way it looks.

"It was a team effort, defensively and then offensively, with the guys that stepped up showed up in those moments."

This whole team remains a work in progress, as is the signature of a wild and wacky 2025 NFL season. Every team is having the same conversation: How can we get better in every area of our game? For the Eagles, the goal has to been more consistently productive with the offense, to be more efficient from drive to drive. Philadelphia scored a touchdown in each of the four quarters in Sunday's victory and Hurts was a major factor on a day when, once again, the opposing defense focused its efforts on Saquon Barkley, and the running game and the passing game needed to do some heavy lifting.

Hurts and Co. – and this was a team effort, everyone agrees, from the offensive line, the play-calling, the improvisation, the pass catchers, everybody – got it done.

And that's all that matters.

"Every team is different. It's just a matter of execution," Hurts said. "Definitely have to leverage ourselves in the run game and take advantage of some of those things and execute to the best of our abilities. Saquon is the best, and I don't want him to feel like he's carrying that by himself. It is a group effort. Everyone is involved in that, everyone has to look and say, 'Well, how can we help get something going the way it needs to go?' And offensively as a unit, as a team, it doesn't matter how it looks.

"It's about finding ways to win games."

Next up, the New York Giants and a defense that held Hurts and the offense off the scoreboard in the second half just two weeks ago. New York has a heavy pass rush, great talent along its front seven, and an aggressive back end that played it right against the Eagles in a 34-17 New York victory.

We all remember it well. No doubt there is a burning inside of Hurts from that game, that lesson learned, as he studies through the game tape once, twice, 10 times more this week. It wasn't pleasant for him at MetLife Stadium, and you can bet it's not a good feeling seeing it in super slo-mo this time around.

"We just have to have that level of consistency to be able to be what we desire to be," Hurts said. "But it's not about just one person having supreme focus. It's about everybody having that same level of focus, about that execution."