NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons approached Jalen Hurts for a postgame dap-up following Philadelphia's 24-20 come-from-behind win Sunday and the Eagles' quarterback was ready for him.
"You started that s---," Hurts said with a smile, taking a break from his postgame interview to address Simmons. "I had to finish it."
The two exchanged words after that, but Hurts made it clear that he had heard Simmons' comments to reporters earlier in the week, when Simmons told reporters: "We just need to make Jalen Hurts be a QB. Stop his runs, make sure Hurts doesn't get out of the pocket and make plays."
Hurts got the last word, engineering a nine-play, 65-yard drive in the closing minutes and hitting receiver Darius Cooper for a 3-yard touchdown pass with nine seconds left to lift the Eagles to a 2-0 record.
"I love our guys so of course my natural instinct is, 'Oh, I want to fight,'" coach Nick Sirianni said after the game. "But when you get wrapped into the battle of words or revenge or whatever it is, anger, that s--- lasts about two minutes in a game. It does. At the end of the day, the fundamentals take over, the situational awareness takes over, you playing together as a team, your toughness takes over, because that all fades."
Simmons added further context to his original comments postgame.
"He's a Super Bowl MVP," Simmons said. "That wasn't no shot at Jalen. The thing was if we could keep him in the pocket and eliminate him from scrambling and running, making him go sideways, we could be successful especially getting them to third down.
"We saw Jalen would try to make something happen downfield and take off running. You see it all over his tape. That was my point of making Jalen Hurts stay in the pocket and just be a quarterback. It wasn't, 'Oh he can't be a quarterback in the pocket.'"
Hurts and the offense were not having the best day at the office. Hurts had thrown two interceptions, the operation looked sluggish at times without running back Saquon Barkley (stinger) and tight end Dallas Goedert (knee), and behind a reconfigured offensive line working without left guard Landon Dickerson (knee). Tennessee went ahead by three on a field goal with six minutes left.
"Hey, let's finish. We've got them right where we want them," Hurts said before taking the field, according to Cooper.
Hurts went 5-of-7 on the final drive, including a 19-yarder to DeVonta Smith down the left sideline on third-and-6 with 20 seconds left that put Philadelphia on the doorstep.
"He didn't flinch," Smith said of Hurts.
The next play was supposed to go to Smith as well, but the receiver lost his footing. Hurts' attention turned to Cooper, whose job was to run a pick for Smith on the play. He instead turned into the target and was able to haul in a high pass from Hurts in the back of the end zone. It was Cooper's first NFL touchdown and Hurts' first career go-ahead passing TD in the final minute of regulation or overtime.
Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata said Hurts balled out on the winning drive, adding: "Jalen really got in his bag today and started dialing everything up, hitting everyone. That was a beautiful thing to see, man. ...
"[In critical moments] it's a sense of belief. It's more like a knowing. I know he's going to go down and lead us, I know he's going to make the right reads, I know he's going to make the right throws.
"He's going to do the right things and ball out, and that's what he did."
Hurts completed 26 of 37 passes for 264 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions and ran for 16 yards on five carries. He improved to 59-25 as a starter in the regular season.
"I heard it," Hurts told reporters postgame of Simmons' comments.
Hurts was then asked how he thought he responded.
"I'm happy we won," Hurts said.
ESPN's Turron Davenport contributed to this report.