The NFL legend of DeVonta Smith, if there is to be one at all, will develop one meaningful play at a time. That much, the rookie wide receiver provided Sunday in a 21-18 triumph Sunday over the Carolina Panthers.
Capping a day when he caught seven passes for 77 yards, it was Smith who hustled into the end zone and caught a two-point conversion pass from Jalen Hurts to provide the peace of a three-point lead with 2:42 to play.
Five games into his NFL career, it would stand as a subtle but meaningful highlight.
“I always think about it like an offense,” Nick Sirianni said. “When you’re down three as an offense, it feels different than when you are down one. In that case, it’s, ‘Hey, let’s go down and get a field goal and win this game.’ It just feels different.
“So that’s a huge play, not just because you went up three, but for what it feels like for the other offense. In that scenario, it was really, really good.”
Smith, the sitting Heisman Trophy winner, was expected to be really good as a rookie. Sunday, he made a difference while increasing his team-leading lead in receiving yards to 314, not including a would-have-been two-yard touchdown catch that was nullified by a pass interference flag on Greg Ward.
Smith, though, did learn a rookie lesson while down by nine points but in Carolina territory with 11:16 left in the third, catching a Hurts pass but fumbling when Donte Jackson literally punched the ball loose.
“After the fumble, I was mad,” Smith said. “But I just knew I had to let it go. The game is still going. You can’t sit there and think about it the whole time. So, I knew I had to correct it, to take the ball and take it in faster.
“They got control of it. But we had to move on.”
Such was the attitude of the Eagles on a day when they did not permit their mistakes to define the game.
“Every time we were in the huddle, we just said, ‘Let’s execute, stay disciplined and do your job,’” Smith said. “That’s what we did.”
For that, the Eagles were presented with the game-winning opportunity when T.J. Edwards blocked a punt to provide possession at the Carolina 27 with 3:53 to play.
“It was great field position for us,” Smith said. “And we just said, we have to capitalize on it. Everybody was lifting everybody up because we knew were still in the game. Our offense had some small things to improve, but our defense had kept us in the game.”
Capped by Hurts’ six-yard run, the winning drive took four plays. Then, Smith found an open spot in the back of the end zone for his two-point contribution to the Eagles’ second victory.
“We have everything we need,” Hurts said. “We have to continue to grow. The process doesn’t change for us. We just have to get one percent better every day.”
DeVonta Smith has helped make the Eagles a percentage-point or two better than the 4-11-1 team that cost Doug Pederson a job last season, using his speed and hands to provide Hurts with a reliable option.
“I mean, everybody is happy now,” Smith said. “Let’s keep it going.”
That will be a difficult assignment considering the Eagles will have a short week to prepare for the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who will visit Thursday night.
“We will keep working,” Hurts said. “But we know we are far from a finished product.”
With a little help from a rookie pass-catcher, they are, though, two points closer.
