When DeVonta Smith pulled down a 36-yard touchdown pass against the Green Bay Packers on Monday night, the reception fit the mold of the wide receiver’s usual scores for the Philadelphia Eagles.
The touchdown reception was Smith’s ninth when the Eagles had a lead of seven or fewer points. He also has 11 TD catches with the game tied or Philadelphia trailing that gave the Eagles the lead, and another two that tied the game. That’s 22 immediate difference-makers among 30 regular-season touchdown receptions for Smith.
Like Sunday’s catch, eight of the 22 touchdowns came in the fourth quarter and 12 covered at least 25 yards.
“I feel like people forget that he won the Heisman,” Eagles running back Saquon Barkley told reporters in the locker room after Monday night’s game. “Like, he’s a pretty good (expletive) football player, and I don’t know why that’s like forgotten. You know how hard it is to win the Heisman? But shoutout to Smitty. He comes up big for us every single time.
“And it’s from a Steph Curry video I watched when I was in college with Charles Huff, my running-back coach – ‘Success Is Not an Accident.’ You guys are only there in the beginning of practice. But when we’re in special teams, when we have a break, if you just try to find Smitty, and he’s going to be on the Jugs, catching footballs. So no surprise.”
Against Green Bay, Smith caught a touchdown pass from quarterback Jalen Hurts to give Philadelphia a 10-0 lead with 10:35 remaining in the game on the play after Barkley turned a short toss into a 41-yard gain. The Eagles offense collected 26 percent of its yardage for the game on back-to-back snaps.
“With the offense, the way we were struggling, all we were saying was ‘Somebody got to go out here and make a play,’” Smith said. “And Saquon got the big run before I got the big catch.”
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Smith had four receptions for 69 yards in the Eagles’ 10-7 victory. In addition to his 36-yard touchdown catch, Smith had an 8-yard reception on third-and-5, a 9-yard reception on second-and-20 and a 16-yard reception on third-and-12 that allowed Philadelphia to run off another 2:34 of clock time while clinging to a three-point lead.
“He’s as dynamic as it gets,” Hurts said of Smith. “He showed up and made some big-time plays today, and that’s what he’s been doing all year. And so definitely don’t win this game without him making the plays that he made.”
For his touchdown reception on Monday night, Smith leaped to catch the football over Packers safety Evan Williams.
“I feel like I am one of the best guys getting 50-50 balls,” Smith said. “Quarterback says he’s going to give me a chance, I take pride in it to go make that play for him. …
“I think part of it is just growing up playing basketball and things like that, playing above the rim. I was kind of above-the-rim guy, so I feel like that kind of helped me a little bit.”
Monday night’s victory gave the Eagles an all-time record of 23-239-9 when scoring 10 or fewer points. It was their first win with no more than 10 points since Dec. 16, 2007, in a 10-6 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.
“That’s the main objective,” Smith said. “Come out here and get a win. You know, it was ugly offensively. We struggled, but we came out on top.”
Philadelphia is tied with the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks for the best record in the NFC at 7-2 as it seeks to return to the Super Bowl for the third time in four seasons. The Eagles are currently the No. 1 seed in the conference’s playoff standings.
Philadelphia stays in prime time for its next game. The Eagles will square off against the Detroit Lions at 7:20 p.m. CST Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
After winning the Heisman Trophy in 2020 for Alabama’s undefeated CFP national-championship team, Smith joined the Eagles as the 10th pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. In 72 regular-season games, Smith has 356 receptions for 4,668 yards and 30 touchdowns. He’s the 25th player in the NFL’s AFC/NFC era to reach those numbers that soon in his career.
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