DeVonta Smith celebrates birthday in spectacular fashion

DeVonta Smith celebrates his birthday with 2 touchdowns and – much more importantly – a gain

Broad receiver DeVonta Smith commenced his “Jordan” year on a large observe. Smith celebrated his 23rd birthday in winning manner, as he recorded four catches for 66 yards and two touchdowns. The rookie didn’t want any items from his teammates. He mentioned acquiring the gain was all he required.

“I wouldn’t say my birthday performed a major element. It was just going out, executing, and accomplishing issues that we do observe,” Smith mentioned.

Smith was there when his quarterback wanted him the most. On the Eagles’ next possession, quarterback Jalen Hurts concluded the nine-perform, 80-garden push with a 36-property landing go to Smith, who jumped up and utilized his prolonged arms to beat former college teammate and fellow very first-round decide on cornerback Patrick Surtain II and bring in the ball to rating to give the Eagles a 10- direct in the first quarter. It marked the longest getting landing by an Eagles rookie due to the fact Mack Hollins’ 64-lawn touchdown in 2017.

“The quarterback just trusts me to give me a probability to make a play. As we often discuss about getting belief in just about every other, he dependable me,” Smith stated of the 1st landing pass from Hurts.

“DeVonta designed a impressive capture on the ball, bought down, managed situation on the ball, and we acquired a touchdown. So it was a massive start and a major spark for us,” Hurts said.

In the second quarter, Smith caught his next landing of the recreation on a 5-yard move from Hurts. Smith grew to become the initial Eagles rookie to have various receiving touchdowns in a single match considering the fact that Jordan Matthews in 2014. Smith states he is just exhibiting what he does in observe.

“I get additional snug every week. It all comes down to planning. I go to practice, I follow tricky,” he stated. “The way I observe and the way the group practices, that’s why we are thriving in game titles. When you follow the way that we exercise, you get the superior end result that you want.”

Head Mentor Nick Sirianni raved about the Eagles’ primary receiver immediately after the match. Sirianni simply set it as, “He’s just a excellent football participant.”

“He’s bought long arms and he’s just a great football player. He just went up and got it,” Sirianni said. “Jalen gave him an prospect to make a play, put it on the correct place, and he just went up and manufactured a play. He ran some seriously excellent routes these days and some less than routes and things like that. He showed it equally methods today. It was a superior match by DeVonta and he performed his tail off.”