NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The intro to Chief Keef’s “Love Sosa” blared through the speakers in the Eagles‘ locker room at Nissan Stadium as Jalen Hurts’ teammates took some creative liberties replacing the rapper’s name with their franchise quarterback’s.

For those unfamiliar, the song begins with an impassioned monologue delivered about anyone bold enough to challenge Chief Keef’s — eh, let’s say credentials — in a colorful way.

I’m tired of motherfuckers in school tellin’ me, always in the barbershop, J. Hurts ain’t ’bout this, J. Hurts ain’t ’bout that.

Shut the … up. … Stop playing him like that.

And so it goes.

In the aftermath of Hurts orchestrating a game-winning drive to allow the Eagles to escape the Tennessee heat with a 24-20 win over the Titans, the song choice and its lyrical tweaks hardly felt coincidental. Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons challenged Hurts to just “play quarterback” against them, and in the game’s decisive moments, Hurts had done exactly that.

The 28-year-old went 6-for-8 on the Eagles’ final drive, overcoming a three-point deficit and game-long inconsistencies from the offense to build momentum on early downs. According to TruMedia, Hurts’ eight completions on third-and-5 or longer against Tennessee were the most of his career and his 127 passing yards in the same situation ranked third out of his 90 career starts.

More simply put, Hurts was once again able to mask the growing pains of a new offensive scheme finding its way on Sunday through a handful of big-time throws in high-leverage moments.

He found Dontayvion Wicks for a 20-yard completion with the Eagles facing third-and-6 near midfield and hit DeVonta Smith, who pulled off two acrobatic catches on the final drive, for a 19 yard completion facing the same down and distance a few plays later.

And with the Eagles facing first-and-goal from the three-yard line, Hurts rolled to his right and found Darius Cooper wide open in the middle of the end zone to secure the decisive lead.

“That motherfucker balled out today,” Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata said. “Jalen really got in his bag today and just started dialing everything up and hitting everyone.”

Like the rest of the offense, it wasn’t a perfect performance by Hurts but a decisive one. He threw two interceptions, the first of which wiped away a red-zone opportunity for the Eagles and presented one for the Titans after safety Amani Hooker undercut a pass to Smith in the end zone and returned the pick to the Eagles’ 10-yard line.

The second pick could have also resulted in a touchdown for Smith, who led the team with 117 yards on 10 catches. Hurts threw a deep shot to Smith running wide open down the sideline, but Simmons hit Hurts as he released the pass and forced an underthrow in range for Titans cornerback Marcus Harris.

The pressure from Simmons and the rest of the Titans’ pass rush was a consistent theme on Sunday. The Eagles spent the week leading into the game determined to shroud their decision to move Cam Jurgens to left guard in place of Landon Dickerson to facilitate Drew Kendall slotting in at center for his first career start, but that mystery hardly benefitted the interior line. Somewhat understandably, Jurgens had significant struggles against Simmons operating at a spot on the line he’s never played in-game before.

Afterward, Mailata said he’d spent just one walkthrough session working with Jurgens at left guard during training camp and that the two had never practiced next to each other before the start of last week.

“You’ve got to build continuity,” Mailata said. “This was the first time all five of us are working together. I’m very confident in this five and confident in us seeing how we can correct and pass off games. … The best thing about offensive line play is if you get continuity. Now we have our starting five moving on and we have film on how we’re getting beat, how we’re not getting beat, and things to work on.”

That unfamiliarity showed up in the run game as well. The Eagles finished the game with 32 rushing attempts for just 89 yards, good for a lackluster 2.8 yards per carry. The woes were specifically glaring on first down (the Eagles rank 31st in first-down success rate through two weeks) and put more on Hurts’ plate as the game wore on.

According to SumerSports’ Shawn Syed, the Eagles had the largest difference between their early-down success rate and late-down success rate of any team since 2022.

But with the adversity in the game’s closing moments, Hurts was at his best.

“He didn’t flinch,” Smith said. “We had some mistakes out there, things that we could have been better at. But at the end of the day he didn’t flinch, when we needed it, he drove us right down there.”

Afterward, Hurts said the final series brought him back to the offseason he spent working with the Eagles new group of pass-catchers. The “in-game chemistry” he’s harped on since the summer was on display; Hurts completed passes to nine different players against the Titans including two well-drawn touchdowns to Smith and Cooper, the latter of which featured a similar look to the one Hurts was picked off on in the first quarter.

“When you talk about those moments, end-of-minute, two-minute drives, game-winning drives, you don’t think about the moment itself,” Hurts said. “You think about what led you to the moment, the foundation. Throwing at [Central Florida.] Spending time in Houston. Talking through tape. Breaking things down. Getting on the same page. Just the chemistry, and trying to build that, the effort to build that chemistry is very important for moments like this.”

Hurts didn’t flinch after the game, either.

Doing a postgame interview with the FOX broadcast team, Hurts was interrupted by Simmons coming over to show the Eagles’ signal caller his respect.

“You started that shit,” Hurts said, smiling. “I had to finish it.”