Eat a Tastykake.

Whistle the first bars of “Gonna Fly Now.”

Ride the unicycle two complete circles.

These are some of the things Jalen Hurts had plenty of time and space to do before throwing an 11-yard touchdown pass to Jahan Dotson a minute and a half into the Eagles’ 22-10 wild-card win over the Packers Sunday. He didn’t do any of those things. Nor did he pull out a chair and read a few pages of it Inner Excellence: Train your mind for extraordinary achievements and the best life possible.

” READ MORE: AJ Brown and the Lessons from the Inner Excellence Subbook Reading: “Clear Mind and Unburdened Heart”

But he could have done it.

To be honest, the game seemed to be over because of that.

That wasn’t it. At least not officially. While the Packers never really looked like a team capable of scoring a touchdown, let alone overcoming a two-ball deficit, they did elicit at least a few nervous glances at the scoreboard and a few boos from the home crowd second half.

Green Bay cut the score to 10-3 at the start of the third quarter and to 16-10 at the start of the fourth quarter. But the Eagles answered both times, for the same reason Hurts saw Dotson streaking across the back of the end zone early in the first quarter. They have an offensive line, a unit that can steal the soul of an opponent.

How does 6.75 seconds feel?

You can let Jordan Mailata know when you find out. Because it certainly didn’t feel like it. The old internal clock ticks completely differently when you’re dealing with a 1.90 meter tall, 110 kilogram defensive lineman. When Hurts fell behind from Green Bay’s 11-yard line on second-and-nine with 13:36 left in the first quarter on Sunday, Mailata had a yardstick to measure the passage of time.

Was Rashan Gary ahead of him?

“You just have to give him as much time as possible,” the Eagles left tackle said. “Lane (Johnson) and I talk about that. Just give the man as much time as possible. It doesn’t matter how long you block. The game is not over until the whistle blows. That’s a way of thinking.”

” READ MORE: Zack Baun and the Eagles defense save the day while Jalen Hurts struggles

Of course, 6.75 seconds looks completely different from the outside. Actually like art. True beauty. A sight strong enough to bring a grown man to tears, assuming the man’s name was Jeff Stoutland. This is what Mailata would have seen if he had eyes on the back of his helmet and undivided attention. Five large men in midnight green jerseys, almost symmetrically spaced, spread out in an almost perfect arc, four men in white, flailing their arms helplessly.

Living in the times we live in, we have an intimate knowledge of geometry. During the entire time he had the ball, no Packers defender came within 2.5 feet of Hurts. In fact, Hurts had so much space and time that it almost seemed to unsettle him. About three seconds after falling back, you can see his own internal alarm clock start to go off. He takes a few steps up, as if he were trying to climb, and then he realizes that the bag is still expanding.

“It was kind of like a scramble exercise in the pocket,” the quarterback later said. “That’s how it turned out.”

He made the best of it. When he first fell back, he saw that no one was opening up. That remained unchanged at the top of his descent and after those two hesitant steps forward. But then Hurts fell back and focused his attention back on the end zone, where Dotson was breaking free along the end line.

“That was a great job by him to stay alive and work in the back of the end zone,” Hurts said.

Hurts probably could have made it well past seven seconds if he wanted to. Then again, on an NFL field, it’s rare that 6.75 isn’t enough. In fact, according to ESPN, it was the second-longest throw of any touchdown pass of Hurts’ career.

“Obviously great protection,” said head coach Nick Srianni. “And that takes a lot of patience for a quarterback when you’re out of rhythm in this particular case, but not pressured to actually stay and go. He did that last year in Tampa with OZ (former Eagles wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus). They were very similar pieces. I remember how cool we thought that was, that there was no pressure, he could just sit there and figure out what was happening – he was just very calm, cool, collected. Obviously the offensive line did a great job keeping the defense going for so long. Then Jahan found his way – he fought through some touches and found his way to open up. It was a complete team effort there. It was really a spectacular play by Jalen and the offensive line, and then Jahan finished it.”

” READ MORE: Jahan Dotson fought through and made his first Eagles touchdown catch

This puts the Eagles in the playoffs. To the divisional round, where they will face the winner of the Rams-Vikings game on Monday night. Possibly much further. These seven seconds should serve as a warning to the rest of the NFC.

Not that Mailata counts.

“It didn’t feel like seven seconds,” Mailata said. “Just keep the guy in front of you as long as you can and try not to get a hold call.”