The Philadelphia Eagles have reached Week 5 of the NFL’s 2022 season as the league’s only undefeated team. But they had to overcome a 14-point deficit on Sunday to get there.

In Philadelphia’s 29-21 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Eagles went for it on fourth down five times. But that wasn’t a strategy born of desperation after falling behind by two touchdowns.

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Only the Arizona Cardinals and Detroit Lions have attempted to get a first down on fourth down more than Philadelphia this season. The Eagles lead the NFL in fourth-down touchdowns with three in 2022.

“The very first thing of why we go for it on fourth down or why I went for it on fourth down yesterday is I trust our guys,” Philadelphia coach Nick Sirianni said on Monday. “And who do you trust? I trust (quarterback) Jalen (Hurts) to make the right decisions with the football. I trust Jalen if it’s a pass. I trust Jalen that if it’s a run, he creates an extra gap for the defense. And I trust the heck out of our offensive line, and I trust our guys on the perimeter to make a play with the football in their hands. I trust our defense that if we don’t get it, they’re going to get stops, so that’s a big part of it.

“And you heard the first guy I mentioned, right? I trust Jalen. I trust Jalen. I trust Jalen because he’s going to be touching the ball every single time.”

Sirianni and Hurts are working together for their second season. In 2021, Philadelphia had a more conservative attitude and ranked 14th on fourth-down attempts.

“Trust grows as your relationship grows, as your reps with each other grow, and I think that’s like any relationship,” Sirianni said. “Your trust grows based off of past experiences. It’s not just a blind trust. It’s not a blind faith. It’s reps built up. It’s built-up trust. It’s built up over the past year because he just continues to make the plays necessary when they need to be made.”

One of Philadelphia’s fourth-quarter touchdowns came on Sunday, when Hurts blasted into the end zone on a fourth-and-goal from the Jacksonville 3-yard line for the first of the Eagles’ three second-quarter touchdowns.

The former Alabama quarterback also ran for first downs on two other fourth-down snaps against the Jaguars. With 53 rushing attempts, Hurts has 16 more in 2022 than any other quarterback in the NFL, which raises the question: Is Philadelphia putting its meal ticket in harm’s way too often?

“You don’t want Jalen taking big hits at any time,” Sirianni said. “It’s a long season and you want him to be healthy. He does understand how to take care of himself in those scenarios. Now he got popped pretty good on the touchdown run. But again, it goes into trust with Jalen, and I know he knows how to take care of himself. Part of it is taking care of yourself, but the other part of it is he can get wiggly and not take the hits that other guys are going to take.

“Don’t ever want him to get hit, quite honestly, but obviously we were high-fiving and going nuts. We were in a big hole there and Jalen dug us out of it.”

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The Alabama Game of the Week is the Miami Dolphins-New York Jets contest on Sunday. Fourteen players from Alabama high schools and colleges are on the teams’ active rosters.

The complete Week 5 schedule (with all times Central and with point spreads from vegasinsider.com):

Thursday

· Indianapolis Colts at Denver Broncos (-3.5), 7:15 p.m. (Prime Video)

Sunday

· New York Giants vs. Green Bay Packers (-8) in London, 8:30 a.m. (NFL Network)

· Pittsburgh Steelers at Buffalo Bills (-14), noon (WIAT, WKRG, WAKA, WTVY)

· Los Angeles Chargers (-2.5) at Cleveland Browns, noon

· Houston Texans at Jacksonville Jaguars (-7), noon

· Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings (-7), noon

· Detroit Lions at New England Patriots (-3), noon

· Seattle Seahawks at New Orleans Saints (-5.5), noon (WALA)

· Miami Dolphins (-3) at New York Jets, noon

· Atlanta Falcons at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-8.5), noon (WBRC, WZDX, WCOV, WDFX)

· Tennessee Titans (-2.5) at Washington Commanders, noon (WHNT)

· San Francisco 49ers (-6.5) at Carolina Panthers, 3:05 p.m.

· Philadelphia Eagles (-5) at Arizona Cardinals, 3:25 p.m.

· Dallas Cowboys at Los Angeles Rams (-5.5), 3:25 p.m. (WBRC, WZDX, WALA, WCOV, WDFX)

· Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens (-3), 7:20 p.m. (NBC, Universo)

Monday

· Las Vegas Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs (-7), 7:15 p.m. (ESPN, ESPN Deportes)

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.