We’ll start this week’s Roob’s Eagles Stats with Jalen Hurts because the guy is a human stat machine.
He does things nobody else does. He does things nobody else even thinks of doing. He’s a unique player doing some unique things on the field.
Even with a 1-3 record as a rookie and 2-5 to open his second season, Hurts is now 31-12 in his career, and only seven quarterbacks in NFL history had more wins in their first 43 starts (Daryle Lamonica, Kurt Warner, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Dan Marino, Ken Stabler and Ben Roethlisberger).
That wasn’t even one of my 10 stats. It was a sample stat to whet your appetite!
1. Jalen Hurts has recorded three straight games with at least a 73 percent completion percentage, two or more TD passes and 200
yards. He’s only the eighth quarterback in NFL history to do that. The others are Peyton Manning (five times), Drew Brees and Matt Ryan (twice each) and Tom Brady, Carson Palmer, Aaron Rodgers and Kurt Warner (once each). Hurts is the only Eagles quarterback ever with three straight games at 73 percent or higher. Hurts’ 75 percent accuracy the last three weeks is 2nd-highest ever by an Eagles QB in a three-game span. Nick Foles finished 2018 at 77 percent vs. the Rams, Texans and Washington.
2. Hurts’ rushing touchdown against the Cowboys was the 33rd of his career, breaking a tie with Randall Cunningham for most rushing TDs by an Eagles quarterback. Cunningham had 32 in 122 games. Hurts has 33 in 54 games. Overall, Hurts is now 5th in franchise history with his 32 rushing TDs, trailing only Steve Van Buren (69), Wilbert Montgomery (45), LeSean McCoy (44) and Brian
Westbrook (37). Hurts is tied for 15th among all quarterbacks in NFL history with John Elway. But he’s only three TDs outside the top 10 and just seven out of the top five. Hurts’ 33 rushing TDs are most ever by a quarterback in his first 43 starts. Cam Newton had 27. Hurts has six games this year with at least one TD both rushing and passing. With eight games to play, that’s already tied for 9th-most in history and just three shy of the record of nine set in 2020 by Kyler Murray.
3. Even though his NFL-record streak of six consecutive games with 125 or more yards ended, A.J. Brown still set a franchise record with 897 yards over the last seven games. The previous record for most yards in a seven-game stretch was Brown’s 860 yards during his previous seven games. Before this recent stretch, the most yards by an Eagle over seven games was Harold Jackson’s 799 yards
over the end of 1971 and the beginning of 1972. The most in one season was T.O.’s 763 the first seven weeks of 2005 (the only games he played in 2005). Brown did extend his streak of games with at least six receptions to seven. The previous Eagles record was five, shared by Irving Fryar in 1996 and Jordan Matthews over the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Brown is also the first Eagle to go over 1,000 yards – he’s at 1,005 – in just nine games. Mike Quick in 1983 and Pete Retzlaff in 1965 reached 1,000 yards in 11 games.
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4. The Eagles are only the second team in NFL history to go 8-1 or better despite recording four or fewer interceptions in their first nine games. The 2016 Cowboys also did it. The Eagles are only the third team ever to go 8-1 despite allowing 19 or more passing TDs in their first nine games. The 1986 Jets allowed 20 and 2018 Saints allowed 19, and both were 8-1. The Eagles’ 99.4 opposing passer rating is tied for 2nd-highest ever by an 8-1 team. The Saints were 8-1 despite allowing a 108.8 passer rating. The 2016 Cowboys were also at 99.4.
5. The Eagles have allowed 538 rushing yards through nine games, or 66.3 yards per game. That’s the fewest they’ve allowed through nine games in 79 years, since the 1944 team allowed 59.8. It’s also the 11th-fewest rushing yards allowed in NFL history through nine games and fewest since the Steelers were at 63.2 in 2010. The last NFC team to allow fewer was the 1995 49ers (58.8).
6. With Sam Howell recording a 114.0 passer rating against the Eagles and Dak Prescott recording a 115.2 on Sunday, the Eagles became the 10th team in history to win back-to-back games despite allowing a quarterback to have a passer rating of 110 or higher in both games. Including Kirk Cousins’ 125.6 rating in Week 2, the Eagles are 3-0 this year when allowing a passer rating of 110 or higher. Before these three games, the Eagles were 17-147-3 in franchise history when allowing a rating of at least 110. The Eagles are 3-0 this year when opposing QBs have a 110 passer rating, and they’re the 11th team to win three games in a season while allowing a 110 passer rating. The rest of the league combined is 5-44. No team has ever won three such games in a season without a loss.
7. The Eagles have rushed for 2.9, 2.7 and 3.3 yards per carry in their last three games – all wins. This is the first time since 2005 – and only the second time since 1994 – that the Eagles have been at 3.3 or worse in three straight games. Their 3.1 average over the last four weeks is their lowest in a four-game span since 2005 and their second-worst four-game span since 1998.
8. Haason Reddick has 7 ½ sacks and needs 2 ½ to reach double figures for the fourth straight year. The only other player with 10 sacks in 2020, 2021 and 2022 is Myles Garrett, who has 9 ½ sacks this year. The last Eagle with double-digit sacks in consecutive seasons is Trent Cole who had 12 ½ in 2009, 10 in 2010 and 11 in 2011. If Reddick records 4 ½ sacks over the last eight weeks, he’ll be the first Eagle with 12 or more sacks in back-to-back years since William Fuller had 13 in both 1995 and 1996.
9. The Eagles have converted 63 of 126 third-down opportunities for exactly 50 percent. That’s the highest in franchise history through nine games. The previous high was 49.3 percent through eight games in 1994. The Eagles’ 13 4th-down conversions are 2nd-most in
NFL history through eight games, one fewer than the Bengals had in 2020. The Eagles’ 76.5 percent success on 4th down on 13-for-17 is highest in the league. The Bucs are 2nd-highest at 75.0 percent. The only teams in NFL history to convert 50 percent on third down and 70 percent on fourth down in the same season are the 1998 Vikings with Randall Cunningham and the 2001 Rams with Kurt Warner.
10. Nick Sirianni now has a 31-12 career won-loss record, good for a .721 winning percentage. That’s 4th-highest in NFL history among coaches who’ve coached more than two years, behind Guy Chamberlin (.784 in the 1920s), John Madden (.759 in the 1970s) and Vince Lombardi (.738 in the 1960s). Sirianni’s 31 wins are already 13th-most in NFL history by a head coach in his first three seasons. With eight games to go. The Eagles would need to win out for Sirianni to tie Matt LaFleur for the most wins by a coach in his first three
years – LaFleur was 39-10 from 2019 through 2021 with the Packers. But the only other coaches to win as many as 36 games in their first three years are Paul Brown with the Browns from 1946 through 1948 (38-3), George Seifert of the 49ers from 1989 through 1991 (38-10) and Jim Harbaugh with the 49ers from 2011 through 2013 (36-11-1). So even a pedestrian 5-3 the rest of the way means Sirianni would be tied for the 4th-most wins ever by a coach in his first three years.
10A. The Eagles have scored in the first quarter of all nine games so far this year, the first time in franchise history they’ve done that. They scored in the first quarter of eight of their first nine games seven times (1944, 1949, 1953, 1990, 2004, 2014, 2021).
