Tons of rushing stats (of course), tons of Jalen Hurts stats (obviously) and even a couple Zach Ertz stats in this week’s edition of Roob’s Eagles Stats!
THEIR MOST SINCE 1950: The Eagles have rushed for 870 yards the last four games, their most rushing yards in any four-game stretch in 71 years, since they netted 961 in Weeks 3 through 6 in 1950. This is the first time since 1950 they’ve rushed for 175 or more yards in four straight games and the first time since 1978 they’ve rushed for 200 or more in back-to-back games. Their 50 rushing attempts Sunday equals their most in a game in 35 years, since they had 52 in a win over the Bills in 1987. They also had 50 in a win vs. Washington in 1997. They’ve only had more than 50 five times since 1953. The Eagles are only the second team in the last 30 years with four straight games of 39 or more rushing attempts and 16 or fewer completed passes. The Ravens also did that in 2018, Lamar Jackson’s rookie year. Wow!
A COMPLETE REVERSAL: Through the first seven games of the season, the Eagles were averaging 26 minutes, 7 seconds in time of possession, which ranked last in the NFL. Over the last four weeks, they’ve averaged 33:21, which is 3rd-highest in the league.
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THEIR BEST EVER: The Eagles are converting 46.1 percent of their 3rd downs, highest in franchise history. The team record over a full season is 44.7 percent in 2017. They've now converted 45 percent of their third downs in five straight games for the first time in 27 years, since Weeks 4 through 8 of the 1994 season against the 49ers, Washington, Cowboys, Texans and Washington again.
FOUR-HEADED MONSTER: There are 17 teams that don’t have anybody with 200 rushing yards and a 4.8 average. The Eagles have four of them. With Jalen Hurts (618, 5.4), Miles Sanders (394, 5.0), Jordan Howard (274, 5.4) and Boston Scott (221, 4.8), the Eagles have four players with over 200 yards and a 4.8 rushing average. Only four teams in history have ever had four 200-yard rushers with a 4.8 average, most recently the 1961 49ers. The 1941 Bears and 1948 and 1949 49ers also did.
PILING UP THE RUSHING YARDS: The Saints have allowed six rushes of at least 18 yards this year, four of them Sunday - two by Jalen Hurts, one by Jordan Howard and one by Miles Sanders. Four players have rushed for at least 60 yards against the Saints this year – Hurts, Sanders and Howard, as well as Christian McCaffrey. The Saints have allowed 898 yards this year and 27 percent of them came Sunday.
TOUCHDOWN MAKER: With his fumble return TDs against the Lions and Broncos and a pick-6 Sunday, Darius Slay is the first player in Eagles history with three defensive return TDs in a four-game span and the first Eagles defensive player with three return TDs in a season since Eric Allen in 1993. The only Eagles defensive players with more career return TDs are Allen (5), Sheldon Brown (5), Seth Joyner (5), Malcolm Jenkins (4) and Jerry Norton (4).
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WHERE ARE THE SACKS? The Eagles are on pace for just 27 sacks, which even in a 17-game season would be their fewest since sacks became an official stat in 1982. The fewest they’ve ever had in a season was 29 in 2005.
CONSISTENT SCORING: The Eagles have scored at least 21 points in nine straight games, which is the 5th-longest streak in franchise history and second-longest in one season. They did it in 14 straight games over 2013 and 2014 and also had 10-game streaks in 1943/1944, 1949 and 2003/2004. So 21 points vs. the Giants Sunday matches the Eagles’ second-longest streak of 21-point games in franchise history.
REMEMBER THIS GUY? How about a couple Zach Ertz stats? Ertz’s eight catches for the Cards Sunday against the Seahawks gave him 601 in his career, making him the ninth tight end in history with 600 catches. That was his 25th career game with eight catches. Only three tight ends have more: Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez (41), future Hall of Famer Jason Witten (35) and Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe (26).
A STACK OF JALEN HURTS STATS: Hurts became the first quarterback in Eagles history with three rushing TDs in a game and only the seventh Eagle overall, joining Clarence Peaks, Tom Sullivan, Wilbert Montgomery, Charlie Garner, LeSean McCoy and Boston Scott. He’s the sixth QB since 1978 with three rushing TDs, joining Jake Plummer, Daunte Culpepper, Rich Gannon, Russell Wilson and Dak Prescott.
Hurts has 4,115 total yards passing and rushing combined in his first 15 starts. That’s 13th-most in NFL history by a quarterback in his first 15 starts and 14 behind Nick Foles for most in Eagles history. Hurts’ 890 rushing yards are second-most ever by a QB in his first 15 starts, behind Lamar Jackson’s 1,193.
With one interception in his last five starts, Hurts has improved his career interception ratio to one INT every 52.0 attempts, 13th-best in NFL history among QBs with at least 400 pass attempts and better than every quarterback currently in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
With six games to go, Hurts’ eight rushing TDs are already tied for 14th-most in NFL history by a quarterback. Cam Newton set the record of 14 with the Panthers in 2011. Michael Vick has the most by an Eagles quarterback with nine in 2010.