A few positives alongside the misery in this week's Roob's Eagles Stats
A few positives alongside the misery in this week's Roob's Eagles Stats originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
We tried. We really tried.
We looked under every rock, ran thousands of Stathead searches, studied the numbers for hours.
And the reality is you just can't find many positive stats when a team blows a 14-point 4th-quarter lead at home, when your all-pro running back gets just six carries, when your vaunted defense gives up three straight scoring drives of 50 or more yards to end the game, when your offense goes 3-and-out four straight drives down the stretch.
So this week's Roob's Eagles Stats has a few positive stats, most of them revolving around Jalen Hurts' remarkable streak of passes without an interception, now one of the longest in NFL history. And there are a couple Saquon Barkley and Dallas Goedert stats that won't make you cringe.
The rest of them? They're all interesting! They're all fascinating! They're all unique! They're also all depressing!
So read No. 4 through No. 10 at your own risk. It might get ugly down there.
1. The Broncos game may not have been Jalen Hurts' best, but that doesn't matter when it comes to stats! As long as the numbers look good, nothing else matters!
1A. Hurts on Sunday threw 38 more passes without an interception, increasing his franchise-record streak to 280 consecutive passes without an INT since Trevon Diggs got him in Dallas in Week 10 last year. That's the 11th-longest streak in NFL history. Next on the list is Bart Starr, who threw 293 passes without an interception over the 1964 and 1965 seasons.
1B. Hurts has also gone 11 consecutive starts without an INT, tying the NFL record shared by Tom Brady over the 2010 and 2011 seasons and Justin Herbert last year.
1C. With one INT every 53.3 career pass attempts, Hurts is up to 12th-best INT percentage in NFL history (minimum 1,000 attempts). Since the second quarter of the Eagles' Week 3 win over the Saints last September, he's thrown one interception in 431 attempts over 18 regular-season games.
1D. Hurts has thrown at least two touchdowns and no interceptions in three straight games. The only Eagles QBs with longer streaks with multiple TD passes and no INTs are Donovan McNabb, with four in a row in 2006, and Carson Wentz, with four in a row in 2018.
1E. Hurts is the seventh quarterback ever to complete at least 65 percent of his passes with at least seven TD passes and no interceptions through Week 5. The others are Steve Bartkowski in 1983, Gary Danielson in 1984, Alex Smith in 2017, Drew Brees in 2018 and Russell Wilson and Patrick Mahomes in 2019.
1F. Hurts now has 150 career combined rushing and passing touchdowns, 8th-most ever in a quarterback's first 71 starts. He trails only Patrick Mahomes (181, 172-9), Aaron Rodgers (172, 156-16, Dan Marino (169, 166-3), Josh Allen (162, 126-36), Joe Burrow (154, 142-12), Daunte Culpepper (162, 124-28) and Joe Burrow (154, 142-12).
2. Saquon Barkley's 47-yard touchdown catch was the longest by an Eagles running back since Darren Sproles had a 73-yarder from Carson Wentz in the Eagles' 34-3 win over the Steelers at the Linc in Week 3 of 2016. The Eagles' longest TD catch ever by a running back was Timmy Brown's 87-yarder from Norm Snead against the Steelers at Franklin Field in 1964. The 47-yarder was the 3rd-longest TD catch of Barkley's career. With the Giants, he had a 57-yarder from Odell Beckham at Carolina in 2018 and a 54-yarder from Daniel Jones at New Orleans in 2021.
3A. Dallas Goedert, who had a touchdown vs. the Rams, two vs. the Bucs and one Sunday vs. the Broncos, is only the Eagles' third tight end with four touchdown catches in a three-game span. Keith Jackson did it in 1990 and Zach Ertz in 2017. Goedert is the fourth tight end in Eagles history with a TD catch in three straight games, joining Jeff Thomason in 2000, Brent Celek in 2009 and Ertz in 2017. Goedert caught three passes to give him 364 in his career and move him past Mike Quick (363) and into 9th in Eagles history. He's seven behind Keith Byars, nine behind Pete Pihos and 15 behind DeSean Jackson. Only 16 catches separate Quick in 10th and Jackson in sixth.
3B. Goedert is the first Eagle in 61 years with at least four touchdown catches through five games on 15 or fewer receptions. In 1964, Timmy Brown had 10 catches after five weeks and five of them went for touchdowns.
4. The Eagles' 262 yards per game so far is their fewest through five games since 1999, Andy Reid's first season, when they averaged just 188 yards per game with Doug Pederson as their starting quarterback. It's their 6th-lowest in the last 50 years. They're the third NFL team to go 4-1 or better averaging 265 or fewer yards per game since 1973. The 1992 Broncos averaged 231 and the 1999 Chargers 252, and both were 4-1.
5A. The Eagles' 4th-quarter collapse matched the 2nd-worst in franchise history at home. It was only the sixth time in franchise history the Eagles have blown a 14-point 4th-quarter lead at home - three times at the Vet, three times at the Linc. The only larger lead they've ever blown at home in a fourth quarter was a 23-point lead against the Vikings in 1985. They led 23-0 but lost 28-23. The last 14-point lead they squandered at home was in 2018, when they led the Panthers 17-0 but lost 21-17. Last time they blew a 14-point lead anywhere was last year in Washington, which was their last loss before Sunday. So they've led by 14 points at some point in their last two losses.
5B. The Eagles had won 22 consecutive games before Sunday when they led by at least 14 points going into the fourth quarter (dating back to that Panthers loss). They're now 228-6-3 all-time when leading by 14 through three quarters.
6A. This was only the sixth time in the last 84 years the Eagles have been outscored by 18 or more points at home in a fourth quarter and only the third time since 1990. Other than that Panthers game in 2018, they were outscored 22-0 by the Bears in the fourth quarter of a game in 1994 at the Vet, but they won 30-22.
6B. This is the sixth time ever and the first time in 26 years the Eagles have been outgained in each of their first five games. It also happened in 1940, 1957, 1968, 1971 and 1999.
6C. The Eagles have been outgained by 383 scrimmage yards (1,691 to 1,308), and this is the first time since 1999 and only the fourth time in the last 50 years the Eagles have been outgained by more than 300 yards through five games. It also happened in 1984, 1998 and 1999.
6D. This is only the third time ever and the first time in 39 years the Eagles have averaged 3.5 yards per carry or worse and allowed 4.7 yards per carry or more. Also happened in 1971 and 1986.
6E. This is the first time since the end of the 1999 season and only the sixth time since 1977 the Eagles have gained 302 or fewer yards in five consecutive games. The Eagles are the only team that hasn't had more than 325 yards in any game this year.
7. Sunday's game was only the Eagles' 22nd under Nick Sirianni without forcing a turnover. They're 9-13 in those 22 games. When they force at least one they're 51-9, including 33-2 in their last 35.
8. Will Lutz's 55-yard field goal a week after Chase McLaughlin hit 58- and 65-yarders makes these last two games the first time ever the Eagles have allowed field goals of at least 55 yards in consecutive games. Along with Harrison Butker's 56-yarder in Kansas City in Week 2, four of the 19 field goals of at least 55 yards ever against the Eagles have come in the last four games. Fifteen of the 21 field goals of 55 yards ever against the Eagles have come since 2018.
9. This is crazy because he's playing at such a high level - at least until the second half Sunday - but Quinyon Mitchell now has the 3rd-longest streak of consecutive regular-season starts by a cornerback in Eagles history without an interception. Herm Edwards went 24 straight games without an INT over 1983 and 1984, Al Nelson had a 22-start streak over 1972 and 1973 and Mitchell has now gone 21 straight starts without picking off a pass. The longest streak by any Eagles defensive back without an INT is Andre Waters' 29-start streak from 1989 through 1991. Mitchell's streak is 8th-longest ever by a cornerback to begin his career. Mitchell does have two postseason INTs.
10. The Eagles have allowed at least 100 rushing yards in all five games so far, the 2nd-longest streak of 100-yard games they've allowed to open a season since 1971. They allowed 100 or more yards the first seven games of 2021, Nick Sirianni's first seven games as an NFL head coach. The only other teams to allow 100 rushing yards in all five games are the Dolphins, Titans and Ravens, who are all 1-4.