Here’s the deal: I can’t sit here in good conscience and give you guys a bunch of shiny, happy, positive stats after that disaster of a game. But the Stat Show must go on! We’re not going to mothball our weekly Roob’s Eagles Stats column just because the Eagles are falling to pieces.
So if you have the mental fortitude … if you have the inner strength … if you can handle the truth … plow forward! Some of these facts and figures are literally impossible to believe. But they do add some valuable context to just how shockingly wretched the Eagles have been over the last month and a half.
And then for those of you who stick with it … there’s a prize at the end! Five actual positive Eagles stats!
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1. The Eagles’ only sacks the last three weeks have been by interior linemen Jalen Carter and Fletcher Cox and linebacker Shaq Leonard. Their last sack from an edge rusher was in Dallas four games ago. The last time the Eagles went three straight games without a sack from an edge rusher was Weeks 9, 10 and 11 of the 2007 season vs. Dallas, Washington and Miami. After leading the NFL with 70 sacks last year and ranking fourth with 30 through nine games this year, the Eagles’ 11 sacks over the last seven games are 3rd-fewest in the league.
2. Through Week 9, the Eagles were allowing 66.3 rushing yards per game – which was first in the NFL (by far). Since then, they’re allowing 150.3 yards per game, 30th in the league. They’re allowing more than a yard per carry more since Week 10 (4.8) than through Week 9 (3.7). The 1,052 rushing yards they’ve allowed the last seven games are their most in a seven-game span since 2015.
3. After blowing a 15-point lead against Arizona, this is now the first time in franchise history the Eagles have blown three double-digit leads in the same season. They led the Jets 14-3 and lost 20-14, they led the Seahawks 10-0 and lost 20-17 and they led the Cards 21-6 and lost 35-31. There were only four seasons since 1979 where they blew two double-digit leads the same year (1995, 1999, 2018, 2020). The 15-point lead was the 9th-largest the Eagles have ever blown at home and the largest against a team that finished a season with five or fewer wins. The Eagles have led nine games by 10 or more points this year. They’ve won two of them by 10 or more points and lost three of them. So when they’re up 10 or more points, they’re more likely to lose than win by 10 or more points.
4. The Eagles are the third team in NFL history to open a season 10-1 or better and then lose four of their next five games. The others were the 1986 Jets, with offensive coordinator Rich Kotite, and the 2020 Steelers. The 1986 Jets are the last team to open a season 10-1 or better and not win their division.
NFL
5. Sunday’s game was the seventh since 1960 in which the Eagles allowed 220 rushing yards and three passing touchdowns in the same game. It’s the second time it’s happened at home since 1953. Late in 2015 (and so many of these stats go back to Chip’s last season), the Eagles lost 45-17 to the Bucs. Doug Martin ran for 235 of the Bucs’ 283 yards and Jameis Winston threw five TDs.
6. The Eagles have allowed 105 points after halftime in their last five games. That’s the 2nd-most second-most 2nd-half points ever allowed in a five-game span in franchise history, two fewer than they allowed late in the 2012 season. They’re only the third NFL team to allow 105 2nd-half points in any five-game stretch and make the playoffs. The other two were the 2006 Giants and 2018 Chiefs. The 68 points they’ve allowed in the second half of their last three games is 6th-most in franchise history, and the 51 they’ve allowed the last two weeks is the most since 1966. This is the sixth time the Eagles have allowed 17 points in three straight second halves and the third time they’ve allowed 22 or more points in consecutive second halves.
7. The Eagles have allowed at least 14 points in a fourth quarter five times this year – vs. the Vikings, both Washington games, the 49ers and the Cards. Last time they allowed at least 14 points in five fourth quarters was 1963 – both Steelers games, first Cowboys game, first Browns game and the Vikings.
8. Arizona’s 32 first downs Sunday are the 5th-most ever against the Eagles. They allowed 37 in a loss to the Packers in 1962, 34 in a loss to the Bengals in 1975, 33 in a 2013 loss to the Chargers in 2013 and 35 in a loss to the Broncos two weeks later. It’s the 2nd-most first downs ever allowed by a team headed for the postseason. In 2020, the Cowboys recorded 33 first downs against the playoff-bound Browns in a game the Browns won 49-38 at AT&T Stadium.
9. The Eagles have allowed 34 touchdown passes, the 2nd-most in franchise history. The 2015 team allowed 36 in 16 games. The Eagles are only the fourth playoff team in NFL history to allow 34 TD passes in a season. The 1986 Jets allowed 35 and the 2008 Cards and 2020 Titans allowed 36.
10. Five Positive Stats
- Jalen Carter’s sack against the Cards was his sixth this year, 2nd-most ever by an Eagles rookie, behind Corey Simon’s 9 ½ in 2000. He’s fifth among rookies this year but second among interior linemen, behind Kobie Turner of the Rams, who has nine – including seven in the last six games
- Sydney Brown’s 99-yard interception return touchdown was the 3rd-longest INT return in Eagles history behind a couple Lito Sheppard pick-6’s vs. the Cowboys in 2004 and 2006 and the longest ever by an Eagles rookie. Linebacker Lee Roy Caffey had an 87-yarder vs. the Giants as a rookie in 1963, his only INT as an Eagle
- Brown’s interception a week after Kelee Ringo’s made this the first time two Eagles rookies recorded their first career interceptions in consecutive games since 1987, when Cedrick Brown and Jerome Brown did it
- DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown are the first pair of wide receivers in NFL history to surpass 80 catches, 1,000 yards, seven touchdowns and a 12.5 average in consecutive seasons
- And Jalen Hurts’ three touchdown passes give him 107 combined TDs in his first 50 starts – 66 passing and 41 rushing. Only seven quarterbacks in history have had more in their first 50 starts: Patrick Mahomes (128), Dan Marino (118), Johnny Unitas (112), Deshaun Watson (112), Josh Allen (112), Daryle Lamonica (111) and Lamar Jackson (111).