An area of remarkable improvement for Jalen Hurts, a wild James Bradberry and Darius Slay stat and why the Eagles' second halves haven't been a total disaster.
Not much else going on in Philly sports this weekend so you may as well check out this weekend's edition of Roob's 10 Random Eagles Observations!
1. I don’t think Jalen Hurts is getting the credit he deserves for going from one of the most turnover-prone quarterbacks in the NFL as a rookie to a guy who two years later is on near-record pace for fewest turnovers in a season. Hurts averaged a turnover every 37 touches (pass attempts, sacks, rushing attempts) as a rookie, then lowered that to one every 54 touches last year and then dropped it to one every 138 touches so far this year. Now, he might not keep up that pace, but Hurts’ interception ratio this year – one every 92 attempts – is 3rd-best in the league, behind only Tom Brady (one in 340 attempts) and Daniel Jones (1 every 95 attempts). At his current pace, he’ll become the eighth QB in history to throw 500 passes and throw fewer than six interceptions. And despite the way he plays, he hasn’t lost a fumble yet. Hurts’ career INT ratio – one every 51 attempts – is now 13th-best in NFL history (minimum 500 attempts), and he’s on pace to break Carson Wentz’s 2019 Eagles record for best interception ratio in a season (minimum 400 attempts).
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Hurts is doing all that while getting the ball down the field at a pretty good clip – he’s 6th in the league at 12.3 yards per attempt. Only two quarterbacks in NFL history have averaged at least 12.3 yards per completion in their career as well as one interception every 50 or more pass attempts. They are Patrick Mahomes and Hurts. And here’s a list of QBs with 45 or more TDs rushing and passing and 15 or fewer interceptions in their first 25 starts: Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Dak Prescott and Hurts.
This is really some magical stuff we’re seeing from Hurts on a weekly basis. He’s 24 years old, and he's just going to keep getting better.
2. There are two cornerbacks who have an opposing quarterback passer rating below 30 this year (minimum 20 targets). One is James Bradberry at 29.0. The other is Darius Slay at 14.6. That’s bonkers.
3. I’d like to see the Eagles get back to taking more shots down the field, and there’s no better team to do it against than the Steelers, who’ve allowed more big pass plays than any other team this year. The first three weeks of the season, the Eagles ranked 9th in the NFL with 8.2 intended air yards per pass attempt, and the next three weeks they were last at 5.0 intended air yards per attempt. The Eagles hit on seven pass plays of at least 30 yards in their first three games but just two in the last three games. With this quarterback, this o-line and these receivers, this offense has so much big-play potential, and there are definitely times it makes sense to play it close to the vest, but mixing in a few more big plays would make this offense even tougher to defend.
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4. The Eagles are the only NFL team that hasn’t gotten a 10-sack season from an edge rusher since 2016.
5. The Saints keep losing, and the Eagles’ 1st-round pick keeps getting better. Now, the Saints could go on some huge winning streak under Andy Dalton. It is possible. But 538 projects the Saints as one of six teams finishing 6-11, which would put the pick between No. 3 and 8. And as it stands now, the Saints’ pick that the Eagles will get is No. 4, and just to put that in perspective, the Eagles have had a top-four pick four times in the last 50 years: Kenny Jackson No. 4 in 1984, Donovan McNabb No. 2 in 1999, Lane Johnson No. 4 in 2013 and Carson Wentz No. 2 in 2016.
6. I know there’s been a lot of talk about the Eagles trading Andre Dillard before Tuesday’s deadline, and if I’m a team desperate for a left tackle I’d be on the phone with Howie on a daily basis. And while a good backup left tackle is a luxury, when you’re 6-0 and thinking Super Bowl, I don’t think you unload Dillard unless the return is ridiculous – say a 3rd-round pick (which you’re not going to get). Jack Driscoll is a grinder and gives you everything he has, but the gap between Driscoll and Dillard is significant, and if something happened to Jordan Mailata, the value of Dillard at LT ahead of Driscoll is big enough that it’s worth keeping Dillard around. Same goes for Gardner Minshew. I know Howie loves stockpiling draft picks and I’m sure it’s tempting to listen to offers. But when you've got realistic Super Bowl aspirations, it’s more important to have as much depth as possible for the stretch run than adding picks for the future.
7. The Eagles’ inability to score after halftime is ridiculous and something they have to fix if they’re going to keep winning. That said, one interesting thing about their second halves is that their average drive after halftime is 3 minutes, 11 seconds – 4th-longest in the league (behind the Bengals, Cards and Giants). They’re only scoring on 23 percent of those drives (6th-worst) and they’re punting on 47 percent of them (5th-worst). But they’re moving the chains and running clock and putting together some long drives, and in some cases with a lead that’s just as important as scoring because they’re shortening the game and keeping the other offense off the field. Their average second-half drive has started with the Eagles up 11.7 points, and in the second half Jalen Hurts is completing 68 percent of his passes, and Miles Sanders is averaging 5.1 yards per carry. So there are some good signs there. They just need to start finishing some of those long drives with points.
8. Jalen Hurts threw three interceptions in the span of 12 pass attempts against the Giants in Week 12 last year. He has three interceptions in 278 pass attempts since.
9. Best Eagles-Steelers ending ever: It was in November of 2000 at Three Rivers Stadium. The Steelers led 23-13 when the Eagles got the ball with 3:33 left in the fourth quarter on their own 43-yard-line. Hopeless? Not quite. Donovan McNabb hit Torrance Small for 19 yards and after a couple passes to Stanley Pritchett and a personal foul on safety Lee Flowers, the Eagles found themselves with a 1st-and-10 on the Steelers’ 13 with 2:36 left. McNabb threw a TD pass to Brian Mitchell – the only TD reception B-Mitch ever scored as an Eagle – and David Akers’ PAT made it 23-20. After a penalty, the Eagles tried an onside kick and it worked, Tim Hauck recovering Akers’ kick at the Eagles’ 32. A 13-yard Pritchett run, another 19-yard catch by Small and a Chad Lewis reception quickly got the Eagles into field goal range, and the Eagles – without any timeouts – managed to rush the field goal unit onto the field as time wound down, and with 0:01 on the clock Akers tied the game with a 42-yard field goal.
The overtime rules were different back then. You score, you win. The Eagles won the coin toss and drove 49 yards in seven plays – including a 16-yard Pritchett run – and Akers won it with another 42-yard field goal. The Eagles had scored three times without the Steelers ever getting the ball.
10. Jalen Hurts is the 4th-youngest quarterback in NFL history to lead a team to a 6-0 record. Dan Marino had just turned 23 when the Dolphins got to 6-0 in 1984, Daunte Culpepper was 23 years, 261 days, when the 2000 Vikings reached 6-0 and Jared Goff turned 24 on the day the 2018 Rams went 6-0. Kyler Murray was one day older than Hurts when the Cards reached 6-0 last year. The 1984 Dolphins opened 11-0, the 2018 Rams 8-0 and the 2000 Vikings 7-0.