In Roob’s Eagles Observations: How can Jalen Hurts throw touchdowns without looking? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Butterfly Effect in the Eagles-Jaguars game, a Jalen Hurts achievement that hadn’t been done by an Eagles QB since Randall Cunningham and Josh Sweat’s future.
That’s a mere smattering of what’s on tap in today’s Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Observations!
1. One of the most remarkable things I’ve ever heard was lost in all the excitement Sunday around the Eagles nearly blowing a 22-point lead, Nakobe Dean’s last-minute interception, a fourth straight win, Saquon Barkley’s reverse hurdle and so on. It was Jalen Hurts off-handedly mentioning that he threw the 25-yard touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith without seeing him: “I think people don’t take notice of how much of a lack of vision a quarterback does have in certain situations,” he said. That was kind of mindblowing to me. It never occurred to me that a quarterback could actually have such a connection with a receiver that he could loft the ball down the field to him without actually seeing him but knowing exactly where he’s going to be. I asked Jalen to expound on that on Wednesday, and his response was fascinating: “There’s never a point where it just snaps, you know. It happens. You just build and build and build, and we’ve been building for a very long time. It dates back to his recruiting visit to Alabama, where we didn’t go party, we didn’t go do anything, we had no interest in doing anything but ball, and we threw routes on air. And those are the little stories that I hold near and dear because those are the things that change the trajectory, and honestly those are the small things that help the team this year. Those small connections, the moments that we’ve had. It’s all about building.” Just to clarify, Smith visited Alabama his junior year at Amite High outside Baton Rouge, La., so that was back in 2015 or 2016, so he was probably 17 years old and Hurts was probably 18. Hurts and Smith wound up spending two years together at Alabama in 2018 and 2019 before being reunited with the Eagles in 2021. So that blind pass that Smith turned into a miracle touchdown was the product of a relationship that goes back to when these two guys were teenagers. Chuck it up. He’ll be there. Truly amazing.
2. Jalen Hurts has thrown a touchdown pass of at least 25 yards in four straight games: 45 yards to DeVonta Smith against the Browns, 41 yards to A.J. Brown vs. the Giants, 45 yards to Smith against the Bengals and 25 yards to Smith Sunday vs. the Jaguars. He’s the first Eagles quarterback with a TD pass of 25 yards or more in four consecutive games in 30 years. In 1994, Randall Cunningham did it: 28 yards to Victor Bailey against the 49ers, 49 yards to Fred Barnett vs. Washington, 32 yards to Herschel Walker in Dallas, 35 yards to James Joseph and 53 yards to Barnett vs. the Oilers. Cunningham also did it in 1987 and 1990.
3. If it hadn’t been for the personal foul on DaVon Hamilton during Saquon Barkley’s TD run Sunday, there never would have been a two-point conversion attempt and the Eagles would have kept the PAT that Jake Elliott already kicked and led 17-0. And if that were the case, they wouldn’t have been chasing points after Jalen Hurts TD run and they would have kicked the PAT again and led 24-0. If that were the case, they never would have gone for two after the Hurts-to-DeVonta Smith TD and they would have led 31-16. And if that were the case, they would have kicked the field goal late in the third quarter instead of going for it on 4th-and-1 to make it a three-possession game at 34-16. And when the Jaguars scored with four minutes left, it would have been 34-23 instead of 28-23, and they never would have tried a 57-yard field goal up nine points. It all worked out, thanks to Nakobe Dean. But kind of a Butterfly Effect deal. A Jaguars penalty in the first quarter nearly cost the Eagles a win.
4A. Impressive stuff against the Jaguars from Isaiah Rodgers, who was making his first start since December of 2022 with the Colts. According to Stathead analytics, Trevor Lawrence was 2-for-7 for 34 yards when targeting Rodgers, who started in place of injured Darius Slay. Among 60 defensive backs who were targeted at least five times in Week 9, Rodgers’ 47.3 defensive passer rating was 8th-best and 2nd-best of his career. He had a 16.7 with the Colts in 2021 facing Texans QB Davis Mills. Rodgers picked off Mills in that game (as did former Eagle Shaq Leonard) and the Colts won 31-3. They took a 7-0 lead in that game on Carson Wentz’s touchdown pass to Parris Campbell.
4B. Campbell is one of eight receivers who has caught touchdown passes from both Wentz and Hurts. The others are Greg Ward, Alshon Jeffery, DeSean Jackson, Dallas Goedert, Jalen Reagor, Zach Ertz and Zach Pascal.
5. Over the last seven weeks, the Eagles have 23 rushing plays of at least 15 yards and they’ve allowed five.
6. Jalen Hurts has now thrown 144 consecutive passes without an interception, the 10th-longest streak in Eagles history and just five shy of his longest streak from 2022. Nick Foles set the franchise record with 233 consecutive passes without an INT in 2013, breaking Michael Vick’s streak of 224 passes. Hurts’ streak of five straight starts without an INT is 2nd-longest in Eagles history, behind Foles’ seven-game streak in 2013.
7. Twice already this year, an Eagles defensive player has had a game-saving interception in Eagles territory in the final two minutes of a game where the Eagles had a lead of between one and six points. Reed Blankenship picked off Derek Carr’s pass intended for Rashid Shaheed at the Eagles’ 41-yard-line with the Eagles up 15-12 on the Saints and 55 seconds left. And Nakobe Dean on Sunday picked off Trevor Lawrence in the end zone with the Eagles up 28-23 with 1:42 left. Those two plays equal the number of similar plays – Eagles up less than seven points, final two minutes, Eagles territory – they recorded in their previous 129 games going back to 2015. In 2016, with the Eagles up 24-19 on the Giants at the Linc, Terrence Brooks picked off an Eli Manning pass intended for Will Tye at the Eagles’ 5-yard-line with 14 seconds left, and in 2021, the Eagles led Washington 20-16 with 30 seconds left at FedEx when Rodney McLeod intercepted a Taylor Heinicke pass intended for John Bates in the end zone. Among the other Eagles who’ve made a game-saving INT in the final two minutes: Lito Sheppard off Vinny Testaverde in 2004, Rod Hood off Brett Favre in 2005, Sean Jones off Jay Cutler in 2009, Trevard Lindley off Alex Smith in 2010 and Kurt Coleman off Brandon Weeden in 2012. The most famous one? In 1996, with 15 seconds left and the Eagles leading the Cowboys 23-21 at Texas Stadium, Troy Aikman targeted tight end Tyji Armstrong in the end zone, but James Willis picked him off four yards deep, ran out to the 10-yard-line and lateraled to Troy Vincent, who ran the last 90 yards for a 104-yard interception return. Thirteen years later, when I was working on the book, “The 50 Greatest Plays in Eagles History,” I talked with Aikman on the phone for a couple hours, and he spoke about that play for at least 10 minutes, recalling every imaginable detail.
8. The only current Eagles who’ve won a game in Dallas as Eagles are Lane Johnson, Brandon Graham, Rick Lovato and Jake Elliott.
9A. With Saquon Barkley’s 19-yard TD run and Jalen Hurts’ 18-yarder, Sunday’s game was only the fourth in the last 73 years where two different Eagles had a rushing touchdown of at least 15 yards. Last time it happened was in December 2013, when LeSean McCoy had a 57-yarder and Chris Polk a 38-yarder in a 34-20 win over the Lions at the Linc. Before that, in 2009, Leonard Weaver (41 yards) and Shady (66 yards) did it against the Giants, also at the Linc. And in 2007, Brian Westbrook (29 yards) and Correll Buckhalter (30 yards) had long TD runs in a loss to Seattle at the Linc. But before that you have to go all the way back to 1951, when Clyde Scott had a 29-yard TD run and Steve Van Buren a 31-yarder in a 35-21 win over Washington at Griffith Stadium. It actually happened eight times in the 1930s and 1940s – the NFL was different back then – four times in 73 years makes it quite a rarity.
9B. Barkley is the first Eagles running back with TDs of at least 15 yards both rushing and receiving since Brian Westbrook against the Giants in 2007 – a 30-yard run and 40-yard catch from Donovan McNabb in a 20-14 win at Giants Stadium.
9C. Derrick Henry’s modest numbers against the Bengals Thursday night – 16 carries for just 68 yards – dropped the nine-year veteran below Barkley for the NFL lead in rushing yards per game. Henry dropped from 116.9 to 112.0 through 10 games, and Barkley is at 115.6 through eight games. Henry also fell from 6.3 yards per carry to 6.1, with Barkley now a close second at 5.9. The Eagles’ record for rushing yards per game is 100.4 set by LeSean McCoy in 2013.
10. A month ago, there didn’t seem to be any chance Josh Sweat would be back in 2025. Sweat was mired in a slump that saw him go an astonishing 11 straight games without a sack. Unthinkable for a guy who was a Pro Bowler in 2021 and had 11 sacks in 2022 and 6 ½ sacks the first nine games of last year. But during the last five games, Josh Sweat has five sacks, seven quarterback hits, five tackles for loss and 12 tackles, one of the best stretches of his career, and that changes the equation. Sweat is due to become a free agent at the end of the season, but considering Brandon Graham is likely to retire and big-money free agent Bryce Huff has been a huge disappointment, all of a sudden it seems like a priority to keep Sweat around. If he hits free agency, he’d be one of the top edge rushers out there. Even though he’s in his seventh season, he’s only 27, and there aren’t a lot of other top edge rushers who are in their 20s and unsigned beyond 2024. Khalil Mack is still good, but he’s 33. There’s DeMarcus Lawrence, but he’s 32 and hasn’t hit double figures in sacks since 2018. Azeez Ojulari is solid, and there’s always Haason Reddick, although teams might want to stay away from him for obvious reasons. So Sweat is going to be a valuable commodity in March if he hits the open market. The Eagles need to make sure he doesn’t.
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