In Roob’s Eagles Stats: Sorting through the mind-blowing A.J. Brown numbers originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
A.J. Brown’s ongoing brilliance, a unique Quinyon Mitchell-Cooper DeJean achievement, a notable Grant Calcaterra accomplishment and the obligatory Joselio Hanson reference.
It’s this week’s Roob’s Eagles Stats and it’s loaded with stuff you didn’t know and stuff you didn’t know you didn’t know.
Here we go!
1A. Brown’s clinching 40-yard catch from Jalen Hurts in the final moments of the Eagles’ win over the Browns Sunday gave him 116 yards and his 14th 100-yard performance as an Eagle. Incredibly, despite playing only 36 games in an Eagles uniform, Brown is tied for 7th-most 100-yard games in Eagles history behind only Pete Retzlaff (23 in 78 games), Mike Quick (21 in 101 games), DeSean Jackson (21 in 95 games), Harold Carmichael (20 in 171 games) and Tommy McDonald (17 in 76 games) and tied with Pete Pihos (14 in 95 games). Only Justin Jefferson and Tyreek Hill, with 16 each, have more 100-yard games than Brown since opening day 2022. Brown on Sunday also became only the third player in Eagles history with consecutive games with 115 yards, 19 yards per catch and a touchdown. Mike Quick did that in 1985 and DeSean Jackson in 2009 and again in 2010.
1B. Brown already ranks 22nd in Eagles history with 3,187 receiving yards. He needs only 163 yards to pass Timmy Brown (3,346) and Charlie Smith (3,349) and move into the top 20. If he stays healthy the rest of the year, at his current pace of 88.5 yards per game in two-plus years with the Eagles, he’ll have 4,249 receiving yards at the end of the season, which would put him in 13th place. Only three players in NFL history have had more yards in their first 36 games with a team: Tyreek Hill with the Dolphins (3,703), Odell Beckham Jr. with the Giants (3,528) and Justin Jefferson with the Vikings (3,262).
2. The Eagles already have an NFL-high seven scrimmage plays of at least 40 yards – Hurts passes of 40 and 67 yards to Brown, 43 and 61 yards to Dallas Goedert and 45 yards to DeVonta Smith as well as Saquon Barkley runs of 59 and 65 yards. That’s their most 40-yard offensive plays after five games since 2006, when they had eight: Donovan McNabb passes of 40 and 50 yards to Reggie Brown, McNabb passes of 60 yards to L.J. Smith, 87 yards to Hank Baskett, 45 yards to Greg Lewis and 60 yards to Matt Schobel and a 71-yard Brian Westbrook run. The Eagles had only eight 40-yard scrimmage plays all last year.
3A. The Eagles didn’t commit any turnovers for the first time in 10 games, but they didn’t force any either, making this the 13th consecutive game where they were zero or worse in turnover margin. They’ve been zero or worse every game since they were plus-one vs. the Chiefs at Arrowhead last November. That’s the 13th-longest streak in NFL history and longest since the Browns had a 17-game streak in 2017. It’s 2nd-longest in franchise history, behind a 15-gamer over the 1967 and 1968 seasons.
3B. The Eagles have just two takeaways in five games, their fewest after five games since they had one in 1937. Going back to last November, they have just seven takeaways in their last 13 games. That matches their fewest ever in a 13-game stretch. They also had seven during a 13-game stretch in 2012.
3C. And this: The Eagles have now gone 32 consecutive games without intercepting two passes. Last time they had two INTs in the same game was the Packers in 2022, when Josiah Scott and Reed Blankenship each picked off Aaron Rodgers. That’s the 4th-longest streak in NFL history of games without multiple interceptions, behind a 40-game streak by the Raiders over 2003 through 2006 (ended when Nnamdi Asomugha picked off Charlie Frye twice), a 34-game streak by the Lions from 2018 through 2020 and a 33-game streak by the Raiders from 2021 through 2023.
4. Hurts averaged 10.6 yards per attempt and 16.5 yards per completion Sunday, something no Eagles quarterback had done in the same game in 11 years. In 2013, Nick Foles averaged 11.5 yards per attempt and 17.5 yards per completion in a win over Washington at the Linc. The only other Eagles quarterbacks to do that since 1970 are Ron Jaworski (twice), Donovan McNabb (six times) and Michael Vick (three times).
5. The Eagles have failed to score more than 21 points in four straight games, matching their longest such streak since 2005, when they had an eight-game streak of 21 or fewer points. They’ve gone four straight games without scoring more than two touchdowns. Their last longer streak was an absurd 11-gamer in 2016.
6. With Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean both starting Sunday, this was the first game in 36 years in which the Eagles started two rookie cornerbacks. On Oct. 10, 1988, Eric Allen and Eric Everett both started at corner in a 24-13 win over the Giants at the Vet. Allen is the greatest cornerback in Eagles history, but Everett – a 5th-round pick out of Texas Tech – only started two games in his brief Eagles career. He started against the Giants in place of veteran Roynell Young, who missed the game with a back injury. That was also the game Randall Cunningham threw the miracle touchdown pass to Jimmie Giles, a play rated as the best in franchise history in the book The 50 Greatest Plays in Eagles History. It was also the game Cris Carter had the longest catch of his 16-year career, an 80-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
7. The Cooper DeJean / Bryce Huff sack was the first shared by an Eagles defensive back and defensive lineman since 2009, when Joselio Hanson and Victor Abiamiri split one. Hanson and Abiamiri combined for a sack of Eli Manning in a game the Eagles won 45-38 at Giants Stadium.
8. Brandon Graham, who played his 200th regular-season game on Sunday, is one of only three active position players to play 200 games, all for the same team. Cameron Jordan has played in 215 games for the Saints, and Cameron Hayward has also played in exactly 200, all for the Steelers. Graham is the 58th player in NFL history to play at least 200 games, all for the same team. Of those 58, some 22 are in the Hall of Fame. Among current Eagles position players, Lane Johnson (147 games), Josh Sweat (93) and Dallas Goedert (88) have played the most games without playing for another team.
9. Grant Calcaterra’s 67 yards Sunday were the most by an Eagles tight end drafted in the sixth round or later in 38 years, since John Spagnola had 72 in a 23-7 win over the Chargers at the Vet in Week 8 of the 1986 season. Calcaterra was a 6th-round pick in 2022. Spags was a 9th-round pick out of Yale in 1979 (and a graduate of Bethlehem Catholic).
10A. Long-time Eagle Rodney McLeod, a starter on the 2017 Super Bowl team, became the 4th-oldest player ever to score on any kind of return against the Eagles. McLeod, 34 years, 112 days on Sunday, returned a blocked field goal attempt 50 yards for the Browns’ only touchdown Sunday. Darrell Green was 37 when he had an 83-yard pick-6 against Bobby Hoying in 1997, Sam Huff was 35 when he went 18 yards on a pick-6 off Norm Snead in 1969 and Julius Peppers was 34 years, 302 days, when he scored on a 52-yard pick-6 off Mark Sanchez in 2014.
10B. McLeod’s return was the fifth against the Eagles of a blocked field goal, the first since 2008, when Justin Tuck of the Giants blocked a David Akers field goal attempt and Kevin Dockery returned it 71 yards for a touchdown at Giants Stadium.
10C. McLeod is the first defensive player to score a touchdown for the Eagles and against the Eagles since Patrick Robinson. With the Saints in 2012, Robinson had a 99-yard pick-6 off Michael Vick and of course had that 50-yard pick-6 off Case Keenum of the Vikings in the 2017 NFC Championship Game. Asante Samuel also had touchdowns for and against the Eagles.
11A. A bonus former Eagle observation: Zach Ertz had four more catches for 68 yards in Washington’s loss to the Ravens and now has 730 career receptions, 7th-most ever by a tight end and within 12 of Greg Olsen. Ertz’s 21 catches are 9th-most in the NFL this year among tight ends.
11B. Another bonus former Eagle observation: D’Andre Swift has 404 scrimmage yards for the Bears in his last three games, the most yards he’s ever had in a three-game span. He leads the NFC in scrimmage yards during that span.
