Insane defense numbers highlight this week’s Roob’s Eagles Stats

Insane defense numbers highlight this week’s Roob’s Eagles Stats originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

In this week’s Roob’s Eagles Stats, we’ve got an achievement the Eagles hadn’t pulled off in 71 years, some wild defensive trends and the usual supply of crazy Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley facts and figures.

We even have a bunch of Grant Calcaterra stats!

This stuff is always more interesting when they win.

1A. With a 25-point win over the Giants in East Rutherford and a 20-point win over the Bengals in Cincinnati, this is the first time in 71 years the Eagles have won road games in consecutive weeks by 20 or more points. Last time that happened was in 1953, when they beat the Cards at Comiskey Park in Chicago 56-17 in Week 5 and then beat the Steelers at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh 35-7 in Week 6. The only other time in franchise history the Eagles had 20-point road wins in consecutive weeks was in 1948 (34-7 over the Steelers at Forbes Field and 35-14 over the Giants at the Polo Grounds).

1B. The Eagles are now 21-9 on the road under Nick Sirianni, the 2^nd-best road record in the NFL since 2021 (.700). The Chiefs are 22-7 on the road over the last four seasons (.759). The Eagles are 3-1 on the road this year (the São Paulo game doesn’t count) with road games left in Dallas, L.A. vs. the Rams, Baltimore and Washington. If they go 2-2 or better in those four, they’ll clinch their fourth straight winning road record, which they’ve only done once in franchise history – from 2000 through 2004, under Reid.

2. The last three games, the Eagles have run the ball 120 times and thrown 60 passes – exactly twice as many runs as passes. This is only the third time since 1958 they’ve run 60 more times than they’ve thrown over a three-game span. It happened in 1979 and again in 2021. The 120 rushing attempts are their 6^th-most in a three-game span since 1982, and their 60 pass attempts are 2^nd-fewest in a three-game span since 1982.

3A. JALEN THE PASSING STATS: With his 45-yard TD pass to DeVonta Smith, Jalen Hurts became the first Eagles quarterback to throw a touchdown of 40 yards or more in three straight games since Donovan McNabb did it four games in a row before he got hurt in 2006 – a 45-yarder to Greg Lewis against the Packers, an 87-yarder to Hank Baskett in Dallas, a 60-yarder to Reggie Brown in New Orleans and a 52-yarder to Brian Westbrook in Tampa. Hurts is also only the third quarterback in Eagles history to complete at least 71 percent of his passes with no interceptions over a three-game span. Randall Cunningham did it in 1992 and Carson Wentz in 2018. With passer ratings of 126.1 vs. the Browns, 119.3 vs. the Giants and 132.5 Sunday vs. the Bengals, Hurts joins Wentz as the second Eagles QB with a rating of 119 or higher in three straight games. Wentz did that against the Giants, Panthers and Jaguars in 2018. Hurts has completed 71.3 percent of his passes since Week 2, the 2^nd-highest completion percentage in Eagles history over a six-game period. Wentz was at 71.6 percent during a six-game stretch in 2018 from the Titans through the first Dallas game. Hurts’ seven 40-yard completions so far are 2^nd-most in the league, behind Brock Purdy’s eight (in one more game). And Hurts’ four 40-yard TD passes are tied for most in the league with Joe Burrow and Derek Carr.

3B. JALEN THE RUSHING STATS: With three more rushing touchdowns, Jalen Hurts increased his career total to 48, 2^nd-most in Eagles history behind Steve Van Buren (69) and 3^rd-most among quarterbacks behind Cam Newton (75) and Josh Allen (56). He joined Wilbert Montgomery and Steve Van Buren as the third Eagle in history with three career three-touchdown games. Hurts also had two rushing TDs vs. the Giants. Hurts is also the second Eagle ever with five rushing touchdowns in a two-game span. In 2011, LeSean McCoy had two in Miami and three a week later vs. the Jets. Hurts is the first QB in history with five TDs in a two-game span. Hurts’ 48 touchdown runs are 18 more than any other quarterback has had in his first 58 starts. Jack Kemp in the early 1960s and Newton both had 30.

4. The Eagles’ defense has allowed just 643 yards during the current three-game winning streak. That’s the 2^nd-fewest yards they’ve allowed in a three-game span since 1992. They gave up 591 in wins over the Broncos, Cowboys and Bears in 2017. The defense has allowed just 29 points the last three weeks, their best three-game streak since 2017 and matching their best since the first three games of 2016.

5. Saquon Barkley already has 766 rushing yards, the most in franchise history after seven games. He passed LeSean McCoy, who had 754 through seven games in 2011. Barkley is one of only five running backs in NFL history with 766 yards, a 5.9 average and six touchdowns through seven games. The others are Jim Brown, Jim Taylor, Jamal Lewis and Derrick Henry this year.

6. Here we are going into Week 9 and Grant Calcaterra and Travis Kelce have the same number of catches of 19 or more yards. Just like everybody expected. Despite limited playing time and getting just 13 targets all year, Calcaterra has five receptions of at least 19 yards – 4^th-most of all tight ends, behind George Kittle (eight), Brock Bowers (seven) and Cole Kmet (six). Calcaterra only has 12 catches but among them are receptions of 19, 20, 26, 28 and 34 yards. He ranks 38^th among tight ends in targets and 25^th in offensive snaps but tied for 4^th in catches of at least 19 yards. What’s amazing about this is that until the Browns game, Calcaterra was averaging 5.2 yards per game in his career. But over the last three weeks, with Dallas Goedert out, he’s averaged 43 yards per game, and his 16.3 yards-per-catch during that span is 2^nd-highest in the league, behind Kittle’s 16.4. Calcaterra’s 7.8 yards after the catch is 4^th-highest of 58 tight ends who’ve been targeted at least 10 times, and his 7.7 yards before the catch is 8^th-highest.

7. The Bengals didn’t punt Sunday, making this the first game the Eagles won in 79 years when the opposing team didn’t punt. In 1945, the Eagles beat the Steelers 30-6 at Shibe Park without a Pittsburgh punt.

8. With 85 yards Sunday, A.J. Brown increased his total in 38 games with the Eagles to 3,360 receiving yards and passed Timmy Brown (3,346) and Charlie Smith (3,349) to move into 20^th place in franchise history. A.J. Brown’s 3,360 yards are 4^th-most in NFL history by a player in his first 38 games with a team, behind Miami’s Tyreek Hill (3,795), the Giants’ Odell Beckham Jr. (3,670) and Justin Jefferson with the Vikings (3,563). Since the start of 2022, the Eagles are 31-10 and averaging 27.6 points per game when Brown plays and 1-3 and averaging 15.3 points when he doesn’t play.

9. Nick Sirianni improved his career winning percentage from .667 to .672, passed Tony Dungy and is up to 13^th in career winning percentage out of 227 coaches in NFL history who have coached at least four seasons. He’s third among active coaches, behind Jim Harbaugh (.683) and Matt LaFleur (.681). Sirianni’s 39 wins are 6^th-most by an Eagles coach but only three behind Doug Pederson – who brings the Jaguars to town this weekend – and four behind Buddy Ryan. So five more wins moves Sirianni into fourth, behind Reid (130 wins), Greasy Neal (63) and Dick Vermeil (54).

10A. The Eagles scored 37 points Sunday, but they did extend their streak of scoreless first quarters to nine in a row – the 10^th-longest streak in NFL history and longest since the Saints had an 11-game streak in 2004. The Falcons set the record with 13 straight scoreless first quarters over the 1976 and 1977 seasons. The Eagles’ seven-game streak is tied for 4^th-longest ever to open a season and is longest since the 1986 Lions opened with eight straight scoreless first quarters. The Eagles did end their streak of consecutive games without more than one takeaway at 14 – 2^nd-longest in NFL history and two shy of the record of 16, set in 2013 and 2014 by the Saints. Still alive is their streak of 34 straight games without more than one interception. That’s 2^nd-longest in history behind only the Raiders’ 40-game streak from 2003 through 2006.

10B. Even without a point in the first quarter, the Eagles are still averaging 24.4 points per game, which is 10^th-best in the league. But what about over the last three quarters? The Eagles are actually the 4^th-highest-scoring team from the second quarter on with that 24.4 figure. They trail only the Lions (28.0), Commanders (26.6) and Ravens (25.1) in scoring over the final three quarters. If they scored in all four quarters at the same pace they’re scoring in the second, third and fourth quarters, they’d be averaging 32.5 points per game.

BONUS FORMER EAGLES SECTION:

11A. With seven catches for 77 yards in the Commanders’ miracle win over the Bears, Zach Ertz increased his career total to 741 receptions, 7^th-most in NFL history by a tight end and one behind Greg Olsen for sixth place. Ertz, who turns 34 in two weeks, now has 32 receptions this year, 6^th-most among all NFL tight ends.

11B. D’Andre Swift had another big game in the Bears’ last-second loss to Washington, with 129 rushing yards on just 18 carries. Swift has 533 scrimmage yards in the Bears’ last four games, 2^nd-most in the NFL during that span behind Derrick Henry’s 619.

11C. And Chargers kicker Cameron Dicker is 17-for-18 on field goal attempts this year and is now 69-for-73 in his career and the most accurate kicker in NFL history at 94.5 (minimum 20 attempts). Dicker has never missed from inside 50 yards. He’s 58-for-58 inside 50, including two field goals as an Eagle in the 2022 win over the Cards – his only game as an Eagle.

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