10 things that made the 2024 Eagles unique among Super Bowl champs originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
They didn’t just win the Super Bowl. They did in ways that no other team ever has.
They put together an unprecedented postseason run, beating four teams that won 53 games by an average of 17 points, leading for 229 of 240 minutes, wiping out the Commanders in the NFC Championship Game and Chiefs in the Super Bowl by a combined 50 points and racing out to the largest Super Bowl halftime lead in 36 years.
The Eagles this year made a pretty good case for themselves as one of the greatest teams in NFL history. When you win 17 of your last 18 games by an average of 14 points and destroy a team going for a three-peat in the Super Bowl, you’re going to be in that conversation.
How were the Eagles different than every other Super Bowl champion? We came up with a list of 10 things that made the 2024 Eagles unique.
1. Youngest roster ever: The Eagles became the first Super Bowl champion in NFL history to play 43 guys in their 20s in a single postseason. Their only players in their 30s are Dallas Goedert and Jake Elliott, who just turned 30 last month, 32-year-old long snapper Rick Lovato, 34-year-old Lane Johnson and 34-year-old Darius Slay. The Eagles played 23 guys on defense during the postseason, and only one – Slay – is in his 30s. The last team before the 2024 Eagles to play just one guy in his 30s on defense was the 1975 Steelers, with 35-year-old linebacker Andy Russell. The only other team with just one defensive player over 30 was the 1972 Dolphins with 32-year-old linebacker Nick Buoniconti. Similarly, the Eagles tied a record by playing 22 players on defense in their 20s in the postseason.
2. The most points ever: The Eagles scored 145 points in the postseason, the most points any team has ever scored in a single postseason. That’s 36.3 points per game. The previous record was 131 set by the 1994 49ers. Their 95 points vs. the Commanders and Chiefs are the most in a conference championship game plus Super Bowl. The previous high also belonged to the 1994 49ers, who beat the Cowboys 38-28 in the NFC Championship Game and the Chargers 49-26 in Super Bowl XXIX in Miami for 87 total points. The Eagles’ 68-point combined margin of victory over the Packers, Rams, Commanders and Chiefs is not the largest ever by a Super Bowl champion, but it is 2nd-largest. The Ravens won their four playoff games in 2000 by a combined 72 points.
3. The most rushing yards: The Eagles rushed for 818 yards in the postseason, breaking the record of 792 set in 1982 by the Commanders. They are also the only team in 50 years to have multiple games in the same postseason with at least 220 rushing yards (the 1973 Dolphins and 1974 Steelers also did). They’re also the only Super Bowl champion in history with eight games with 200 rushing yards and a 5.0 average in a season. Nobody else has had more than five.
4. Turnover margin: The Eagles’ plus-12 turnover margin in the postseason wasn’t quite the highest ever – the 1992 Cowboys were plus-13 – but their one turnover tied a record for fewest in a postseason by a Super Bowl champion. Their 13 takeaways were 6th-most ever. Their plus-29 turnover margin in their last 15 games from the Bengals through the Super Bowl is the 2nd-highest turnover margin ever in the last 15 games to finish a season and highest ever by a Super Bowl champion
5. Beating the best: The Eagles went 9-2 this year against playoff teams, matching the most wins ever by any team in a season against playoff teams. The 1997 Packers and 2022 Chiefs also won nine games against playoff teams, although the 1997 Packers lost in the Super Bowl. So the only teams to beat nine playoff teams in a season and win a Super Bowl are the Chiefs in 2022 and the Eagles this year. And both finished the season against each other.
6. By land or by sea I: The Eagles scored 10 rushing touchdowns and five passing touchdowns this postseason, something no other team has ever done. Similarly, they’re the only team ever with 35 first downs passing, 35 first downs rushing and five first downs by penalty in the same postseason.
7. By land or by sea II: The Eagles as a team had a 107.4 passer rating this postseason (Jalen Hurts was 108.6 but Kenny Pickett’s incomplete pass at the end of the Super Bowl brought the team number down a bit). They also averaged 5.5 yards per rushing attempt. They’re the only team in history with a passer rating over 100 and a rushing average of at least 5.0 in the same postseason.
8. You can’t stop both of them: Saquon Barkley ran for 499 yards on 91 carries this postseason with a 5.5 average and Jalen Hurts rushed 34 times for 194 yards and a 5.7 average. The Eagles are the first team in NFL history with two players averaging 5.5 yards per carry in the same postseason (minimum 30 carries). They also each had five rushing touchdowns. They’re also the only team in history to have two players rush for five TDs in the same postseason. Only 13 other teams have had one, including the 2022 Eagles with Hurts. He’s now the only player in history with five rushing TDs in multiple postseasons. In the last 25 years, only four players have rushed for five TDs in the same postseason – Hurts, Barkley, Raheem Mostert and Sony Michel. Hurts, Barkley and Mostert were all Eagles, as was Michel’s brother Marken.
9. They’re just kids: This one is nuts: Eight players league-wide 23 and under had at least one sack this postseason, and four of them – Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, Jalyx Hunt and Moro Ojomo – are Eagles. Carter and Smith had two, Hunt 1 ½ and Ojomo one. Now, the Eagles are the second team with four 23-year-old players with a sack in the postseason. The 2018 Chargers did it with Joey Bosa, Justin Jones, Uchenna Nwosu and Isaac Rochell. But they’re the first team to have three players 23 or younger with 1 ½ sacks. In fact, only the 2017 Patriots (Adam Butler, Deatrich Wise Jr.) and 1982 Raiders (Howie Long, Johnny Robinson) had two. The Eagles got 8 ½ total sacks this postseason from players 23 and under, by far the most ever. The previous high was five by Washington in 1987 (Alvin Walton 3, Kurt Gouveia 1, Clarence Vaughn 1), the 2023 Lions (Aidan Hutchinson 3, Brian Branch 1, Alim McNeill 1) and the Chiefs in 2024 (George Karlaftis III 4, Felix Anudike-Uzomah 1)
10. First-quarter reversal: The team that scored just 17 points in the first quarter of its first 13 regular-season games became the best 1st-quarter team in playoff history. The Eagles were outscored by 42 points in the first quarter of their first 13 games (59-17) but outscored their four postseason opponents by 44-10. The 44 points are the most by a playoff team in the first quarter, two more than the 49ers scored in the first quarter of the 1994 postseason. Their 34-point 1st-quarter margin (44-10) is largest ever by a Super Bowl champion, two larger than the 1972 Dolphins, who outscored their postseason opponents by 32 points in the first quarter. The Eagles scored double digits in the first quarter more in the playoffs (three times) than the regular season (twice). The Eagles also scored 45 points in the fourth quarter in the postseason, tying the 2019 Chiefs for most ever.
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