In Roob's Daily Observations: Why Jalen Hurts will play well Sunday originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Jalen Hurts’ remarkable postseason consistency, Howie Roseman’s emotions after last year’s Tampa playoff loss and the Eagles’ all-time won-loss record going back to 1933.
This is Day 6 in a row of Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Observations (and 7 of the last 8), and there won’t be anything left to observe until Super Bowl LIX Sunday night at the Superdome.
See you then!
1. Jalen Hurts goes into the Super Bowl on a remarkable postseason roll. In his last seven postseason games – so all but Tampa in 2021 – he’s completed 69 percent of his passes for 1,334 yards with seven passing TDs, nine rushing touchdowns and no interceptions. Other quarterbacks who’ve completed 69 percent of their passes with no interceptions over a seven-game postseason stretch? That would be nobody. Hurts is the only quarterback in NFL history with seven straight postseason starts without an interception. He’s one of eight with four career starts with 70 percent completion percentage and no interceptions. He’s the only quarterback with 16 combined TDs – seven passing, nine rushing – in a seven-game span with no interceptions. He’s one of six QBs with five postseason games with a 100 passer rating or higher in his first five seasons. He’s one of six players in postseason history with nine rushing touchdowns in a seven-game span. He’s thrown 206 consecutive postseason passes without an interception, nine shy of Drew Brees’ NFL record set from 2006 through 2011. He’s won five postseason games, 3rd-most in history before a quarterback’s 27th birthday (behind Patrick Mahomes and Ben Roethlisberger). He’s only the fifth quarterback to reach two Super Bowls before his 27thbirthday (along with Tom Brady, Roethlisberger, Russell Wilson and Mahomes). There’s no reason not to expect Hurts to play at a very high level Sunday.
2A. It’s one of the more under-rated storylines of the season that the Eagles are in the Super Bowl after losing a seven-time Pro Bowl center and a six-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle at the same time. I don’t even know what to compare that with. Imagine if Chuck Bednarik and Steve Van Buren retired at the same time and the Eagles went to the NFL Championship Game the next year? Howie Roseman drafting Cam Jurgens in 2022 and Jalen Carter in 2023 knowing Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox were nearing the end was brilliant. And Jeff Stoutland and Clint Hurtt have Jurgens and Carter playing at elite levels, both making the Pro Bowl this year following Kelce and Cox’s retirement. This is what the great franchises do. They don’t rebuild. They sustain success.
2B. Roseman recalled his emotions after the ugly 32-9 Tampa playoff last year and how he knew that was Kelce and Cox’s final game: “Being outside the locker room in Tampa and kind of knowing that Fletch and Jason were done and feeling like, man, I let them down a little bit personally, that their last season ended like that. I’ve talked about those guys and Lane and Brandon and within all the changes, they’ve always trusted me. I’ve felt like that’s a huge responsibility. I felt like I let those guys down last year among other things. Just seeing them around the team this year and seeing their passion for the team and how proud they are just tells you what kind of people they are.”
3. Eighty-nine wide receivers were targeted at least 50 times during the regular season and 88 of them had at least one drop. The only one without a drop was A.J. Brown. During the postseason, 46 receivers have been targeted at least three times and only two have more than one drop – Puka Nacua had three and Brown has two. Brown’s last regular-season drop was in the second Giants game last year. He has more drops this postseason than in his last 17 regular-season games.
4. People may roll their eyes at the notion of Todd Pinkson being an important part of a Super Bowl team, but he was a big part of the Eagles’ offense in 2004. He led the NFL with five catches of 50 yards or more, averaged 18.8 yards per catch, 3rd-highest in the league, and was off to a great start in Super Bowl XXXIX against the Patriots in Jacksonville, with 4-for-82 before halftime – the most receiving yards any Eagle has ever had in the first half of a Super Bowl. He had a big 17-yard catch on a 3rd-and-8 and made a leaping 40-yard catch to set up Donovan McNabb’s TD pass to L.J. Smith. But Pinkston began cramping at halftime, needed an IV and didn’t play in the second half. Despite T.O.’s 9-for-122, the Eagles lost 24-21. Would there have been a different result if Pinkston didn’t leave the game? Who knows. But that turned out to be his final NFL game. Pinkston ruptured his right Achilles in training camp at Lehigh the following August and never played again. What’s he doing now? He’s in New Orleans. He’s on Andy Reid’s coaching staff.
5. Speaking of that 32-9 wild-card loss to Tampa last year, the Eagles are the first team in 30 years to lose a postseason game by at least 23 points one year and reach the Super Bowl the next year. The Bills lost Super Bowl XXVII at the Rose Bowl 52-17 to the Cowboys after the 1992 season and returned to Super Bowl XXVIII at the Georgia Dome a year later (losing to the Cowboys again, 30-13).
6. Running backs had six 100-yard rushing performances in the Eagles’ first 51 postseason games – two for Brian Westbrook and one each for Steve Van Buren, Wilbert Montgomery, Heath Sherman and Kenny Gainwell. Then Saquon Barkley had three in the span of 15 days.
7. The Super Bowl will quite likely be decided by turnovers, and these two teams rarely lose when they win the turnover battle. The Chiefs were 5-0 this year when winning turnover margin and they’ve won 37 straight dating back to a 31-24 loss to the Texans at Arrowhead in 2019. They’re 86-12 when they win turnovers under Andy Reid. The Eagles were 11-1 this year when they had more turnovers than their opponent – they were plus-3 in the Washington loss – and they’re 33-2 under Nick Sirianni. The other loss was to the Chiefs in 2021 when they were plus-1.
8. It’s nice to know Nakobe Dean was healthy enough to accompany the Eagles to New Orleans for Super Bowl week. Dean was such a big part of what this team did the regular season, and he worked so hard to mold himself into a very good off-ball linebacker after two disappointing seasons to start his career, and I can’t even imagine how devastating it was to suffer that season-ending knee injury in the second quarter in the wild-card round game vs. the Packers. This is such a tight-knit team, and everybody loves Nakobe because of his personality, his energy, his work ethic, his love of the game. We haven’t had a chance to talk to Nakobe – he wasn’t at media day – but I have to think being a part of things this week in New Orleans has been therapeutic for the 24-year-old Dean, who faces a lengthy recovery this offseason. And I’m sure it was also great for his teammates to have him around. He won’t be on the field Sunday, but he’ll never stop being a big part of this team.
9. Eric Allen, who spent seven of his 14 seasons with the Eagles, is only the ninth Hall of Famer who spent at least half his career with the Eagles. The others are Brian Dawkins (13 of 16), Chuck Bednarik (13 of 13), Harold Carmichael (13 of 14), Pete Pihos (9 of 9), Steve Van Buren (8 of 8), Reggie White (8 of 15), Tommy McDonald (7 of 12) and Bob Brown (5 of 10). Hall of Famers who played for the Eagles but were here for less than half their career are Jim Ringo (4 of 15), Sonny Jurgensen (7 of 18), Alex Wojciechowicz (5 of 13), Bill Hewitt (4 of 9), Norm Van Brocklin (3 of 12), Claude Humphrey (3 of 14), Ollie Matson (3 of 14), Cris Carter (3 of 16), Mike Ditka (2 of 12), Terrell Owens (2 of 15), Richard Dent (1 of 15). James Lofton (1 of 16) and Art Monk (1 of 16).
10. With their win over the Commanders in the NFC Championship Game, the Eagles improved their all-time record including regular-season and postseason games to 666-665-27. It’s the first time they’ve ever been over .500 in the franchise’s 92-year history. The Eagles were 3-3-1 seven games into their first season and didn’t get back to .500 until they beat the Rams in the conference semifinals.
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