Looking for Greatness by Jalen Hurts – NBC Sports Philadelphia

Looking for greatness from Jalen Hurts, an NFL record the Eagles don't want, and a scary matchup between the Eagles and Bengals.

This is a small selection of what awaits you in the weekend edition of Roob's “10 Random Eagles Observations.”

1. The Eagles beat the Packers despite Jalen Hurts' three turnovers. They defeated the Saints despite not scoring a point until the fourth quarter. They beat the Browns with their defense and beat the Giants with their defense and a lot of Saquon. Hurts has played well at times and poorly at times this year. For most of this year he was just fine. And one thing he failed to do was lead the Eagles to victory over a good team. And elite quarterbacks have to do that. We've seen some encouraging signs from Hurts lately. Three games in a row without an interception, two games in a row without a turnover, some nice deep balls late in games when the Eagles really needed them. The next step is for Hurts to make big plays to win a game when the running game isn't at its best and the defense isn't putting down a 2^nd-powerful offense and the Eagles desperately need Hurts to be great. The last time we probably saw that was the first Dallas game last year, when he completed 74 percent of his passes, ran for a touchdown, threw touchdowns to AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith in a big third quarter, and threw Dak Prescott for the first Mal defeated So far the only time. That was almost a year ago. You never know how the games will turn out, but with Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Chase Brown, Cincinnati's offense is capable of scoring a lot of points and there's a very good chance the Eagles will Hurts will need It would be great to win the game on Sunday. This is the next step for Hurts. This isn't the Browns or Giants. He needs to be elite if the Eagles need him.

2. The Eagles are getting closer to an NFL record they don't want. They have now played 14 games in a row without forcing multiple turnovers. That's equal points for the 2nd^nd-Longest streak in NFL history following a 16-game streak by the Saints in the 2013 and 2014 seasons. The last time the Eagles had two takeaways in a game was in Week 12 last year when they went 21-17 -Victory over the Chiefs in Arrowhead. Kevin Byard intercepted Patrick Mahomes in the second quarter, and in the fourth quarter Bradley Roby forced a Travis Kelce fumble after a short pass that Nicholas Morrow recovered. The Eagles have played 10 straight home games without forcing two turnovers, including 9 draws^Th– longest streak of all time. The Browns posted 15th straight finishes in 2016 and 2017.

3A. The fact that Ben VanSumeren – a 2nd^nd-year undrafted linebacker – developing into a serviceable fullback is a truly remarkable turn of events. VanSumeren played five snaps on offense against the Giants and blocked linebacker Bobby Okereke effectively, helping pass Saquon Barkley on his 41-yard run in the third quarter. In addition, he sprinted across the field behind Barkley, looking for more victims. VanSumeren has always been a plus athlete – he was a big-time baseball recruit and also a football player out of high school – but the combination of speed, power and instinct he showed in his brief stint as a fullback was impressive and won It wouldn't be surprising if the Eagles use him more and more in that role. I still think VanSumeren will be a capable linebacker at some point, but right now the Eagles need him more on offense and he's just excited to get on the field in any way he can.

3B. What's interesting is that the last four homegrown players the Eagles have used on both sides of the ball – Bruce Hector in 2018 and 2019, TJ Edwards from 2019 to 2022, and current Eagles Reed Blankenship and VanSumeren – all went undrafted.

4. None of the Eagles' last 23 sacks have resulted in a strip-sack turnover.

5. The Eagles have made 82 plays on third down this year and 70 of those were either pass plays or runs by Jalen Hurts. Hurts has a passer rating of 53.7 on third down – 22 of 41 for 288 yards with a TD and three interceptions, along with eight sacks. He had 21 runs for 12 first downs (and two knee downs) and the Eagles had two aborted snaps. That leaves just 10 rushing plays by running backs – Saquon Barkley was 6 of 22 on third down (3.7 yards per carry), Will Shipley was 3 of 10 at the end of Sunday's game and Kenny Gainwell had nine yards rushing. So in actual competitive situations, the Eagles only ran the ball with a running back seven times all year, on 82 third downs.

6. Nakobe Dean is the first linebacker drafted by the Eagles with two sacks in a game for the Eagles since Mychal Kendricks against the Bears in 2013. Before that? Matt McCoy in 2006, Jeremiah Trotter in 2000, and then William Thomas and Seth Joyner several times in the 1990s.

7. The Eagles have had more winning seasons since 1991 than before 1991. The franchise has had 43 winning seasons since its founding in 1933. They had 21 from 1933 to 1990 and 22 from 1991 to 2023.

8A. The Eagles may go scoreless in the first quarter this year, but they are averaging 22.3 points after the first quarter, or 6^Th-Highest point average in the league in the last three quarters. They trail the Lions (26.3), Commanders (25.9), Ravens (24.9), Bills (23.7) and Bears (23.0). If they scored as quickly as the other three in the first quarter, they would average 29.7 points per game and rank 5th^Thin the NFL in scoring behind the Ravens (31.1), Commanders (31.1), Lions (30.3) and Bucs (29.9).

8B. Conversely, the Eagles' streak of eight consecutive scoreless first quarters is 14 since last year^Th– longest in NFL history. The record is 13 consecutive scoreless first quarters by the Falcons in 1976 and 1977. The streak began in 1976 under Falcons head coach Marion Campbell, who was fired after the season and became Dick Vermeil's defensive coordinator in 1977 and finally Vermeil as head coach of the Eagles in 1983 replaced. Only five teams have opened a season with an extended streak of scoreless games in the first quarters. The Eagles' six-game streak is the longest since the Packers began a seven-game streak in 1991. The NFL record is shared by the 1976 and 1977 Falcons, who both opened the season with nine straight games without a one-point win^st-Quarter point.

8C. The Eagles have run 112 plays in the first quarter since they last scored against the Cards at Linc on New Year's Eve on Jalen Hurts' 12-yard touchdown pass to Julio Jones with 42 seconds left.

9A. The Eagles have never had fewer than five players with at least one interception in a season. In six games this year, only Reed Blankenship has an interception. In 1977, 2011 and 2012, the Eagles only had five players with an INT: Bill Bergey, Herm Edwards, Randy Logan, John Outlaw and John Sanders in 1977, Nate Allen, Nnamdi Asomugha, Jamar Chaney, Kurt Coleman and Asante Samuel in 2011 and Colt Anderson, Asomugha, Coleman, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and DeMeco Ryans in 2012. The most Eagles players with an INT in a season were 16 in 1944. Two NFL teams have an entire NFL season with two players who intercepted a pass – the 2004 Cards and 2018 49ers (including former Eagle Jaquiski Tartt).

9B. Darius Slay's current streak of 13 games without an interception is just two shy of the Eagles record of 15 consecutive games as a starting cornerback without an INT, set by Sheldon Brown in 2008.

10. The duel between Fred Johnson and Trey Hendrickson scares me. Big Fred is a high-performance guy and a good run blocker, but he's not an elite pass blocker. When Jordan Mailata was first injured, I wrote that I would use Mekhi Becton at left tackle and Tyler Steen at right guard to have your strongest five out there. But with Becton out with a concussion, that's not an option right now, so the Eagles will have to move forward with Johnson at left tackle unless they decide to keep Jack Driscoll out. Johnson's pass blocking rating from Pro Football Focus is 36.2, which ranks him 76th^Th of 80 offensive tackles who played at least 100 snaps this year. And Hendrickson is a machine. He had 17 ½ sacks last year and already has seven this year. In the last five years there are 3 of his 60 sacks^approx-most in the league, behind only TJ Watt (66 ½) and Myles Garrett (62). Pretty good company. So far this year, Hendrickson has been on the defensive right side in 97 percent of his snaps – opposite Johnson. It's not in Jeff Stoutland's nature to help his tackles as it hurts the offense, but in this case he needs to give Johnson some help or Hendrickson could ruin the game. That's Jalen Hurts' blind side too, and he talked this week about how different the pocket is when Mailata isn't out there, and he needs to be aware of Hendrickson Sunday or it could be a tough day for them Be offensive. Another reason why it will be important for Hurts to get rid of the ball quickly and take advantage of midfield play, and for the Eagles to run the ball successfully.

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