After a Week 4 walloping at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Philadelphia Eagles entered their bye week. For most teams, this is about the worst break in the action you can be assigned. If you plan to win a Super Bowl and aren’t the best team in your conference, your next break is in February. But this pause was needed; for this football club. Not for health, though—for a regrouping.
Since going up 24-14 at halftime in Super Bowl 57, things have spiraled for the Eagles. The lead was blown. Their 10-1 record in 2023 was blown. The embodiment of the city retired. And now this.
To start this season at 2-2 with, objectively, one of the best rosters in the NFL was not good enough. This is where dread can set in. What else needed to change? Well, one of the common denominators of these three rosters is proving he’s not to blame.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts has helped the Eagles, 5-2, rise from the dead.
Hurts’ Elite Statistics Since the Bye
Hurts is largely to thank for the Eagles’ revival. But the numbers can do the talking on this front.
Below are Hurts’ rankings among the top quarterbacks in football. The statistics include expected points average per play (EPA/play), success rate (SR), and completion percentage over expected (CPOE). Here is what he looks like out of the 31 QBs with at least 50 snaps from Week 5-8:
| Top-End QBs (Weeks 5-8) | EPA/play | SR | CPOE | Average Rank |
| Jalen Hurts (PHI) | 0.438 (1st) | 60.2% (1st) | 9.9 (2nd) | 1.33/31 |
| Lamar Jackson (BAL) | 0.340 (4th) | 54.7% (5th) | 7.0 (5th) | 4.67/31 |
| Joe Burrow (CIN) | 0.263 (8th) | 51.0% (9th) | 7.5 (4th) | 7.00/31 |
| Patrick Mahomes (KC) | 0.181 (14th) | 58.5% (2nd) | 5.3 (7th) | 7.67/31 |
| Josh Allen (BUF) | 0.264 (7th) | 49.4% (13th) | -0.2 (27th) | 15.67/31 |
The Eagles’ post-bye performance was necessary for a lot of reasons.
Entering Week 6, this team hadn’t won a football game by more than eight points since Oct. 22, 2023. Then-36-year-old Andy Dalton and the Carolina Panthers reached that bar, for crying out loud. For nearly an entire calendar year, the Birds were vastly underperforming. It was inexcusable with the talent on the roster, and people took notice. The coach was on the hot seat. The regularly-heralded general manager was regularly criticized. The quarterback wasn’t free from scrutiny, leaving but one option.
Hurts has silenced the drama.
We can give credit to A.J. Brown. We can give credit to the defense. However, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. Only one quarterback is second or better in EPA/play, SR, and CPOE since Week 5—Hurts isn’t the only guy with weapons out there, correct?
While not singlehandedly, Hurts has given a soulless Eagles team some life. At least for the time being, he has saved numerous people their jobs. This season has been turned upside down. There is hope in the air—don’t you feel it? Wins against the Cleveland Browns, New York Giants, and Cincinnati Bengals are not meaningful for most teams. But this team hadn’t convincingly defeated an opponent since Kevin Byard was acquired via trade (remember that one?).
Now that the Eagles’ roster is actually performing how it’s supposed to, there should be hope again. I mean, are we really convinced that this team can’t beat anyone? It’s arguable with the record. It’s arguable with the on-field performance (especially against a desperate but sneaky-good Bengals team). It’s arguable until proven otherwise.
Two big-time wins could go a long way for the Eagles. Hurts is playing like his peak self again, giving his team a Super Bowl upside. Can it last? Is the rendition of this club that nearly went the distance back? That’s for the players to prove over these next few weeks.
We’ll be watching.
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