Jalen Hurts thrived, even under consistent pressure from the Cowboys

Olivia Reiner, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Nov 11, 2024

Published in Football

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PHILADELPHIA — For the first time since 2017, the Eagles notched a victory against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium, stampeding their way to a 34-6 triumph.

With the win, the Eagles improved to 7-2 and assumed first place in the NFC East. There were highlights on both sides of the ball. The offense has scored at least 28 points in four straight games, which is tied for the fourth-longest streak in franchise history. Meanwhile, the defense notched five takeaways, its highest total in a game since Oct. 2, 2022, against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Here are four stats that paint the picture of the Eagles’ fifth straight win coming out of the bye week:

53.6%

Jalen Hurts was under pressure on a season-high 53.6% of his dropbacks, marking the greatest pressure rate he has faced since Week 4 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (48.6%, according to Next Gen Stats). Unlike his performance last year, Hurts continued this season’s trend of thriving under pressure. He finished 7-of-9 for 115 yards and two touchdowns when passing under pressure.

According to Next Gen Stats, Hurts had a plus-27.2% completion percentage above expectation, which accounts for the difference between a quarterback’s actual completion percentage and expected completion percentage decided by the difficulty of each pass. That rate is his best of the season. Since Week 3 against the New Orleans Saints, Hurts has thrown four touchdown passes and no interceptions while under pressure.

The kids at cornerback have been more than all right this season. Rookies Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean each allowed just two receptions on four and five targets, respectively, according to Next Gen Stats. Mitchell, the No. 22-overall pick out of Toledo, forced Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush to throw into a tight window on three of Mitchell’s four targets.

Meanwhile, DeJean, the Eagles’ second-rounder out of Iowa, allowed a catch rate over expected of -22.9%. He conceded just 5 yards across his five targets. Their efforts helped limit Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb to just six receptions for 21 yards, his quietest performance of the season. In 75 career regular-season games, Lamb has posted fewer receiving yards only three times.

According to Pro Football Focus, Mitchell allowed just one reception for 5 yards on one target against Lamb. DeJean conceded two receptions for 1 yard on three targets when matched up against the All-Pro receiver.

Zack Baun continued to make his case Sunday as the Eagles’ best defensive free-agent addition. The 27-year-old inside linebacker racked up six defensive stops, a statistic that Next Gen Stats defines as a tackle that results in a successful play for the defense. Baun ranks third in the league with 52 defensive stops this season.

Baun also helped the Eagles win the turnover battle. He forced two fumbles and recovered one on Bryce Huff’s strip-sack of Rush in the fourth quarter. Baun has contributed to takeaways in three consecutive games (one forced fumble in Week 8 against the Cincinnati Bengals and one interception in Week 9 against the Jacksonville Jaguars).

“Zack’s a great athlete,” coach Nick Sirianni said. “He’s tough, you see him in the open field making tackles. You see him sticking his face in there, in tight quarters. You see him being able to rush. He’s on a streak right now of taking the football away and the ball being on his mind.”

-0.74

The Eagles defense had the best single-game performance of the season in expected points added, finishing with -0.74 EPA per play allowed. EPA tracks the value of each play by how it affects the offense’s likelihood of scoring.

Let’s be real — their quality of competition wasn’t all that high with Rush filling in for the injured Dak Prescott. The Cowboys managed just 146 yards of total offense, which is the second-lowest total the Eagles conceded this year (119 total yards against the New York Giants in Week 7). They managed just 2.6 yards per play, the third-lowest rate by any NFL team this season.

Since the bye week, Eagles opponents have scored just five touchdowns, which marks the fewest in the league in a five-game span. Only three of those touchdowns have come against the Eagles defense. For the first time since the 2008 season, the Eagles have limited the opposition to less than 300 total yards in five straight contests. That year, they did so in eight consecutive games.

But the real test for the Eagles is looming. In four of their next five games, the Eagles will face teams that rank in the top half of the league in scoring in their last three games: the Washington Commanders (24 points per game; No. 12 in the league), the Los Angeles Rams (25.3; No. 9), the Baltimore Ravens (33.3; No. 2), and the Pittsburgh Steelers (30.3; No. 6).