Roob’s Eagles Observations: The greatest pass of Jalen Hurts’ life originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The greatest pass of Jalen Hurts’ life, the first parade in Philadelphia history and a look at Josh Sweat’s future.
Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Observations have now morphed into Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Offseason Observations, and that’s what they’ll remain until training camp starts in a little over five months.
Wow, that’s soon.
1A. That dagger 46-yard touchdown to DeVonta Smith may have been Jalen Hurts’ greatest pass ever and certainly one of the greatest Super Bowl touchdowns ever. I’ve watched this one more than any play since 4th and 26, easily over 100 times, and it never ceases to astonish me. The Eagles already led 27-0 and had a 1st-and-10 on the Chiefs’ 46-yard-line after Avonte Maddox’s 4th-down pass breakup early in the third round quarter. Start with DeVonta, who separates from Chiefs corner Jaylen Watson right off the line of scrimmage. Watson tries to get a jam on Smith but can’t, and Smith just runs unimpeded at full speed down the field toward the end zone. Hurts has incredible protection on the play from his o-line and also Saquon Barkley and backup tight end Grant Calcaterra, who both pick up blitzes. He play-fakes to Barkley and when he unloads, there isn’t a Chief within five feet of him. He’s got a clean pocket to work in, and he takes time to get his feet under him, set and fire. Smith first turns around to look for the ball at the 30-yard-line, which is a split second before Hurts releases it. Smith never breaks stride. Never slows down. Their timing is perfect. And Smith doesn’t do anything to let Watson know the ball is on the way. Watson never turns around and never makes up that step that DeVonta has on him. Smith doesn’t have to move his hands until just before the ball arrives because the ball is heading precisely into his grasp. Smith jumps just a bit as he crosses the plane of the end zone and catches the ball a little off the ground. Watson immediately tackles Smith and tries to pry the ball away, but Smith wasn’t about to let go as he tumbles to the ground. Touchdown Eagles and a 34-0 lead. Smith and Hurts have known each other since Smith was in high school and Hurts was his host during his visit to Alabama. They’ve both talked often about how instead of partying they went to the football facility and threw and studied film. They’ve taken countless reps together since then, spent innumerable hours studying, thrown with each other every offseason. They’ve both put an insane amount of time together working toward this one moment, and on the biggest stage they showed what football perfection looks like.
1B. The clip of Sirianni talking on the radio to Kellen Moore before that play – “If we score, it’s over. Just call it” – is wild. If you don’t think Sirianni has anything to do with the offense, that’s a must-see video. Sirianni kicked himself after Super Bowl LVII for not being aggressive enough, and he just wasn’t going to let it happen again. Brilliant.
1C. The other unbelievable thing about that play — and you can see this in the end zone copy — is how quickly Saquon Barkley raises his fist. The ball is still on its upward trajectory and Saquon is already celebrating.
2A. Nick Sirianni is only the second coach in NFL history to win six playoff games in his first four seasons. Joe Gibbs won six with Washington from 1981 through 1984. Tom Flores, John Fox, Mike Tomlin, Paul Brown, George Seifert and Bill Parcells each won five.
2B. The Eagles won six playoff games from 1961 through 1999. They’ve won six playoff games since 2022.
3. An underrated facet of the Eagles’ monster defensive performance last Sunday was the way they shut down the Chiefs’ running game while Kansas City was still trying to run the ball. The Chiefs were 3-for-3 rushing in the first half and they were 6-for-17 at the point the Eagles went up 34-0. They didn’t have a run from scrimmage longer than eight yards and Patrick Mahomes had a couple scrambles late, but the Chiefs’ running backs netted 24 total yards, 4th-fewest in Super Bowl history behind the 1985 Broncos (8), 2002 Raiders (16) and 1974 Vikings (17). The Chiefs realized early they couldn’t run against the Eagles, and Andy Reid stopped even trying while the game was still somewhat close. That let the Eagles’ defensive front tee off on the Chiefs’ hapless offensive line. Isiah Pacheco, who gashed the Eagles for 76 yards on 15 carries in Super Bowl LVII two years ago, ran three times for seven yards, and Kareem Hunt, who had a bounce-back season with 728 yards and seven TDs, managed nine yards on three carries. This defensive front is dangerous enough against a balanced offense. When it knows the other team is going to throw? Forget it. You have no shot.
4. The first championship parade in Philadelphia history took place on Nov. 5, 1910, two weeks after the Athletics finished off the Cubs with a 7-2 win in Game 5 of the World Series at Chicago’s West Side Grounds. The parade route went south on Broad Street, starting at Montgomery, around the west side of City Hall, then south to Wolf Street. This was an evening parade, starting at 8 p.m. According to the Nov. 7, 1910, Inquirer “nearly a million” people watched, although according to the Delaware County Times, “The spectacle was witnessed by 100,000 persons.” I’m guessing the Inquirer’s estimate was closer to the actual attendance. A non-bylined columnist wrote: “The tribe of (Connie) Mack had brought distinction to the good, old town and everyone seemed imbued with the desire to give some expression of their appreciation. Everybody was there and everybody was happy.” Some things never change.
5. Quarterbacks who’ve put up at least 33 points in multiple Super Bowls: Bart Starr, Joe Montana, Tom Brady, Jalen Hurts.
6. Jake Elliott’s revival is one of the coolest stories of the 2024 postseason. He was so unreliable during the regular season, missing eight field goal attempts and going 1-for-7 from 50 yards and out (the rest of the league made 71 percent) and then he missed three PATs the first two weeks of the postseason, the second kicker in NFL history to miss three PATs in a single postseason, and then missed a 54-yarder in the NFC Championship Game. Not a chip shot but a 73 percent kick league-wide this year. So it wasn’t easy to be super confident in Elliott heading into the Super Bowl, although he was money in his first two. As a rookie, he made incredibly high-pressure kicks from 42 and 46 yards in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis and then two years ago he was 2-for-2 in Glendale in Super Bowl LVII. So what does he do Sunday? After going 3-for-9 from 48 yards and out during the regular season, he matches his entire season total of 48-yard kicks with field goals from 48, 48 and 50 yards. He became the first kicker ever with three field goals of at least 48 yards in the same Super Bowl and only the second with three career 48-yarders in a Super Bowl. Elliott is now responsible for three of the 14-longest Super Bowl field goals ever and his 9-for-9 in Super Bowls is the best ever. Overall, Elliott was 10-for-11 this postseason, and he’s now 26-for-27 in his career in the postseason for 96.3 percent, 2nd-highest ever (minimum 20 attempts) behind Robbie Gould’s 29-for-29. Who he can’t catch. Elliott is one of only seven kickers to play in three Super Bowls and along with Lane Johnson, Brandon Graham and Rick Lovato, he’s one of four Eagles to win two Super Bowls. A month ago, what to do with Elliott seemed like it would be a huge question this offseason. But he proved he’s still got it, and he did it in some high-leverage situations. After that performance? He’s not going anywhere.
7. Somebody needs to explain Josh Sweat’s last couple years to me. Coming off his 11-sack 2022 season, he opens 2023 with a dominating 6 ½ sacks in his first nine games, then goes 12 straight games over the 2023 and 2024 seasons without a sack. Starting in Week 4 this year, he picks up seven sacks in eight games and looks unstoppable again, then gets one sack in his next eight games. Going into the Super Bowl you know Brandon Graham isn’t going to play much, Bryce Huff will be inactive and Sweat is in another lengthy slump, and you’re thinking Nolan Smith is the only edge guy who’s going to be able to generate pressure. Then all Sweat does in Super Bowl LIX is record a career-high 2 ½ sacks – 5th-most in Super Bowl history – along with two QB hits and two tackles for loss. He picked the biggest game of his life for the best game of his life. Remember how Derrick Burgess parlayed a huge NFC Championship Game in 2004 against Michael Vick and the Falcons into a huge (at the time) five-year, $17.5 million contract with the Raiders? Burgess only had 2 ½ sacks during the 2004 regular season but had 3.0 in the playoffs. Obviously, Sweat’s production is beyond Burgess’s, but the dynamic is similar. An edge rusher who made himself a ton of money with a huge postseason. Everybody is looking for edge rushers, and with Smith having a breakthrough season and Jalyx Hunt popping late in the season – 1 ½ sacks , three QB hits and one tackle for loss in the regular season, 1 ½ sacks, three QB hits and one tackle for loss in the playoffs – I could see the Eagles going with those two plus a high draft pick in their edge rotation and not over-paying to keep Sweat. And because of his contract, Huff will still be here and get an opportunity to find a spot in the rotation as well. Sweat’s been a very good if inconsistent player during his seven years here. He’s 8th in Eagles history with 48 sacks, and he’s still only 27. Sweat says he wants to be here and expects to get something done, and I’m sure Howie Roseman would love to keep him. I’m just not sure the numbers will agree. If he hits the open market, he’s going to get offers the Eagles may not be able to match.
8A. The last two Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks drafted outside the first round are Nick Foles and Jalen Hurts.
8B. The Eagles are the only team in NFL history to draft two Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks outside the first round.
8C. The only other teams that have drafted two QBs who’ve each won a Super Bowl for the team that drafted them are the Cowboys (Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman), Packers (Bart Starr, Aaron Rodgers), Giants (Phil Simms, Jeff Hostetler) and Steelers (Terry Bradshaw, Ben Roethlisberger).
8D. Remember, the Falcons drafted Brett Favre, the Patriots drafted Jim Plunkett, the Steelers drafted Len Dawson, the Chargers drafted Eli Manning and the Buccaneers drafted Steve Young and Doug Williams.
9A. Four interior linemen in Eagles history have had 2.0 or more sacks in a single postseason. One is Darwin Walker in 2006. The others are Jalen Carter, Milton Williams and Jordan Davis this year.
9B. The Eagles are the first team in NFL history to have three interior linemen record multiple sacks in the same postseason. Only two teams – the 1992 and 1995 Cowboys – also had more than one – Tony Casillas and Russell Maryland in 1992 and Chad Hennings and Leon Lett in 1995. Both those Cowboys teams beat the Eagles in the conference semifinals.
9C. Eagles interior defensive linemen had 13 ½ postseason sacks from 1982 – when sacks became an official NFL stat – through 2023. Eagles interior defensive linemen had 7.0 sacks this year. So 34 percent of the postseason sacks interior linemen have ever recorded for the Eagles came this year.
10. Jalen Hurts had one passing touchdown and three rushing touchdowns in his first Super Bowl and two passing TDs and one rushing TD this time. His seven total touchdowns are most ever by a quarterback in his first two Super Bowls. Joe Montana previously had the most with five TDs in his first two Super Bowls. Only five quarterbacks have more career Super Bowl touchdowns than Hurts: Tom Brady (21), Montana (13), Patrick Mahomes (11), Terry Bradshaw (9) and Roger Staubach (8).
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