In Roob's Stats: Nakobe Dean numbers you'll love and a bunch of depressing stuff

In Roob's Stats: Nakobe Dean numbers you'll love and a bunch of depressing stuff originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

I’m going to try my best not to make this week’s Roob’s Eagles Stats entirely depressing.

We’ll shoot for partially depressing. 

But we have to respect the stats and give you the negative along with the positive. So here we go with our 10 best stats off the Eagles’ 24-21 loss to the Cowboys Sunday.

We’ll start with a handful of positive stats that we somehow were able to dredge up!

1A. Why don’t we start out with Nakobe! With a sack for a third straight game, Nakobe Dean became only the fourth Eagles linebacker with a sack in three consecutive games since sacks became an official stat in 1982. He’s the first since Mychal Kendricks in 2015. The only other linebackers with a sack in three straight games are Seth Joyner in 1991 and William Thomas in 1993. 

1B. With Zack Baun and Dean each with 3.0 sacks so far, this is the first time since sacks became an official stat that two Eagles linebackers have each had 3.0 sacks in consecutive seasons. In fact, the only other seasons two Eagles LBs had 3.0 or more sacks were 1990 (Joyner, Jessie Small), 2001 (Mike Caldwell, Jeremiah Trotter) and 2013 (Kendricks, DeMeco Ryans). With 6 ½ sacks each as Eagles, Baun and Dean are tied for sixth for most sacks ever by an Eagles linebacker, behind Joyner (37.0), Thomas (33.0), Kendricks (14.0), Garry Cobb (12.0) and Trotter (11.0).  

2. A.J. Brown’s 20th 100-yard game moved him to within three of the franchise record of 23, set by Pete Retzlaff from 1958 through 1966. One more moves Brown even with DeSean Jackson, Harold Carmichael and Mike Quick, who each had 21. 

3. I’m not sure if this is a positive stat or a negative one. Guess it depends on your perspective. But Tank Bigsby had just one carry Sunday for eight yards and has gotten just 18 carries since joining the Eagles. But he’s gained at least eight yards on nine of those 18 carries – exactly half. For the sake of comparison, Saquon Barkley has 185 carries and 26 have gone for at least eight yards – 14 percent. Last year, that figure was 24 percent.   

4. After finishing the Packers game with two 4th-down stops, then holding the Lions to 0-for-5 on fourth down, the Eagles’ defense stuffed the Cowboys on a 4th-and-3 from their own 49-yard-line on their first drive and then on 4th-and-goal in the fourth quarter. This is the first time since 1991 the Eagles have stopped nine consecutive 4th-down attempts. In 1991 – the first year the NFL began tracking 4th-down attempts and conversions – they held the Giants to 0-for-3, the Bengals and Cards to 0-for-2, then the Giants and Cowboys to 0-for-1 each. That streak ended in the second quarter of the Eagles’ 24-22 win over Washington at the Vet on the final day of the season when Ricky Ervins gained a yard on a 4th-and-1 from the Eagles’ 4-yard-line.

5A. With his two rushing TDs Sunday, Jalen Hurts moved out of a tie with Hall of Famer Steve Van Buren and took over sole possession of the franchise record for career rushing touchdowns. Van Buren had 71 rushing touchdowns in his eight-year career, and Hurts now has 73. Hurts’ 73 rushing TDs are 3rd-most ever by a quarterback, behind Josh Allen, who has 82 and counting, and Cam Newton, who had 77 in his 11-year career.

5B. With three more total touchdowns – two rushing, one passing – Hurts now has 164 total TDs in his first 77 career starts. Only five quarterbacks have generated more TDs in their first 77 starts: Patrick Mahomes (186-11, 197), Aaron Rodgers (166-18, 184), Dan Marino (177-3, 180), Josh Allen (139-38, 177) and Andrew Luck (152-14, 166). 

5C. Hurts also went through another game without throwing an interception. He’s now thrown 146 consecutive passes without an INT since his franchise-record streak of 304 passes without an interception ended in the first Giants game. His current streak is 12th-longest in franchise history. So he’s thrown one INT in his last 450 passes since Week 10 of last year. Going back to Week 4 of the 2024 season, he’s thrown two INTs in his last 600 pass attempts. 

5D. In his career, Hurts has thrown one INT every 56.2 attempts, 6th-best in NFL history and just behind Patrick Mahomes (one every 56.5) and Tom Brady (one every 56.8), who are in 4th and 5th.

5E. Hurts has been interception free in 48 of his 77 career starts. That’s the most games without an interception in NFL history by a quarterback in his first 77 starts. Dak Prescott and Lamar Jackson had 45.

5F. Hurts has gone 29 consecutive games without throwing more than one interception. That’s the 8th-longest streak in NFL history and 2nd-longest currently behind Matt Stafford’s 30-games.

5G. Hurts is only the third starting QB in history with 17 or more touchdown passes and one or fewer interceptions through 11 games. Woodbury’s Milt Plum did it in 1960 for the Browns and Tom Brady in 2016 had 18 TDs and one INT after 11 games.

6. Reed Blankenship’s interception off Dak Prescott was the ninth of his career, the most by an undrafted player who began his career with the Eagles since Quintin Mikell had 10 from 2003 through 2010. Since 1960, the Eagles’ only other homegrown undrafted players with more INTs than Blankenship are Jim Nettles (10 from 1965 through 1968), Herm Edwards (33 from 1977 through 1985), Elbert Foules (10 from 1983 through 1987), Bre Wilson (17 from 1979 through 1987) and Andre Waters (15 from 1984 through 1993). 

OK, that was pretty good going six-deep on positive stats after the Eagles blew a 21-0 lead. That’s not easy to do! If you’re a Cowboys fan or have a strong stomach, read on! 

7A. After blowing a 14-point lead against the Broncos and a 21-point lead against the Cowboys, this is only the fourth time in franchise history the Eagles have lost two games in the same season after leading by 14 or more points. In 1941, they lost to the Bears and Washington after being up 14, in 1995 they blew 14-point leads against the Chargers and Raiders in consecutive weeks – the Raiders game was Randall Cunningham’s final start as an Eagle. And in 2018 they blew a 14-point lead to the Titans and a 17-point lead against the Panthers.

7B. We covered this in our post-game Obs, but for those of you who missed it, here ya go: Sunday’s game was only the fourth in Eagles history that they led by as many as 21 points and lost. Late in the 1945 season at the Polo Grounds, they led the Giants 21-0 in the third quarter on three Steve Van Buren touchdown runs, only to lose 28-21 on four late TD passes by Hall of Famer Arnie Herber. Good ol’ Arnie. In 1985 they led the Vikings 23-0 early in the fourth quarter at the Vet and lost 28-23, leading to Marion Campbell’s firing two weeks later. And on opening day 2000 –Andy Reid’s first game as a head coach – they led the Cards 21-0 early in the second quarter before losing 25-24 at the Vet on four Vikings TDs in the final 8 ½ minutes of the fourth quarter. Four times in 1,371 games.

8. The Eagles have only swept the Cowboys twice in the last 19 seasons. They won both games in 2011 and again last year. Last time they swept Dallas in back-to-back seasons was 2000 through 2002, when they did it three years in a row.

9A. The Cowboys’ comeback from 21 points down matched the biggest in franchise history. They trailed the Saints 27-6 in the third quarter in 1984 at Texas Stadium and won 30-27, they trailed Washington 35-14 in the third quarter at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium in 1999 and won 41-35 and they trailed the Rams 21-0 in the second quarter at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis and won 34-31. 

9B. Dak Prescott’s 10 career wins over the Eagles equals the most by any quarterback in over 40 years. The last QB to beat the Eagles more than 10 times was Jim Hart, who had a record 17 wins over the Eagles from 1967 through 1983. The others who won more than 10 against the Eagles are three Washington QBs – Sonny Jurgensen (11 from 1964 through 1974), Charlie Conerly (11 from 1951 through 1961) and Sammy Baugh (12 from 1937 through 1951) – and Roger Staubach (13 from 1970 through 1979). 

9C. Prescott’s two TD passes Sunday gave him 26 all-time against the Eagles. The only QBs with more are Eli Manning (54), Jurgensen (33), Kirk Cousins (28) and Baugh (27).

10. With nine catches on nine targets, George Pickens became the first opposing wide receiver in 13 years to be targeted at least nine times and catch each one. In 2012, Larry Fitzgerald had nine catches on nine targets for 114 yards and a TD in the Cards’ 27-6 win over the Eagles in Glendale. His QB? Kevin Kolb.

Bonus Stat. With a 2.2 average on 10 carries, Saquon Barkley has now averaged 3.3 yards per carry or worse an NFL-high seven times this year. The only players in Eagles history with more games at 3.3 or less in an entire season are Lee Bouggess in 1970 and Tom Sullivan in 1974, both with eight. Duce Staley also had seven in 1999.

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