James Bradberry, Jalen Hurts, and Lane Johnson heroics add up to undefeated Eagles

The Eagles enter the bye week as the lone undefeated team with plenty of players making cases to be considered the best at their respective positions.

Even relative to the lofty expectations the Eagles faced coming into the season with a revamped roster, the team has slightly exceeded expectations through six weeks.

Here’s what the numbers tell us about the Birds headed into the bye:

James Bradberry has been one of the league’s best cornerbacks by just about any metric.

The former New York Giants corner is allowing completions on just 41.5% of his targets, which ranks fifth in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus. He’s also ranked third in QB rating allowed (32.4) and is tied for the league lead with nine pass deflections.

Pairing Bradberry with Darius Slay has given the Eagles their best cornerback duo in recent memory and has allowed the Eagles to be more aggressive in the secondary. The team has nine interceptions through six games, which trails only the Buffalo Bills.

Bradberry, 29, signed a one-year deal with the Eagles after being a salary-cap casualty in New York late in the offseason and as a result is in a contract year. Considering his play, the price is only going up for the veteran defensive back, who will have a chance to hit the market in earnest in the offseason.

» READ MORE: What we learned from Eagles-Cowboys: The class of the NFC, Birds still have their concerns

The Eagles now have a 63% chance of finishing the season with a first-round bye, according to fivethirtyeight.com.

It’s early, but it’s still worth mentioning the Eagles’ advantageous position going into their week away. The New York Giants (5-1), Minnesota Vikings (5-1), and Dallas Cowboys (4-2) fill out the top of the conference standings outside of the Eagles. You may have noticed: The Eagles have wins against two of the three.

In a couple of months, those tiebreakers could be the difference between a first-round bye or at least home-field advantage. So far, the season has been defined by parity; the league’s middle class is seemingly expanding with 13 teams hovering at three wins. A first-round bye would likely mean the Eagles face one of those middling teams after a week off for a chance at the conference championship. From there, who knows what could happen.

The sample size is growing for Jalen Hurts and the returns remain encouraging.

Hurts’ time to throw through six games is 2.76 seconds, which is a significant improvement toward the NFL average one year removed from having the league-slowest 3.12 seconds.

Especially considering Hurts’ tendency to extend plays with his legs, a factor that typically skews this metric, being among the middle of the pack is indicative of the strides he has made getting the ball out quickly.

Hurts’ progress isn’t limited just to getting the ball out quickly, though. He has become more efficient as well.

Hurts’ .09 estimated points added per play, which accounts for passing and rushing attempts, is ranked eighth among full-time starting quarterbacks. His 1.6 EPA per dropback is even better, ranking fourth among starting signal callers and puts him in quite an elite group; he trails only Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, and Tua Tagovailoa in the metric.

By comparison, Hurts ranked 12th in EPA per play last season and was 14th in EPA per dropback.

Although he left with a concussion just before halftime Sunday, Lane Johnson preserved his clean sheet.

According to Pro Football Focus, Johnson did not allow a single pressure or sack. His streak of consecutive snaps without allowing a sack now sits at 1,087, with the last allowed sack recorded by PFF coming in Week 11 of 2020.

Johnson’s status coming out of the bye week will be crucial for the Eagles, who already had each of their other starting offensive linemen nursing injuries going into the Cowboys game. During the 32-year-old’s career, the Eagles are 65-42-1 with Johnson in the lineup and 12-20 when he has been sidelined.