Eagles stats: Four key numbers from the Birds’ 8-1 start to the season

With their 28-23 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, the Eagles have the best record in the league at 8-1 at the midway point of the season.

Here are four notable stats that help paint the picture of the season so far:

The last three Super Bowl champions have had something in common during the regular season — their offenses scored on at least 60% of their red-zone trips. The Eagles started out the season with red-zone struggles, but they’ve gradually begun to find a rhythm. Over their last four games, the Eagles offense has scored on 70.6% of its red zone trips (12 touchdowns on 17 attempts), a massive improvement on the Eagles’ previous three-game stretch in which they scored on just 30.8% (four touchdowns on 13 attempts).

For the first time this season, the Eagles had a 100% success rate in the red zone against the Cowboys (three touchdowns on three trips). Now, they’ve converted on 55.6% of their trips this season (20 touchdowns on 36 attempts, No. 13 in the league). The offense is scoring on 48.4% of its drives in general, which leads the league.

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During the 2017 regular season before the Eagles won Super Bowl LII, the offense scored on 40.3% of its drives (No. 7 in the NFL) and 65.5% of its red-zone trips (No. 1). Last season, when the Eagles reached Super Bowl LVII, their offense took advantage of its red-zone opportunities, scoring 67.8% of the time (No. 3).

The Eagles can’t leave points on the field if they want to continue to outpace their upcoming opponents and be playing their best football by the end of the regular season. Meanwhile, the Eagles’ red-zone defense hasn’t been able to correct its shortcomings as dramatically as the offense has, still allowing opposing offenses to put up points on 64.3% of their opportunities (No. 26).

Quarterback Jalen Hurts has shown growth as an accurate passer this season, completing a career-high 68.9% of his throws. He completed 66.5% last season. According to Pro Football Focus, only two of his passes have been batted at the line of scrimmage. Last season, Hurts had 12 passes deflected at the line in 15 games.

Not only is Hurts connecting with his receivers at a career-high rate, but he’s also pulling off a number of “big-time throws,” which PFF characterizes as passes thrown farther down the field or into a tight window with stellar ball location and timing. Hurts has 20 big-time throws in nine games this season, which accounts for 6.3% of his passing attempts. Last season, Hurts had 20 big-time throws total (4.1%).

On the flip side, Hurts is turning the ball over at a higher rate than he has in his previous two seasons as a full-time starter. He has eight interceptions in nine games (2.62% of his attempts). Last season, he threw just six interceptions (1.30% of his attempts) and the year before, he was picked off nine times (2.08% of his attempts).

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Through nine games, it’s becoming clear that opportunities for designed quarterback runs are not nearly as prevalent as they were last season, whether they’re not being called or Hurts is electing to throw on run-pass options and read options. Hurts has had just 18 designed runs for 142 yards (an average of two carries per game), according to PFF, which would be a drop-off from last season’s total of 53 runs for 411 yards (an average of 3.53 carries per game). Last year, Hurts had four designed runs for more than 15 yards each, but this season, he hasn’t recorded any.

That’s not to say that Hurts isn’t a capable runner, although he’s dealing with a left knee injury at the moment. Hurts has 27 scrambles for 174 yards by PFF’s tracking, which is on pace to exceed his totals last year of 44 scrambles for 347 yards.

The relatively small quantity of designed runs so far is more reflective of what opposing defenses are showing Hurts. While the Eagles may have thrived in the RPO game last season, opponents appear to be catching up and focused on eliminating Hurts as a runner. The good news for the Eagles is that Hurts is a talented passer, too.

The Eagles’ secondary has been far from flawless this season, allowing 257 passing yards per game (No. 29). Last year, the secondary was extremely stingy, limiting opponents to a league-low 179.8 passing yards per game. The Eagles have allowed 19 passing touchdowns (No. 30), compared to just 22 last season (No. 10) through nearly twice as many games.

In just about every game, the Eagles have had different starting combinations in the secondary due to injury. They have more or less lacked a bona fide slot corner since Avonte Maddox sustained a season-ending torn pectoral muscle in Week 2 against the Minnesota Vikings. Bradley Roby, his eventual replacement, was injured in Week 6 against the New York Jets and hasn’t returned to action.

But the long-term question is: Does it matter that opponents are racking up passing yards right now? Potentially. The year the Eagles won the Super Bowl, the defense allowed 227.3 passing yards per game (No. 17) during the regular season, which is better than the 2023 group so far, but still imperfect. That defense limited opposing offenses to 24 passing touchdowns (No. 18), which the 2023 Eagles are well on their way toward exceeding.

Even though the Eagles’ secondary wasn’t completely lights-out that season, it benefited from having a talented scoring offense that ranked atop the league in passing touchdowns (38). This year’s Eagles offense is strong — No. 2 in points and No. 3 in yards — but has room for improvement, which includes continuing to iron out the red-zone and turnover issues. This season, 14% of the Eagles’ offensive drives have ended in a turnover (eighth most in the league).