Eagles stats: An accurate and aggressive Jalen Hurts feasted on the Bengals

The Eagles made a playground out of the Bengals’ jungle on Sunday in Philadelphia’s first road victory in Cincinnati.

After a delayed start thanks to a 10-minute Bengals opening touchdown drive, Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense surged for a season-high 37 points in their rout. The Eagles defense limited star receiver Ja’Marr Chase to just 6 yards per reception, his lowest average of the season.

Here are four stats (plus one bonus) that paint the picture of the Eagles’ 37-17 win:

Hurts had his best passing game of the season against the Bengals, going 16-for-20 for 236 yards and a touchdown. He finished the day with a +20.2 completion percentage above expectation (CPOE), a metric from NFL Next Gen Stats that accounts for the difference between a quarterback’s actual completion percentage (80% for Hurts on Sunday) and expected completion percentage (59.8%) while accounting for the difficulty level of each pass.

That difficulty level is subjective, but Next Gen Stats factors in receiver separation, receiver location on the field, and passer separation at the time of the throw from the closest pass rusher.

Hurts’ CPOE against the Bengals was the highest of his career and the third-best by a quarterback in a game this season. The rate indicates that Hurts was completing low-percentage passes at a high frequency, a feat made possible by the talent of A.J. Brown (five receptions for 84 yards) and DeVonta Smith (six receptions for 85 yards and that touchdown) and the accuracy of the fifth-year quarterback. Hurts leads the league at +6.6% CPOE for the season.

In the same vein, Hurts finished with a 35% aggressiveness rate (second-highest in the NFL in Week 8), another measurement from Next Gen Stats that tracks the amount of passing attempts a quarterback makes into tight coverage.

» READ MORE: Have the Eagles found their offensive identity after pounding the Bengals? Jalen Hurts says he’s been pushing for it.

One of Hurts’ most aggressive passes of the day was his go-ahead 45-yard touchdown heave to Smith in the third quarter. The pass traveled 59.3 yards in the air according to Next Gen Stats, marking the longest completion by air distance of Hurts’ career. Air yards include yards behind the line of scrimmage from where the ball is thrown and yards beyond the goal line from where the ball is caught.

» READ MORE: DeVonta Smith’s improbable TD catch for the Eagles underscores a bounce-back day vs. Bengals

The Bengals rushed only four on the play and the Eagles blockers outnumbered them by two, affording Hurts plenty of time and space to chuck the ball deep to Smith with Bengals safety Jordan Battle in close pursuit. According to Next Gen Stats, Smith had just 0.8 yards of separation from Battle, which factored into the play’s 21.6% completion probability. The Eagles’ win probability jumped by 16.5% after Hurts and Smith connected for that touchdown.

After facing the New York Giants’ two-time Pro-Bowl edge rusher Brian Burns last week, Fred Johnson was tasked with going up against yet another talented pass rusher on Sunday in Trey Hendrickson. Heading into the game, Hendrickson had generated the fourth-highest number of pressures in the NFL (34) and was tied for fourth in sacks (seven) this season.

» READ MORE: Eagles tackle Fred Johnson gets revenge and Trey Hendrickson’s jersey in Cincinnati

Johnson, the 27-year-old backup starting at left tackle in place of an injured Jordan Mailata, shut Hendrickson down. The defensive end had just one pressure on 13 matchups against Johnson, for a 7.7% pressure rate according to Next Gen Stats, the second-lowest conceded to Hendrickson by an offensive lineman this season (on a minimum of five matchups).

Coincidentally, Johnson’s strong performance came against his former team, having started his NFL career with the Bengals in 2019-21. As a unit, the Eagles’ offensive line did not concede a sack on Hurts, marking the first game of the season that he has been kept clean.

The Eagles defense didn’t give the Bengals an inch in the running game. Bengals rushers posted just 2.9 yards per carry, marking the Eagles’ best performance against the run this season and the fourth-lowest average in the NFL in Week 8. As has become typical for the Vic Fangio-led defense, the Eagles utilized stacked boxes (eight-plus defenders) on only 10% of running plays and instead leaned on light boxes (six or fewer defenders) on 75%.

» READ MORE: Eagles grades vs. Bengals

Late in the third quarter as the Bengals sought to stage a comeback, the Eagles rushing defense came up with a critical stop. Brandon Graham sealed off Bengals running back Zack Moss for no gain, a play made in part because of Nakobe Dean’s decision to shoot the B gap and force Moss to make a cut into the arms of the defensive end. Their efforts set the stage for Cooper DeJean’s fourth-down stop on Chase on the ensuing play.

Since Nick Sirianni shaved his head coming out of the bye week, the Eagles have pulled off three consecutive wins for the first time since last season. In those three wins, the Eagles have a plus-49 point differential (No. 2 in the league), scoring 85 while limiting opposing teams to an NFL-low 36. They’ve also limited turnovers while increasing takeaways for a plus-2 turnover differential (one interception, one forced fumble recovered, no fumbles lost or interceptions thrown).

Perhaps it comes down to the improvements coming out of the bye week, or perhaps it’s all about the boost provided by the buzz cut. Will the Eagles head coach maintain his new look?

“My wife really doesn’t like it,” Sirianni said Sunday after the game.