Jalen Hurts is in Elite Company in His First Full Season

The Philadephia Eagles picked up a big NFC East win over the Washington Football Team on Tuesday night. The win puts them in a virtual tie with the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints for the last NFC wild-card spot. With three games left on the schedule, the Eagles are still very much in the playoff hunt. 

Much of the Eagles’ success can be attributed to their young dual-threat quarterback Jalen Hurts. Hurts threw for 296 yards and a touchdown on Tuesday night. But, it was what he has been doing with his legs that sets him apart from the rest of the QBs in the NFL. 

So far, through 15 Weeks of play, Hurts leads the Eagles in rushing yards with 733 and has run for 10 total touchdowns. Two of those touchdowns came on Tuesday night and Hurts has scored five in his last three games. Hurts not only leads the NFL in rushing touchdowns by a quarterback, but he also broke a franchise record along the way.

When Hurts scored his 9th rushing TD on Tuesday night, he tied Michael Vick’s 2010 single-season franchise record for TDs by a QB. Additionally, Hurts has joined Cam Newtwon (2011) and Kyler Murray (2020) as the only other quarterbacks in the history of the league to rush for more than 700 yards and nine touchdowns in a single season. 

The Eagles have become a very dangerous team on the ground thanks to Hurts and, to a lesser extent, running back Miles Sanders. Sanders set a personal best on Tuesday with 131 yards against the Washington Football Team. Between him and Hurts, they have led the Eagles to seven straight games with at least 175 yards rushing. They are the first team to accomplish this since the 1985 Chicago Bears and Week 16 could be another record-breaking game for the Eagles.