Philadelphia Eagles QB Jalen Hurts: King of Double-Digit Comebacks?

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts has won the last six games he has played when facing double-digit deficits: “Belief starts in the locker room.”

PHILADELPHIA – It’s a streak that will need to survive some big tests over the next few weeks to reach two-years-old. 

It may not survive Sunday’s challenge against the Dallas Cowboys or, after the Philadelphia Eagles take their bye week, Nov. 20 at the Kansas City Chiefs or the following week against the visiting Buffalo Bills.

All three teams are capable of breaking the streak. But what exactly is the streak?

Well, the Eagles have won six straight games under quarterback Jalen Hurts when they have trailed by double-digits, per research from CBS’ Jeff Kerr. 

Not since Nov. 28, 2021, have the Eagles lost when their opponent grabbed a double-digit lead with Hurts as the quarterback. The last time it happened was in a 13-7 loss to the New York Giants, when New York took a 10-0 lead. It was a game in which Hurts injured his ankle and had to miss his next two starts.

What does it mean?

Well, probably not much until you put it into context a bit.

Jalen Hurts / © Brad Penner, USA TODAY

Since 1991, when the stat was first tracked, only four quarterbacks had done it four straight times, according to Kerr. The four who have done it – Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers, and Vinny Testaverde. No quarterback has done it five straight times.

“I don’t think about the statistics, the numbers, or the trends of the things that we’ve done,” said Hurts when asked about it earlier in the week. “Just more so knowing that sometimes you can say, ‘Hey, we’ve been here before.’ I think that goes without saying in the good and in the bad. In the end, we just put our focus truly on executing.”

It all comes down to belief, a theme head coach Nick Sirianni said he preached with the team in last week’s comeback win against the Washington Commanders, which was win No. 6 in the streak after Philly climbed out of a 14-3 hole to win 38-31.

“Be a believer, continue to play the game, not let the scoreboard or whatever’s going on in the game in that moment determine how we come out and play,” said Hurts. “Obviously, we’ve had a ton of different games in this run here, but I think it all comes down to execution and do it at a high level.”

More context: Hurts’ numbers are better when he’s playing catch-up.

When leading, the QB completed 63.6 percent of his throws with 1,059 yards, six touchdowns, eight interceptions, and a 67.0 passer rating.

When tied or trailing, his completion percentage rises to 72.7, with 1,361 yards, 13 TDs, no interceptions, and a 118.7 passer rating.

Then there’s this: Four of Hurts’ six comebacks from double-digits have come against the Commanders.

The other two were against the Indianapolis Colts, when they trailed 13-3 on Nov. 20, 2022, and the other against the Jacksonville Jaguars, coming back from a 14-0 deficit, on Oct. 22, 2022.

“We gotta stop doing that,” said defensive tackle Fletcher Cox. “Through it all, I think the biggest thing is when we’re down like that in a game, you look at that sideline you don’t really see anybody throwing fits or just being out of character. I think the biggest thing is everybody stays in character no matter what the score is because we know at the end of the day, we believe in each other.

“The belief starts right here in the locker room, in the cafeteria, wherever, walkthroughs, believing in the coaches, those are things we talk about, and it showed last week the resiliency of this team. We never gave up.”