Tanner McKee and Walter Payton??? A.J. Brown the first Eagle ever to do what??? A 64-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds in West Oak Lane???

This week's Roob Eagles Stats has a healthy dose of weirdness, but it's fun weirdness when you're 13-3 and NFC East champs!

1. Embarrassing the Cowboys

With 34-6 and 41-7 wins over the Cowboys this year, the Eagles became the first team ever to beat the Cowboys twice in a season by at least 28 points. In fact, the Cowboys hadn’t lost two games in the same season by 28 points since 2002, when the Eagles beat them 44-13 at the Vet and the Giants beat them 37-7 at Giants Stadium. Since 1996, there have been only seven other sweeps league-wide where a team beat a division rival twice by at least 28 points in the same season. The only other Eagles sweeps by 28 or more points came in 1950 vs. Washington (35-3, 33-0), 1953 vs. the Cards (56-17, 38-0) and 1981 vs. the Cards (52-10, 38-0). The Eagles’ 62-point advantage over the Cowboys this year is the largest ever against Dallas in a single season by any division opponent. The largest previous margin was 58 points at the hands of the Eagles in 1961 (43-7, 35-13). The Eagles’ largest single-season margin of victory over a division rival is 80 points over the Cards in 1981 (52-10, 38-0). That’s the 3rd-largest margin in NFL history (behind the Oilers outsourcing the Raiders by 86 points in 1961 and the Chiefs outsourcing the Broncos by 83 in 1963). The Cowboys have lost 14 games by at least 28 points since 2002 and half of them have been against the Eagles. The only time the Cowboys scored fewer points in a season against the Eagles was 1989, when the Eagles won 27-0 at Texas Stadium and 20-10 at the Vet. 

2. Crazy Turnover Numbers

2A. With five takeaways vs. the Commanders and four more Sunday vs. the Cowboys, the Eagles have nine takeaways in a two-game span for the first time in 25 years. In the last two games of 1999, the Eagles forced seven takeaways vs. the Patriots and seven more vs. the Rams. The Eagles’ nine turnovers are tied for the most by any NFL team this year in a two-game span. The Bengals had nine earlier this month against the Browns and Titans. The last team with more in a two-game span is the Texans, who had 10 in 2021. 

2B. The Eagles had two takeaways in their first six games and 23 in their last 10 games. After six weeks, they were tied for 28th in turnover margin (minus-6), 16th in turnovers (8) and tied for 31st in takeaways (2). Since then, they have seven turnovers (6th-fewest) and they lead the NFL with both 23 takeaways and plus-16 margin. The 23 takeaways are their most in a 10-game span since they had 26 in 2010, and the plus-16 is their best margin in a 10-game span since a plus-18 span in 1989. 

3. The world's greatest (only?) Tanner McKee stats

3A. Tanner McKee became the first NFL player in 41 years to throw two touchdown passes of 20 or more yards in a game in which he threw four or fewer total passes. And the reason I used the word “player” and not “quarterback” is because the last guy to do it wasn’t a quarterback. In 1983, the Bears lost 35-31 to the Saints at the Superdome despite two touchdown passes by Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton, 21 and 56 yards to Willie Gault, the Olympic sprinter turned wide receiver. Payton threw eight touchdowns in his NFL career. The last actual quarterback to do it was Jim Ninowski of the Browns in mop-up duty for Frank Ryan in a 42-21 win over the Steelers at Pitt Stadium in 1965. Ninowski had a 25-yard TD pass to Johnny Brewer and a 27-yarder to Jim Brown. 

3B. The last Eagles quarterback to throw two TD passes in a game where he threw four or fewer passes was Reds Weiner in that historic 64-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Temple Stadium in West Oak Lane in 1934. Weiner had 20-yard TDs to Joe Carter (the other one) and Swede Hanson. That was one of only two games the Eagles played at Temple Stadium (where the Enon Tabernacle Church East is now located at East Mount Pleasant and Cheltenham) and it remains the most lopsided regular-season game in NFL history. The Reds folded a few days later.

3B. McKee is the third Eagle to throw two touchdowns in his first NFL game. A.J. Feeley threw two to Dameane Douglas in the final 2 ½ minutes in Tampa on the final day of the 2001 season, and Carson Wentz threw TDs to Jordan Matthews and Nelson Agholor in his NFL debut on opening day 2016 vs. the Browns.

3C. McKee’s four pass attempts are the fewest in NFL history by a quarterback who threw two touchdowns in his first NFL appearance. The previous low was six passes by Mike Busch of the Giants in a 1987 game during the strike played by replacement players. But the fewest in a real game is nine by Gary Marangi of the Bills, who threw two TDs in nine pass attempts vs. the Dolphins in his first NFL game in 1974.

3D. McKee is the first player ever to throw two touchdowns and no interceptions against the Cowboys in his NFL debut. Jake Delhomme of the Saints in 1999 and David Carr of the Texans in 2002 both threw two TDs against Dallas in their first career game but both also threw an interception.

3E. McKee's 156.2 passer rating is highest by an Eagle throwing four or more passes since Nick Foles' perfect 158.3 in his seven-touchdown game against the Raiders in 2013. His 54 passing yards are most by an Eagle throwing four or fewer passes since Brian Mitchell was 1-for-1 for 57 yards against the Texans with a 57-yard TD pass to Brian Dawkins.

4. The weekly Saquon section! 

4A. With 150 rushing yards against the Commanders and 167 vs. the Cowboys, Saquon Barkley became the third Eagle with consecutive games with at least 150 rushing yards. In 1949, Steve Van Buren ran for 174 yards against the New York Bulldogs and 205 against the Steelers, both at Shibe Park, and in 2012 Bryce Brown (of course) ran for 178 yards against the Panthers at the Linc and 169 in Dallas. 

4B. Barkley’s five 150-yard games this year are tied for 5th-most all-time. Earl Campbell and Adrian Peterson had seven, and O.J. Simpson in a season and Jim Brown had six. Barkley also had games with 146 and 147 yards, so with seven more yards he could have tied the record. (For what it’s worth, his seven games with 145 yards does tie the NFL record, but 145 doesn’t sound as good as 150). Even though he’s only played 16 games in an Eagles uniform, Barkley has the 2nd-most career 150-yard games in franchise history with five. LeSean McCoy had six. Nobody else had more than three. 

4C. Before halftime this year, Barkley has rushed for 760 yards and a 4.8 average. He was the 3rd-leading rusher in the NFL in the first half, behind Josh Jacobs (802) and Derrick Henry (794). In the second half, he’s rushed for 1,245 yards and 6.7 yards per carry. If he only played after halftime, he'd still be sixth in the NFL in rushing with the 12th-most yards in Eagles history. Rushing stats by quarter or half are only available back to 1994, and the most 2nd-half rushing yards by anybody else during that span is 1,138 by Jamal Anderson of the Falcons in 1998. Barkley’s 2nd-half numbers - 1,245 yards, 6.7 average, eight rushing TDs - have only been reached in a full season eight other times in NFL history by five other backs: Spec Sanders in 1947, Jim Brown in 1958, 1960 and 1963, O.J. Simpson in 1973, Barry Sanders in 1997, Adrian Peterson in 2012 and Derrick Henry this year.

4D. If Barkley’s season is over, he’ll be the only player in NFL history with 2,000 rushing yards, 13 touchdowns and an average of 5.8 yards or more. 

5. Jalen and Kenny? Sure, why not

5A. Jalen Hurts had a passer rating of 115.0 against the Cowboys in the Eagles’ 34-6 win in November and Kenny Pickett had a 119.6 rating Sunday. That makes the Eagles the only team ever with two starting quarterbacks recording a rating of 115 or higher against the Cowboys in the same season. It’s also the first time the Eagles have had two QBs with a 100 passer rating against the same team the same year.

5B. This was the first game in 22 years in which two different Eagles threw a touchdown pass and had a passer rating of at least 115. And last time it happened it was also the backup and the No. 3. In 2002, the Eagles beat the 49ers at Candlestick Park with Koy Detmer starting in place of injured Donovan McNabb. Detmer threw touchdown passes to Antonio Freeman and Todd Pinkston before leaving the game with an elbow injury. A.J. Feeley replaced him and threw a TD pass to Chad Lewis, and the Eagles won 38-17 as 7-point underdogs.  

6. Welcome to the ridiculous defensive stats!

6A. Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush threw for just 192 yards in two starts vs. the Eagles this year. That’s the fewest yards by an opposing quarterback who started twice against the Eagles since 1996, when Dave Brown of the Giants had 105 at the Vet and then 31 at the Meadowlands before getting benched for Danny Kanell for a two-game total of 136.

6B. The Cowboys’ 414 total yards in two games against the Eagles is their fewest since 1991, when they had just 300, and their 190 net passing yards were is their fewest in a season against the Eagles since 2001, when they had 142. 

6C. C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who picked off Rush twice in 2022, is the first player with two career multiple-interception games against the Cowboys since Tony Parrish of the 49ers in 2002 and 2005. The last Eagle to do it was Wes Hopkins, who had three multiple-interception games vs. Dallas from 1984 through 1988 (despite missing most of 1986 and all of 1987 with a knee injury). C.J,’s five total INTs vs. Dallas are the most by any active player, with former Eagles Kevin Byard (4) and Jordan Hicks (3) next. 

6D. Rush has thrown 10 career interceptions and CJGJ has four of them. Rush is 0-3 in his career against the Eagles and 9-2 against everybody else.

7. The Magic of A.J. Brown

It was our own John Clark who first noticed that with a touchdown catch from Jalen Hurts vs. the Steelers, Kenny Pickett vs. the Commanders and Tanner McKee vs. the Cowboys, A.J. Brown had caught a TD pass from a different quarterback in three straight games. Clarkie was curious how rare that was, and we found out. Brown is the first player in 14 years and sixth since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 to catch a touchdown pass from a different quarterback in three consecutive games. Thanks to Katie at Stathead for running a custom search on this one, but the last player with a TD catch from a different QB in three straight games was Calvin Johnson of the Lions in 2010, with a TD from Shaun Hill against the Rams, Drew Stanton against the Giants and Matt Stafford vs. Washington. The others to do it since 1970: Cliff Branch of the Raiders in 1974 (Ken Stabler, Daryle Lamonica, George Blanda), Willie Gault of the Bears in 1983 (Walter Payton, Vince Evans, Jim McMahon), Todd Christensen of the Raiders in 1983 (Jim Plunkett, Marcus Allen, Marc Wilson) and Jerry Rice of the 49ers in 1989 (Steve Young, Joe Montana, Steve Bono). Brown is the first Eagle ever to achieve this.

8. Is this even possible?

Kenny Pickett threw 713 passes as a Steeler and had three completions of at least 45 yards. He’s thrown 42 passes as an Eagle and has two completions of at least 45 yards.

9. C.J., Lito, Troy, et al

C.J. Gardner-Johnson’s 69-yard interception return was the longest against the Cowboys in seven years, since Aqib Talib of the Broncos had a 103-yarder against Dak Prescott in 2017. Over the last 30 years, there have been 12 interception returns of 65 yards or more against the Cowboys and half of them - six of 12 - have been by the Eagles. In 1996, James Willis and Troy Vincent combined on a 104-yard pick-6 off Troy Aikman - Willis had the pick and the first 14 yards, Vincent ran the last 90 yards; in 2002, Shawn Barber had an 80-yarder off Chad Hutchinson; Lito Sheppard had 101- and 102-yarders in 2004 and 2006 off Vinny Testaverde and Drew Bledsoe; Jordan Hicks had a 67-yarder in 2015 off Matt Cassel; and CJGJ had the 69-yarder Sunday.

10. It’s the rushing touchdown differential category!

With 29 rushing touchdowns and only nine rushing TDs allowed, the Eagles have one of the highest rushing touchdown differentials in NFL history at plus-20. The only team since 1985 with a higher differential was the 2005 Seahawks, who were plus 24 (29 rushing TDs, five allowed). Since 1960, only nine other teams have been better than plus-20. 

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