Roob's Eagles Observations: Life Without Jalen Hurts Just Isn't Any Fun

Roob's Eagles Observations: Life without Jalen Hurts just isn't any fun originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Mulling life without Jalen Hurts. Thoughts on Tanner McKee getting benched after just three games. And the absurdity of something that the Eagles have done for the first time since 1938.

We’ve never had to do 10 Random Eagles Observations during a six-game losing streak before, but here we are.

Losing isn’t a whole lot of fun.

MISSING JALEN HURTS: I miss Jalen Hurts. And I hope people out there who never became Hurts supporters for whatever reason even after all the wins and and all the big plays and five straight playoff berths, two Super Bowl appearances, a championship and a parade two years ago miss him, too. Since 2021, when Hurts plays the Eagles win 70 percent of the time and when he doesn’t play they win 30 percent of the time. Love him or hate him that 70 percent figure is pretty impressive. Patrick Mahomes is the only NFL quarterback to win more games than Hurts and win a Super Bowl since 2021. No, Hurts is not perfect. He’s human and he makes mistakes and sometimes he even loses games – but just 25 of them since 2021. But, dang, he makes things fun and exciting and gives this team a heck of a good chance to win football games when he’s on the field. He’s special, and right now there’s not a lot special about the Philadelphia Eagles. I don’t know exactly what this season would have looked like if Hurts hadn’t been sidelined. There still would have been issues with the defense and the running game and pass protection. But one thing I do know is that Hurts raises the level of everyone around him and when he’s not playing the Eagles miss more than just his quarterback play. They miss his leadership, his accountability, his presence. There are a lot of unknowns with Hurts’ medical condition. I just hope he’s able to make a complete healthy recovery and first, that he can live a healthy life with his family but second, that he’s able to return to play quarterback for the Eagles in 2027. Because it’s just not nearly as much fun without him.

AT LEAST THERE’S ONE GUY PLAYING WELL: Makai Lemon is on pace for 65 catches, and the Eagles’ record for rookie wide receivers is 67 by Jordan Matthews in 2014. Tight end Keith Jackson caught 81 passes as a rookie, but Lemon has 31 receptions and needs 37 in Eagles’ the last nine games to break Matthews’ record. That’s just over four per game, and based on the growth we’ve seen from him over the last few weeks there’s no doubt in my mind he’ll get that record and finish somewhere in the 70s. Which is truly impressive considering he missed much of training camp with a hamstring and got off to a slow start once the season began, with just 10 catches for 65 yards in his first four games. He has 21-for-186 the last four games and is really looking comfortable out there, catching the ball smoothly, breaking tackles, picking up yards after the catch and blocking in the run game. At some point, DeVonta Smith will be back from his own hamstring injury, and Dontayvion Wicks will be back as well. But the Eagles can’t let Lemon’s snap count drop. He plays mainly in the slot – 66 percent of his snaps are inside so far this year – and Smith is outside 88 percent of the time and Wicks is outside 72 percent of the time so Lemon shouldn’t be affected. But the kid has to play. Not a lot to be excited about with this miserable offense, but Lemon is the real deal, and he’s only going to keep getting better.

A QUICK HOOK FOR TANNER #1: I didn’t think Nick Sirianni would pull the plug on Tanner McKee this quickly, especially with the bye week coming up. That’s normally when you make these sort of changes. Especially with a new guy who’s still learning the offense. But at this point, why not? You’re 2-6, you’ve lost six straight, you’re certainly not going anywhere with McKee at QB, what do you have to lose? McKee has ranged from poor to mediocre in his three starts and just never got into any sort of rhythm as a passer. It’s a tough evaluation because the o-line has been so bad, the running game has never really gotten going and he’s been without DeVonta Smith and to a large degree Saquon Barkley. And Joe Milton will be facing the same handicaps as McKee did, but the hope is that he can rise up above all those handicaps with his athleticism and provide some juice to the NFL’s worst offense. McKee has just been lifeless. Out of 38 quarterbacks who’ve thrown at least 50 passes this year, he’s 33^rd in passer rating, 37^th in yards per attempt 37^th in yards per completion and 33^rd in success rate. His four completions of at least 20 yards the last three weeks are 24^th-most in the league. One more than Daniel Jones. Maybe it would have gotten better, but I haven’t seen any reason to believe that or expect that. McKee has just looked overmatched. It seems awfully early for Milton, but he can’t be any worse. Right? 

A QUICK HOOK FOR TANNER #2: McKee lost more games this year than Jalen Hurts lost in 2022 and as many as Jalen lost in 2024.

A QUICK HOOK FOR TANNER #3: If McKee doesn’t start another game, he’ll be the first Eagles quarterback to start at least three games in a season and lose them all since Ken O’Brien went 0-4 in 1993. The only other QB to start three or more games (not including 1987 strike replacement games) and lose them all was John Reaves, who was 0-7 in 1972. During the strike, replacement QB Scott Tinsley went 0-3.

HOW CAN NONE OF THEM HAVE A SACK? It’s hard to believe Jalyx Hunt, Moro Ojomo, Jonathan Greenard and Jordan Davis have a combined half of a sack through nearly half the season. Over the last two years, those four combined for 35 sacks. Now they have a half. Like not even an integer. I don’t understand how an entire defensive line can go into a slump at the same time. Jalen Carter has four sacks, but it feels like he’s making a few impressive plays a game but without the consistent production the Eagles need from him. Carter still gets a lot of double teams and Ojomo is also getting doubled a lot, and when anybody up front gets doubled it should be an opportunity for someone else to take advantage of a good matchup, but other than with Nolan Smith, who has four sacks of his own, that just hasn’t happened. Ten sacks in eight games is pitiful. The Eagles once sacked Troy AIkman 11 times in one game. In 1989 they had 36 sacks after eight games. Now they have 10. Their 2nd-fewest ever after nine games, one more than the 1993 team had. I expected the offense to have issues this year. I did not expect the defense, especially the defensive line, to underachieve like this.

THIS REALLY OUGHT TO BE IMPOSSIBLE: Maybe the most damning stat regarding the 2026 Eagles is that they’ve been outgained by an average of over 100 yards per game. How is that even possible? Through Week 8, the Eagles have allowed 2,938 yards and netted 2,122 yards for a difference of 816 yards – or 102 yards per game. That’s what happens when you’re ranked 32^nd in the NFL in yards per game and 27^th in yards allowed. This is the first time since 1971 – that was 55 years ago – the Eagles have been outgained by at least 100 yards per game through eight games. Also happened in 1937, 1938 and 1957. The 1930s were not good years for the Eagles. Neither is 2026. The Eagles have been outgained by at least 71 yards in each game during the six-game losing streak. They’ve been outgained by an average of 148 yards during these last six games, the most yards they’ve been outgained by in any six-game span since 1976. This is only the second time in franchise history they’ve been outgained by 70 or more yards in six games in a row. It also happened during the 2023 late-season collapse. Fun season.

WHAT WAS THE QB PLAN? I feel like the Eagles have mis-managed the quarterback position since camp began, starting with the wonky competition between Andy Dalton and Tanner McKee during training camp, when neither one got enough reps to be ready for the season. And then going with Dalton as No. 2 but demoting him after just one pass? And alienating him so much that he opted to sign with the Falcons instead of returning here after Jalen Hurts was sidelined for the season? Then a quick hook for McKee to go with a QB who was drafted in the sixth round, just got here 3 ½ weeks ago and has never started an NFL game? Jalen wasn’t playing great when his season ended, McKee regressed, Dalton threw the worst pass of the season and Cole Payton isn’t ready. Maybe Milton will play well Sunday, but I don’t know how you start training camp with four quarterbacks on the roster and go into a Week 10 home game against a division rival with someone else as your starter. 

CAN THEY MAKE IT FOUR IN A ROW? With Joe Milton making his first NFL start Sunday, it’s interesting to note that the last three Eagles quarterbacks to make their first NFL start all won. That’s Carson Wentz in the 2016 opener against the Browns, Jalen Hurts against the Saints in Week 14 of the 2020 season after replacing Wentz and Tanner McKee in the meaningless year-end game against the Giants in 2024. The last Eagles QBs to lose their first career start are Kevin Kolb in 2009 against the Saints and Nick Foles in 2012 in Washington. Before that, Donovan McNabb won his first start in 1999 after replacing Doug Pederson, at the Vet vs. Washington, and A.J. Feeley won his first start late in 2002 against the Cards at the Vet. So Eagles QBs making their first career start are 5-2 in their last seven games. Before that? Eagles QBs making their first start were 3-9-1.

THEY REALLY NEED A HEALTHY SAQUON: With Dameon Pearce averaging 2.6 yards per carry, Tank Bigsby at 3.3, Will Shipley 2.9 and Elijah Mitchell 3.2, the Eagles could have four running backs average less than 3.4 yards per carry in the same season for the first time since 1991, when James Joseph averaged 3.3, Heath Sherman 2.6, Thomas Sanders 2.3 and Robert Drummond 2.3. Just another thing to look forward to over these last nine weeks.

HOW MANY GAMES ARE THEY GOING TO WIN? As the Eagles head into the second half of a lost season, it’s interesting to look back at the biggest drops in wins in franchise history from one season to the next. The Eagles won 11 games last year and I’m not sure how many more they’ll win, but it won’t be a lot. But what’s crazy is that the Eagles haven’t had a dropoff of more than four wins in more than 20 years. They won 13 games in the 2004 Super Bowl season, then went 6-10 in 2005. Not including the 1982 strike-shortened season, the last time before that they won four fewer games from one season to the next was 1971 (6-7-1) to 1972 (2-11-1). The seven-game dropoff from 2004 through 2005 matches the largest in franchise history. They also won seven fewer games from 1961 to 1962 (10-4, 3-10-1). They’ll need to find a way to win three more games to avoid tying the largest single-season dropoff in wins in the franchise’s 94-year history, and I’m not sure they can.

FIRST TIME SINCE 1938? And this is just astounding: The Eagles have been out-rushed by 350 yards and out-passed by 466 yards so far this year. This is the first time in 88 years they’ve been outgained by at least 350 yards both on the ground and in the air eight games into a season. It also happened in 1937 (649 rushing, 360 passing) and 1938 (517 rushing, 538 passing). You didn’t want to be an Eagles fan in the 1930s.