I'm not going to lie. This is a bit of a deflating "who won the week" feature. At best, I thought I'd be writing about Bryce Harper or Kyle Schwarber being a World Series hero just days away before a parade went down Broad Street. At worst, I'd finally shed some light on the Union for winning the MLS Cup in thrilling fashion.
Welp.
The Phils' bats went ice cold after having 1-0 and 2-1 World Series leads over the Astros. The Union had seemingly won the MLS Cup at the last moment before Los Angeles FC's Gareth Bale tied things up, leading to a penalty shootout where the Union came up short.
I'll have to "settle" this week for the quarterback who's the favorite to win the MVP and NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award while captaining the sport's lone undefeated team: Jalen Hurts.
The focus in Philly turns back to the 8-0 Eagles coming off a double-digit road Thursday Night Football win. An Eagles-free Sunday was a nice palette cleanser from the last hectic month of Phils/Birds chaos, but the Eagles control everything going into the winter in this city from here on forward.
Let's give some props to QB1...
Ice in His Veins 🥶
Hurts has struggled at times when facing immediate pressure or blitzing defenses, forcing him to quickly go through his progressions while standing tall in the pocket, necessitating him to get the ball out as a big hit is incoming. The Houston Texans aren't the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, but Hurts excelled at just that on Thursday during an uncharacteristically poor pass-blocking performance from this offensive line:
Boom:
Hurts is not making that throw in 2021.
Watch this big-time third down conversion to tight end Dallas Goedert. Goedert's been excellent in 2022 and Hurts has made frequent use of him on third-down situations:
That's the type of throw Eagles fans hoped would become routine as Hurts' career progressed. In Year 2 of the Nick Sirianni/Shane Steichen system, it's already happening.
Numbers on the Board 📈
Our own Jimmy Kempski went through some Eagles players rising up the NFL statistical leaderboards.
Here is how Hurts fares in a variety of categories:
| Stat | Rate | Rank |
| Passer RTG | 107.8 | 2nd |
| Yds/Completion | 12.5 | t-5th |
| Yds/Attempt | 8.5 | 2nd |
| Completion % | 68.2% | 6th |
| INT Rate | 0.8% | 2nd |
| QBR | 63.6 | 6th |
| Rushing TDs | 6 | t-5th |
| Passing Yds | 2,042 | 10th |
Not too shabby for a guy that had tons of doubts coming into this year about whether he could be a legitimate NFL passer!
Before my PhillyVoice days, I was writing about the Eagles constantly as an independent freelance writer. Once Hurts took over for Carson Wentz in 2020, I took a stance as a pro-Hurts guy, loving his intangibles and mobility and believing his collegiate success against top-level competition boded well for his future development. Hurts got better every college season and that's continued into the NFL.
The Hurts discourse after that year was wild online. I remember one guy who would tweet me incessantly about Hurts' QBR being too low. QBR isn't even this be-all stat that I would be fretting over as a fan, but I wonder how that guy feels now with Hurts ahead of Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert in that metric. Never go all in on QBR or face the consequences!
Hurts' 52.0 rookie completion percentage feels like a lifetime ago with his improved accuracy too.
He may not be relying on his legs as much as he used to, which is actually a good thing for his passing chops, but he's still a constant threat in the run game in the rezone with his six rushing TDs. Hurts has more rushing scores than Saquon Barkley, Dalvin Cook and Ezekiel Elliott.
Hurts' 19 career rushing touchdowns are tied for the fourth most ever for a QB during the first three seasons of his career (via Stathead). That's with Hurts only starting four games as a rookie and with nine games remaining this season too.
Making History 📖
Hurts is leading the first-ever 8-0 Eagles team. Yes, throw out the "Any Given Sunday" cliche if you'd like, but the Eagles are well-coached with an increasingly improving QB and a soft schedule. When does this team get their first loss? The Commanders are always in disarray and coming to Philly to face a Birds team on 10 days' rest on Monday Night Football. Then comes a Colts team that just fired the head coach before the Eagles host the combustible Green Bay Packers.
10-0? 11-0? 20-0?!?
20-0 isn't happening, but Hurts and the Eagles are a guiding light in a Philly sports scene reeling from two championship losses over the weekend.
Who won last week: J.T. Realmuto
Who Won the Week 2022 Tally:
Bryce Harper: 4
Rhys Hoskins: 4
Howie Roseman: 4
Jalen Hurts: 2
Rob Thomson: 2
J.T. Realmuto: 1
Phillies: 1
Haason Reddick: 1
Eagles fans: 1
A.J. Brown: 1
Nick Sirianni: 1
Avonte Maddox: 1
Eagles: 1
Kyle Schwarber: 1
Tyrese Maxey: 1
Tobias Harris: 1
Joel Embiid: 1
Ray Didinger: 1
Phillies bullpen: 1
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