Roob’s Eagles Stats explores pass defense, NFC East clinching win – NBC Sports Philadelphia

We usually post our weekly Roob’s Eagles Stats column on Tuesday morning, but this is a different sort of week, with a game on Saturday instead of Sunday and a long week before the Bills.

Hmmm. An extra day? How ’bout an extra stats column! 

On Tuesday, we’ll have our usual general Eagles Stats, covering Jalen, Saquon, Dallas and everything else. But for now, I wanted to focus on the Eagles’ historically outstanding pass defense, which hasn’t gotten enough credit.

Consider this: 

→ The Eagles are allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete just 55.9 percent of their passes. The league average is 64.3 percent.

→ The Eagles are allowing opposing quarterbacks a passer rating of just 74.5. The league average is 91.6.

→ The Eagles are allowing 192 passing yards per game. The league average is 213. 

→ The Eagles have allowed 13 passing touchdowns. The league average is 23.

→  This is the first time since 2001 the Eagles have allowed a completion percentage lower than 56 percent and 13 or fewer passing TDs through 15 games and just the third time since 1981.

Let’s take a look! 

1. We’ll start with that 55.9 percent figure, the completion percentage the Eagles are holding opposing quarterbacks to through 15 games Not only is that lowest in the league by far – the Texans are second at 58.6 – it’s on pace to be the lowest by any NFL team in nine years, since the 2016 Broncos held opposing QBs to 55.4 percent. The last NFC team to allow such a low completion percentage was the 2012 Cards, with Patrick Peterson and Adrian Wilson in the secondary. The last time the Eagles had such a low opposing completion percentage was 2008 at 54.1 percent. For the sake of comparison, the average completion percentage league-wide in the NFL in 2008 was 61.0 percent. This year it’s 64.3 percent. 

2. The Eagles have held four straight teams to a passer rating below 56: Bears at 55.8, Chargers 54.3, Raiders 47.9 and Commanders 51.0. That matches their longest such streak in 72 years, since they held six teams in a row below 56 in 1953: The Steelers (54.4), Cardinals (51.2), Steelers (22.6), Giants (26.9), Colts (40.0) and Cardinals (0.0). There’s only been one longer streak in the NFL in the last 20 years. In 2019, the Patriots held six straight teams below 56.

3. Over the last six games, opposing quarterbacks have completed just 50.8 percent of their passes, the Eagles’ best stretch in 17 years, since a six-game stretch in 2008 when they held opposing QBs to 50.3 percent. Those are the only two stretches since 1998 they’ve held opposing QBs below 51 percent in a six-game span. 

4. How about this one: The Eagles have allowed only six touchdown passes in their last nine games. That’s their fewest in a nine-game span in 25 years, since they allowed just four from Week 4 through Week 12 of the 2002 season during the Jim Johnson heyday. Last time they allowed six or fewer passing TDs and held opposing QBs to 53.7 percent in a nine-game span? You have to go back to 1995 for that.

5. The opposing passer rating against the Eagles of 74.5 so far this year is lowest since 2008, when opposing QBs had a composite passer rating of 72.9 against the Eagles. Again, for the sake of comparison, the average passer rating in 2008 was 83.2, and this year it’s 91.6. So this year the opposing passer rating is 17.1 points lower than the NFL average, which is their greatest margin since 1981, when opposing QBs had a passer rating of 54.4 was 18.5 points below the league average of 72.9.

6. Let’s move onto net passing yards. The Eagles have allowed just 409 net passing yards against the Bears, Chargers, Raiders and Commanders. That’s the 2nd-fewest they’ve allowed in any four-game stretch since 1959. In 2006, they had a four-game stretch against the Bucs, Jaguars, Washington and Titans allowing just 377. It’s the fewest passing yards allowed by any NFL team in a four-game span since the Patriots gave up 390 in 2021. They’ve allowed fewer than 150 passing yards in four straight games and that’s their 2nd-longest streak since 1956. They held five straight teams below 150 net passing yards in 1997.

7. Since Week 5, the Eagles have allowed only eight passing touchdowns in 11 games, their best 11-game stretch since the last 11 games of the 2001 season, when they also allowed eight passing TDs. You have to go back a year earlier to 2000 to find an 11-game stretch where they allowed only seven. 

8. Put it all together and this is only the second time since 1950 – a 75-year span – that the Eagles have had a four-game span allowing fewer than 410 passing yards, two or fewer touchdowns and under 51 percent accuracy. They also did that in the middle of the 2006 season.

9. For the first time in 30 years, the Eagles have held seven teams in a nine-game stretch to a passer rating below 70. The last time they achieved that distinction was in 1995 from Week 5 through Week 13. The Quarterbacks then? Jim Everett of the Saints, Gus Frerotte of Washington, the Giants’ Tommy Maddox, the Cards’ Chris Miller, the Giants’ Dave Brown, Washington’s Heath Shuler and Troy Aikman.

10. The Eagles have allowed only 16 passing first downs in their last three games, the first time they’ve allowed that few passing first downs in a three-game span since 2006. That’s the fewest passing first downs any team has allowed in a game since 2023. This is also the first time since 2006 they’ve gone three straight games allowing seven or fewer passing first downs. The Eagles have held an NFL-high 12 out of 15 teams to 10 or fewer passing first downs, the most in a season since the NFL began tracking rushing and passing first downs in 1999. 

10 ½. The Eagles have held 13 of their 15 opponents below 62 percent completion percentage, by far the most in the league. The Broncos have held 10 teams to 62 percent or lower. One more gives them the most since the 2011 Raiders and Nnamdi Asomugha. With two games left, it’s the most teams they’ve held to 62 percent or worse since 2008 and one shy of the most since 1991.