PHILADELPHIA -- No player should ever have to apologize for winning a football game, especially in a league where it's tough to win them on a consistent basis. The statistics may not be pretty every single week, yet winning is typically the divider between success and failure.
Jalen Hurts does a lot of winning as the Philadelphia Eagles starting quarterback. But over the last few weeks, winning football games doesn't seem to matter.
The Eagles are currently on a nine-game winning streak, sit at 11-2, hold the No. 2 seed in the NFC and are tied for the third-best record in the NFL. Hurts has been playing well during the stretch, completing 68.4% of his passes and averaging 8.7 yards per attempt with 12 touchdowns to one interception for a 113.7 passer rating.
The completion percentage, touchdown-to-interception ratio, yards per attempt and passer rating each rank in the top six in the NFL. And this doesn't even include the 11 rushing touchdowns Hurts has piled up, giving him 24 total in that span (top three in the NFL).
Notice passing yards weren't included in this bundle of statistics. That has been the criticism regarding Hurts and the Eagles offense, as Hurts has just 1,672 passing yards over the past nine games for an average of 185.8 per contest. The numbers have been egregious over the past two games, as Hurts has thrown for just 226 yards and 5.7 yards per attempt. Of the quarterbacks who have made two starts over the last two games, Hurts ranks dead last.
The Eagles also have the fewest pass attempts in the NFL at 196 over the last nine games, yet they sit at 9-0 during the stretch. They are fourth in points per game (28.4), fifth in yards per attempt (8.6), third in passer rating (112.6), third in touchdown-to-interception ratio (12.0) and eighth in completion rate (68.9%).
Still, this isn't good enough. Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown said as much when asked about what can be improved on offense.
"Passing. What we did today is not (good enough). It won't help us."
Hurts only threw for 108 yards in Sunday's win over the Carolina Panthers and the Eagles had 83 net passing yards. These numbers aren't sexy (as Eagles running back Saquon Barkley described it), yet they were good enough to get the job done.
Other quarterbacks have won games in the NFL not throwing for a lot of yards. Jared Goff threw for 85 yards in a victory during which the Detroit Lions scored 52 points. Josh Allen threw for 139 in a victory in which the Buffalo Bills scored 31 points and 148 yards in a win where his team scored 38 points.
So when did winning become not good enough? Especially for a quarterback like Hurts, who has done plenty of winning since he became the Eagles starting quarterback.
There are only three active quarterbacks with a winning percentage over .700 in the NFL: Patrick Mahomes (.789), Lamar Jackson (.733), and Hurts (.703). This is the stratosphere Tom Brady (.754) and Joe Montana (.713) are in -- and both quarterbacks have won a lot of games and championships.
Hurts is certainly on his way toward winning a championship himself, whether he passes the ball for a lot of yards or not. He's the only quarterback to win 11-plus games in each of the past three seasons (Josh Allen can join him this week), which has to count for something.
The Eagles have an MVP candidate at running back in Barkley, who's racked up 1,188 rushing yards and averaged 6.2 yards per carry during the nine-game win streak. They also have one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, along with a passing offense that is one of the most efficient in the league -- even if it doesn't throw the ball that much.
Hurts also doesn't turn the ball over, having just two giveaways during the nine-game win streak. When Hurts doesn't throw an interception, the Eagles are 28-8 (.778 win percentage). When Hurts plays this way, the Eagles win football games at an incredible clip.
Winning 70% of football games doesn't seem to matter anymore, and that's a problem that needs to go away.